SELEUCIA
![](seleucia.jpg)
Seleucia
shown within Iraq
Alternative
name :
Seleukeia,
Saliq, Seleucia-on-Tigris, Seleucia on the Tigris
Location
: Baghdad
Governorate, Iraq
Region
:
Mesopotamia
Coordinates
: 33°5'40
N 44°31'20 E
Type
: Settlement
Area
: 5.5
km2 (2.1 sq mi)
History
:
Builder
: Seleucus
I Nicator
Founded
:
Approximately 305 BC
Abandoned
:
165 AD
Periods
: Hellenistic
to Roman Imperial
Cultures
: Greek,
Parthian, Sasanian
Site
notes :
Excavation
dates :
1927–1932,
1936–1937, 1964–1968, 1985–1989
Archaeologists
:
Leroy Waterman, Clark Hopkins, Antonio Invernizzi, Giorgio Gullini
Seleucia,
also known as Seleucia-on-Tigris or Seleucia on the Tigris, was
a major Mesopotamian city of the Seleucid, Parthian, and Sasanian
empires. It stood on the west bank of the Tigris River opposite
Ctesiphon, within the present-day Baghdad Governorate in Iraq.
Name
:
Seleucia (Greek: Seleúkeia) is named for Seleucus I Nicator,
who enlarged an earlier settlement and made it the capital of his
empire around 305 BC. It was the largest and most important of the
many cities to bear its name but is sometimes distinguished as Seleucia-on-Tigris
or Seleucia on the Tigris (Latin: Seleucia ad Tigridem) from the
name of its river.
Texts
from the Church of the East's synods referred to the city as Saliq
or some times Mahôze when referring to the metropolis of Seleucia-Ctesiphon.
The
Sassanids named the eastern city as Veh-Ardashir, Arabs called it
Bahurasir.
History
:
Seleucid Empire :
Seleucia, as such, was founded in about 305 BC, [citation needed]
when an earlier city was enlarged and dedicated as the first capital
of the Seleucid Empire by Seleucus I Nicator. Seleucus was one of
the Diadochi successors of Alexander the Great who, after Alexander's
death, divided his empire among themselves. Although Seleucus soon
moved his main capital to Antioch, in northern Syria, Seleucia became
an important center of trade, Hellenistic culture, and regional
government under the Seleucids. The city was populated by Greeks,
Syrians and Jews.
![](Small_statuette_of_a_naked_woman,_from_Seleucia_on_the_Tigris,_Iraq,_3rd-2nd_century_BCE._Iraq_Museum,_Baghdad.jpg)
Small
statuette of a naked woman, from Seleucia on the Tigris, Iraq, 3rd-2nd
century BCE. Iraq Museum, Baghdad
To make his capital into a metropolis, Seleucus forced almost all
inhabitants of Babylon, except the local temple priests/supporting
workers, to leave and resettle in Seleucia. " A tablet dated
275 BC states that the inhabitants of Babylon were transported to
Seleucia, where a palace and a temple (Esagila) were built."
Standing at the confluence of the Tigris River with a major canal
from the Euphrates, Seleucia was placed to receive traffic from
both great waterways.
During
the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC, it was one of the great Hellenistic
cities, comparable to Alexandria in Egypt, and greater than Syrian
Antioch. Excavations indicate that the walls of the city enclosed
an area of at least 550 hectares (1,400 acres), equivalent to a
square roughly 1.5 miles (2.5 kilometers) on a side. Based on this
size, the population has been estimated to number over 100,000 initially
and probably more later. Its surrounding region might have supported
half a million people.
Polybius
(5,52ff) uses the Macedonian peliganes for the council of Seleucia,
which implies a Macedonian colony, consistent with its rise to prominence
under Seleucus I; Pausanias (1,16) records that Seleucus also settled
Babylonians there. Archaeological finds support the presence of
a large population not of Greek culture.
In
141 BC, the Parthians under Mithridates I conquered the city, and
Seleucia became the western capital of the Parthian Empire. Tacitus
described its walls, and mentioned that it was, even under Parthian
rule, a fully Hellenistic city. Ancient texts claim that the city
had 600,000 inhabitants, and was ruled by a senate of 300 people.
It was clearly one of the largest cities in the Western world; only
Rome, Alexandria and possibly Antioch were more populous.
In
55 BC, a battle fought near Seleucia was crucial in establishing
dynastic succession of the Arsacid kings. In this battle between
the reigning Mithridates III (supported by a Roman army of Aulus
Gabinius, governor of Syria) and the previously deposed Orodes II,
the reigning monarch was defeated, allowing Orodes to re-establish
himself as king. In 41 BC, Seleucia was the scene of a massacre
of around 5,000 Babylonian Jewish refugees (Josephus, Ant. xviii.
9, § 9).
In
117 AD, Seleucia was burned down by the Roman emperor Trajan during
his conquest of Mesopotamia, but the following year it was ceded
back to the Parthians by Trajan's successor, Hadrian, then rebuilt
in the Parthian style. It was completely destroyed by the Roman
general Avidius Cassius in 165.
![](Detail,_inscribed,_Greek_and_Parthian_script,_lower_part_of_a_bronze_statuette_of_Hercules,_from_Seleucia_on_the_Tigris,_Iraq._Iraq_Museum.jpg)
Detail,
inscribed, Greek and Parthian script, lower part of a bronze statuette
of Hercules, from Seleucia on the Tigris, Iraq. Iraq Museum
Sasanian rule :
Over sixty years later a new city, Veh-Ardashir, was built across
the river by Persian emperor Ardashir I. This new city was long
believed to be located at Seleucia but was shown by Italian excavations
to be a fresh construction separate from Seleucia and Ctesiphon.
There were active Christian churches in Mesopotamia from the 1st
century onwards and in the 3rd or 4th century Seleucia became an
important centre.
![](Babylon&Seleuicia1(Peutinger_Map).png)
Seleucia
in the 4th century on the Peutinger Map
Following the edict of toleration by the Persian Sassanian King
Yazdegerd I, which for the time being brought an end to the persecution
of Christians, which had lasted for 70 years, the remaining Christians
set about reorganizing and strengthening the church.
The
Council of Seleucia-Ctesiphon (The Synod of Mar Isaac) met in 410
AD under the presidency of Mar Isaac, the bishop of Seleucia-Ctesiphon.
The most important decision of the Synod which had a very far reaching
effect on the life of the church, was to declare the bishop of Seleucia-Ctesiphon
as the primate of the Church of the East; and in recognition of
this pre-eminence he was given the title ‘Catholicos’.
The Synod confirmed Mar Isaac as Catholicos and Archbishop of all
the Orient. The Synod also declared its adherence to the decision
of the Council of Nicaea and subscribed to the Nicene Creed. The
Canons of the Synod leave no doubt as to the authority of the great
Metropolitan, the Catholicos of Seleucia-Ctesiphon. Without his
approval, no election of bishop would be valid.
Towards
the end of the reign of Yazdegerd I, the Christians were again persecuted
in AD 420. Dadyeshu was elected Catholicos in AD 421 and himself
suffered during the persecution and was imprisoned. When he was
released he resigned and left Seleucia, but the church refused to
accept the resignation and there followed the Synod of Dadyeshu
which met in AD 424 in Markabata of the Arabs under the presidency
of Mar Dadyeshu. It proved to be one of the most significant of
all Persian synods. The first synod of Isaac in AD 410 had decided
that the Catholicos of Seleucia Ctesiphon be supreme among the bishops
of the East. The Synod of Dadyeshu decided that the Catholicos should
be the sole head of the Church of the East and that no ecclesiastical
authority should be acknowledged above him. For the first time,
this synod referred to the Catholicos as Patriarch and that their
Catholicos was answerable to God alone. This had some effect in
reassuring the Sasanian monarchy that the Persian Christians were
not influenced by the Roman enemy.
The
city eventually faded into obscurity and was swallowed by the desert
sands, probably abandoned after the Tigris shifted its course.
![](424px-Karte_Seleucia_Ktesiphon.png)
Archeological
map of Seleucia and Ctesiphon sites
Archaeology :
The site of Seleucia was rediscovered in the 1920s by archaeologists
looking for Opis.
Beginning
in 1927, University of Michigan professors Leroy Waterman (1927–1932)
and Clark Hopkins (1936–1937) oversaw excavations for the
Kelsey Museum of Archaeology on behalf of the American School of
Oriental Research of Baghdad with funds supplied by the Toledo Museum
of Art and the Cleveland Museum of Art. From 1964 to 1968 and then
between 1985 and 1989, an Italian mission from the University of
Turin directed by Antonio Invernizzi and Giorgio Gullini excavated
at the site. They found a Seleucid archive building with about 30,000
seal impressions, all in a fully Greek style.
In
an outer wall of the Parthian period, a reused brick dated by stamp
to 821 BC, during the Neo-Assyrian period. [citation needed]
It
appears to have incorporated both Greek and Mesopotamian architecture
for the public buildings. Finds have indicated an extensive non-Greek
population.
Source
:
https://en.wikipedia.org/
wiki/Seleucia