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SELEUCIA (Gr. EeXeimeta)

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Originally appearing in Volume V24, Page 603 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SELEUCIA (Gr. EeXeimeta) , the name of several See also:ancient See also:Greek cities named after Seleucus I. Nicator, founder of the Seleucid See also:dynasty. The following are the most important. I. SELEUCIA on the See also:Tigris, at the mouth of the See also:great royal See also:canal (Naharmalka, mod. Radhwaniya) from the Tigris to the See also:Euphrates, about 50 M. N. of See also:Babylon and 15 M. S. of See also:Bagdad. It was founded by Seleucus Nicator (see SELEUCID DYNASTY), ruler of Babylonia from autumn 312. Seleucus, departing from the precedent of See also:Alexander the Great, who, after his return from See also:India, had settled in Babylon, preferred to build a new See also:capital of a decidedly Greek See also:character. The new See also:city " was founded with the See also:object of exhausting Babylon " (Plin. vi.

122; See also:

Strabo xvi. 738) ; a See also:legend says that the Chaldaean priests, when they were consulted about the right See also:hour for the See also:initiation of the city, tried to frustrate the See also:design of the See also:king by naming a wrong hour, but that by See also:chance the See also:work was begun in the moment predicted by the stars and the See also:decree of See also:fate accomplished (See also:Appian, Syr. 58). Seleucia was peopled with Macedonians and Greeks; Syrians and See also:Jews were admitted to the citizenship (See also:Joseph. See also:Ant. xviii. 9. 8). It obtained a See also:free constitution. A great many other Greek cities were founded in Babylonia by Seleucus I. and See also:Antiochus I., while Babylon and the other ancient cities (See also:Sippara, See also:Erech, Ur, See also:Borsippa) decayed into See also:mere villages. Here the Chaldaean priests continued to See also:teach their astrological See also:wisdom (we possess many astrological tablets in See also:cuneiform See also:writing from the See also:time of the Seleucids and the earlier Arsacids); but Seleucia became the centre of the new hellenistic See also:civilization (see See also:HELLENISM). A great many Greek authors were See also:born here (e.g. the Stoic See also:Diogenes of Babylonia, 2nd See also:century), though the inhabitants of Seleucia in Babylonia generally are simply called Babylonians by the Greeks. In the time of See also:Pliny the See also:town was said to have 600,000 inhabitants (vi.

122). Seleucia suffered from the See also:

rebellion of the See also:satrap Molon of See also:Media, who was put down by Antiochus III. the Great in 220 (Polyb. v. 54)• Antiochus IV. Epiphanes once more restored the Seleucid supremacy in the See also:east; but after his See also:death (163) the decay of the See also:empire began and was accelerated by the intrigues of the See also:Romans. In Babylonia the See also:governor Timarchus rebelled and was acknowledged by the See also:Roman See also:senate. But he was defeated and killed by See also:Demetrius I. (c. 158), who was hailed as deliverer (Soler, " saviour ") by the inhabitants (Appian, Syr. 45. 4 f.; See also:Trogus, Prot. 34; Diod. 31.

27a). Soon after, the great conquests of the Arsacid king See also:

Mithradates I. began; Babylonia became subject to the Parthians (c. 140). The Greek towns were very unwilling to submit to the See also:foreign See also:rule, and welcomed Antiochus VII. Sidetes, when in 130 he attempted to restore his empire; but his defeat by Phraates II. in 129 ended the Seleucid rule in the east. Seleucia and other towns were cruelly punished by Phraates and his See also:prefect Himerus, who also devastated Babylon (See also:Justin xlii. 1; Trog. Prol. 42; Diod. See also:xxxv. 19. 21; cf. See also:Posidonius ap.

Athen. xi. 466 B). Seleucia, however, maintained her self-See also:

government and her spirit of Greek See also:independence (Plin. vi. 122; Tac. See also:Ann. vi. 42; cf. Joseph. Ant. xviii. 9. 8 f.), and remained the greatest commercial town of the east. The Arsacids did not dare to bring their See also:host of See also:barbarian soldiers and See also:retinue into Seleucia, but fixed their See also:residence opposite to it on the See also:left See also:bank of the Tigris in See also:Ctesiphon (Strabo xvi. 743; see CTESIPHON).

In all the See also:

wars with the Romans Seleucia inclined to the western deliverers; from A.D. 37 to 43 it was in open rebellion against the Parthians (Tac. Ann. xi. 8 f.). See also:Vologaeses I. (A.D. 50–91) founded the town Vologesocerta (near Ctesiphon) with the intention of draining the stormy Seleucia" (Plin. vi. 122). See also:Trajan occupied Seleucia in 1.16. In the See also:war of See also:Marcus Aurelius and L. Verus against the Parthians, Seleuciawas taken by Avidius See also:Cassius in 164, and then the: Romans did what the Parthians had not dared to do: they burnt down the great Greek town with 300,000 inhabitants (Dio See also:Cass. lxxi. 2; Zonar, xii.

2; Capitol. Vit. Veri, 8; Eutrop. 8. 1o; Ammian. Marc. See also:

xxiii. 6. 24; See also:xxiv. 5. 3). The great See also:plague, which laid See also:waste the Roman empire during the next years, is said to have sprung from the ruins of Seleucia. The destruction of Seleucia may be considered as the end of Hellenism in Babylonia.

(See also SELEUCID DYNASTY and HELLENISM.) (ED. M.) 2. A city on the See also:

north frontier of See also:Syria towards See also:Cilicia about 4 M. N. of the mouth of the See also:Orontes, near the See also:shore at the See also:foot of See also:Mount Pieria (hence called Seleucia Pieria). This town also was founded by Seleucus I. It served as the See also:port of See also:Antioch (Acts xiii. 4), and with See also:Apamea, See also:Laodicea and Antioch formed the Syrian tetrapolis. Considerable remains are still visible: the See also:chief are those of a cutting through the solid See also:rock nearly Iloo yds. See also:long, which See also:Polybius describes as the road from the city to the See also:sea; the triple See also:line of walls; See also:amphitheatre, See also:cemetery, citadel, temples. It was of great importance in the struggle between the Seleucids and the See also:Ptolemies; captured by See also:Ptolemy Euergetes in 246, it was recovered by Antiochus III. the Great in 219. It was recognized as See also:independent by the Romans in 70, but little of its subsequent See also:history is known. It had practically ceased to exist in the 5th century A.D. The See also:district stretching inland was known as Seleucis.

3. SELEUCIA TRACHEOTIS, sometimes called TRACHEA, a city of Cilicia on the Calycadnus (Geuk Su), also founded by Seleucus I. about 300 B.C., near the older See also:

Olbia. It had considerable commercial prosperity as the port of See also:Isauria, and was even a See also:rival of See also:Tarsus. In 1137 it was besieged by See also:Leon, king of Cilician See also:Armenia. On the loth of See also:June 1190 the See also:emperor See also:Frederick See also:Barbarossa was drowned in trying to See also:cross the Calycadnus. In the 13th century it was captured by the See also:Seljuks. There are many ancient remains, and on the See also:Acropolis the ruins of a See also:castle; many rock-cut tombs with See also:inscriptions have been found. On the site is the See also:modern Selefke, the chief town of the Ichili sanjak. Other towns bearing the name Seleucia were:—(4) Seleucia in See also:Mesopotamia, the modern See also:Birejik; (5) in the See also:Persian Margiana, founded as See also:Alexandria by Alexander the Great and rebuilt as Seleucia by Antiochus I. (of Syria); (6) in See also:Pisidia; (7) in See also:Pamphylia; (8) on the Belus in Syria. The city of See also:Tralles (q.v.) also See also:bore the name for a See also:short See also:period.

End of Article: SELEUCIA (Gr. EeXeimeta)

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