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Seleucia
A metropolis founded by Seleucus I on the Tigris in the late 4th century BCE, serving as the capital of the Seleucid Empire and a major hub of the He…
Timeline
- c. -305–-280Seleucia on the Tigris · BabyloniaSeleucus I chose a site on the west bank of the Tigris to build the city, adopting Hellenistic urban planning with a royal palace, markets, and port facilities, replacing Babylon as the administrative and economic center of the Seleucid Empire.
- c. -280–-141Seleucia · BabyloniaSeleucia became a major trading port linking the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean; according to classical sources its population may have reached several hundred thousand, with Greek, Babylonian, and Iranian cultures blending there and minting and commerce highly active.
- c. -141–1Seleucia · BabyloniaAfter the Parthian dynasty established a new political center at Ctesiphon, Seleucia's status declined; around the turn of the era it still had residents and commercial activity, but had lost the glory of an imperial capital and its scale gradually shrank.
Sources
- Seleucia on the Tigris: A Greek City in Iraq — L. T. Doty (1977)
- The Hellenistic World — F. W. Walbank (1981)