Seleucia on the Tigris
Seleucia on the Tigris, situated in modern-day Iraq, was an important ancient city founded by Seleucus I Nicator around 307-300 BC. It replaced Babylon as the principal city of the region and became a significant capital in the Seleucid Empire, sharing this status with other major cities like Antioch. Located at a strategic point where the Tigris and Euphrates rivers converge, it thrived as a bustling port and a hub for trade routes connecting Persia, China, and India, achieving notable prosperity around 175-170 BC with a population that may have reached 600,000. The city was home to a diverse population, including Greeks, Babylonians, and Jews, while retaining a self-governing Greek administration.
Throughout its history, Seleucia experienced various conflicts and changes in control, suffering damage during rebellions and foreign invasions, including a significant siege by the Parthians. Despite these challenges, the city remained a center of Hellenistic culture and thought, producing notable philosophers and scholars. Eventually, Seleucia's decline began after invasions and shifts in power, leading to its abandonment as a major urban center. Archaeological excavations in the area have revealed remnants of its fortifications, residential architecture, and cultural sites, reflecting the blend of Greek, Semitic, Iranian, and Roman influences that characterized this remarkable city.
Subject Terms
Seleucia on the Tigris
Seleukeia (Tell Umar), of which the former Babylonian village of Opis became a part
It was situated in Mesopotamia (Iraq) on a natural lake at the narrowest point between the Euphrates and the Tigris, where the Royal (Nahrmalka) Canal united the two rivers just north of the site. In 324 BC Alexander the Great's plans for a new mixed army of Macedonians and Persians caused the former to mutiny at Opis: and it was there that he pronounced his imaginative, spectacular prayer for a union of hearts and a joint commonwealth between the two peoples, holding a feast of reconciliation attended by 9,000 guests of both races.
On this site of Opis, and on the territory around it, Seleucus I Nicator founded the colony of Seleucia (307/300), which replaced Babylon as the principal city of the country, and became a capital of his empire—a function that it shared with the Syrian towns Seleucia in Pieria and then Antioch. It was at Seleucia on the Tigris that the royal heir resided, and a center of the dynastic cult was established; and the new foundation was destined to become the peerless eastern outpost of Hellenism, and one of the greatest cities in the world. Few other places have so effectively dominated the mercantile affairs of half a continent. Serving as an immensely busy port for river shipping down to the Persian Gulf, and as the meeting place for convoys bringing textiles from Persia, silk from China, and a wide variety of goods from India, Seleucia on the Tigris enjoyed a particular outburst of prosperity c 175–170, and eventually possessed a population which, according to Pliny the Elder, reached a total of 600,000. Among these inhabitants were not only Greeks but many Babylonians and numerous Jews. However, the city retained its self-governing Greek constitution and administration, even after damage incurred during rebellions instigated by Molon from Media (220) and the satrap Timarchus (164–62) and further destruction during the conquest of Mesopotamia by the Arsacid Parthian Mithridates I (c 141), who established a military camp and winter residence at Ctesiphon on the opposite bank of the Tigris.
The leading Stoic philosopher Diogenes `the Babylonian’ (d. c 150), an eminent Epicurean of the same name (d. 144), and their younger contemporary the astronomer `Seleucus the Chaldaean,’ all originated from Seleucia: c 86 the Athenian rhetorician Amphicrates agreed to go there as a visiting professor, although when he was offered a permanent post he replied that a dolphin would not fit into a stew pan. The place was often the scene of fierce factional strife, and autonomous coinages of 88 BC, 42–38 BC (dated significantly by the Seleucid era) and AD 14/15 seem to bear witness to rebellions against the Parthians, whose King Vardanes I (AD 35–42) subjected the city to a seven-year siege that terminated in its surrender.
Burned down by Trajan's army (116), Seleucia was rebuilt in a less Greek and more Parthian style, but after opening its gates to Avidius Cassius (164/5)—a leading general of Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus—its buildings suffered a further bout of destruction at his hands, which accelerated the decline of Hellenism in Babylonia. On this occasion, occupation by the Roman troops (who caught the plague from the local inhabitants) did not last; but it was resumed when Septimius Severus entered the city, finding it deserted by the Parthians (197/8). After Mesopotamia had come under the control of the Sassanian Persians, the site was abandoned and not reinhabited, but their King Ardashir (Artaxerxes) I (224–41) created a new foundation nearby under the name of Veh-Ardashir, which continued to hold a central position in international commerce. In 283, however, the Roman emperor Carus defeated the Sassanian Bahram II and captured Seleucia; but when he died shortly afterward, Persian rule was resumed.
Excavations have revealed sections of defensive canals and ditches, and of stone fortifications built on foundations of baked bricks. A hero's shrine (Heroon) made of the latter material, according to a fragmentary inscription, was apparently dedicated to the Seleucid Demetrius II (145–140). A theater stood on the south side of the town, beside what may have been a porticoed square. Two sanctuaries have been found near the Royal Canal which flowed through Seleucia; and the uncovering of a residential block has thrown much light on the domestic architecture of this remarkable center, at which Greek, Semitic, Iranian and Roman cultures converge.