Seleucid
/sɪˈluːsɪd
/adjective
Relating to or denoting a dynasty ruling over Syria and a great part of western Asia from 312 to 64 bc. Its capital was at Antioch.He sought actively to reconsolidate the remaining huge Seleucid empire, from Cilicia and Syria eastwards, after the Peace of Apamea had precluded the Seleucids from their possessions north of the Taurus mountain range....
- This influence remained even after Alexander's death during a period of Egyptian rule and subsequently under the Seleucid kings from Syria, who took actions to undermine Jewish customs and enforce the worship of Greek gods.
- After eleven days of skirmishing and manoeuvre, in which the Romans gradually moved closer to the Seleucid camp, Antiochus was forced to fight.
noun
A member of the Seleucid dynasty.Probably in 144-3 he headed an embassy to the kings and cities of the east, perhaps even as far as the territory contested between Parthians and Seleucids, with Panaetius as his personal companion....
- Although honorific epithets were commonplace for the Seleucids and Ptolemies, the nicknames of all other members of the Antigonid family were either uncertain or insulting.
- They recognized that they, by dividing the Fertile Crescent against the Seleucids and later the Romans, were able to control the trade routes between Asia and the Greco-Roman world.
Origin
From Seleucus Nicator (the founder, one of Alexander the Great's generals) + -id3.