We all know about the glorious victory of the brother Scipios and driving Antiochus away as well as that clever diplomatic strategy used by Laenas.
But what of the late Seleucid empire? The era post Antiochus VII, the last great king of that empire. It's not as clear how their decline and fall play a role in the Roman world.
The battle of Ecbatana was like their Adrianople. Afterwards, they were just getting weaker and pettier.
While Sulla was dealing with Mithridates, the Seleucids were squabbling over their rump state that consisted of Antioch and some other Syrian cities.
Yet Sulla was the first diplomat to meet the Parthians, certainly he must have known that they would prove to be a tougher foe than the Seleucids.
Arguably, if Sulla wanted to, I think he could have deposed them and annex Antioch and Syria, but he stayed out of it. Overall, its very curious to see the Seleucid empire fall when it falls.
I know that the ruling families spoke Greek, but how deep into society did Greek (or other Hellenic languages) reach into society? How did it vary from Egypt to the Levant to Persia to Central Asia?
It's not often talked about but the Parthian invasion of 141 BC was one of the most impressive and daring feats of antiquity, at least in the east.
More than half of the Seleucid empire was swallowed up by Mithridates I. Parthia was transformed from a small kingdom into a major political power.
We know that at this time there was the bloody campaigns in the Iberian peninsula and also the attempt to pacify Carthage and Greece as much as possible.
But surely the Romans must have heard of the immense force that happened to tale over their rival empire. The Seleucids were in a civil war and as a result of this, their empire was fragile.
Or how about when Demetrius II was captured by the Parthians? That must have been quite interesting.
The Seleucids finally lost their empire to Pompey, but in all honesty, the Romans could have rounded up the Greek allies and Egypt by the 120s BC or so and take them down. Or even easier in the messy 90s BC during that great age of Marius and Sulla when the Seleucids were a complete mess
Its a miracle how they managed to cling on for as long as the did.
Just finished my first 2.0 Seleucid into Argead Empire Ironman Run, and wanted to share some tips from my experience.
Maurya Seleucid War; Either don't fight the war, or pray to the RNG God's, and maybe, MAYBE, once in a million years, the Maurya will decide to go for peace... which happened on my first Ironman 2.0 try and I could not believe it. So ya. Try your luck, but this isn't pre-2.0, you don't want to fight that first war with Maurya.
Successor Wars; What you want is to fight your first war against the Antigonids. That Successor Wargoal is insanely OP. The minute the game starts, raise all your levies, max out your one legion (plenty of supply cohorts btw) and move EVERYONE to the border with the Antigonids. Choose War, not Syria, and MOVE. Have cavalry ready to run down and block of the Egyptians as soon as you can, and then eat up everything. Aggressive Expansion and War Exhaustion is just a number, your goal is to conquer your way to the Aegean in War One. You want to squeeze three wars out of old Nikator, when Seleukos died I'd conquered all of Thrace, Macedon, Epirus, and part of the Northern Peloponnese.
Parthian Hordes Event; Cancer, absolute Cancer of an event. Sometimes, if your lucky (I was) it happens twice in one game (480 first time, and second time sometime around 590). There is some RNG as it doesn't always fire, but bet on the fact that it does. You need to prepare for this. I finished all of my conquests, Seleukos Nikator died around the earlies 470's, and I waited. 480 came, Antiochos dies in a "hunting accident" along the Parthian border, -10 hit to loyalty, unintegrated cultures, it's a mess. The historical accuracy is nice as it does put a real strain on your Empire, but once you are through its smooth sailing.
Military Traditions; Use and abuse this mechanic. Integrate a Levantine Culture, Integrate an Indian Culture, use your levies to fight as much as possible, micro them so they get into big battles so that when you disband them you get all the extra Milit
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I've been reading some commentaries and papers on Daniel lately, and I get that the general consensus view is that the four beasts can be identified as Babylon, Media, Persia, and Greece, respectively. This is in contrast to the 'traditionalist' view which sees Daniel as genuine predictive prophecy and the beasts as Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome.
I have to admit, I think the 'traditionalist' identification of the third beast makes more sense - the four heads and four wings seem to match well with the four horns on the he-goat in Dan. 8, which is explicitly identified as Greece. In Dan. 8, the author also combines Media and Persia into one 'beast' (the ram), so it seems strange they would be divided in the vision of Dan. 7
However, I don't buy the general traditionalist schema, because it's also quite obvious to me that the "little horn" in Dan. 7 is the same as the "little horn" in Dan. 8, and the little horn is obviously to be identified with Antiochus Epiphanes, and is explicitly shown to "grow out" of Greece in the Dan. 8 vision. So the fourth beast seems like it must also be identified with Greece in some way, and certainly can't be Rome.
So it seems to me like the third and fourth beasts are both Greece. But that doesn't really make any sense.
So my thought is maybe the leopard with four heads is meant to be Alexander's initial empire, while the fourth beast with teeth like iron is meant to be the Seleucid Empire that developed out of the Diadochi, and the author here is counting them as separate powers.
Is this a possible interpretation?
Thanks.
I imagine it took over the complex bureaucratic administration of the previous Achaemenid empire, so I don't understand why it never achieved the steady control over its territories that the latter had.
The Seleucid Empire has begun marshaling her armies against Egypt. 15,000 infantry, 2000 cavalry, and 100 elephants have begun to assemble at the city of Damascus while a smaller force of 15,000 Infantry, 2000 cavalry, and 100 elephants are assembling at Tiro. In addition 5000 infantry, 1000 cavalry, and 50 elephants have been assembled at Tripoli along with 150 warships and 500 transport ships.
Additionally, the Seleucid Empire will begin recruiting additional men into the army. The goal is to recruit 12,000 infantry and 4000 cavalry.
May the God's bless us and grant us victory!
Currently started a game last night where I tried to get as much as land from the Antigonids as possible at the start. And then all the sudden the Seleucids joined and cut me off from a ton of land and then one month all the remaining territories in the Syria areas turned blue.
Is there a good way to combat this without declaring war on the Seleucids? I was trying to fulfill the Eastern border missions.
I want to start reading up about the Seleucid empire and how it came into being, its rise and fall. I need book recommendations for this purpose.
I have already read about the Persian and Macedonian empires and am progressing through history chronologically. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.
I, Antiochus II, will guide the Empire out of Alexander's shadow and become a greater Empire than any on this land!
It would make sense for it to happen in 141, when the Seleucids were ejected from Mesopotamia, or in 129 when Antiochus VII was defeated and and the state finally being cemented to just Syria. But, apart from my guesses, what does the evidence suggest (numismatic, archeological, written)?
Also the ingame seleucid flag looks like the wojak meme. That's it, that's the point I wanted to make.
https://preview.redd.it/5raioabqvzg71.png?width=1440&format=png&auto=webp&s=53cf94c130cd90b36bb313853e58ac25d3fe1f0a
