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Seleucid Empire
The Seleucid Empire was the largest and most diverse of the successor states to Alexander’s Macedonian Empire. It was able to field a large and powerful army led by Kings who were first and foremost military commanders. The Seleucids managed to dominate Iran for 183 years (312 – 129 BC), a notable achievement considering the fact that the only uniting force keeping the Empire together was the martial prowess of the Kings. At its height, the Empire had a population equaling almost half of that of Qin Dynasty China. Eventually, the Empire fell through a combination of court intrigues, constant infighting and defeats in the hands of the Romans and Parthians.
Political History
Alexander the Great’s death in 323 BC meant the end of the Macedonian Empire he had conquered, which disintegrated into competing Hellenistic Kingdoms with the same speed as it had been created. Perhaps the most successful of the Warlords that fought for dominance was Seleucus (c. 358 BC – 281 BC), who managed to secure for himself most of Macedonian Asia. The Seleucid Empire was formally established with the recovery of Babylon from Seleucus’ rival, Antigonos, in October 312. Seleucus had been married to Apame, daughter of the Sogdian satrap Spitameneses, since 324, on Alexander’s orders. Unlike other Macedonian generals, he did not divorce his wife after Alexander’s death, either because she was politically useful for him in controlling the natives of his eastern provinces or because he truly loved her (or maybe both). Seleucus invaded Punjab in India in 305, confronting Chandragupta Maurya (Sandrokottos), founder of the Maurya Empire. He was forced to cede vast territories west of the Indus in exchange for elephants which he used to defeat Antigonus in the battle of Ipsos in 301.
Seleucus then made an important decision when he moved the capital, and thus the center of political power, away from Iran and in Syria. In 300, he founded Antioch on the lower Orontes in north Syria and constructed two artificial harbors, Seleucia and Laodicea. More than 1,700 miles separated his capital from his outposts in Jaxartes and this made control of the eastern provinces a difficult task and later on allowed them to declare independence, leading to the creation of the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom and the Indo-Greek Kingdoms. However, his move of the capital in Syria had advantages. He could closely monitor the Mediterranean and Greece, from which he could import ideas and, most importantly, men. He could also check Ptolemaic Egypt’s advance in Palestine, where a series of Egyptian-Seleucid wars were fought.
By the time of his death, in 281, his empire stretched from Bactria to Minor Asia and he had even established a foothold in Thrace. It is very likely that he had ambitions on the Macedonian throne itself and, had he not been assassinated, he might have been able to restore unity to the Macedonian Empire. Alas, he was assassinated by Ptolemy Ceraunus, thus putting an end to the Seleucid ambitions of uniting the Empire. From now on, Alexander’s Empire was dead, never to be reunited, and a new one was born: the Seleucid Empire.
Seleucus was succeeded by Antiochus I. An interesting story about him has to do with his love for Stratonice, the daughter of Antipater. She was married to Seleucus but, after discovering that his son was lovesick with her, he gave up Stratonice in marriage to the young prince in 294. When Antiochus came to the throne, the situation was not ideal for the new ruler; his control of parts of the Empire, especially in the east, was tenuous at best. Nomads from the “vast plain stretching out interminably” in Central Asia raided the eastern provinces and in 280 they managed to get as far as Tirmidh and Herat. Meanwhile, Seleucid territories in Western Asia Minor were being contested. But Antiochus was not to be underestimated and was no less capable than his father.
He expelled the nomads, restored ravaged cities, rebuild the citadel of Marv and constructed a rampant of beaten earth and brick (20 meters high and 270 km long) in Marv oasis. In 275 he defeated the Gauls, who raided Minor Asia, with the use of elephants. But his conflict with Egypt over Palestine was the cause of much trouble for the Empire, as it depleted resources which could be used to defend and maintain control of the east. Antiochus had to ask his Bactrian province to send him 20 elephants in order to use them against Egypt, thus leaving the province undefended in the face of renewed nomad raiding. Antiochus’ hold in Asia Minor was no more secure. The cities there, although professing loyalty to the King, regarded themselves as being outside of the Empire and their allegiance had to be reaffirmed when a new King came to the throne.
The next King, Antiochus II, when he died, left the Empire far weaker than when he had taken the throne. General Diodotus in Bactria declared his independence from his Seleucid overlords and he formed the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom which was to defend Bactria for almost 130 years against nomads and conquered many peoples in India, leading to the creation of the Indo-Greek Kingdom. When Andragoras, Satrap of Parthia, too revolted against his lord, his province was overrun by the Parni led by Arsaces. Those nomads were to establish the Parthian Empire which would later on dominate Iran and clash repeatedly with the Roman Empire. But, for now, the Parthians were contained due to the cooperation between Seleucids and Bactrians to keep them in check.
The death of Antiochus II in 246 led to a dynastic war, one of the many that ravaged and eventually brought down the Seleucid Empire. Laodice, divorced wife of Antiochus, and Berenice, widow and sister to Ptolemy III of Egypt, fought out. Seleucus II Callinicus was defeated by Ptolemy and later had to fight a civil war against his brother Antiochus Hierax. He lost direct control of much of Asia Minor, but he managed to retain the allegiance of Miletos and Smyrna.
- Seleucid Empire in 200 BC, after the successful campaigns of Antiochus III and before his defeat by Rome
Although the Seleucid Empire was weakened, it was still not dead and Antiochus III would prove that a capable King could restore the Empire to its former glory. Antiochus III alone managed to restore Seleucid control, albeit nominal, in Bactria and the Far East and rightfully gained the title of “Great King”. Polybios said of Antiochus’ anabasis of 212 – 205: “‘It was this campaign which made him appear worthy of royalty, not only to the peoples of Asia but to those in Europe as well”. The rich booty he gained from that campaign allowed him to defeat Egypt and acquire Palestine in 200. This was the high point of the Seleucid Empire. It seemed as it could reign supreme in the Hellenistic East and be restored to great power status. But it was not to be; in 189 he lost a war with Rome and was forced to cede Western Minor Asia. His conquests in the east were too reversed by this setback. Yet he maintained control of Western Iran, from Ecbatana to the Persian Gulf.
But dynastic intrigues and infighting were to cause the loss of Media in 148 and Babylon in 141 to the Parthians. Somewhat surprising is the fact that not only Greeks, but also Iranians remained loyal to the Seleucids and appealed for Seleucid help against the Parthians. Demetrious II set out for Media, although his decision to campaign east may have more to do with his desire to get rid of his political opponent Tryphon from Syria than with the appeal of the residents of the province. He was popular among the populace but popularity alone does not win a war; he was captured in 139. His brother, Antiochus VII was far more successful, as he managed to recover Babylon and Media from the Parthians but was unfortunately killed in a skirmish in 129. Thus Seleucid domination of Iran, and with it its status as a great empire, ended once and for all. The fact that the Seleucids had managed to hold on to Iran for 183 years was most impressive but eventually the lack of able leaders caused its loss.
For the rest of its existence, until 63 BC, the Seleucid Empire, if it could be called empire any more, controlled only Antioch and a few Syrian cities. Yet, despite the precariousness of the situation, the infighting and dynastic intrigues continued to ravage the Seleucids. The Kings and their political opponents squabble over a realm reduced to nothingness and kept alive only because Rome did not want to assume responsibility for Syria. When Rome finally decided to assume that responsibility, the Seleucid Empire came to an end. Syria became a Roman province.
Administration
The Seleucid Kings ruled over a vast Empire that had no common religion, language or ideology. They were foreigners to the lands they ruled yet they were not colonialists either, as they neither owned nor had the support of Macedonia. The diverse lands they controlled were theirs not by some divine favor or because they were natives, but due to the fact that they had conquered them. By the Spear is the term they used to describe their ownership of those lands, meaning that they owned them through the right of conquest. As such, the Kings had to prove that they were capable military commanders and had to maintain order in the Empire through the show of force and military campaigns. Of the fourteen Seleucid Kings who reigned from 312 to 129, ten died on campaign. That goes on to show how important war was to the Empire. The Kings, despite some writers calling them Kings of Asia or Kings of Syria, did not give designation to themselves. They called themselves simply, to use some examples, “King Antiochus” or “King Seleucus”, and never Kings of some land or nation.
The Empire was essentially a military regime held together only because of the martial prowess of the Kings. No sophisticated bureaucracy developed and the Empire was ruled by the King, his friends and the army. The friends were the King’s court, men from all over the known world, from which the King chose his generals and ministers. Those were ambitious men who sought fortune and fame. An Acarnian who had served Macedon, later served Antiochus III, to use an example. They, as their King, had no roots in the lands they resided, and so they were as foreigner as their King and had to rely on him as he had to rely on them. So the “good will” of the King and his friends was essential in the administration of the Empire.
The Seleucids preserved the Satrapies of the old Achaemenid Empire. The Iranian Satrapies were under the supervision of a Viceroy who resided in Ecbatana. The Satrapies were subdivided into districts called ‘Places’ (Topoi). Those districts could be native villages, Greek cities or military wards (Phylake). A lot of Greek cities were constructed in Iran, in royal land. Those colonies helped maintain some stability in the Empire and were outposts of Greek civilization. The colonies were established in favorable positions. For example, a colony was established in Ai Khanum on Oxus, which was defended from rivers and by a hill. Colonists received land in the surroundings of the city and in exchange they had to render military aid to the King.
The cities (polis) were formally autonomous but overseen by an epistastes, the royal overseer. The cities would typically have their local magistrates (Archons), in the same way the city-states in Greece itself had their own magistrates. The cities were also self-sufficient economically due to the land allotted to the citizens. The landowners resided in the city but the rich ones also had luxurious manors with baths in the countryside. The city was protected by wall. It is not clear if natives were allowed to reside in some quarters of the city. Cities in Mesopotamia, such as Nisibis and Edessa, had the right to coinage, but the cities in Iran did not.
The Seleucid Empire is estimated to have had maybe a population of 20,000,000, about half than that of the Qin Dynasty in China (40 - 50 million). The Seleucid Empire was also able to field a well-trained army of 72,000 men, an enormous force for that time. It is estimated that only about 12,000 of them were recruited from among native Iranians, and the vast majority of them from wild tribes such as the Cissii. Those Iranians served mostly as light infantry. The Seleucids also made great use of war elephants. The Seleucids had good reason not to want to recruit locals; they did not have any reason to be loyal to their lords, so how could they trust them not to revolt? The Ptolemies, who eventually recruited Egyptians in their army in large numbers, despite an initial boost in manpower which gave them victory in Syria, had to deal with this threat which later led to local revolts.
Economy
Seleucid coins show that the monetary system was mostly uniform throughout the Empire. The unified silver coinage boosted trade. Agriculture and commerce were encouraged by the Seleucid Kings. They granted hereditary possession of land to farmers who planted on that land. They also undertook public projects of improving roads and harbors and canalized the river Eulaios (Karun), thus establishing a route between Susa and the Persian Gulf. Antiochus III opened the bazaars of India to Seleucid merchants thanks to his military campaigns in the East and launched an expedition against the Gerrhaens in Arabia to divert spice trade routes from Arabia to Seleucia and Sousa. Spice from Arabia and India came to Susa and proceeded to the West while western merchandise proceeded from Susa to the East. Unfortunately, not enough is known about taxation.
Land was divided into three categories: royal land, which was owned by the King and sometimes granted to farmers as stated above, land which belonged to the citizens of the Greek cities, which was allotted to them in exchange for military service, and land allotted to holy temples.
The countryside of Seleucid Iran was dominated by villages where the Iranians lived and were the main fiscal and economic unit. Underground irrigation canals (qanats) played a major role in the economy and agriculture. The native chieftains continued the exploitation of peasants as they had done before the Greeks came. The Seleucids intervened little in the life of the natives, caring only for peace, security of the roads and taxation. The Iranians were ignored and the only link between the central government and Iranians were the tax officials. This neglect kept peace. The Iranian aristocrats were charmed by Greek civilization and even accepted nudity in male statues, Greek plays and learned Greek language, but common Iranians were aloof to their overlords and retained their traditions while Greek never became dominant among them.
Sources:
Cambridge History of Iran, Volume 3 Part 1 (Seleucid, Parthian and Sassanian Periods)
A Companion to the Hellenistic World (Blackwell Companion to the Ancient World)
History of the Greeks, Volume 4 (The Hellenistic Times)
