Thank you for doing this. Requests for this video probably stem from Rome Total War players who want to know about the guy who came closest to succeeding Alexander.
man I have been hoping you would do longer videos GREAT WORK its unreal that this point in history is not covered more , I have been looking for videos on this for years
I personally like this particular duration for a lecture. If you are looking for a much longer ones i would suggest Schwehrpunkt. He is very detail oriented.
Thersites the Historian 42 years as a successor was a feat indeed, especially since the majority if not all those years were spent in constant warfare. A testament to the man’s physical and mental stamina. Seleukos I Nikator was a warrior par excellence. Very impressive man.
An Indian Puranic source, the Pratisarga Parva of the Bhavishya Purana, described the marriage of Chandragupta to a Greek ("Yavana") princess, daughter of Seleucus. For all the people who doesnt know...Seleucus was a greek king and his kingdom was greek.
Greek king? There were about 5 other greek kings lol. The puranas were being revised as recent as 19th century and which is why and none of it's original manuscript survive.
I really respect Seleucus for not stabbing Ptolemy in the back, when he had a chance. And he had alot of those chances. Shame, that son of Ptolemy didnt share this character.
Seleukos seemed to be a benevolent ruler. He must have been influenced by Alexander's success in that regard. He might have even been influenced by Cyrus as Alexander was. He was the anchor of the East! "Tolerance, Diversity, Strength" motto of Arche Seleukia.
@@kuko331 Hellenism didn't seem to have that problem. I fact it subsumed Roman culture. Latin culture would not have lasted in the East if it wasn't for the Greek establishments already set in place when they came about.
As eloquent as that sounds, no, that's not the reality. For example, Ptolemy and his successors created a rift between the ever-increasing population of Greeks and native Egyptians.
I noticed you said that Seleucus obtained 500 war elephants as part of his peace settlement with Chandragupta. Are we to take from this that he left 100 elephants behind for use in his eastern satrapies while he made way to the west with 400 which is well documented to eventually take part in the Battle of Ipsos?
Robby House it is said with almost complete certainty that Seleukos’ elephants were the weakest/oldest 500 in the Mauryan Army. The 100 not present likley were exhausted by the match to the west like Darius’ elephants at Gaugamela, died in the southern Caucasus where Seleukos took them seeing how Hannibal lost most of his in the alps, or simply the numbers were wrong. Seleukos has no reason to garrison the east with elephants as it had been secured and the only hostile border in scythia would be better manned with infantry and light cavalry rather than slow elephants. This explains toon also makes me believe the 100 elephants in front of the army were the best in his army while the 300 in reserve were exhausted and weakened. This is why Seleukos did not simply charge all 500 in the beginning as a charge of 500 elephants would have decimated Antigonus’ infantry, most of which were too young to have fought in India.
Favorite of all diadochi. Took his time and only took risk when he had to. Was the last man standing and actually lived to be pretty old for the time period. Curious what he would achieved had he not been stabbed in the back by a bitch. Think him being able to maintain as big of an empire for the years he did is as impressive as Alexander conquering what he did. Just don’t believe he would have been able to keep all that he conquered.
Great podcast!!! The most interesting part is the colonisation and city building activities, its it's a pity that their enemies/former subjects made a great effort to erase them from history, most likely it reflects how bad were the later rulers, nonetheless they left a great footprint on the ground, with another interesting and innovative thing, the Seleucid era or counting years based on the Babylonian calendar which Jews called the era of contracts or the end of prophecies era, makes you wonder how modern must have been.
Great video 👍, it's so hard to find a documentary about the Seleucids, French production (Euroasia) made a decent one about Al khanoum which is regarded as a strictly seleucid city but that was pretty much it, don't get me wrong I don't mind reading, quite opposite, anyway good job!!!
Seleukos is a top general of mine, but finding out he was killed at a party sort of pissed me off. How did he fall for that crap? Thanks for the party invite but No Thanks! And Thanks so much for this history!! 😉
He was making a sacrifice to a place Jason and the argonauts have traveled to and was distracted and was assassinated by a political refugee he was sheltering
@@ThersitestheHistorian I thought the center of the Achaemenids was Mesopotamia from an economic and political perspective, I also heard that the Persian plateau was not much urbanized until the early middle ages. I guess Media is still bigger than most Satrapies so contains more people overall, but its per capita wealth shouldn't be exceptionally high if what I heard is indeed true.
He would not have gained this much success without making alliance with Sandrocottus. The only Indian king mentioned in Greek and Roman sources. William Jones said that this Sandrocottus, king of Indians was Chandragupta Maurya. Seleucus was defeated and he married his daughter to Chandragupta to seek peace in East. But dude had to abandon all Indian Lands to his son in law. He got assassinated because he sheltered a traitor. 🙄I would say poor guy. Well atleast he should be respected for not abandoning his wife when every Greek general did
Buddy is spouting utter nonsense. Selucus at that point was a ruler of small province and had around 20000 men. Son in law? Provide me one source that says his daughter was married off. His only recorded daughter was married to antigonous gonatuas. Those indian provinces were never under selucus's control. Smh
@@okenogamer Strabo and many others list the peace treaty event and contract of marriage with one of Seleucus' daughters to the Indian Emperor, India's first emperor iirc. Idk why he's saying "poor guy" he was the longest lived of all successors and one of the greatest and richest conquerors in history. To reach 80+ that wealthy and that powerful, nearly as powerful as Alexander is a series of incredible feats. Likely Seleucus wanted nothing to do with India, he never threw anywhere near his full strength at the subcontinent but rather wanted the hundreds of war elephants that he received by the same treaty with Maurya. It was likely most of the war elephants available in all of India. But still a great deal for the Maurya as he could focus on uniting everyone he wished within the subcontinent and Seleucus could focus back on his priorities. He was more experienced fighting against war elephants than any of Alexander's other generals and knew their value. They don't explain his tactical ability fully because he was given all these positions under Alexander and some of the earlier successors, admiral, temporary commander of the full force, etc.
@@dirksharp9876 the author uses the word which translates to "marriage Contract" considering selucus brought less than 25000 at ipsus yes it's unlikely he was in the perfect shape to fight against mauryans
And Ptolemy to Egypt, Peithons to Media, Peucestus to Persia, Eumenes in cappadocia, Assandor in Caria and stasanor in Central Asia. As the war went on these individuals would sometimes attempt to seize power (Peithons and Antigonus) or would be captured and made into subordinates and the provinces such as Persia being made to assist in Seleucid wars under a Seleucid selected satrap.
Seleukos was defeated by the GREAT EMPEROR CHANDRAGUPTA MAURYA, where in order to save his life and make peace with the MAURYAN EMPIRE, he married his daughter to CHANDRAGUPTA and in return was given 500 elephants to help him in his future conquests.
And you said to your video that... "greeks and macedonians" ... thats wrong... you must say "macedonians and the rest of greeks" ... be cerfull please next time!
THANK YOU FOR USING MY THUMBNAIL IT MEANS THE WORLD
Beautiful thumbnail, have you uploaded it somewhere else?
@@nikolay4101-s7r I have not and tbh I think the file was on an account that got deleted sadly. The idea you are interested means a lot though
An hour and 20 minutes? Totally worth the wait!
Thank you for doing this. Requests for this video probably stem from Rome Total War players who want to know about the guy who came closest to succeeding Alexander.
man I have been hoping you would do longer videos GREAT WORK its unreal that this point in history is not covered more , I have been looking for videos on this for years
I personally like this particular duration for a lecture. If you are looking for a much longer ones i would suggest Schwehrpunkt. He is very detail oriented.
281 BCE? Man the guy managed a pretty good run, most didn't last that long.
42 years as a Successor is an eternity.
Thersites the Historian 42 years as a successor was a feat indeed, especially since the majority if not all those years were spent in constant warfare. A testament to the man’s physical and mental stamina. Seleukos I Nikator was a warrior par excellence. Very impressive man.
The long ones are so great! Thank you for digging up so many little known nuggets in history... and with a really sly sense of humor! Beautiful, man!
An Indian Puranic source, the Pratisarga Parva of the Bhavishya Purana, described the marriage of Chandragupta to a Greek ("Yavana") princess, daughter of Seleucus. For all the people who doesnt know...Seleucus was a greek king and his kingdom was greek.
This is more likely and mistake on the indian behalf. It was greek culture that spread not Macedonian. "Hellenization"
But he was a Slav Albanian !!1
@@midweekcentaur1050 no ,it was greek
Greek king? There were about 5 other greek kings lol. The puranas were being revised as recent as 19th century and which is why and none of it's original manuscript survive.
Great video and Wonderful series about a much overlooked bits of history along the figures that shaped it. Thank you.
I really respect Seleucus for not stabbing Ptolemy in the back, when he had a chance. And he had alot of those chances.
Shame, that son of Ptolemy didnt share this character.
My body is ready!
what does your body have to do with Seleukos?
Is that Nintendo reference?
Brooo your sarcastic attitude but great details on history makes your videos hidden gems on UA-cam brother. Appreciate everything you do.
Seleukos seemed to be a benevolent ruler. He must have been influenced by Alexander's success in that regard. He might have even been influenced by Cyrus as Alexander was. He was the anchor of the East! "Tolerance, Diversity, Strength" motto of Arche Seleukia.
The first woke leader of a nation! Awesome!!
Seleukos and Ptolemy were understanding of the importance of local cultures. That's why their realms lasted the longest.
The reason why they survived the longest was because they were the furthest from Rome 😁
@@kuko331 Hellenism didn't seem to have that problem. I fact it subsumed Roman culture. Latin culture would not have lasted in the East if it wasn't for the Greek establishments already set in place when they came about.
As eloquent as that sounds, no, that's not the reality. For example, Ptolemy and his successors created a rift between the ever-increasing population of Greeks and native Egyptians.
Great channel. Love it. I have many books on the successor wars and of Alexander himself. Very informative.
I noticed you said that Seleucus obtained 500 war elephants as part of his peace settlement with Chandragupta. Are we to take from this that he left 100 elephants behind for use in his eastern satrapies while he made way to the west with 400 which is well documented to eventually take part in the Battle of Ipsos?
Robby House it is said with almost complete certainty that Seleukos’ elephants were the weakest/oldest 500 in the Mauryan Army. The 100 not present likley were exhausted by the match to the west like Darius’ elephants at Gaugamela, died in the southern Caucasus where Seleukos took them seeing how Hannibal lost most of his in the alps, or simply the numbers were wrong. Seleukos has no reason to garrison the east with elephants as it had been secured and the only hostile border in scythia would be better manned with infantry and light cavalry rather than slow elephants. This explains toon also makes me believe the 100 elephants in front of the army were the best in his army while the 300 in reserve were exhausted and weakened. This is why Seleukos did not simply charge all 500 in the beginning as a charge of 500 elephants would have decimated Antigonus’ infantry, most of which were too young to have fought in India.
Hello Sir, here for battle. I couldn't get 300 elephants... so I brought 400!
Favorite of all diadochi. Took his time and only took risk when he had to. Was the last man standing and actually lived to be pretty old for the time period. Curious what he would achieved had he not been stabbed in the back by a bitch. Think him being able to maintain as big of an empire for the years he did is as impressive as Alexander conquering what he did. Just don’t believe he would have been able to keep all that he conquered.
Great podcast!!! The most interesting part is the colonisation and city building activities, its it's a pity that their enemies/former subjects made a great effort to erase them from history, most likely it reflects how bad were the later rulers, nonetheless they left a great footprint on the ground, with another interesting and innovative thing, the Seleucid era or counting years based on the Babylonian calendar which Jews called the era of contracts or the end of prophecies era, makes you wonder how modern must have been.
Thanks, the longer the better, and nothing less than Seleukos!!!
Finally the true succesor and king is here
Loved this video!
Great video 👍, it's so hard to find a documentary about the Seleucids, French production (Euroasia) made a decent one about Al khanoum which is regarded as a strictly seleucid city but that was pretty much it, don't get me wrong I don't mind reading, quite opposite, anyway good job!!!
Great video. What is the primary source for Seleukos initial battles to retake Babylon from Nicanor?
The most complete source is Diodorus Siculus, so I'd start there. Justin and Appian are more spotty in their coverage of this topic.
@@ThersitestheHistorian Thanks. I really should get myself a copy of Appian as I just read the one at uni.
26:26 “DURING-“
Hahahaha
thank u joey
Love you work.. but do get killed with ads when I try to listen to this on the road lol ..
This guy deserves a movie
Please use more place names. Keep up the good work.
Great job!
You said 300 acres around 52:30 , you sure it's not hectares? 300 acres is just 1.2 km2, that's small.
What kingdom is the one in dark red by the ptolemaic egypt? Petra?
I think the macabean kingdom
I made this. I intended for that to be Nabateans whose capital was Petra. Their kingdom existed at this time with Demetrius Fighting against them
The Nabateans Arab kingdom
@@78yoda7800 wrong Semitic kingdom dude the macabean were Jewish
Seleukos is a top general of mine, but finding out he was killed at a party sort of pissed me off. How did he fall for that crap? Thanks for the party invite but No Thanks!
And Thanks so much for this history!! 😉
He was making a sacrifice to a place Jason and the argonauts have traveled to and was distracted and was assassinated by a political refugee he was sheltering
Yeah it shameful how the Seleucid empire gets comletley overlooked.
The random peaking audio is especially bad with this video.
Ptolemy II Thunderbolt? Ptolemy II Leroy Jenkins
yay
Bactria has always been mfavorite successor state. It seems so unique to me
Point of interest... Kandahar in Afghanistan was originally founded as Alexandria in Arachosia.
The content is good, as always. The production is a little weak, however.
Wot, Media is the richest province? How come?
It was large, fertile, populous, and had cities which lay astride trade routes connecting India and the rest of the Middle East.
@@ThersitestheHistorian I thought the center of the Achaemenids was Mesopotamia from an economic and political perspective, I also heard that the Persian plateau was not much urbanized until the early middle ages.
I guess Media is still bigger than most Satrapies so contains more people overall, but its per capita wealth shouldn't be exceptionally high if what I heard is indeed true.
Fake news media is strong since antiquity. Make Parthia Great Again.
@@Shreendg Wot
❤️
He would not have gained this much success without making alliance with Sandrocottus. The only Indian king mentioned in Greek and Roman sources. William Jones said that this Sandrocottus, king of Indians was Chandragupta Maurya. Seleucus was defeated and he married his daughter to Chandragupta to seek peace in East. But dude had to abandon all Indian Lands to his son in law.
He got assassinated because he sheltered a traitor. 🙄I would say poor guy. Well atleast he should be respected for not abandoning his wife when every Greek general did
Buddy is spouting utter nonsense. Selucus at that point was a ruler of small province and had around 20000 men.
Son in law? Provide me one source that says his daughter was married off. His only recorded daughter was married to antigonous gonatuas. Those indian provinces were never under selucus's control. Smh
@@okenogamer Strabo and many others list the peace treaty event and contract of marriage with one of Seleucus' daughters to the Indian Emperor, India's first emperor iirc. Idk why he's saying "poor guy" he was the longest lived of all successors and one of the greatest and richest conquerors in history. To reach 80+ that wealthy and that powerful, nearly as powerful as Alexander is a series of incredible feats.
Likely Seleucus wanted nothing to do with India, he never threw anywhere near his full strength at the subcontinent but rather wanted the hundreds of war elephants that he received by the same treaty with Maurya. It was likely most of the war elephants available in all of India. But still a great deal for the Maurya as he could focus on uniting everyone he wished within the subcontinent and Seleucus could focus back on his priorities. He was more experienced fighting against war elephants than any of Alexander's other generals and knew their value. They don't explain his tactical ability fully because he was given all these positions under Alexander and some of the earlier successors, admiral, temporary commander of the full force, etc.
@@dirksharp9876 the author uses the word which translates to "marriage Contract" considering selucus brought less than 25000 at ipsus yes it's unlikely he was in the perfect shape to fight against mauryans
Basically Seleukos was to Babylon what Antigonos was to Phrysia.
And Ptolemy to Egypt, Peithons to Media, Peucestus to Persia, Eumenes in cappadocia, Assandor in Caria and stasanor in Central Asia. As the war went on these individuals would sometimes attempt to seize power (Peithons and Antigonus) or would be captured and made into subordinates and the provinces such as Persia being made to assist in Seleucid wars under a Seleucid selected satrap.
you forgot to say to your video that Seleucus Nicator was Greek!
Yes but also dude spent 60-70% of his life in Asia
Seleukos was defeated by the GREAT EMPEROR CHANDRAGUPTA MAURYA, where in order to save his life and make peace with the MAURYAN EMPIRE, he married his daughter to CHANDRAGUPTA and in return was given 500 elephants to help him in his future conquests.
Lmao no he didn't in fact the seleucid empire wasn't even all that hurt after their little war you lousy nationalist😂
And you said to your video that... "greeks and macedonians" ... thats wrong... you must say "macedonians and the rest of greeks" ... be cerfull please next time!
Why did the Macedonians treat Greeks as not equal then?
I truly dont understand your need for this disticntion. It literally only uses more words. It doesnt mean anything different.
This is your Brain on Balkan Nationalism
@@Christiaanwebbjust because a spartan was a greek that didn't mean he had to treat an athenian the same way 😅
@@Jatischarthis isn't nationalism this is history ,the Macedonians spread greek and spoke greek for a reason
my fave
281 BC, don't need the E