Seleucid King Research Articles

Breaking Down the Narrative Regarding "Jews": Judeans in Judea and Egypt in Hellenistic and Roman Times

Abstract: This article focuses on the Hellenistic period, when Jews had a homeland, that is, a territory in which they formed the majority population group and possessed their own state institutions. Consequently, it is claimed, their history cannot be apprehended through paradigms, such as "antisemitism," devised for later periods of time, when Jews formed a minority bereft of a homeland. Moreover, statehood also impacted the collective self-perception, and hence the agency, of Jewish population groups who lived as minorities outside Judea, in particular in Egypt. To illustrate this twofold claim, two case studies are discussed: the so-called religious persecution carried out by Seleucid King Antiochus IV in the mid to late 160s BCE, and commemorated in the Jewish festival of Hanukkah; and the distorted versions of the Exodus story composed by Egyptian authors, which are often seen as the first anti-Judaic texts ever written.

Breaking Down the Narrative Regarding "Jews": Judeans in Judea and Egypt in Hellenistic and Roman Times

Abstract: This article focuses on the Hellenistic period, when Jews had a homeland, that is, a territory in which they formed the majority population group and possessed their own state institutions. Consequently, it is claimed, their history cannot be apprehended through paradigms, such as "antisemitism," devised for later periods of time, when Jews formed a minority bereft of a homeland. Moreover, statehood also impacted the collective self-perception, and hence the agency, of Jewish population groups who lived as minorities outside Judea, in particular in Egypt. To illustrate this twofold claim, two case studies are discussed: the so-called religious persecution carried out by Seleucid King Antiochus IV in the mid to late 160s BCE, and commemorated in the Jewish festival of Hanukkah; and the distorted versions of the Exodus story composed by Egyptian authors, which are often seen as the first anti-Judaic texts ever written.

The specific and the ambiguous: what can we say of royal ideology of bronze coin types of the earliest Seleucid kings?

Abstract This article argues that the bronze coin types of the earliest Seleucid kings clearly illustrate the royal ideology of Seleucus I and his co-rulership with Antiochus I. This article considers the audience and meaning of the bronzes, as well as their minting patterns. After a discussion of the obverse and reverse types, this article focuses on two images: that of the bull and the anchor. The bull being both highly produced, and open to interpretation, and the anchor being a symbol more personal and specific to Seleucus I. This article then goes on to put forward that the bull/anchor types produced at Aï Khanoum/Bactra were a deliberate link on the part of Antiochus to the types produced by Seleucus I to create an imperial image.

Possible Purpose of the Summoning of the Troops to Antioch on the Orontes in 250 BC

In the article, I focused on the fragmentary cuneiform evidence of the Babylonian astronomical diaries from 250/249 BC. It shows how someone unknown had gathered his troops and chariots and departed from Antioch. This evidence contains 4 interrelated questions: 1) Who had gathered the troops? 2) When did it happen? 3) Where were the troops gathering? 4) What was the purpose of the campaign? By now communis opinio was formed as answers to 3 questions: 1) The troops were gathered by the Seleucid king Antiochus II; 2) the event took place between mid-April and mid-July 250 BC; 3) the place of the gathering was Antioch on the Orontes. To this I can add that the stay of Antiochus II in Antioch is indirectly indicated by the agreement between this king and the Cretan polis Lyttus from April 250 BC. Also, this agreement may testify for Antiochus’ short-term interest in the situation in Cyrenaica after the death of its king Magas. Initially, such interest could be caused the gathering of the troops in Antioch too. At the present stage, there are 3 hypotheses regarding the purpose of the royal campaign: 1) the implementation of the European expansion; 2) the assistance Ziaelas – a contender for the Bithynian throne; 3) the pacification of eastern Seleucid regions. An objection to the first two hypotheses is the logistical inexpediency of the summoning troops from Antioch to Northern coast of Asia Minor. Also, the evidence of majority of sources is against the dating of the European expedition of Antiochus to 250 BC; and a military help to Ziaelas did not require a personal participation of the powerful Seleucid. Most likely, the purpose of Antiochus' campaign was to counteract the centrifugal processes that were beginning in the Seleucid Bactria. At least, there are no chronological and logistical objections to this hypothesis.

Seleukos Krallığı’na Evlilik Yolu İle Katılan Ptolemaios Kökenli Kleopatraların Güç Savaşları

Marriages arranged to support political alliances between Hellenistic kingdoms were a symbol of peace between dynasties. These marriages were especially applied between the two important kingdoms of the Hellenistic world, the Seleucid and Ptolemaic dynasties. With diplomatic marriages, the Seleucid and Ptolemaic kingdoms aimed to make the peace process permanent. In the peace text that will come into effect after the Second Syrian War (260-253 BC) between the Seleucid and Ptolemaic kingdoms, the marriage to be realized between these two dynasties was reflected in the text of the treaty and the Seleucid King II. Antiochos Theos and Ptolemaic Princess Berenike Phernophoros formalized their marriage in 252 BC. With the political marriages between the Seleucid and Ptolemaic kingdoms, the peace establishment was tried to be preserved and consolidated. Cleopatras of Ptolemaic origin took place in the Seleucid Dynasty and assumed an active role in the kingdom, with Cleopatra Thea as of 150 BC. The increasing dominance of Queen Cleopatra Thea with her attempts to gain political power in the Seleucid Kingdom showed that Cleopatras of Ptolemaic origin tried to be permanent and active. Cleopatra Trypheana, Cleopatra IV and Cleopatra V Selene, as Seleucid queens of Ptolemaic origin, entered into a struggle for existence with a series of political and social activities in the Seleucid Dynasty. In this study, the political existence struggles of the Ptolemaic origin Cleopatras in the Seleucid Kingdom were examined, and it was aimed to analyze the effects of these activities on the Seleucid Kingdom in line with ancient and modern sources.

Poslednji Makedonski pohod na Iran - jedna zaboravljena vojna revolucija

The campaign of the Seleucid king Antiochus VII led against the newly expanded empire of the Parthians (the Arsacid dynasty) is a very important, but largely forgotten episode of ancient military history. Conducted during 130 and 129 BC, it was the final attempt by the Macedonian dynasty of Seleucids to preserve its position as the leading power in Western Asia, against growing Arsacid might that gradually took control over Iran, Mesopotamia and parts of Central Asia. Apart from marking the definitive end of Seleucids as a great power, this event is noteworthy because of the consequences it had for the Parthian military organization and doctrine. The very beginning of the war was marked by massive defeats on the side of the Parthians, with battles, entire armies and regions lost. The Parthian king Phraates II learnt appropriate lessons from the defeat and reorganized what was left of his army for the type of warfare: instead of leading massive positional battles, the victory is to be won through maneuver warfare, exhaustion of the enemy and the elimination of the smaller and isolated parts of the hostile force. There is significant support for the claim that the changes brought on by this experience had a character of a true military revolution - a revolution that shaped the classical Parthian way of warfare. This was one of the most important factors for the later (and mostly successful) Parthian resistance to the Romans, and particularly in their greatest military triumph: the victory over the Army of Marcus Crassus at Carrhae in 53 BC.

The Horned Horse in the Coinage of Seleucus I Nicator

The motif of the horned horse on the coins of Seleucus I is characteristic for the coinage of the first Seleucid king. Its meaning is still unclear in spite of many attempts to interpret it. The horned horse is associated with Dionysos, or Alexander the Great. Most of the coins featuring this motif were minted in the Iranian part of the empire of Seleucus I and this fact suggests that it should be interpreted in the context of Iranian culture in which a horse featured significantly and could symbolize royal power and authority. Horns as an iconographic element were characteristic of Babylon and were typical attributes of gods and kings in their representations. This publication focuses on the interpretation of the motif of the horned horse and horseman within the context of the Iranian religion and Achaemenid royal tradition and its influence on Seleucus’ ideology of power.

The Speech-Acts of a Royal Pretender

Abstract Performative speech-acts were used by successive Seleucid pretenders and kings to create the appearance of power and authority out of weakness. As we have seen on the basis of Mark’s Gospel, Jesus’ used performative utterances in a similar way, and, for that reason, he was recognized as a royal pretender by both sympathizers and critics alike. From the perspective of Mark’s Gospel, Jesus set about to create the kingdom of God by royal pronouncement. It was a matter of royal power as discourse.

Types of Hellenistic Military Settlements in Royal Letters

The article is devoted to the analysis of information on Hellenistic military settlements, which can be found in the extant letters of Seleucid and Attalid kings. We mean the letter of Antiochus III preserved by Flavius Josephus in his Judean Antiquities, and three letters extant as inscriptions on stone: ‘Ikadion’s inscription’ from the island of Failaka in the Arabian Gulf (Kuwait, middle of the 3rd – early 2nd centuries BC), Antiochus V’s letter from Jamnia-on-the-Sea (Palestine, 163 BC) and Eumenes II’s letter from Kardakon Kome (Lycia, 181 BC). The material of the letters allows to conclude, that there were at least two different types of aforementioned settlements: 1) military settlements in proper sense, inhabited by warriors, whose duty was permanent military service, and members of their families; 2) specific settlements where people generally lived peaceful lives being engaged mostly in agriculture, cults of local sanctuaries etc., but also in some military activities like defense of fortresses. Both types could be protected by the kings in the form of partial or full tax exemption, land grants etc., although the second type got less royal attention of that kind than the first one. The existence of the second type can be explained by the fact that the oldest type of army, quite actual in the ancient world, was militia of a community. Thence the second type of settlements can be nothing else than communities, whose militias were used by the Hellenistic kings in their military activities alongside the professional army.

Dying as a king: The Seleucids in the Fragments of Porphyry Transmitted by Eusebius' Chronicon Morire da re: I Seleucidi nei frammenti di Porfirio trasmessi dal Chronicon di Eusebio

The aim of this paper is to analyze a fragment by Porphyry concerning Seleucid history and transmitted by Eusebius of Caesarea's Chronicon. A short introduction on this work (par. 1) will be followed by a defense of the authorship of the fragment as Porphyrian, and by a cautious suggestion to assign it to the Contra Christianos (par. 2). In the last section, the fragment will be examined at length and its ideological background will be highlighted. In particular, the account of Seleucid kings' deaths shows that Porphyry turned to sources favorable to that dynasty. A critical voice seems to raise only when the author recounts of Demetrius I and of his descendants.

Observations on Cities and their Biographies in Hellenistic North Syria

Most studies that aim to give integrated accounts of urban development in Hellenistic North Syria rely very much on information gathered from literary sources and draw heavily on analogies and circumstantial evidence. The master narrative developed along these lines is that the Seleucid kings profoundly transformed North Syria. Seleucus I allegedly triggered a largescale urbanization project that revitalized a largely depopulated region. However, the results of recent archaeological research suggest that the urban landscape of pre-Hellenistic North Syria was more diverse than previously acknowledged. While some of the cities can indeed be regarded as new and disembedded foundations, it now seems that most of them developed along individual trajectories rather than reflecting a royal strategy.

Kyle Erickson, The Early Seleukids, their Gods and their Coins. pp. xiv + 189, 46 ills. 2018. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-41579-376-6, hardcover £96.00

This book examines the coinage of rulers of the Seleucid kingdom down to the reign of Antiochus IV, with particular reference to the deployment on coins of images of divinities that were designed to symbolise and support Seleucid authority, which in its turn required the repeated re–creation of Seleucid legitimacy. Crucial questions throughout are: why was a specific coin type chosen? And, why did the coin iconography develop and change along the lines it did? An introductory chapter covers some of the historical background to Seleucid rule, and introduces (some of) the way(s) in which the images on coins can provide insights into the nature of that rule – in particular by the creation of a Seleucid identity and ideology that was based not only on military success, but also on the support of the gods, in particular Zeus and Apollo. A key conclusion is that some of the images can be interpreted in a ‘polyvalent context’ (p. 9), that is, they could have communicated different meanings depending on the different locales and religious traditions in which they were used. From this point of view an important aim of the book is a better understanding of the ways in which the Seleucid kings related to their native populations. Thus, in Chapter 2 the role of the image of the archer god Apollo sitting on the omphalos is assessed in terms of its potential significance in different areas of the empire: Asia Minor, the Syrian tetrapolis, Babylonia, and Iran.

A Grazing Horse and a Mare with a Foal-Achaemenid Motives in the Coinage of Antiochus III the Great?

A Grazing Horse and a Mare with a Foal-Achaemenid Motives in the Coinage of Antiochus III the Great?

ANOTHER CENTURY OF GODS? A RE-EVALUATION OF SELEUCID RULER CULT

This paper proposes that living Seleucid kings were recognized as divine by the royal court before the reign of Antiochus III despite lacking an established centralized ruler cult like their fellow kings, the Ptolemies. Owing to the nature of the surviving evidence, we are forced to rely heavily on numismatics to construct a view of Seleucid royal ideology. Regrettably, it seems that up until now much of the numismatic evidence for the divinity of living Seleucid rulers has not been fully considered. I argue that the evidence from silver coinage produced in the name of the Seleucid kings presents a version of the official image of the reigning king and that images which portray the king as divine reflect central acceptance of the king's divinity. This is clear from the epithets on the coinage of Antiochus IV and his successors, but I will argue that the same principle holds for all earlier Seleucid kings. Thus coinage with divine images of Seleucid kings provided one of the mechanisms through which the royal court transmitted the divine nature of the kings to the population. As we will see, in the case of Antiochus Hierax, local considerations also influenced the numismatic representation of the king. This blurring of boundaries between the local veneration of the king, which has long been accepted as normal civic practice in the Greek city-states and in non-Greek temples, and the royal images of the divine king calls into question the strict division between civic and centralized ruler cults. The reflection of local cults within royal ideology can be seen as a manifestation of a negotiating model of Seleucid power that relied heavily on a dialogue with a wide range of interested groups. This article argues that the inconsistencies in the development of an iconography of divine kingship before the reign of Antiochus IV is a manifestation of the same phenomenon.

The Temple Archive Used for the Fabrication of 1 Maccabees 10.25b–45

Chapter 10 of I Maccabees tells of the competing efforts of Seleucid King Demetrius I Soter and his contender, Alexander I Balas, to win the support of the Jews in Judea. Verses 25b-45 quote a letter, allegedly sent by the king, containing numerous overwhelming promises. Following an accepted view in research, which regards the letter as a fake, this paper raises the possibility that it was written as an ironic text, the irony being at times evident and at others more covert. The article suggests that in the composition of this array of promises, its author consulted, collected, and borrowed elements, even entire clauses from several other, authentic, Seleucid letters sent to the Jews in Judea. Of these letters, the resemblance in content between the text in question and two letters of Antiochus III, quoted by Josephus in book 12 of his Antiquity of the Jews, is especially striking. The apparent reliance on such authentic Seleucid documents, which are not quoted in I Maccabees, indicates that the author of the letter and the author of I Maccabees used the same official Temple archive, and quite likely, are the same person.

Contributions to Anatolian History and Numismatics 13-14

Contributions to Anatolian History and Numismatics 13-14

Hellenistic Coins from Kampÿrtepa

The article is concerned with Seleucid and Graeco-Bactrian coins found in the excavations at Kampÿrtepa, carried out by the Tokharistan archaeological expedition of the Fine Arts Research Institute during the years 1979-1991 and 1999-2010. In all, 30 coins of interest have been found there: 2 coins of the Seleucid king Antiochusiand 28 of the Graeco-Bactrian rulers, including coins of Diodotus, Euthydemusi, Demetriusi, Euthydemusii, and Eucratidesi. Most of the coin finds were small-denomination bronzes. Two more unique coins of an unknown type were uncovered at Kampÿrtepa: the legend on one of them contains the name Heliocles [iii]. In addition, three rare imitations of Demetriusiand Eucratides coins are presented in this paper.

Contributions to Anatolian History and Numismatics 11. Eagle omens: Foundations of Cities and Cults at the behest of Zeus

Bu makale, hem antik kaynaklarda hem de sikkeler uzerindeki betimlemelerde sikca karsilastigimiz bir mitologem (mitoloji icindeki temel bir motif) ile ilgilidir. Ne yazik ki bu mitologemin sikkeler uzerindeki betimlemeleri genellikle ustunkoru gecilmis, tanimlanamamis ya da hatali yorumlanmistir. Bu yuzden bu yazi numizmatlar icin oldugu kadar tarihcilerin de dikkatlerini bu sikkelere vermelerine yardimci olabilir. Soz konusu mitologem kentlerin kurulusu ile ilgilidir: Zeus tarafindan gonderilen bir kartal gokyuzunden asagi suzulur, bir altar uzerinde yakilan bazi kurban etlerini ve kemiklerini kapar ve bunlari Zeus'un o kurban sunusunu yapan kisi tarafindan kent kurulmasini istedigi bir yere goturur. Kurban eti calan kartal betimlemesi oldukca eskidir ve eldeki veriler, bilgisini kokeni kismen Yakindogu geleneklerine uzanan Aisopos (Ezop) masallarindan edinen Yunan sairi Arkhilokhos'a kadar geri gitmektedir. Bununla birlikte, kent kurulusu ile baglantili olan bu mi­tologem ozellikle Hellenistik Donem'de kullanilmistir. Bir sekilde Iskenderiye'nin Buyuk Iskender tarafindan Misir yakinlarinda kurulmasi model olusturabilir, cunku sonrasinda benzer hikayeler olusturulup yayilmistir. Buyuk Iskender'in yasadigi donemde bile zaten yaygin olan Iskenderiye'nin yerel (Patria) oykuleri, Iskender'in kurban eti calan bir kartal tarafindan, bilinmeyen bir donemden beri Serapis'in tapinim gordugu bir yere yonlendirildigini soylemektedir. Kendi kultunun kurulusu ile Iskenderiye'nin kurulusu tamamlanmistir: Iskenderiye koruyucu tanricasina sahip olmustu. Kent kurulusuna iliskin bir baska hikaye, muhtemelen tarihsel olmamakla birlikte, Aleksandreia Troas'ta ortaya cikmistir. Ilginc bir sekilde Zeus tarafindan degil de, yerel tanri Apollon Smintheus tarafindan gonderilen bir kartal, Iskender'i bu Aleksandreia'yi kurdugu yere getirmistir. Bir kurbanin uyluk kemikleri uzerine tuneyen bir kartal, Phrygia kentleri Blaundos ve Amorion'un sikkeleri uzerinde betimlenmistir. Bu, yerel inanisin bu kentlerin kurulusunu Zeus'in kartalinin gorunmesiyle iliskilendirdigini kesinlestirmektedir. Her iki durumda da Buyuk Iskender bu kentlerin kurucusu olabilir, fakat bu tam olarak acik degildir. Buyuk Iskender ornegi kisa bir sure sonra Seleukos kralliklari tarafindan kentlerin kurulusu hakkinda olusturulan efsanevi hikayeler icin kullanildi. Syria'­daki Antiokheia, limani Seleukeia Pieria ve yakinindaki Laodikeia'nin, Zeus'un kartallarinin dogru yerlere yonlendirdigi I. Seleukos tarafindan kurulusunun sikkeler uzerine yansitilan edebi anlatilari mevcuttur. Laodikeia orneginde bu mitologem, basarili bir av sonrasindaki kent kurulusu mitologemi ile birlestirilmistir: Kartal buyuk bir yaban domuzunu oldurdukten sonra Seleukos'u bu liman yerlesimini kurmaya yonlendirmistir. Ayrica Karia'daki Antiokheia'nin vatandaslari da kartal mitologemini I. Antiokhos tarafindan yapilandirilan kentlerinin Zeus'un iradesi ile kuruldugunu iddia etmislerdir. Bithynia'nin Hellenistik krallari da, bu tip hikayeleri yaygin bir sekilde kullanmislardir. Kral I. Nikomedes yeni ikametgahi Nikomedeia'yi Zeus tarafindan gonderilen kartalin ve Demeter'in kutsal hayvani olan yilanin onderliginde kurmustur. Ekin tanricasi yeni kentin kuruldugu bolgenin sahibesiydi. Olympos Dagi dibindeki Prusa, basarili bir av sonrasinda ve kartal alameti uzerine Kral I. Prusias tarafindan kurulmustur. Belki de Hellenistik Donem'de dahi krallar degil ama kahramanlar tarafindan kurulmus olan bazi kentler de kartal mitologemini kullanmislardi. Bunlardan birisi, bir kartalin isaretiyle Asur Krali Ninos tarafindan kurulusu hakkindaki Patria an­latilarinin sadece kabartmalarda hala gorulebildigi, fakat bu yazida tartisilan tum paralel anlatilarin yardimiyla bu oykulerin tam olarak anlasilabildigi Karia kenti Aphrodisias'tir. Kucuk bir Lykia kenti olan Arykanda'nin sikkeleri, iki eponym kahraman olan Arys ve Kandys'un bir yaban domuzunu cuvala koyma basarisinin anlatildigi bir kurulus hikayesini yansitmaktadir. Bu iki kahraman domuzun kafasini kurban olarak sunduklarinda, kartal bunu calar ve bu iki kahramanin kendi isimlerini vererek Arykanda'yi kurduklari yere goturur. Kartal hikayesinin kullaniminin Byzantion'da da cok eski bir gelenegi vardir. Patria anlatilari bize Byzantion'un, yeni kenti kurmasi gerektigi kayalik bir yere bir kartal onderliginde giden Trakyali kahraman Byzas tarafindan kuruldugunu anlatan bir efsaneden bahsetmektedir. Daha oncesinde kartal Byzas'in sundugu kurbanin kalbini calmistir. On yuzunde Byzas'in portresinin betimlendigi bir kent sikkesinin arka yuzunde yakinda Byzantion olacak olan kayaliklarin uzerinde oturan bu kartali gostermektedir. Sikke tahrip edilmis ve kucuk dusurulmus olan kente yardimlarindan dolayi “Yeni Byzas” olan Caracalla'nin imparatorlugu surecinde basilmistir. Daha sonra kartal mitologemi Constantinus'un Konstantinopolis'i kurusunda kullanilmistir. Son olarak da, kucuk bir Peloponnesos kenti olan Kleonai'dan bir ornek kartal mitologeminin Yunan anakarasinda da yayildigini gostermektedir. Ayrica makalede bu hikayelerin ne icin kullanildigi ve Yunan kurucularin rasyonel ve efsanevi dusunceyi birbirleriyle nasil birlestir­digi ya da kaynastirdigi konulari da tartisilmaktadir.

The land of the elephant kings: space, territory, and ideology in the Seleucid Empire

Seleucid Empire (311-64 BCE) was unlike anything ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern worlds had seen. Stretching from present-day Bulgaria to Tajikistan--the bulk of Alexander Great's Asian conquests--the kingdom encompassed a territory of remarkable ethnic, religious, and linguistic diversity; yet it did not include Macedonia, ancestral homeland of dynasty. The Land of Elephant Kings investigates how Seleucid kings, ruling over lands to which they had no historic claim, attempted to transform this territory into a coherent and meaningful space.Based on recent archaeological evidence and ancient primary sources, Paul J. Kosmin's multidisciplinary approach treats Seleucid Empire not as a mosaic of regions but as a land unified in imperial ideology and articulated by spatial practices. Kosmin uncovers how Seleucid geographers and ethnographers worked to naturalize kingdom's borders with India and Central Asia in ways that shaped Roman and later medieval understandings of the East. In West, Seleucid rulers turned their backs on Macedonia, shifting their sense of homeland to Syria. By mapping Seleucid kings' travels and studying cities they founded--an ambitious colonial policy that has influenced Near East to this day--Kosmin shows how empire's territorial identity was constructed on ground. In empire's final century, with enemies pressing harder and central power disintegrating, we see that very modes by which Seleucid territory had been formed determined way in which it fell apart.

SACRED PLUNDER AND THE SELEUCID NEAR EAST

The Seleucid Empire was the largest and most ethnically diverse of all the successor kingdoms formed after the death of Alexander the Great. The relationship between the Macedonian dynasty and various subject peoples is therefore a central question of Seleucid historiography. This article focuses on the relations between king and native temples, arguing that temple despoliation was standard procedure for Seleucid rulers facing fiscal problems. I explore various instances in which Seleucid kings removed treasures from native temples under coercive auspices, suggesting that this pattern problematizes recent scholarship emphasizing positive relations between Seleucid kings and native priestly elites.