Seleukid marriage alliances

Abstract

Despite modern scholars’ impressive work in collecting, organizing, and rationalizing the often contradictory information delivered by the ancient sources, at first glance, the Seleukid genealogy still appears as the most complex and chaotic maze of marital relations in the Hellenistic world. By looking at the marriage alliances enacted and welcomed by the Seleukid family, this chapter offers a fresh look at the matter, holistically approaching the royal dynasty as an ensemble of familial forces, which fluidly interact with diverse geographical and chronological contexts, rather than as a line of rulers hypothetically matched with concurrent consorts. By focusing on the period that marriage alliance was most popular as a diplomatic strategy in Seleukid politics (281–223 BCE), the paper explores the short- and long-term impact of such a practice on the structure and fortunes of the dynasty itself within the Hellenistic political system. It ultimately stresses the political uniqueness of the royal couple Antiochos III and Laodike III, who, setting their marriage aside from the other Anatolian epigamiai (marriage alliances), established themselves at the core of the royal pragmata as the new founding couple of the reunited Seleukid Empire.