Saturday, June 30, 2012

The Seleucid Dynasty

The history of Ancient Antioch is inextricably wound up with that of the Seleucid dynasty, who not only founded the city but made it their residenzstadt and built it into one of the most important cities in the ancient world. Its preeminence in its zone of the Eastern Mediterranean was already established before the Romans pushed into the area and they realised the inevitability of its remaining as the regional capital. 

While nothing remains visible of the city the Seleucids built the hope remains that some of its may be brought to light some day. The history of the dynasty is well known but their legacy in the city is more sketchy. After the initial founding and the construction of some sanctuaries the record runs cold. We don't even know anything of their palace(s) within the city. 

I have come across a very informative website this week though that lays out visually the history/genealogy of the dynasty dividing it into an Early and a Later phase.

The early phase is here:

http://www.seleucid-genealogy.com/Early_Seleucids.html

The latter phase is here:

http://www.seleucid-genealogy.com/Later_Seleucids.html

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