SELEUCO I, Monoftalmo Nicatore (312–280 B.C.), Alessandro Magno (v.) commanded the cavalry, was given the government of Babylon. He took part in a large number of the many wars among the Diadochi, especially against Antigono Monoftalmo, while remaining continually allied with Tolomeo. After the victory at Isso (summer 301 B.C.) over Antigono, Seleuco received Armenia, Cappadocia, and Syria, SIRIA (v.) with Palestine, which, however, in fact remained under the sovereignty of Tolomeo figlio
(Int. Alinari)
SELEUCIDS - Bust of Antiochus III the Great - Paris, Louvre.
of Lago. After eliminating the diadochus Lysimachus with the victory of Corupedium (282-281 B.C.), Seleucus obtained much of the territory on this side of the Taurus. He was assassinated by Ptolemy Ceraunus in 280.
He was I (v.) Soter (280-261), who left power II (v.) Theos; the latter, before dying, declared his firstborn son Seleucus heir, having already sent him away with his mother Laodice, while marrying Berenice, daughter of Ptolemy II.
SELEUCUS II, called Callinicus (247-266 B.C.), had to endure the “Third Syrian War,” or “War of Laodice,” named after his mother (246-241). Ptolemy III Euergetes I (246-221) achieved complete success, managing to conquer a large part of the Seleucid Kingdom, including the capital.
In the peace settlement Seleucus not only had to recognize Ptolemaic rule in Palestine and Coele-Syria, but was also forced to abandon very many strategic points along the coast, Seleucia (v.). Once the Syrian War had ended, Seleucus was engaged against his own brother Antiochus Hierax, who, with the help of his mother Laodice, aspired to establish an independent kingdom in Babylonia.
Seleucus II was succeeded by his son SELEUCUS III Ceraunus, who reigned for not even three years (226-223) without accomplishing anything noteworthy. He was succeeded by his younger brother ANTIOCHUS III the Great (v.), who reigned from 223 to 187; defeated by the Romans (191) at Magnesia, he left a kingdom impoverished and reduced in extent.
SELEUCUS IV Philopator (187-175) inherited these conditions from his father and neither knew nor was able to alter them. Already St. Jerome (PL 25, 564 ff.), following the Greek text of Dan. 11:20, defined his reign as insignificant. To him is owed the mission of Heliodorus to plunder the Temple of Jerusalem (II Mach. 3:7 ff.). The initiative is explained by his financial difficulties; but personally S. showed himself rather benevolent toward the Jews (ibid. 3:3).
Seleucus was IV (v.) Epiphanes, who during his reign (175-163) adopted a policy hostile toward the Jews. Against his son, ANTIOCHUS V Eupator (163-162), I (v.), son of Seleucus IV, rose up; he was surnamed Soter (162-150) and died fighting against the usurper Alexander Balas, proclaimed king in 153 after landing at Ptolemais. He in turn was overthrown by the son of Demetrius I, II (v.) Nicator, who reigned twice (145-138 and 129-125), constantly harassed by rivals and irredentist movements in various parts of the Kingdom; the first time he had to share his dominion with TRYPHON (v.), who initially reigned as guardian of the young ANTIOCHUS VI Dionysus (145-141) and then directly in his own name (141-38); VIZI (v.) Sidetes, brother of Demetrius II, who in that year fell captive to the Parthians. These continual civil struggles enabled the Maccabean revolt (166 ff.) to establish itself, and in the time of Simon (141 B.C.) Judea achieved complete independence.
Antiochus VII (138-129) was followed by the second reign of Demetrius II, against whom, at the instigation of Ptolemy VII, rose a supposed son of Alexander Balas, namely Alexander Zabinas (125-123), while Cleopatra Thea killed her second son SELEUCUS V, son of Demetrius II. His brother, ANTIOCHUS VIII Grypus, defeated Alexander Zabinas and proclaimed himself king together with his mother; his reign (125-96) was interrupted by a revolt of his half-brother ANTIOCHUS IX Cyzicenus, who held out for a couple of years in Antioch (113-112) and, even after being driven from the capital, exercised sovereign authority (112-96) in Coele-Syria and Phoenicia from Damascus, proclaimed the center of the new Kingdom. Amid continuous struggles, intrigues, and divisions, the Kingdom grew ever weaker. Antiochus VIII too was killed by the courtier Heracleon, who proclaimed the dead man’s son SELEUCUS VI king and defeated Antiochus IX, who believed he could reunify the Kingdom. Both Seleucus VI Epiphanes and Antiochus IX Cyzicenus had successors who were continually at war with one another. ANTIOCHUS X Eusebes (95-83), son of Cyzicenus, fought with the various successors of Seleucus VI, namely ANTIOCHUS XI Epiphanes Philadelphus, PHILIP I Epiphanes, DEMETRIUS III Eucaerus, and ANTIOCHUS XII Dionysus. This throng of claimants, always ready to tear one another apart but inactive in opposing the successes of foreign kings and local potentates, came to an end in 65 B.C., when Pompey the Great eliminated the last Seleucid, namely ANTIOCHUS XIII Asiaticus, son of Antiochus X, declaring Syria a Roman province.