Seleucid Kingdom
Antiochus IX Cyzicenus - King: 113-96 B.C. -
Bronze 19mm (4.70 grams) Struck 112-111 B.C.
Reference: Sear 7173; SNG Israel 2743; BMC 4.94,27
 Winged bust of Eros right.
Nike advancing left, holding wreath; on right ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ / ΑΝΤΙΟΧΟΥ; on left, ΦΙΛΟΠΑΤOΡΟΣ;
 in field to left, Seleucid date.

You are bidding on the exact item pictured, provided with a Certificate of Authenticity and Lifetime Guarantee of Authenticity.

In Greek mythology , Nike was a goddess who personified victory , also known as the Winged Goddess of Victory. The Roman equivalent was Victoria . Depending upon the time of various myths, she was described as the daughter of Pallas (Titan) and Styx (Water) and the sister of Kratos (Strength), Bia (Force), and Zelus (Zeal). Nike and her siblings were close companions of Zeus , the dominant deity of the Greek pantheon . According to classical (later) myth, Styx brought them to Zeus when the god was assembling allies for the Titan War against the older deities. Nike assumed the role of the divine charioteer , a role in which she often is portrayed in Classical Greek art. Nike flew around battlefields rewarding the victors with glory and fame.

Nike is seen with wings in most statues and paintings. Most other winged deities in the Greek pantheon had shed their wings by Classical times. Nike is the goddess of strength, speed, and victory. Nike was a very close acquaintance of Athena , and is thought to have stood in Athena's outstretched hand in the statue of Athena located in the Parthenon. Nike is one of the most commonly portrayed figures on Greek coins.

Names stemming from Nike include amongst others: Nicholas , Nicola, Nick, Nikolai, Nils, Klaas, Nicole, Ike, Niki, Nikita, Nika, Niketas, and Nico.

Antiochus IX Cyzikenes, ruler of the Greek Seleucid kingdom , was the son of Antiochus VII Sidetes and Cleopatra Thea . Upon the death of his father in Parthia and his uncle Demetrius II Nicator's return to power (129 BC), his mother sent him to Cyzicus on the Bosporus , thus giving him his nickname. He returned to Syria in 116 BC to claim the Seleucid throne from half-brother/cousin Antiochus VIII Grypus , with whom he eventually divided Syria. He was killed in battle by the son of Grypus, Seleucus VI Epiphanes in 96 BC.

Eros, in Greek mythology , was the primordial god of sexual love and beauty. He was also worshipped as a fertility deity. His Roman counterpart was Cupid ("desire"), also known as Amor ("love"). In some myths, he was the son of the deities Aphrodite and Ares , but according to Plato's Symposium , he was conceived by Poros (Plenty) and Penia (Poverty) at Aphrodite's birthday. Like Dionysus , he was sometimes referred to as Eleutherios, "the liberator".

                                                  Conception

Eros depicted on an Attic red-figure bobbin (ca. 470–450 BC)

Throughout Greek thought, there appear to be two sides to the conception of Eros. In the first, he is a primeval deity who embodies not only the force of love but also the creative urge of ever-flowing nature, the firstborn Light for the coming into being and ordering of all things in the cosmos. In Hesiod's Theogony , the most famous Greek creation myth , Eros sprang forth from the primordial Chaos together with Gaia , the Earth, and Tartarus , the underworld ; according to Aristophanes ' play The Birds (c. 414 BC), he burgeons forth from an egg laid by Nyx (Night) conceived with Erebus (Darkness). In the Eleusinian Mysteries , he was worshiped as Protogonus , the first-born.

Worship of Eros was uncommon in early Greece, but eventually became widespread. He was fervently worshiped by a fertility cult in Thespiae , and played an important role in the Eleusinian Mysteries . In Athens , he shared a very popular cult with Aphrodite, and the fourth day of every month was sacred to him.

                                       Eros and Psyche

The story of Eros and Psyche has a longstanding tradition as a folktale of the ancient Greco-Roman world long before it was committed to literature in Apuleius ' Latin novel, The Golden Ass , this is apparent and an interesting intermingling of character roles. The novel itself is picaresque Roman style, yet Psyche and Aphrodite retain their Greek parts. It is only Eros whose role hails from his part in the Roman pantheon.The story is told as a digression and structural parallel to the main storyline of Apuleius' novel. It tells of the struggle for love and trust between Eros and Psyche. Aphrodite is jealous of the beauty of mortal Psyche, as men are leaving her altars barren to worship a mere human woman instead, and so commands her son Eros to cause Psyche to fall in love with the ugliest creature on earth. Eros falls in love with Psyche himself and spirits her away to his home. Their fragile peace is ruined by a visit from Psyche's jealous sisters, who cause Psyche to betray the trust of her husband. Wounded, Eros leaves his wife and Psyche wanders the Earth, looking for her lost love.

In Apuleius's The Golden Ass, Psyche bears Cupid a daughter, Voluptas ("Pleasure, Desire").

A Roman copy of Eros Stringing the Bow from the Capitoline Museum

Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss in the Louvre , Paris .

The Shaftesbury Memorial in Piccadilly Circus , London, is popularly mistaken for Eros.^[4] In fact it represents Anteros .

                               Citations from classical sources

[Hera addresses Athene :] We must have a word with Aphrodite. Let us go together and ask her to persuade her boy [Eros], if that is possible, to loose an arrow at Aeetes’ daughter, Medea of the many spells, and make her fall in love with Iason . . . (Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica 3. 25 ff  a Greek epic of the 3rd century B.C.)

"He [Eros] smites maids breasts with unknown heat, and bids the very gods leave heaven and dwell on earth in borrowed forms." (Seneca, Phaedra 290 ff)

"Once, when Venus son [Cupid, aka Eros] was kissing her, his quiver dangling down, a jutting arrow, unbeknown, had grazed her breast. She pushed the boy away. In face the wound was deeper than it seemed, though unperceived at first. [And she became] enraptured by the beauty of a man [Adonis]." (Ovid, Metamorphoses 10. 525 ff)

"Eros drove Dionysos mad for the girl [Aura] with the delicious wound of his arrow, then curving his wings flew lightly to Olympos. And the god roamed over the hills scourged with a greater fire. (Nonnus, Dionysiaca 48. 470 ff  a Greek epic of the 5th century AD)

The Seleucid Empire (/dɨˈluːsɪs/; from Greek : Σελεύκεια, Seleúkeia) was a Hellenistic state ruled by the Seleucid dynasty founded by Seleucus I Nicator following the division of the empire created by Alexander the Great . Seleucus received Babylonia and, from there, expanded his dominions to include much of Alexander's near eastern territories. At the height of its power, it included central Anatolia , the Levant , Mesopotamia , Kuwait , Persia , Afghanistan , Turkmenistan , and northwest parts of India .

The Seleucid Empire was a major center of Hellenistic culture that maintained the preeminence of Greek customs where a Greek-Macedonian political elite dominated, mostly in the urban areas. The Greek population of the cities who formed the dominant elite were reinforced by emigration from Greece . Seleucid expansion into Anatolia and Greece was abruptly halted after decisive defeats at the hands of the Roman army . Their attempts to defeat their old enemy Ptolemaic Egypt were frustrated by Roman demands. Much of the eastern part of the empire was conquered by the Parthians under Mithridates I of Parthia in the mid-2nd century BC, yet the Seleucid kings continued to rule a rump state from Syria until the invasion by Armenian king Tigranes the Great and their ultimate overthrow by the Roman general Pompey .

History

Partition of Alexander's empire

Alexander conquered the Persian Empire under its last Achaemenid dynast, Darius III , within a short time frame and died young, leaving an expansive empire of partly Hellenised culture without an adult heir. The empire was put under the authority of a regent in the person of Perdiccas in 323 BC, and the territories were divided between Alexander's generals, who thereby became satraps , at the Partition of Babylon in 323 BC.

Rise of Seleucus

Coin of Seleucus I Nicator

The Kingdoms of the Diadochi circa 303 BC

Alexander's generals (the Diadochi ) jostled for supremacy over parts of his empire. Ptolemy , a former general and the satrap of Egypt , was the first to challenge the new system; this led to the demise of Perdiccas. Ptolemy's revolt led to a new subdivision of the empire with the Partition of Triparadisus in 320 BC. Seleucus , who had been "Commander-in-Chief of the camp" under Perdiccas since 323 BC but helped to assassinate him later, received Babylonia and, from that point, continued to expand his dominions ruthlessly. Seleucus established himself in Babylon in 312 BC, the year used as the foundation date of the Seleucid Empire. He ruled not only Babylonia, but the entire enormous eastern part of Alexander's empire:

"Always lying in wait for the neighboring nations, strong in arms and persuasive in council, he [Seleucus] acquired Mesopotamia, Armenia, 'Seleucid' Cappadocia, Persis, Parthia, Bactria, Arabia, Tapouria, Sogdia, Arachosia, Hyrcania, and other adjacent peoples that had been subdued by Alexander, as far as the river Indus, so that the boundaries of his empire were the most extensive in Asia after that of Alexander. The whole region from Phrygia to the Indus was subject to Seleucus."

— Appian , The Syrian Wars

Seleucus went as far as India , where, after two years of war , he reached an agreement with Chandragupta Maurya , in which he exchanged his eastern territories for a considerable force of 500 war elephants , which would play a decisive role at Ipsus (301 BC).

"The Indians occupy [in part] some of the countries situated along the Indus, which formerly belonged to the Persians: Alexander deprived the Ariani of them, and established there settlements of his own. But Seleucus Nicator gave them to Sandrocottus in consequence of a marriage contract, and received in return five hundred elephants."

—Strabo, Geographica

Westward expansion

Following his and Lysimachus ' victory over Antigonus Monophthalmus at the decisive Battle of Ipsus in 301 BC, Seleucus took control over eastern Anatolia and northern Syria .

In the latter area, he founded a new capital at Antioch on the Orontes , a city he named after his father. An alternative capital was established at Seleucia on the Tigris , north of Babylon. Seleucus's empire reached its greatest extent following his defeat of his erstwhile ally, Lysimachus, at Corupedion in 281 BC, after which Seleucus expanded his control to encompass western Anatolia. He hoped further to take control of Lysimachus's lands in Europe – primarily Thrace and even Macedonia itself, but was assassinated by Ptolemy Ceraunus on landing in Europe.

His son and successor, Antiochus I Soter , was left with an enormous realm consisting of nearly all of the Asian portions of the Empire, but faced with Antigonus II Gonatas in Macedonia and Ptolemy II Philadelphus in Egypt , he proved unable to pick up where his father had left off in conquering the European portions of Alexander's empire.

An overextended domain

Nevertheless, even before Seleucus' death, it was difficult to assert control over the vast eastern domains of the Seleucids. Seleucus invaded Punjab region region of India in 305 BC, confronting Chandragupta Maurya (Sandrokottos), founder of the Maurya empire . It is said that Chandragupta fielded an army of 600,000 men and 9,000 war elephants (Pliny, Natural History VI, 22.4).

Mainstream scholarship asserts that Chandragupta received vast territory, sealed in a treaty, west of the Indus, including the Hindu Kush , modern day Afghanistan , and the Balochistan province of Pakistan . Archaeologically, concrete indications of Mauryan rule, such as the inscriptions of the Edicts of Ashoka , are known as far as Kandahar in southern Afghanistan.

It is generally thought that Chandragupta married Seleucus's daughter, or a Macedonian princess , a gift from Seleucus to formalize an alliance. In a return gesture, Chandragupta sent 500 war-elephants, a military asset which would play a decisive role at the Battle of Ipsus in 301 BC. In addition to this treaty, Seleucus dispatched an ambassador, Megasthenes , to Chandragupta, and later Deimakos to his son Bindusara , at the Mauryan court at Pataliputra (modern Patna in Bihar state ). Megasthenes wrote detailed descriptions of India and Chandragupta's reign, which have been partly preserved to us through Diodorus Siculus . Later Ptolemy II Philadelphus , the ruler of Ptolemaic Egypt and contemporary of Ashoka the Great , is also recorded by Pliny the Elder as having sent an ambassador named Dionysius to the Mauryan court.

Other territories lost before Seleucus' death were Gedrosia in the south-east of the Iranian plateau, and, to the north of this, Arachosia on the west bank of the Indus River .

Antiochus I (reigned 281–261 BC) and his son and successor Antiochus II Theos (reigned 261–246 BC) were faced with challenges in the west, including repeated wars with Ptolemy II and a Celtic invasion of Asia Minor — distracting attention from holding the eastern portions of the Empire together. Towards the end of Antiochus II's reign, various provinces simultaneously asserted their independence, such as Bactria under Diodotus , Parthia under Arsaces , and Cappadocia under Ariarathes III .

In Bactria , the satrap Diodotus asserted independence to form the Greco-Bactrian kingdom c.245 BC.

Diodotus , governor for the Bactrian territory, asserted independence in around 245 BC, although the exact date is far from certain, to form the Greco-Bactrian kingdom. This kingdom was characterized by a rich Hellenistic culture, and was to continue its domination of Bactria until around 125 BC, when it was overrun by the invasion of northern nomads. One of the Greco-Bactrian kings, Demetrius I of Bactria , invaded India around 180 BC to form the Greco-Indian kingdom, lasting until around AD 20.

The Seleucid satrap of Parthia, named Andragoras , first claimed independence, in a parallel to the secession of his Bactrian neighbour. Soon after however, a Parthian tribal chief called Arsaces invaded the Parthian territory around 238 BC to form the Arsacid Dynasty — the starting point of the powerful Parthian Empire .

By the time Antiochus II's son Seleucus II Callinicus came to the throne around 246 BC, the Seleucids seemed to be at a low ebb indeed. Seleucus II was soon dramatically defeated in the Third Syrian War against Ptolemy III of Egypt and then had to fight a civil war against his own brother Antiochus Hierax . Taking advantage of this distraction, Bactria and Parthia seceded from the empire. In Asia Minor too, the Seleucid dynasty seemed to be losing control — Gauls had fully established themselves in Galatia , semi-independent semi-Hellenized kingdoms had sprung up in Bithynia , Pontus , and Cappadocia , and the city of Pergamum in the west was asserting its independence under the Attalid Dynasty .

Revival (223–191 BC)

Silver coin of Antiochus III the Great .

The Seleucid Empire in 200 BC (before expansion into Anatolia and Greece ).

A revival would begin when Seleucus II's younger son, Antiochus III the Great , took the throne in 223 BC. Although initially unsuccessful in the Fourth Syrian War against Egypt, which led to a defeat at the Battle of Raphia (217 BC), Antiochus would prove himself to be the greatest of the Seleucid rulers after Seleucus I himself. He spent the next ten years on his anabasis through the eastern parts of his domain and restoring rebellious vassals like Parthia and Greco-Bactria to at least nominal obedience. He won the Battle of the Arius and besieged the Bactrian capital , and even emulated Alexander with an expedition into India where he met with king Sophagasenus receiving war elephants:

"He (Antiochus) crossed the Caucasus and descended into India; renewed his friendship with Sophagasenus the king of the Indians; received more elephants, until he had a hundred and fifty altogether; and having once more provisioned his troops, set out again personally with his army: leaving Androsthenes of Cyzicus the duty of taking home the treasure which this king had agreed to hand over to him". Polybius 11.39

When he returned to the west in 205 BC, Antiochus found that with the death of Ptolemy IV , the situation now looked propitious for another western campaign. Antiochus and Philip V of Macedon then made a pact to divide the Ptolemaic possessions outside of Egypt, and in the Fifth Syrian War , the Seleucids ousted Ptolemy V from control of Coele-Syria . The Battle of Panium (198 BC) definitively transferred these holdings from the Ptolemies to the Seleucids. Antiochus appeared, at the least, to have restored the Seleucid Kingdom to glory.

Expansion into Greece and War with Rome

Following his erstwhile ally Philip's defeat by Rome in 197 BC, Antiochus saw the opportunity for expansion into Greece itself. Encouraged by the exiled Carthaginian general Hannibal , and making an alliance with the disgruntled Aetolian League , Antiochus launched an invasion across the Hellespont . With his huge army he was intent upon establishing the Seleucid empire as the foremost power in the Hellenic world but these plans put the empire on a collision course with the new superpower of the Mediterranean, the Roman Republic . At the battles of Thermopylae and Magnesia , Antiochus's forces were resoundingly defeated and he was compelled to make peace and sign the Treaty of Apamea in (188 BC), the main clause of which saw the Seleucids agree to pay a large indemnity, retreat from Anatolia and to never again attempt to expand Seleucid territory west of the Taurus Mountains . The Kingdom of Pergamum and the Republic of Rhodes , Rome's allies in the war, were given the former Seleucid lands in Anatolia. Antiochus died in 187 BC on another expedition to the east, where he sought to extract money to pay the indemnity.

Roman power, Parthia and Judea

The reign of his son and successor Seleucus IV Philopator (187-175 BC) was largely spent in attempts to pay the large indemnity, and Seleucus was ultimately assassinated by his minister Heliodorus .

Seleucus' younger brother, Antiochus IV Epiphanes , now seized the throne. He attempted to restore Seleucid power and prestige with a successful war against the old enemy, Ptolemaic Egypt , which met with initial success as the Seleucids defeated and drove the Egyptian army back to Alexandria itself. As the king planned on how to conclude the war, he was informed that Roman commissioners, led by the Proconsul Gaius Popillius Laenas , were near and requesting a meeting with the Seleucid king. Antiochus agreed, but when they met and Antiochus held out his hand in friendship, Popilius placed in his hand the tablets on which was written the decree of the senate and telling him to read it. When the king said that he would call his friends into council and consider what he ought to do, Popilius drew a circle in the sand around the king's feet with the stick he was carrying and said, "Before you step out of that circle give me a reply to lay before the senate." For a few moments he hesitated, astounded at such a peremptory order, and at last replied, "I will do what the senate thinks right." He then chose to withdraw rather than set the empire to war with Rome again.

The latter part of his reign saw a further disintegration of the Empire despite his best efforts. Weakened economically, militarily and by loss of prestige, the Empire became vulnerable to rebels in the eastern areas of the empire, who began to further undermine the empire while the Parthians moved into the power vacuum to take over the old Persian lands. Antiochus' aggressive Hellenizing (or de-Judaizing) activities provoked a full scale armed rebellion in Judea —the Maccabean Revolt . Efforts to deal with both the Parthians and the Jews as well as retain control of the provinces at the same time proved beyond the weakened empire's power. Antiochus died during a military expedition against the Parthians in 164 BC.

Civil war and further decay

Coin of Antiochus IV Epiphanes .

Silver coin of Alexander Balas .

After the death of Antiochus IV Epiphanes , the Seleucid Empire became increasingly unstable. Frequent civil wars made central authority tenuous at best. Epiphanes' young son, Antiochus V Eupator , was first overthrown by Seleucus IV's son, Demetrius I Soter in 161 BC. Demetrius I attempted to restore Seleucid power in Judea particularly, but was overthrown in 150 BC by Alexander Balas — an impostor who (with Egyptian backing) claimed to be the son of Epiphanes. Alexander Balas reigned until 145 BC, when he was overthrown by Demetrius I's son, Demetrius II Nicator . Demetrius II proved unable to control the whole of the kingdom, however. While he ruled Babylonia and eastern Syria from Damascus , the remnants of Balas' supporters — first supporting Balas' son Antiochus VI , then the usurping general Diodotus Tryphon — held out in Antioch .

Meanwhile, the decay of the Empire's territorial possessions continued apace. By 143 BC, the Jews in form of the Maccabees had fully established their independence. Parthian expansion continued as well. In 139 BC, Demetrius II was defeated in battle by the Parthians and was captured. By this time, the entire Iranian Plateau had been lost to Parthian control.

Demetrius Nicator's brother, Antiochus VII Sidetes , took the throne after his brother's capture. He faced the enormous task of restoring a rapidly crumbling empire; one facing threats on multiple fronts. Hard-won control of Coele-Syria was threatened by the Jewish Maccabee rebels. Once-vassal dynasties in Armenia, Cappadocia, and Pontus were threatening Syria and northern Mesopotamia ; the nomadic Parthians, brilliantly led by Mithridates I of Parthia had overrun uppland Media (home of the famed Nisean horse herd); and Roman intervention was an ever-present threat. Sidetes managed to bring the Maccabees to heel; frighten the Anatolian dynasts into a temporary submission; and then, in 133, turned east with the full might of the Royal Army (supported by a body of Jews under the Maccabee prince, John Hyrcanus) to drive back the Parthians.

Sidetes' campaign initially met with spectacular success, recapturing Mesopotamia, Babylonia and Media; defeating and slaying the Parthian Satrap of Seleucia-on-Tigris in personal combat. In the winter of 130/129 BC, his army was scattered in winter quarters throughout Media and Persis when the Parthian king, Phraates II , counter-attacked. Moving to intercept the Parthians with only the troops at his immediate disposal, he was ambushed and killed. Antiochus Sidetes is sometimes called the last great Seleucid king.

After the death of Antiochus VII Sidetes, all of the recovered eastern territories were recaptured by the Parthians. The Maccabees again rebelled, civil war soon tore the empire to pieces, and the Armenians began to encroach on Syria from the north.

Collapse (100–63 BC)

By 100 BC, the once formidable Seleucid Empire encompassed little more than Antioch and some Syrian cities. Despite the clear collapse of their power, and the decline of their kingdom around them, nobles continued to play kingmakers on a regular basis, with occasional intervention from Ptolemaic Egypt and other outside powers. The Seleucids existed solely because no other nation wished to absorb them — seeing as they constituted a useful buffer between their other neighbours. In the wars in Anatolia between Mithridates VI of Pontus and Sulla of Rome, the Seleucids were largely left alone by both major combatants.

Mithridates' ambitious son-in-law, Tigranes the Great , king of Armenia , however, saw opportunity for expansion in the constant civil strife to the south. In 83 BC, at the invitation of one of the factions in the interminable civil wars, he invaded Syria, and soon established himself as ruler of Syria, putting the Seleucid Empire virtually at an end.

Seleucid rule was not entirely over, however. Following the Roman general Lucullus ' defeat of both Mithridates and Tigranes in 69 BC, a rump Seleucid kingdom was restored under Antiochus XIII . Even so, civil wars could not be prevented, as another Seleucid, Philip II , contested rule with Antiochus. After the Roman conquest of Pontus, the Romans became increasingly alarmed at the constant source of instability in Syria under the Seleucids. Once Mithridates was defeated by Pompey in 63 BC, Pompey set about the task of remaking the Hellenistic East, by creating new client kingdoms and establishing provinces. While client nations like Armenia and Judea were allowed to continue with some degree of autonomy under local kings, Pompey saw the Seleucids as too troublesome to continue; and doing away with both rival Seleucid princes, he made Syria into a Roman province.

Culture

Bagadates I (Minted 290–280 BC) was the first indigenous Seleucid satrap to be appointed.

The Seleucid empire's geographic span, from the Aegean Sea to what is now Afghanistan and Pakistan , created a melting pot of various peoples, such as Greeks , Armenians , Persians , Medes , Assyrians , and Jews . The immense size of the empire, followed by its encompassing nature, made the Seleucid rulers have a governing interest in implementing a policy of racial unity initiated by Alexander.

The Hellenization of the Seleucid empire was achieved by the establishment of Greek cities throughout the empire. Historically significant towns and cities, such as Antioch , were created or renamed with more appropriate Greek names. The creation of new Greek cities and towns was aided by the fact that the Greek mainland was overpopulated and therefore made the vast Seleucid empire ripe for colonization. Colonization was used to further Greek interest while facilitating the assimilation of many native groups. Socially, this led to the adoption of Greek practices and customs by the educated native classes in order to further themselves in public life and the ruling Macedonian class gradually adopted some of the local traditions. By 313 BC, Hellenic ideas had begun their almost 250-year expansion into the Near East, Middle East, and Central Asian cultures. It was the empire's governmental framework to rule by establishing hundreds of cities for trade and occupational purposes. Many of the existing cities began — or were compelled by force — to adopt Hellenized philosophic thought, religious sentiments, and politics.

Synthesizing Hellenic and indigenous cultural, religious, and philosophical ideas met with varying degrees of success — resulting in times of simultaneous peace and rebellion in various parts of the empire. Such was the case with the Jewish population of the Seleucid empire because the Jews posed a significant problem which eventually led to war. Contrary to the accepting nature of the Ptolemaic empire towards native religions and customs, the Seleucids gradually tried to force Hellenization upon the Jewish people in their territory by outlawing Judaism. This eventually led to the revolt of the Jews under Seleucid control, which would later lead to the Jews achieving independence.

Seleucid rulers

Seleucus I Nicator , the founder of the Seleucid Empire.

The Seleucid dynasty or the Seleucidae (from Greek : Σελευκίδαι, Seleukídai) was a Greek Macedonian descendants of Seleucus I Nicator ("the Victor"), who ruled the Seleucid Kingdom centered in the Near East and regions of the Asian part of the earlier Achaemenid Persian Empire during the Hellenistic period .

List

Family tree