Seleucid dynasty

Uncommon card · No. 167202

The Seleucid dynasty or the Seleucidae (; Greek: Σελευκίδαι, Seleukídai, "descendants of Seleucus") was a Macedonian Greek royal family, which ruled the Seleucid Empire based in West Asia during the Hellenistic period. It was founded by Seleucus I Nicator, a general and successor of Alexander the Great, after the division of the Macedonian Empire as a result of the Wars of the Successors (Diadochi). Through its history, the Seleucid dominion included large parts of the Near East, as well as of the Asian territory of the earlier Achaemenid Persian Empire. A major center of Hellenistic culture, it attracted a large number of immigrants from Greece who, encouraged by the Seleucids, formed a dominant political elite under the ruling dynasty. After the death of Seleucus I, his successors maintained the empire's strength establishing it as a Greek power in West Asia; the empire reached its height under emperor Antiochus III. From the mid-second century BC, after its defeat at the hands of the...

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