v59_0031 - SYRIA - SELEUKID KINGDOM - SELEUKOS I NIKATOR Tétradrachme

SYRIA - SELEUKID KINGDOM - SELEUKOS I NIKATOR

(323-280 BC)

Coinage in the name of Alexander III the Great type - Satrapos

Seleucus I (355-280 BC), one of Alexander's lieutenants, arrived in 323 BC in Babylon. He became a satrap in 321 BC, but was dispossessed of it by Eumenes in 316 BC. He only recovered his territories after the victory of Gaza in 312 BC, won by Ptolemy on Demetrius Poliorcetes. He fights against Antigone le Borgne (310-308 BC) and also leads a great conquest that takes him to India. After 306 BC, he took the title of Basileos and opposed Cassander and Lysimachus who disputed Asia Minor with him. After the death of Antigone at Ipsos in 301 BC, he is the most powerful diadoque with Ptolemy. He won the victory of Couroupédion in 281 BC where his old enemy, Lysimachus was killed. He was assassinated the following year at the instigation of Ptolemy Keraunos as he prepared to invade Thrace and Macedonia. Ultimate survivor of the Diadochi, he leaves the Empire of Alexander in the hands of the Epigoni.