The Seleukid Empire 281-222 BC

War Within the Family

edited by Kyle Erickson

Book cover: The Seleukid Empire 281-222 BC

Extent: 315 pages

Publisher: The Classical Press of Wales

Subjects: Classical Studies

Series: Hellenistic World

Language: English

Hardback (Published)

(September 2018)

ISBN: 9781910589717

Price: $78.00

In stock

PDF (Published)

(December 2018)

ISBN: 9781910589953

Price: $62.00

In this book an international team of scholars argues that the Seleukid empire developed flexible structures that successfully bound it together in the face of a series of catastrophes. The strength of the Seleukid realm lay not simply in its vast swathes of territory, but rather in knowing how to tie the new, frequently non-Greek, nobility to the king through mutual recognition of sovereignty.


The Seleukids, the easternmost of the Greek-speaking dynasties which succeeded Alexander the Great, were long portrayed by historians as inherently weak and doomed to decline after the death of their remarkable first king, Seleukos (281 BC). And yet they succeeded in ruling much of the Near and Middle East for over two centuries, overcoming problems of a multi-ethnic empire. In this book an international team of young, established scholars argues that in the decades after Seleukos the empire developed flexible structures that successfully bound it together in the face of a series of catastrophes. The strength of the Seleukid realm lay not simply in its vast swathes of territory, but rather in knowing how to tie the new, frequently non-Greek, nobility to the king through mutual recognition of sovereignty.

Introduction Kyle Erickson 1 Dispelling Seleukid phantoms: Macedonians in Western Asia Minor from Alexander to the Attalids Stephen Mitchell 2 The House of Achaios: reconstructing an early client dynasty of Seleukid Anatolia Alex McAuley 3 Asia Minor and the many shades of a civil war. Observations on Achaios the Younger and his claim to the kingdom of Anatolia Monica D'Agostini 4 Seleukos, Zeus and the dynastic cult at Seleukeia in Pieria Nicholas L. Wright 5 The ideology of Seleukid joint kingship: the case of Seleukos, son of Antiochos I John Russell Holton 6 The coming of the Parthians: crisis and resilience in the reign of Seleukos II Rolf Strootman 7 Rethinking the relationship between Hellenistic Baktria and the Seleukid Empire Richard Wenghofer 8 Iranian identity and Seleukid allegiance: Vahbarz, the Frataraka and early Arsakid coinage David Engels 9 The War of Brothers, the Third Syrian War, and the Battle of Ankyra (246241 BC): a re-appraisal Altay Coskun 10 Antiochos Soter and the Third Syrian War Kyle Erickson Bibliography Index

  • Edited by Kyle Erickson