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159-595: The kingdom had three cultural strands, which often fused together: Greek (mostly on the coast), Persian, and Anatolian, with Greek becoming the official language in the 3rd century BC. The Kingdom of Pontus was divided into two distinct areas: the coastal region and the Pontic interior. The coastal region bordering the Black Sea was separated from the mountainous inland area by the Pontic Alps , which run parallel to

318-577: A basis for coinages: anthropology , photography , telephony , isomer , biomechanics , cinematography , etc. Together with Latin words , they form the foundation of international scientific and technical vocabulary ; for example, all words ending in -logy ('discourse'). There are many English words of Greek origin . Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European language family. The ancient language most closely related to it may be ancient Macedonian , which, by most accounts,

477-656: A charge against the Armenian horses and won a great victory at the Battle of Tigranocerta . Tigranes fled north while Lucullus destroyed his new capital city and dismantled his holdings in the south by granting independence to Sophene and returning Syria to the Seleucid king Antiochus XIII Asiaticus . In 68   BC Lucullus invaded northern Armenia, ravaging the country and capturing Nisibis , but Tigranes avoided battle. Meanwhile, Mithridates invaded Pontus, and in 67 he defeated

636-480: A coalition against Antigonus. The allies sent a proposition to Antigonus in which they demanded shares of his accumulated treasure and of his territory, with Phoenica and Syria going to Ptolemy, Cappadocia and Lycia to Cassander, Hellespontine Phrygia to Lysimachus, and Babylonia to Seleucus. Antigonus refused, and in the spring of 314 BC, he marched against Ptolemy in Syria. Seleucus acted as an admiral to Ptolemy during

795-503: A corps of 120,000 troops armed "in the Roman fashion" and "drilled in the Roman phalanx formation". These units imitated Roman legions , although it is disputed to what degree they achieved this. The navy was organized in a similar fashion as the army. While the kingdom itself provided the main contingent of ships, a small portion represented the Greek cities. The crewmen either came from

954-593: A dream seen Alexander standing beside him. Eumenes had tried to use a similar propaganda trick. Antigonus, who had been in Asia Minor while Seleucus had been in the east with Alexander, could not use Alexander in his own propaganda. Seleucus, being Macedonian, had the ability to gain the trust of the Macedonians among his troops, which was not the case with Eumenes. After becoming once again satrap of Babylon, Seleucus became much more aggressive in his politics. In

1113-558: A fairly stable set of consonantal contrasts . The main phonological changes occurred during the Hellenistic and Roman period (see Koine Greek phonology for details): In all its stages, the morphology of Greek shows an extensive set of productive derivational affixes , a limited but productive system of compounding and a rich inflectional system. Although its morphological categories have been fairly stable over time, morphological changes are present throughout, particularly in

1272-508: A faster, more convenient cursive writing style with the use of ink and quill . The Greek alphabet consists of 24 letters, each with an uppercase ( majuscule ) and lowercase ( minuscule ) form. The letter sigma has an additional lowercase form (ς) used in the final position of a word: In addition to the letters, the Greek alphabet features a number of diacritical signs : three different accent marks ( acute , grave , and circumflex ), originally denoting different shapes of pitch accent on

1431-597: A few other cities, the interior was dominated mainly by small villages. The kingdom of Pontus was divided into districts named Eparchies. The division between coast and interior was also cultural. The coast was mainly Greek and focused on sea trade. The interior was occupied by the Anatolian Cappadocians and Paphlagonians ruled by an Iranian aristocracy that went back to the Persian empire. The interior also had powerful temples with large estates. The gods of

1590-540: A foreign language. It is also often stated that the historical changes have been relatively slight compared with some other languages. According to one estimation, " Homeric Greek is probably closer to Demotic than 12-century Middle English is to modern spoken English ". Greek is spoken today by at least 13 million people, principally in Greece and Cyprus along with a sizable Greek-speaking minority in Albania near

1749-456: A large Roman force near Zela . Lucullus, now in command of tired and discontented troops, withdrew to Pontus, then to Galatia. He was replaced by two new consuls arriving from Italy with fresh legions, Marcius Rex and Acilius Glabrio . Mithridates now recovered Pontus while Tigranes invaded Cappadocia. In response to increasing pirate activity in the eastern Mediterranean, the senate granted Pompey extensive proconsular Imperium throughout

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1908-546: A peaceful, pro-Roman policy. He sent aid to the Roman ally Attalus II Philadelphus of Pergamon against Prusias II of Bithynia in 155. His successor, Mithridates V of Pontus Euergetes, remained a friend of Rome and in 149 BC sent ships and a small force of auxiliaries to aid Rome in the Third Punic War. He also sent troops for the war against Eumenes III (Aristonicus), who had usurped the Pergamene throne after

2067-413: A short time he conquered Media and Susiana. Diodorus Siculus reports that Seleucus also conquered other nearby areas, which might refer to Persis , Aria or Parthia . Seleucus did not reach Bactria and Sogdiana . The satrap of the former was Stasanor , who had remained neutral during the conflicts. After the defeat of Nikanor's army, there was no force in the east that could have opposed Seleucus. It

2226-402: A time limit, after which he had to return to Syria. Antigonus believed Seleucus was still ruling only Babylon. Perhaps Nicanor had not told him that Seleucus now had at least 20,000 soldiers. It seems that the scale of Nicanor's defeat was not clear to all parties. Antigonus did not know Seleucus had conquered the majority of the eastern provinces and perhaps cared little about the eastern parts of

2385-504: A treaty sealed in 303 BC, Seleucus abandoned the territories he could never securely hold in exchange for stabilizing the East and obtaining elephants, with which he could turn his attention against his great western rival, Antigonus Monophthalmus. The 500 war elephants Seleucus obtained from Chandragupta were to play a key role in the forthcoming battles, particularly at Ipsus against Antigonus and Demetrius. The Maurya king might have married

2544-641: A young man of about twenty-three, Seleucus accompanied Alexander into Asia. By the time of the Indian campaigns beginning in late in 327 BC, he had risen to the command of the elite infantry corps in the Macedonian army, the "Shield-bearers" ( Hypaspistai , later known as the " Silvershields "). It is said by Arrian that when Alexander crossed the Hydaspes river on a boat, he was accompanied by Perdiccas , Ptolemy I Soter , Lysimachus and also Seleucus. During

2703-804: Is also found in Bulgaria near the Greek-Bulgarian border. Greek is also spoken worldwide by the sizable Greek diaspora which has notable communities in the United States , Australia , Canada , South Africa , Chile , Brazil , Argentina , Russia , Ukraine , the United Kingdom , and throughout the European Union , especially in Germany . Historically, significant Greek-speaking communities and regions were found throughout

2862-479: Is an Indo-European language, but also includes a number of borrowings from the languages of the populations that inhabited Greece before the arrival of Proto-Greeks, some documented in Mycenaean texts ; they include a large number of Greek toponyms . The form and meaning of many words have changed. Loanwords (words of foreign origin) have entered the language, mainly from Latin, Venetian , and Turkish . During

3021-488: Is available about the conflict between Antigonus and Seleucus; only a very rudimentary Babylonian chronicle detailing the events of the war remains. The description of the year 310 BC has completely disappeared. It seems that Antigonus conquered Babylon. His plans were disturbed, however, by Ptolemy, who made a surprise attack in Cilicia. We do know that Seleucus defeated Antigonus in at least one decisive battle. This battle

3180-466: Is matched only by the now-extinct Anatolian languages . The Greek language is conventionally divided into the following periods: In the modern era, the Greek language entered a state of diglossia : the coexistence of vernacular and archaizing written forms of the language. What came to be known as the Greek language question was a polarization between two competing varieties of Modern Greek: Dimotiki ,

3339-544: Is only mentioned in Stratagems in War by Polyaenus . Polyaenus reports that the troops of Seleucus and Antigonus fought for a whole day, but when night came the battle was still undecided. The two forces agreed to rest for the night and continue in the morning. Antigonus' troops slept without their equipment. Seleucus ordered his forces to sleep and eat breakfast in battle formation. Shortly before dawn, Seleucus' troops attacked

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3498-408: Is possible that Mithridates inherited part of Paphlagonia after the death of its King, Pylaemenes. Mithridates   V married his daughter Laodice to the king of Cappadocia, Ariarathes VI of Cappadocia , and he also went on to invade Cappadocia, though the details of this war are unknown. Hellenization continued under Mithridates   V. He was the first king to widely recruit Greek mercenaries in

3657-519: Is protected and promoted officially as a regional and minority language in Armenia, Hungary , Romania, and Ukraine. It is recognized as a minority language and protected in Turkey by the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne . The phonology , morphology , syntax , and vocabulary of the language show both conservative and innovative tendencies across the entire attestation of the language from the ancient to

3816-922: Is sometimes called aljamiado , as when Romance languages are written in the Arabic alphabet. Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Greek: Transcription of the example text into Latin alphabet : Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in English: Proto-Greek Mycenaean Ancient Koine Medieval Modern Seleucus I Seleucus I Nicator ( / s ɪ ˈ l uː k ə s / ; Greek : Σέλευκος Νικάτωρ, Séleukos Nikátōr , "Seleucus

3975-763: Is still used internationally for the writing of Ancient Greek . In Greek, the question mark is written as the English semicolon, while the functions of the colon and semicolon are performed by a raised point (•), known as the ano teleia ( άνω τελεία ). In Greek the comma also functions as a silent letter in a handful of Greek words, principally distinguishing ό,τι ( ó,ti , 'whatever') from ότι ( óti , 'that'). Ancient Greek texts often used scriptio continua ('continuous writing'), which means that ancient authors and scribes would write word after word with no spaces or punctuation between words to differentiate or mark boundaries. Boustrophedon , or bi-directional text,

4134-487: Is uncertain how Seleucus arranged the administration of the provinces he had conquered. Most satraps had died. In theory, Polyperchon was still the lawful successor of Antipater and the official regent of the Macedonian kingdom. It was his duty to select the satraps. However, Polyperchon was still allied with Antigonus and thus an enemy of Seleucus. Antigonus sent his son Demetrius along with 15,000 infantry and 4,000 cavalry to reconquer Babylon. Apparently, he gave Demetrius

4293-674: The Balkans , Caucasus , the Black Sea coast, Asia Minor , and the Eastern Mediterranean . It has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning at least 3,400 years of written records. Its writing system is the Greek alphabet , which has been used for approximately 2,800 years; previously, Greek was recorded in writing systems such as Linear B and the Cypriot syllabary . The alphabet arose from

4452-591: The Battle of Orchomenus in 85   BC but was once again defeated and suffered heavy losses. As a result of the losses and the unrest they stirred in Asia Minor, as well as the presence of the Roman army now campaigning in Bithynia, Mithridates was forced to accept a peace deal. Mithridates and Sulla met in 85   BC at Dardanus . Sulla decreed that Mithridates had to surrender Roman Asia and return Bithynia and Cappadocia to their former kings. He also had to pay 2,000 talents and provide ships. Mithridates would retain

4611-803: The Boeotian League except Thespiae . Finally, in 87 BC, Lucius Cornelius Sulla set out from Italy with five legions. He marched through Boeotia , which quickly surrendered, and began laying siege to Athens and the Piraeus (the Athenian port city, no longer connected by the Long Walls ). Athens fell in March 86   BC, and the city was sacked. After stiff resistance, Archelaus, the Pontic general in Piraeus, left by sea, and Sulla utterly destroyed

4770-624: The Byzantine Empire and developed into Medieval Greek . In its modern form , Greek is the official language of Greece and Cyprus and one of the 24 official languages of the European Union . It is spoken by at least 13.5 million people today in Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Albania, Turkey , and the many other countries of the Greek diaspora . Greek roots have been widely used for centuries and continue to be widely used to coin new words in other languages; Greek and Latin are

4929-627: The Christian Bible was also originally written in Greek. Together with the Latin texts and traditions of the Roman world , the Greek texts and Greek societies of antiquity constitute the objects of study of the discipline of Classics . During antiquity , Greek was by far the most widely spoken lingua franca in the Mediterranean world . It eventually became the official language of

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5088-495: The Eastern Mediterranean , in what are today Southern Italy , Turkey , Cyprus , Syria , Lebanon , Israel , Palestine , Egypt , and Libya ; in the area of the Black Sea , in what are today Turkey, Bulgaria , Romania , Ukraine , Russia , Georgia , Armenia , and Azerbaijan ; and, to a lesser extent, in the Western Mediterranean in and around colonies such as Massalia , Monoikos , and Mainake . It

5247-516: The Indo-Iranian languages (see Graeco-Aryan ), but little definitive evidence has been found. In addition, Albanian has also been considered somewhat related to Greek and Armenian, and it has been proposed that they all form a higher-order subgroup along with other extinct languages of the ancient Balkans; this higher-order subgroup is usually termed Palaeo-Balkan , and Greek has a central position in it. Linear B , attested as early as

5406-565: The Mauryan empire , had conquered the Indus valley and several other parts of the easternmost regions of Alexander's empire. Seleucus began a campaign against Chandragupta and crossed the Indus . Most western historians note that it appears to have fared poorly as he did not achieve his goals , even though what exactly happened is unknown. The two leaders ultimately reached an agreement, and through

5565-551: The Partition of Triparadisus in 321 BC, Seleucus was appointed Satrap of Babylon under the new regent Antipater . But almost immediately, the wars between the Diadochi resumed and one of the most powerful of the Diadochi, Antigonus , forced Seleucus to flee Babylon . Seleucus was only able to return to Babylon in 312 BC with the support of Ptolemy. From 312 BC, Seleucus ruthlessly expanded his dominions and eventually conquered

5724-658: The Persian and Median lands. Seleucus ruled not only Babylonia , but the entire eastern part of Alexander's empire . Seleucus further made claim to the former satrapies in Gandhara and in northwest India. However these ambitions were contested by Chandragupta Maurya , resulting in the Seleucid–Mauryan War (305–303 BC). The conflict was ultimately resolved by a treaty resulting in the Maurya Empire annexing

5883-657: The Phoenician script and was in turn the basis of the Latin , Cyrillic , Coptic , Gothic , and many other writing systems. The Greek language holds a very important place in the history of the Western world. Beginning with the epics of Homer , ancient Greek literature includes many works of lasting importance in the European canon . Greek is also the language in which many of the foundational texts in science and philosophy were originally composed. The New Testament of

6042-791: The Tauric Chersonesus now appealed for his aid against the Scythians in the north. Mithridates sent 6,000 men under General Diophantus. After various campaigns in the north of the Crimea he controlled all of the Chersonesus. Mithridates also developed trade links with cities on the western Black Sea coast. At the time, Rome was fighting the Jugurthine and Cimbric wars. Mithridates and Nicomedes of Bithynia both invaded Paphlagonia and divided it amongst themselves. A Roman embassy

6201-492: The nominal and verbal systems. The major change in the nominal morphology since the classical stage was the disuse of the dative case (its functions being largely taken over by the genitive ). The verbal system has lost the infinitive , the synthetically -formed future, and perfect tenses and the optative mood . Many have been replaced by periphrastic ( analytical ) forms. Pronouns show distinctions in person (1st, 2nd, and 3rd), number (singular, dual , and plural in

6360-419: The satraps to obey him. War soon broke out between Perdiccas and the other Diadochi . To cement his position, Perdiccas tried to marry Alexander's sister Cleopatra . The First War of the Diadochi began when Perdiccas sent Alexander's corpse to Macedonia for burial. Ptolemy however captured the body and took it to Alexandria . Perdiccas and his troops followed him to Egypt, whereupon Ptolemy conspired with

6519-527: The Aegean Sea and his army to Asia Minor. Ptolemy now had an opportunity to invade Syria, where he defeated Demetrius , the son of Antigonus, in the battle of Gaza in 312 BC. It is probable that Seleucus took part in the battle. Peithon, son of Agenor , whom Antigonus had nominated as the new satrap of Babylon, fell in the battle. The death of Peithon gave Seleucus an opportunity to return to Babylon. Seleucus had prepared his return to Babylon well. After

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6678-490: The Aegean, he was honored at Delos, and he depicted himself as Apollo on his coins. Mithridates was assassinated at Sinope in 121/0, the details of which are unclear. Because both the sons of Mithridates V, Mithridates   VI and Mithridates Chrestus , were still children, Pontus now came under the regency of his wife Laodice. She favored Chrestus, and Mithridates   VI escaped the Pontic court. Legend would later say this

6837-516: The Argyraspides, was allied with Eumenes. Antigenes was in Cilicia when the war between him and Peithon began. Peithon arrived at Babylon in the autumn or winter of 317 BC. Peithon had lost a large number of troops, but Seleucus had even fewer soldiers. Eumenes decided to march to Susa in the spring of 316 BC. The satraps in Susa had apparently accepted Eumenes' claims of his fighting on behalf of

6996-498: The Great of Armenia, to invade Cappadocia, which he did, and Ariobarzanes fled to Rome. Mithridates then deposed Nicomedes   IV from Bithynia, placing Socrates Chrestus on the throne. A Roman army under Manius Aquillius arrived in Asia Minor in 90   BC, prompting Mithridates and Tigranes to withdraw. Cappadocia and Bithynia were restored to their respective monarchs, but then faced large debts to Rome due to their bribes for

7155-487: The Great died without a successor in Babylon on June 10, 323 BC. His general Perdiccas became the regent of all of Alexander's empire, while Alexander's physically and mentally disabled half-brother Arrhidaeus was chosen as the next king under the name Philip III of Macedon . Alexander's unborn child ( Alexander IV ) was also named his father's successor. In the " Partition of Babylon " however, Perdiccas effectively divided

7314-494: The Great, were told of Seleucus. It was said Antiochus told his son before he left to battle the Persians with Alexander that his real father was actually the god Apollo . The god had left a ring with a picture of an anchor as a gift to Laodice. Seleucus had a birthmark shaped like an anchor. It was told that Seleucus' sons and grandsons also had similar birthmarks. The story is similar to the one told about Alexander. Most likely

7473-486: The Greek alphabet since approximately the 9th century BC. It was created by modifying the Phoenician alphabet , with the innovation of adopting certain letters to represent the vowels. The variant of the alphabet in use today is essentially the late Ionic variant, introduced for writing classical Attic in 403 BC. In classical Greek, as in classical Latin, only upper-case letters existed. The lower-case Greek letters were developed much later by medieval scribes to permit

7632-495: The Greek language was the Cypriot syllabary (also a descendant of Linear A via the intermediate Cypro-Minoan syllabary ), which is closely related to Linear B but uses somewhat different syllabic conventions to represent phoneme sequences. The Cypriot syllabary is attested in Cyprus from the 11th century BC until its gradual abandonment in the late Classical period, in favor of the standard Greek alphabet. Greek has been written in

7791-629: The Greek verb have likewise remained largely the same over the course of the language's history but with significant changes in the number of distinctions within each category and their morphological expression. Greek verbs have synthetic inflectional forms for: Many aspects of the syntax of Greek have remained constant: verbs agree with their subject only, the use of the surviving cases is largely intact (nominative for subjects and predicates, accusative for objects of most verbs and many prepositions, genitive for possessors), articles precede nouns, adpositions are largely prepositional, relative clauses follow

7950-685: The Greek-Albanian border. A significant percentage of Albania's population has knowledge of the Greek language due in part to the Albanian wave of immigration to Greece in the 1980s and '90s and the Greek community in the country. Prior to the Greco-Turkish War and the resulting population exchange in 1923 a very large population of Greek-speakers also existed in Turkey , though very few remain today. A small Greek-speaking community

8109-593: The Indus Valley campaign, in the battles fought against the Malli and in the crossing of the Gedrosian desert. At the great marriage ceremony at Susa in the spring of 324 BC, Seleucus married Apama , daughter of Spitamenes . They had his eldest son and successor Antiochus I Soter , at least two legitimate daughters (Laodice and Apama) and possibly another son ( Achaeus ). At the same event, Alexander married

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8268-456: The Indus are held by Indians, although they formerly belonged to the Persians. Alexander [III 'the Great' of Macedon] took these away from the Arians and established settlements of his own, but Seleucus Nicator gave them to Sandrocottus [Chandragupta], upon terms of intermarriage and of receiving in exchange five hundred elephants. — Strabo 15.2.9 From this, it seems that Seleucus surrendered

8427-605: The Kingdom were mostly syncretic, with features of local gods along with Persian and Greek deities. Major gods included the Persian Ahuramazda , who was termed Zeus Stratios; the moon god Men Pharnacou; and Ma (interpreted as Cybele). Sun gods were particularly popular, with the royal house being identified with the Persian god Ahuramazda of the Achaemenid dynasty; both Apollo and Mithras were worshipped by

8586-515: The Kings. Indeed, the name used by the majority of the Pontic kings was Mithridates, which means "given by Mithras". Pontic culture represented a synthesis between Iranian, Anatolian and Greek elements, with the former two mostly associated with the interior parts, and the latter more so with the coastal region. By the time of Mithridates   VI Eupator, Greek was the official language of the Kingdom, though Anatolian languages continued to be spoken in

8745-440: The Macedonian army but lost some of this when she had Philip III and his wife Eurydice killed as well as many nobles whom she took revenge upon for supporting Antipater during his long reign. Cassander reclaimed Macedon the following year at Pydna and then had her killed. Alexander IV , still a young child, and his mother Roxane were held guarded at Amphipolis and died under mysterious circumstances in 310 BC, probably murdered at

8904-585: The Macedonian territories there, Seleucus thus came into conflict with the emerging and expanding Mauryan Empire over the Indus Valley. In the year 306 BC, Seleucus I Nicator went to India and apparently occupied territory as far as the Indus, and eventually waged war with the Maurya Emperor Chandragupta Maurya . Only a few sources mention his activities in India. Chandragupta (known in Greek sources as Sandrokottos ), founder of

9063-408: The Mauryan Empire. The alliance between Chandragupta and Seleucus was affirmed with a marriage ( Epigamia ). Chandragupta or his son may have married a daughter of Seleucus, or perhaps there was diplomatic recognition of intermarriage between Indians and Greeks. As well, an Indian Puranic source, the Pratisarga Parva of the Bhavishya Purana , also described the marriage of Chandragupta with

9222-597: The Mediterranean in 67   BC. Pompey eliminated the pirates, and in 66 he was assigned command in Asia Minor to deal with Pontus. Pompey organized his forces, close to 45,000 legionaries, including Lucullus' troops, and signed an alliance with the Parthians , who attacked and kept Tigranes busy in the east. Mithridates massed his army, some 30,000 men and 2,000–3,000 cavalry, in the heights of Dasteira in lesser Armenia. Pompey fought to encircle him with earthworks for six weeks, but Mithridates eventually retreated north. Pompey pursued and managed to catch his forces by surprise in

9381-440: The Roman senators, and Nicomedes   IV was eventually convinced by Aquillius to attack Pontus in order to repay the debts. He plundered as far as Amastris , and returned with much loot. Mithridates invaded Cappadocia once again, and Rome declared war. In the summer of 89 BC, Mithridates invaded Bithynia and defeated Nicomedes and Aquillius in battle. He moved swiftly into Roman Asia and resistance crumbled; by 88 he had obtained

9540-405: The Roman supply line to Cappadocia in the south, but they suffered heavy casualties. Mithridates, still unwilling to fight a decisive engagement, now began a retreat to Lesser Armenia , where he expected aid from his ally Tigranes the Great. Because of his now weakened cavalry, the retreat turned into an all-out rout, and most of the Pontic army was destroyed or captured. These events led Machares ,

9699-467: The Romans off Chalcedon and laid siege to Cyzicus . Lucullus marched from Phrygia with his five legions and forced Mithridates to retreat to Pontus. In 72   BC Lucullus invaded Pontus through Galatia and marched north following the river Halys to the north coast, he besieged Amisus , which withstood until 70   BC. In 71 he marched through the Iris and Lycus river valleys and established his base in Cabeira . Mithridates sent his cavalry to cut

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9858-399: The Seleucid Empire. The sources are silent on Pontus for the years following the death of Mithridates   II, when his son Mithridates   III ruled (c.   220–198/88). Pharnaces I of Pontus was much more successful in his expansion of the kingdom at the expense of the Greek coastal cities. He joined in a war with Prusias I of Bithynia against Eumenes of Pergamon in 188 BC, but

10017-433: The Seleucid dynasty virtually unopposed amongst the Diadochi. However, Seleucus also hoped to take control of Lysimachus' European territories, primarily Thrace and Macedon itself. But upon arriving in Thrace in 281 BC, Seleucus was assassinated by Ptolemy Ceraunus , who had taken refuge at the Seleucid court with his sister Lysandra . The assassination of Seleucus destroyed Seleucid prospects in Thrace and Macedon, and paved

10176-421: The Thessalian with Alexander. The story of the dinner party of Medeios may be true, but the plot to poison the King is unlikely. In the final story, Seleucus reportedly slept in the temple of the god Serapis shortly before Alexander's death in the hope that his health might improve. The validity of this story is also questionable, as the Graeco-Egyptian Serapis had not yet been invented at the time. Alexander

10335-413: The Victorious"; c.  358 BC – 281 BC ) was a Macedonian Greek general, officer and successor of Alexander the Great who went on to found the eponymous Seleucid Empire , led by the Seleucid dynasty . Initially a secondary player in the power struggles following Alexander's death, Seleucus rose to become the total ruler of Asia Minor , Syria , Mesopotamia , and the Iranian plateau , assuming

10494-404: The acute during the late 20th century, and it has only been retained in typography . After the writing reform of 1982, most diacritics are no longer used. Since then, Greek has been written mostly in the simplified monotonic orthography (or monotonic system), which employs only the acute accent and the diaeresis. The traditional system, now called the polytonic orthography (or polytonic system),

10653-426: The ancient Kassites . Antigonus had devastated their lands while fighting Eumenes. Seleucus perhaps recruited a portion of Archelaus' troops. When Antigonus finally invaded Babylon, Seleucus' army was much bigger than before. Many of his soldiers certainly hated Antigonus. The population of Babylon was also hostile. Seleucus, thus, did not need to garrison the area to keep the locals from revolting. Little information

10812-402: The ancient language; singular and plural alone in later stages), and gender (masculine, feminine, and neuter), and decline for case (from six cases in the earliest forms attested to four in the modern language). Nouns, articles, and adjectives show all the distinctions except for a person. Both attributive and predicative adjectives agree with the noun. The inflectional categories of

10971-412: The argument relating to Seleucus handing over more of what is now southern Afghanistan is an exaggeration originating in a statement by Pliny the Elder referring not specifically to the lands received by Chandragupta, but rather to the various opinions of geographers regarding the definition of the word "India": Most geographers, in fact, do not look upon India as bounded by the river Indus, but add to it

11130-430: The army of Pontus adopted the Macedonian phalanx ; it fielded a corps of Chalkaspides ('bronze-shields'), for example against Sulla at the Battle of Chaeronea , while at the same battle 15,000 phalangites were recruited from freed slaves . Pontus also fielded various cavalry units, including cataphracts . In addition to normal cavalry Pontus also fielded scythed chariots . Under Mithridates VI Pontus also fielded

11289-401: The autumn of 88 Mithridates also placed Rhodes under siege, but he failed to take it. In Athens , anti-Roman elements were emboldened by the news and soon formed an alliance with Mithridates. A joint Pontic–Athenian naval expedition took Delos in 88   BC, and granted the city to Athens. Many Greek city-states now joined Mithridates, including Sparta , the Achaean League , and most of

11448-439: The battle of Gaza Demetrius retreated to Tripoli while Ptolemy advanced all the way to Sidon . Ptolemy gave Seleucus 800 infantry and 200 cavalry. He also had his friends accompanying him, perhaps the same 50 who escaped with him from Babylon. On the way to Babylon Seleucus recruited more soldiers from the colonies along the route. He finally had about 3,000 soldiers. In Babylon, Peithon's commander, Diphilus, barricaded himself in

11607-441: The beginning of the battle and Nicanor was cut off from his forces. The news about the death of Evagoras spread among the soldiers, who started to surrender en masse . Almost all of them agreed to fight under Seleucus. Nicanor escaped with only a few men. Even though Seleucus now had about 20,000 soldiers, they were not enough to withstand the forces of Antigonus. He also did not know when Antigonus would begin his counterattack. On

11766-547: The city's fortress. Seleucus conquered Babylon with great speed and the fortress was also quickly captured. Seleucus' friends who had stayed in Babylon were released from captivity. His return to Babylon was afterwards officially regarded as the beginning of the Seleucid Empire and that year as the first of the Seleucid era . Soon after Seleucus' return, the supporters of Antigonus tried to get Babylon back. Nicanor

11925-575: The client Kingdom of Pontus, Colchis, and Cilicia until Polemon   II was forced to abdicate the Pontic throne by Nero in AD ;62. Although the Pontic kings claimed descent from the Persian royal house, they generally acted as Hellenistic kings and portrayed themselves as such in their coins, mimicking Alexander's royal stater . The army of the Pontic Kingdom had a varied ethnic composition, as it recruited its soldiers from all over

12084-427: The coast. The river valleys of Pontus also ran parallel to the coast and were quite fertile, supporting cattle herds, millet , and fruit trees, including cherry , apple , and pear . ( Cherry and Cerasus are probably cognates .) The coastal region was dominated by Greek cities such as Amastris and Sinope, which became the Pontic capital after its capture. The coast was rich in timber, fishing, and olives. Pontus

12243-763: The consul Lucullus took over Cilicia , Mithridates faced Roman commanders on two fronts. The Cilician pirates had not been completely defeated, and Mithridates signed an alliance with them. He was also allied with the government of Quintus Sertorius in Spain and with his help reorganized some of his troops in the Roman legionary pattern with short stabbing swords. The Third Mithridatic war broke out when Nicomedes   IV of Bithynia died without heirs in 75 and left his kingdom to Rome. In 74   BC Rome mobilized its armies in Asia Minor, probably provoked by some move made by Mithridates, but our sources are not clear on this. In 73 Mithridates invaded Bithynia, and his fleet defeated

12402-409: The correct day came, Seleucus' soldiers spontaneously started building the city. When questioned, the priests admitted their deed. The struggle among the Diadochi reached its climax when Antigonus, after the extinction of the old royal line of Macedonia, proclaimed himself king in 306 BC. Ptolemy, Lysimachus, Cassander and Seleucus, the other four principal Macedonian chiefs, soon followed and assumed

12561-767: The daughter of Seleucus. According to Strabo, the ceded territories bordered the Indus: The geographical position of the tribes is as follows: along the Indus are the Paropamisadae, above whom lies the Paropamisus mountain: then, towards the south, the Arachoti: then next, towards the south, the Gedroseni, with the other tribes that occupy the seaboard; and the Indus lies, latitudinally, alongside all these places; and of these places, in part, some that lie along

12720-422: The daughter of the late Persian King Darius III while several other Macedonians married Persian women. After Alexander's death (323 BC), when the other senior Macedonian officers unloaded their "Susa wives" en masse , Seleucus was one of the very few who kept his wife, and Apama remained his consort (later Queen) for the rest of her life. Ancient sources report several anecdotes about Seleucus' activities during

12879-496: The death of Attalus III . After Rome received the Kingdom of Pergamon in the will of Attalus   III in the absence of an heir, they turned part of it into the province of Asia, while giving the rest to loyal allied kings. For his loyalty Mithridates was awarded the region of Phrygia Major. The kingdom of Cappadocia received Lycaonia . Because of this it seems reasonable to assume that Pontus had some degree of control over Galatia , since Phrygia does not border Pontus directly. It

13038-611: The east with six horsemen. Mithridates first went to the city of Cimiata in Paphlagonia and later to Amasya in Cappadocia. He ruled from 302 to 266   BC, fought against Seleucus I and, in 281 (or 280) BC, declared himself king ( basileus ) of a state in northern Cappadocia and eastern Paphlagonia. He further expanded his kingdom to the river Sangrius in the west. His son Ariobarzanes captured Amastris in 279, its first important Black sea port. Mithridates also allied with

13197-581: The eastern satrapies. Additionally, a marriage alliance was formed, with Chandragupta marrying a daughter of Seleucus, according to Strabo and Appian. Furthermore, the Seleucid Empire received a considerable military force of 500 war elephants with mahouts , which would play a decisive role against Antigonus at the Battle of Ipsus in 301 BC. In 281 BC, he also defeated Lysimachus at the Battle of Corupedium , adding Asia Minor to his empire. Seleucus' victories against Antigonus and Lysimachus left

13356-437: The eastern territories, Seleucus I Nicator took control of Alexander's conquests. According to the Roman historian Appian : [Seleucus was] always lying in wait for the neighboring nations, strong in arms and persuasive in council, he acquired Mesopotamia, Armenia, 'Seleucid' Cappadocia, Persis, Parthia, Bactria, Arabia, Tapouria, Sogdia, Arachosia, Hyrcania, and other adjacent peoples that had been subdued by Alexander, as far as

13515-639: The easternmost provinces of Arachosia , Gedrosia , Paropamisadae and perhaps also Aria . On the other hand, he was accepted by other satraps of the eastern provinces. His Persian wife, Apama, may have helped him implement his rule in Bactria and Sogdiana . This would tend to be corroborated archaeologically, as concrete indications of Mauryan influence, such as the inscriptions of the Edicts of Ashoka which are known to be located in, for example, Kandhahar in today's southern Afghanistan. Some authors say that

13674-500: The empire was once again in turmoil. Peithon, the satrap of Media, assassinated Philip, the satrap of Parthia , and replaced him with his brother Eudemus as the new satrap. In the west Antigonus and Eumenes waged war against each other. Just like Peithon and Seleucus, Eumenes was one of the former supporters of Perdiccas. Seleucus' biggest problem was, however, Babylon itself. The locals had rebelled against Archon and supported Docimus. The Babylonian priesthood had great influence over

13833-483: The empire. When Demetrius arrived in Babylon, Seleucus was somewhere in the east. He had left Patrocles to defend the city. Babylon was defended in an unusual way. It had two strong fortresses, in which Seleucus had left his garrisons. The inhabitants of the city were transferred out and settled in the neighbouring areas, some as far as Susa. The surroundings of Babylon were excellent for defence, with cities, swamps, canals and rivers. Demetrius' troops started to besiege

13992-613: The enormous Macedonian dominion among Alexander's generals. Seleucus was chosen to command the Companion cavalry ( hetairoi ) and appointed first or court chiliarch , which made him the senior officer in the Royal Army after the regent and commander-in-chief Perdiccas. Several other powerful men supported Perdiccas, including Ptolemy , Lysimachus , Peithon and Eumenes . Perdiccas' power depended on his ability to hold Alexander's enormous empire together, and on whether he could force

14151-412: The first phase of the war. Antigonus was besieging Tyre , when Seleucus sailed past him and went on to threaten the coast of Syria and Asia Minor. Antigonus allied with the island of Rhodes , which had a strategic location and a navy capable of preventing the allies from combining their forces. Because of the threat of Rhodes, Ptolemy gave Seleucus a hundred ships and sent him to the Aegean Sea. The fleet

14310-469: The flood barriers of the river, but the resulting flood did not stop Eumenes. In the spring of 316 BC, Seleucus and Peithon joined Antigonus, who was following Eumenes to Susa. From Susa Antigonus went to Media, from where he could threaten the eastern provinces. He left Seleucus with a small number of troops to prevent Eumenes from reaching the Mediterranean. Sibyrtius , satrap of Arachosia , saw

14469-584: The forces of Antigonus, who were still without their weapons and in disarray and thus easily defeated. The historical accuracy of the story is questionable. The Babylonian war finally ended in Seleucus' victory. Antigonus was forced to retreat west. Both sides fortified their borders. Antigonus built a series of fortresses along the Balikh River while Seleucus built a few cities, including Dura-Europos and Nisibis . The next event connected to Seleucus

14628-423: The fortresses of Babylon and conquered one of them. The second fortress proved more difficult for Demetrius. He left his friend Archelaus to continue the siege, and himself returned west leaving 5,000 infantry and 1,000 cavalry in Babylon. Ancient sources do not mention what happened to these troops. Perhaps Seleucus had to reconquer Babylon from Archelaus. Over the course of nine years (311–302 BC), while Antigonus

14787-741: The four satrapies of the Gedrose , the Arachotë , the Aria , and the Paropamisadë , the River Cophes thus forming the extreme boundary of India. According to other writers, however, all these territories, are reckoned as belonging to the country of the Aria. — Pliny, Natural History VI, 23 Nevertheless, it is usually considered today that Arachosia and the other three regions did become dominions of

14946-439: The infinitive entirely (employing a raft of new periphrastic constructions instead) and uses participles more restrictively. The loss of the dative led to a rise of prepositional indirect objects (and the use of the genitive to directly mark these as well). Ancient Greek tended to be verb-final, but neutral word order in the modern language is VSO or SVO. Modern Greek inherits most of its vocabulary from Ancient Greek, which in turn

15105-526: The instigation of Cassander to allow the diadochs to assume the title of king. After arriving in Egypt, Seleucus sent his friends to Greece to inform his fellow Diadochi Cassander (ruler of Macedon and overlord of Greece) and Lysimachus (ruler of Thracia ) about Antigonus. Antigonus was now the most powerful of the Diadochi , and the others would soon have to face him. Ptolemy, Lysimachus and Cassander formed

15264-487: The interior. The region of Pontus was originally part of the Persian satrapy of Cappadocia (Katpatuka). The Persian dynasty which was to found this kingdom had, during the 4th century BC, ruled the Greek city of Cius (or Kios) in Mysia , with its first known member being Mithridates of Cius. His son Ariobarzanes   II became satrap of Phrygia . He became a strong ally of Athens and revolted against Artaxerxes , but

15423-482: The king's army. Seleucus, like his later rivals Antigonus and Demetrius , was reportedly a very powerful man. Appian wrote of an incident in which a wild bull that was about to be sacrificed by Alexander broke free of its bounds, and Seleucus managed to recapture the animal by grabbing and holding unto its horns with his bare hands. This was apparently the reason for the bull horns in the coins he later minted. A number of legends, similar to those told of Alexander

15582-449: The kingdom. The standing army included Armenians , Bastarnae , Bithynians , Cappadocians , Galatians , Heniochoi , Iazyges , Koralloi , Leucosyrians , Phrygians , Sarmatians , Scythians , Tauri , and Thracians , as well as soldiers from other areas around the Black Sea. The Greeks who served in the military were not part of the standing army, but rather fought as citizens of their respective cities. Like many Hellenistic armies ,

15741-467: The late 15th century BC, was the first script used to write Greek. It is basically a syllabary , which was finally deciphered by Michael Ventris and John Chadwick in the 1950s (its precursor, Linear A , has not been deciphered and most likely encodes a non-Greek language). The language of the Linear B texts, Mycenaean Greek , is the earliest known form of Greek. Another similar system used to write

15900-530: The lawful ruling family against the usurper Antigonus. Eumenes marched his army 300 stadions away from Babylon and tried to cross the Tigris . Seleucus had to act. He sent two triremes and some smaller ships to stop the crossing. He also tried to get the former hypasiti of the Argyraspides to join him, but this did not happen. Seleucus also sent messages to Antigonus. Because of his lack of troops, Seleucus apparently had no plans to actually stop Eumenes. He opened

16059-422: The life of Alexander. In the first of these episodes, he participated in a sailing trip near Babylon , where Alexander's diadem was blown off his head and landed on some reeds near the tombs of Assyrian kings. Seleucus swam to fetch the diadem back, placing it on his own head while returning to the boat to keep it dry. The validity of the story is dubious. In the second, he took part in the dinner party of Medeios

16218-576: The membership of Greece and Cyprus in the European Union, Greek is one of the organization's 24 official languages . Greek is recognized as a minority language in Albania, and used co-officially in some of its municipalities, in the districts of Gjirokastër and Sarandë . It is also an official minority language in the regions of Apulia and Calabria in Italy. In the framework of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages , Greek

16377-441: The modern period. The division into conventional periods is, as with all such periodizations, relatively arbitrary, especially because, in all periods, Ancient Greek has enjoyed high prestige, and the literate borrowed heavily from it. Across its history, the syllabic structure of Greek has varied little: Greek shows a mixed syllable structure, permitting complex syllabic onsets but very restricted codas. It has only oral vowels and

16536-601: The new satrap of Susiana and Peithon of Media. Babylon was one of the wealthiest provinces of the empire, but its military power was insignificant. It is possible that Antipater divided the eastern provinces so that no single satrap could rise above the others in power. After the death of Alexander, Archon of Pella was chosen satrap of Babylon. Perdiccas, however, had plans to supersede Archon and nominate Docimus as his successor. During his invasion of Egypt, Perdiccas sent Docimus along with his detachments to Babylon. Archon waged war against him, but fell in battle. Thus, Docimus

16695-473: The new satrap of Mesopotamia, for helping Seleucus. Modern scholars are skeptical of the prophecy story. It seems certain, however, that the Babylonian priesthood was against Seleucus. During Seleucus' escape to Egypt, Macedonia was undergoing great turmoil. Alexander the Great's mother Olympias had been invited back to Macedon by Polyperchon in order to drive Cassander out. She held great respect among

16854-478: The newly arrived Galatians and defeated a force sent against him by Ptolemy I . Ptolemy had been expanding his territory in Asia Minor since the beginning of the First Syrian war against Antiochus in the mid-270s and was allied with Mithridates' enemy, Heraclea Pontica . We know little of Ariobarzanes' short reign, except that when he died his son Mithridates   II (c.   250—189) became king and

17013-429: The night, and the Pontic army suffered heavy casualties. After the battle, Pompey founded the city of Nicopolis. Mithridates fled to Colchis, and later to his son Machares in the Crimea in 65   BC. Pompey now headed east into Armenia, where Tigranes submitted to him, placing his royal diadem at his feet. Pompey took most of Tigranes' empire in the east but allowed him to remain as king of Armenia. Meanwhile, Mithridates

17172-492: The northern part of Macedonia . Just a year before his birth (if the year 358 BC is accepted as the most likely date), the Paeonians invaded the region. Philip defeated the invaders and only a few years later utterly subdued them under Macedonian rule. Seleucus' year of birth is unclear. Justin claims he was 77 years old during the battle of Corupedium , which would place his year of birth at 358 BC. Appian tells us Seleucus

17331-399: The noun they modify and relative pronouns are clause-initial. However, the morphological changes also have their counterparts in the syntax, and there are also significant differences between the syntax of the ancient and that of the modern form of the language . Ancient Greek made great use of participial constructions and of constructions involving the infinitive, and the modern variety lacks

17490-706: The older periods of Greek, loanwords into Greek acquired Greek inflections, thus leaving only a foreign root word. Modern borrowings (from the 20th century on), especially from French and English, are typically not inflected; other modern borrowings are derived from Albanian , South Slavic ( Macedonian / Bulgarian ) and Eastern Romance languages ( Aromanian and Megleno-Romanian ). Greek words have been widely borrowed into other languages, including English. Example words include: mathematics , physics , astronomy , democracy , philosophy , athletics , theatre, rhetoric , baptism , evangelist , etc. Moreover, Greek words and word elements continue to be productive as

17649-440: The other hand, he knew that at least two eastern provinces did not have a satrap. A great majority of his own troops were from these provinces. Some of Evagoras' troops were Persian. Perhaps a portion of the troops were Eumenes' soldiers, who had a reason to hate Antigonus. Seleucus decided to take advantage of this situation. Seleucus spread different stories among the provinces and the soldiers. According to one of them, he had in

17808-399: The port city. Meanwhile, Mithridates had sent his son Arcathias with a large army via Thrace into Greece. Sulla now headed north, seeking the fertile plains of Boeotia to supply his army. At the Battle of Chaeronea , Sulla inflicted severe casualties on Archelaus, who nevertheless retreated and continued to raid Greece with the Pontic fleet. Archelaus regrouped and attacked a second time at

17967-604: The predominant sources of international scientific vocabulary . Greek has been spoken in the Balkan peninsula since around the 3rd millennium BC, or possibly earlier. The earliest written evidence is a Linear B clay tablet found in Messenia that dates to between 1450 and 1350 BC, making Greek the world's oldest recorded living language . Among the Indo-European languages, its date of earliest written attestation

18126-465: The province of Asia in Anatolia, and it had also rescinded the region of Phrygia Major from Pontus during the reign of Laodice. Mithridates began his expansion by inheriting Lesser Armenia from King Antipater (precise date unknown, c.115–106) and by conquering the Kingdom of Colchis . Colchis was an important region in Black Sea trade – rich with gold, wax, hemp, and honey. The cities of

18285-724: The regent of Alexander's empire, and was appointed Commander of the Companions and chiliarch at the Partition of Babylon in 323 BC. However, after the outbreak of the Wars of the Diadochi in 322, Perdiccas' military failures against Ptolemy in Egypt led to the mutiny of his troops in Pelusium . Perdiccas was betrayed and assassinated in a conspiracy by Seleucus, Peithon and Antigenes in Pelusium sometime in either 321 or 320 BC. At

18444-454: The region by sending troops; Mithridates swiftly invaded, placing his nephew Ariarathes VII of Cappadocia on the throne of Cappadocia. War soon broke out between the two, and Mithridates invaded with a large Pontic army, but Ariarathes   VII was murdered in 101   BC before any battle was fought. Mithridates then installed his eight-year-old son, Ariarathes IX of Cappadocia as king, with Gordius as regent. In 97 Cappadocia rebelled, but

18603-442: The region. Babylon also had a sizeable population of Macedonian and Greek veterans of Alexander's army. Seleucus won over the priests with monetary gifts and bribes. After the death of Antipater in 319 BC, the satrap of Media began to expand his power. Peithon assembled a large army of perhaps over 20,000 soldiers. Under the leadership of Peucestas the other satraps of the region brought together an opposing army of their own. Peithon

18762-486: The rest of his holdings and become an ally of Rome. The treaty agreed with Sulla was not to last. From 83 to 82   BC Mithridates fought against and defeated Licinius Murena , who had been left by Sulla to organize the province of Asia. The so-called Second Mithridatic war ended without any territorial gains by either side. The Romans now began securing the coastal region of Lycia and Pamphylia from pirates and established control over Pisidia and Lycaonia . When in 74

18921-530: The river Indus, so that the boundaries of his empire were the most extensive in Asia after that of Alexander. The whole region from Phrygia to the Indus was subject to Seleucus. The Mauryans then annexed the areas around the Indus governed by the four Greek satraps: Nicanor , Phillip , Eudemus and Peithon . This established Mauryan control to the banks of the Indus. Chandragupta's victories convinced Seleucus that he needed to secure his eastern flank. Seeking to hold

19080-534: The satrap of Media, Peithon , and the commander of the Argyraspides , Antigenes , both serving as officers under Perdiccas, and assassinated him. Cornelius Nepos mentions that Seleucus also took part in this conspiracy, but this is not certain. The most powerful man in the empire after the death of Perdiccas was Antipater . Perdiccas' opponents gathered in Triparadisos, where the empire of Alexander

19239-477: The situation as hopeless and returned to his own province. The armies of Eumenes and his allies were at breaking point. Antigonus and Eumenes had two encounters during 316 BC, in the battles of Paraitacene and Gabiene . Eumenes was defeated and executed. The events of the Second War of the Diadochi revealed Seleucus' ability to wait for the right moment. Blazing into battle was not his style. Antigonus spent

19398-635: The son of Mithridates and ruler of the Crimean Bosporus, to seek an alliance with Rome. Mithridates fled to Armenia. In the summer of 69 Lucullus invaded Armenian territory, marching with 12,000 men through Cappadocia into Sophene . His target was Tigranocerta , the new capital of Tigranes's empire. Tigranes retreated to gather his forces. Lucullus laid siege to the city, and Tigranes returned with his army, including large numbers of heavily armored cavalrymen, termed Cataphracts , vastly outnumbering Lucullus' force. Despite this, Lucullus led his men in

19557-493: The son of Seleucus, moved the whole population of Babylon to his father's namesake capital in 275 BC. The city flourished until AD 165, when the Romans destroyed it. A story of the founding of the city goes as follows: Seleucus asked the Babylonian priests which day would be best to found the city. The priest calculated the day, but, wanting the founding to fail, told Seleucus a different date. The plot failed however, because when

19716-490: The story is propaganda invented to present Seleucus as the natural successor of Alexander. John Malalas tells us Seleucus had a sister called Didymeia , who had sons called Nicanor and Nicomedes. It is most likely the sons are fictitious. Didymeia might refer to the oracle of Apollo in Didyma near Miletus . It has also been suggested that Ptolemy (son of Seleucus) was actually the uncle of Seleucus. In spring 334 BC, as

19875-437: The stressed vowel; the so-called breathing marks ( rough and smooth breathing ), originally used to signal presence or absence of word-initial /h/; and the diaeresis , used to mark the full syllabic value of a vowel that would otherwise be read as part of a diphthong. These marks were introduced during the course of the Hellenistic period. Actual usage of the grave in handwriting saw a rapid decline in favor of uniform usage of

20034-596: The subsequent Battle of the Hydaspes (326 BC), Seleucus led his troops against the elephants of King Porus . It is unknown the extent in which Seleucus participated in the actual planning of the battle, as he is not mentioned as holding any major independent position during the battle. This contrasts with Craterus , Hephaistion , Peithon and Leonnatus – each of whom had sizable detachments under their control. Seleucus' Royal Hypaspistai were constantly under Alexander's eye and at his disposal. They later participated in

20193-409: The surrender of most of the newly created province. He was welcomed in many cities, where the residents chafed under Roman tax farming . In 88 Mithridates also ordered the massacre of at least 80,000 Romans and Italians in what became known as the ' Asiatic Vespers '. Many Greek cities in Asia Minor happily carried out the orders; this ensured that they could no longer return to an alliance with Rome. In

20352-525: The title and style of basileus (king). Seleucus soon turned his attention once again eastward. The Persian provinces in what is now modern Afghanistan, together with the wealthy kingdom of Gandhara and the states of the Indus Valley , had all submitted to Alexander the Great and become part of his empire. When Alexander died, the Wars of the Diadochi ("Successors") split his empire apart; as his generals fought for control of Alexander's empire. In

20511-659: The title of basileus (king). The Seleucid Empire was one of the major powers of the Hellenistic world , until it was overcome by the Roman Republic and Parthian Empire in the late second and early first centuries BC. While serving under Alexander, Seleucus was commander of the Hypaspistai , an elite Macedonian infantry unit. After the death of Alexander in June 323 BC, Seleucus initially supported Perdiccas ,

20670-563: The two made peace in 183 after Bithynia suffered a series of reversals. He took Sinope in 182   BC and although the Rhodians complained to Rome about this, nothing was done. Pharnaces also took the coastal cities of Cotyora , Pharnacia , and Trapezus in the east, effectively gaining control of most of the northern Anatolian coastline. Despite Roman attempts to keep the peace, Pharnaces fought against Eumenes of Pergamon and Ariarathes of Cappadocia. While initially successful, it seems he

20829-600: The two soon turned cold, however. Seleucus punished one of Antigonus' officers without asking permission from Antigonus. Antigonus became angry and demanded that Seleucus give him the income from the province, which Seleucus refused to do. He was, however, afraid of Antigonus and fled to Egypt with 50 horsemen. It is told that Chaldean astrologers prophesied to Antigonus that Seleucus would become master of Asia and would kill Antigonus. After hearing this, Antigonus sent soldiers after Seleucus, who had however first escaped to Mesopotamia and then to Syria . Antigonus executed Blitor,

20988-502: The uprising was swiftly put down by Mithridates. Afterwards, Mithridates and Nicomedes   III both sent embassies to Rome. The Roman Senate decreed that Mithridates had to withdraw from Cappadocia and Nicomedes from Paphlagonia. Mithridates obliged, and the Romans installed Ariobarzanes in Cappadocia. In 91/90   BC, while Rome was busy in the Social War in Italy, Mithridates encouraged his new ally and son-in-law, King Tigranes

21147-447: The various stages of the Greek language are often emphasized. Although Greek has undergone morphological and phonological changes comparable to those seen in other languages, never since classical antiquity has its cultural, literary, and orthographic tradition been interrupted to the extent that one can speak of a new language emerging. Greek speakers today still tend to regard literary works of ancient Greek as part of their own rather than

21306-548: The various tribes of the kingdom, or were of Greek origin. Greek language Greek ( Modern Greek : Ελληνικά , romanized :  Elliniká , [eliniˈka] ; Ancient Greek : Ἑλληνική , romanized :  Hellēnikḗ ) is an Indo-European language, constituting an independent Hellenic branch within the Indo-European language family. It is native to Greece , Cyprus , Italy (in Calabria and Salento ), southern Albania , and other regions of

21465-529: The vernacular form of Modern Greek proper, and Katharevousa , meaning 'purified', a compromise between Dimotiki and Ancient Greek developed in the early 19th century that was used for literary and official purposes in the newly formed Greek state. In 1976, Dimotiki was declared the official language of Greece, after having incorporated features of Katharevousa and thus giving birth to Standard Modern Greek , used today for all official purposes and in education . The historical unity and continuing identity between

21624-552: The way for Ptolemy Ceraunus to absorb much of Lysimachus' former power in Macedon. Seleucus was succeeded by his son Antiochus I as ruler of the Seleucid Empire. Seleucus founded a number of new cities during his reign, including Antioch (300 BC), Edessa and Seleucia on the Tigris (c. 305 BC), a foundation that eventually depopulated Babylon. Seleucus was the son of Antiochus . Historian Junianus Justinus claims that Antiochus

21783-511: The winter of 316 BC in Media, whose ruler was once again Peithon. Peithon's lust for power had grown, and he tried to get a portion of Antigonus' troops to revolt to his side. Antigonus, however, discovered the plot and executed Peithon. He then superseded Peucestas as satrap of Persia. In the summer of 315 BC Antigonus arrived in Babylon and was warmly welcomed by Seleucus. The relationship between

21942-504: Was 73 years old during the battle, which means 354 BC would be the year of birth. Eusebius of Caesarea , however, mentions the age of 75, and thus the year 356 BC, making Seleucus the same age as Alexander the Great . This is most likely propaganda on Seleucus' part to make him seem comparable to Alexander. As a teenager, Seleucus was chosen to serve as the king's page ( pais ). It was customary for all male offspring of noble families to first serve in this position and later as officers in

22101-515: Was a distinct dialect of Greek itself. Aside from the Macedonian question, current consensus regards Phrygian as the closest relative of Greek, since they share a number of phonological, morphological and lexical isoglosses , with some being exclusive between them. Scholars have proposed a Graeco-Phrygian subgroup out of which Greek and Phrygian originated. Among living languages, some Indo-Europeanists suggest that Greek may be most closely related to Armenian (see Graeco-Armenian ) or

22260-420: Was also made into a client kingdom. Pharnaces   II later made an attempt at reconquering Pontus. During the civil war of Caesar and Pompey, he invaded Asia Minor (48   BC), taking Colchis, lesser Armenia, Pontus, and Cappadocia and defeating a Roman army at Nicopolis. Caesar responded swiftly and defeated him at Zela , where he uttered the famous phrase ' Veni, vidi, vici '. Pontic kings continued to rule

22419-506: Was also rich in iron and silver , which were mined near the coast south of Pharnacia ; steel from the Chalybian mountains became quite famous in Greece. There were also copper , lead , zinc and arsenic . The Pontic interior also had fertile river valleys such as the river Lycus and Iris. The major city of the interior was Amasia , the early Pontic capital, where the Pontic kings had their palace and royal tombs. Besides Amasia and

22578-568: Was also used as the official language of government and religion in the Christian Nubian kingdoms , for most of their history. Greek, in its modern form, is the official language of Greece, where it is spoken by almost the entire population. It is also the official language of Cyprus (nominally alongside Turkish ) and the British Overseas Territory of Akrotiri and Dhekelia (alongside English ). Because of

22737-557: Was also used in Ancient Greek. Greek has occasionally been written in the Latin script , especially in areas under Venetian rule or by Greek Catholics . The term Frankolevantinika / Φραγκολεβαντίνικα applies when the Latin script is used to write Greek in the cultural ambit of Catholicism (because Frankos / Φράγκος is an older Greek term for West-European dating to when most of (Roman Catholic Christian) West Europe

22896-615: Was attacked by the Galatians. Mithridates   II received aid from Heraclea Pontica , who was also at war with the Galatians at this time. Mithridates went on to support Antiochus Hierax against his brother Seleucus   II Callinicus. Seleucus was defeated in Anatolia by Hierax, Mithridates, and the Galatians. Mithridates also attacked Sinope in 220 but failed to take the city. He married Seleucus   II's sister and gave his daughter in marriage to Antiochus   III, to obtain recognition for his new kingdom and create strong ties with

23055-508: Was betrayed by his son Mithridates II of Cius . Mithridates   II remained as ruler after Alexander's conquests and was a vassal to Antigonus I Monophthalmus , who briefly ruled Asia Minor after the Partition of Triparadisus . Mithridates was killed by Antigonus in 302   BC under suspicion that he was working with his enemy Cassander . Antigonus planned to kill Mithridates' son, also called Mithridates (later named Ktistes, 'founder') but Demetrius   I warned him and he escaped to

23214-597: Was finally defeated in a battle waged in Parthia. He escaped to Media, but his opponents did not follow him and rather returned to Susiana. Meanwhile, Eumenes and his army had arrived at Cilicia , but had to retreat when Antigonus reached the city. The situation was difficult for Seleucus. Eumenes and his army were north of Babylon; Antigonus was following him with an even larger army; Peithon was in Media and his opponents in Susiana. Antigenes, satrap of Susiana and commander of

23373-469: Was not intending to give Babylon to Seleucus without a fight. It is not certain how Seleucus took Babylon from Docimus, but according to one Babylonian chronicle an important building was destroyed in the city during the summer or winter of 320 BC. Other Babylonian sources state that Seleucus arrived in Babylon in October or November 320 BC. Despite the presumed battle, Docimus was able to escape. Meanwhile,

23532-555: Was occupied in the west, Seleucus brought the whole eastern part of Alexander's empire as far as the Jaxartes and Indus Rivers under his authority. In 311 BC Antigonus made peace with Cassander, Lysimachus and Ptolemy, which gave him an opportunity to deal with Seleucus. Antigonus' army had at least 80,000 soldiers. Even if he left half of his troops in the west, he would still have a numerical advantage over Seleucus. Seleucus may have received help from Cossaians, whose ancestors were

23691-482: Was one of Philip II of Macedon 's generals, but no such general is mentioned in any other sources, and nothing is known of his supposed career under Philip. It is possible that Antiochus was a member of an upper Macedonian noble family. Seleucus' mother was supposedly called Laodice , but nothing else is known of her. Later, Seleucus named a number of cities after his parents. Seleucus was born in Europus , located in

23850-512: Was organizing a defense of the Crimea when his son Pharnaces led the army in revolt; Mithridates was forced to commit suicide or was assassinated. Most of the western half of Pontus and the Greek cities of the coast, including Sinope, were annexed by Rome directly as part of the Roman province of Bithynia et Pontus . The interior and eastern coast remained an independent client kingdom. The Bosporan Kingdom also remained independent under Pharnaces II of Pontus as an ally and friend of Rome. Colchis

24009-597: Was overmatched by 179 when he was forced to sign a treaty. He had to give up all lands he had obtained in Galatia , and Paphlagonia and the city of Tium, but he kept Sinope. Seeking to extend his influence to the north, Pharnaces allied with the cities in the Chersonesus and with other Black Sea cities such as Odessus on the Bulgarian coast. Pharnaces' brother, Mithridates   IV Philopator Philadelphus adopted

24168-475: Was partitioned again (the Treaty of Triparadisus 321 BC). At Triparadisos the soldiers had become mutinous and were planning to murder their master Antipater. Seleucus and Antigonus , however, prevented this. For betraying Perdiccas, Seleucus was awarded the rich province of Babylon. This decision may have been Antigonus' idea. Seleucus' Babylon was surrounded by Peucestas , the satrap of Persis ; Antigenes ,

24327-540: Was sent, but it accomplished nothing. Mithridates also took a part of Galatia that had previously been part of his father's kingdom and intervened in Cappadocia, where his sister Laodice was queen. In 116 the king of Cappadocia, Ariarathes   VI, was murdered by the Cappadocian noble Gordius at the behest of Mithridates, and Laodice ruled as regent over the sons of Ariarathes until 102   BC. After Nicomedes III of Bithynia married Laodice, he tried to intervene in

24486-404: Was the founding of the city of Seleucia . The city was built on the shore of the Tigris probably in 307 or 305 BC. Seleucus made Seleucia his new capital, thus imitating Lysimachus, Cassander and Antigonus, all of whom had named cities after themselves. Seleucus also transferred the mint of Babylon to his new city. Babylon was soon left in the shadow of Seleucia, and the story goes that Antiochus ,

24645-413: Was the new satrap of Media and the strategos of the eastern provinces. His army had about 17,000 soldiers. Evagoras, the satrap of Aria , was allied with him. It was obvious that Seleucus' small force could not defeat the two in battle. Seleucus hid his armies in the marshes that surrounded the area where Nicanor was planning to cross the Tigris and made a surprise attack during the night. Evagoras fell in

24804-497: Was the time he traveled through Asia Minor, building his resistance to poisons and learning all of the languages of his subjects. He returned in 113   BC to depose his mother; she was thrown into prison, and he eventually had his brother killed. Mithridates VI Eupator, 'the Good Father', followed a decisive anti-Roman agenda, extolling Greek and Iranian culture against ever-expanding Roman influence. Rome had recently created

24963-449: Was too small to defeat Rhodes, but it was big enough to force Asander , the satrap of Caria , to ally with Ptolemy. To demonstrate his power, Seleucus also invaded the city of Erythrai . Polemaios , a nephew of Antigonus, attacked Asander. Seleucus returned to Cyprus, where Ptolemy I had sent his brother Menelaos along with 10,000 mercenaries and 100 ships. Seleucus and Menelaos began to besiege Kition. Antigonus sent most of his fleet to

25122-580: Was under the control of the Frankish Empire ). Frankochiotika / Φραγκοχιώτικα (meaning 'Catholic Chiot') alludes to the significant presence of Catholic missionaries based on the island of Chios . Additionally, the term Greeklish is often used when the Greek language is written in a Latin script in online communications. The Latin script is nowadays used by the Greek-speaking communities of Southern Italy . The Yevanic dialect

25281-673: Was written by Romaniote and Constantinopolitan Karaite Jews using the Hebrew Alphabet . In a tradition, that in modern time, has come to be known as Greek Aljamiado , some Greek Muslims from Crete wrote their Cretan Greek in the Arabic alphabet . The same happened among Epirote Muslims in Ioannina . This also happened among Arabic-speaking Byzantine rite Christians in the Levant ( Lebanon , Palestine, and Syria ). This usage

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