The Seleucid Kings
Modern Authers:
Terminology:G. Shipley, The Greek World after Alexander, chs. 2 and 8. G. Bugh, The Cambridge Companion to the Hellenistic World, ch. 2, pp. 28-35 and 43-48. A. Erskine, A Companion to the Hellenistic World, chs. 2-3 and 8
E. Bevan, The House of Seleucus G. Cohen, The Seleucid Colonies J.D. Grainger, Seleukos Nikator: Constructing a Hellenistic Kingdom Peter Green, Alexander to Actium A. Kuhrt & S. Sherwin-White, Hellenism in the Greek East; From Samarkand to Sardis: a New Approach to the Seleucid Empire. Cambridge Ancient History, Vol. 7.
| Pezhetairoi |
|
Hypaspists |
|
Argyraspidae |
| "Foot Companions" |
|
"Shieldmen" |
|
"Silver Shields" |
| Seleucus I Nikator | Apame, Apamea | Antiochus I Soter |
| Seleucus II Kallinikos | Seleucus III Soter | Antiochus III the Great |
| Seleucus IV Philopator | Antiochus IV Epiphanes | Spitamenes |
| Eumenes | Cappadocia | Ptolemy |
| Perdiccas | Triparadeisos | Antigonus |
| Polyperchon | ||
| Seleucus / kos / cids | Cassander | Lysimachus /kos |
| Demetrius Poliorcetes | Nicanor | Ipsus / Ipsos |
| Arachosia | Parapamisadae | Chandragupta Maurya |
| Battle of Corupedion | Ptolemy Ceraunos | Antiochus I |
| Asander | Cardia | Bagadates |
| Pontus | Bithynia | Pergamon |
| Parthia | Berenike Syra | Laodike |
| Antiochus Hierax | Attalus | Antigonus Doson |
| Battle of Sellasia (222 B.C.) | Molon | Coele-Syria |
| Sosibius | Agathocles | Battle of Rapphia (217 B.C.) |
Bagnall and Derow comment as follows (p. 50):
The conflict, the Third Syrian War, is known also as the Laodikean war, after Laodike, whom Antiochus II had set aside in order to marry Berenike,
daughter of Ptolemy II … After the death of Antiochus II Laodike's son succeeded him as Seleucus II, and she forthwith saw to the murder of
Berenike and her infant son at Antioch. Ptolemy, too late to save his sister … immediately undertook a march into the Asian heartland of the Seleucid realm.
This campaign is referred to also by Jerome in his commentary on the Book of Daniel (11.8):
“and he (Ptolemy) came with a great army, and entered into the province of the king of the north, i.e. Seleucus called Callinicus, who was reigning in Syria with his mother Laodice, and dealt masterfully with them and obtained so much as to take Syria and Cilicia and the upper parts across the Euphrates, and almost all Asia. And when he heard that a rebellion was afoot in Egypt, plundering the kingdom of Seleucus he took 40,000 talents of silver and costly vases, and 2,500 images of the gods among which were those Cambyses had carried away to Persia when Egypt was taken.”The ‘Adoulis inscription’ follows: (It can also be found in Austin Doc. 221, = Austin2 Doc. 268.)
Great King Ptolemy, son of King Ptolemy and Queen Arsinoe the Brother and Sister Gods, the children of King Ptolemy and Queen Berenike the Saviour Gods, descendant on the paternal side of Herakles the son of Zeus, on the maternal of Dionysos the son of Zeus, having inherited from his father the kingdom of Egypt and Libya and Syria and Phoenicia and Cyprus and Lycia and Caria and the Cyclades islands, led a campaign into Asia with infantry and cavalry and fleet and Troglodytic and Ethiopian elephants, which he and his father were the first to hunt from these lands and, bringing them back into Egypt, to fit out for military service. Having become master of all the land this side of the Euphrates and of Cilicia and Pamphylia and Ionia and the Hellespont and Thrace and of all the forces and Indian elephants in these lands, and having made subject all the princes in the (various) regions, he crossed the Euphrates river and after subjecting to himself Mesopotamia and Babylonia and Sousiane and Persis and Media and all the rest of the land up to Bactriane and having sought out all the temple belongings that had been carried out of Egypt by the Persians and having brought them back with the rest of the treasure from the (various) regions he sent (his) forces to Egypt through the canals that had been dug ---.