Antiochus I Soter was a Macedonian king of the Seleucid Empire. Antiochus succeeded his father Seleucus I Nicator in 281 BC and reigned during a period of instability which he mostly overcame until his death on 2 June 261 BC. He is the last known ruler to be attributed the ancient Mesopotamian title King of the Universe.
Cylinder of Antiochus, as great king of kings of Babylon, restorer of the temples E-sagila and E-zida. Written in traditional Akkadian, a voluntary archaism meant to convey prestige.
Coin of Antiochos I Soter, Ai-Khanoum mint.
Antiochos I coin. Antioch mint. Macedonian shield with Seleucid anchor in central boss. Elephant walking right.
Antiochus and Stratonica (1774), Jacques-Louis David, École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts.
The Seleucid Empire was a Greek power in West Asia during the Hellenistic period. It was founded in 312 BC by the Macedonian general Seleucus I Nicator, following the division of the Macedonian Empire founded by Alexander the Great, and ruled by the Seleucid dynasty until its annexation by the Roman Republic under Pompey in 63 BC.
Seleucid Empire
"Chandra Gupta Maurya entertains his bride from Babylon": a conjectural interpretation of the "marriage agreement" between the Seleucids and Chandragupta Maurya, related by Appian
Coin of Seleucus I Nicator
In Bactria, the satrap Diodotus asserted independence to form the Greco-Bactrian kingdom c. 245 BC.
