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SELEUCUS.—1. Seleucus I, (Nikator), originally a cavalry officer of Alexander the Great, became satrap of Babylon on the death of the king. After some vicissitudes his position there was securely established in b.c. 312, from which date the Seleucid era was reckoned (1Ma_1:18). The battle of Ipsus, b.c. 301, made him master of Syria and great part of the East. He founded Antioch and its fortified port Seleucia (1Ma_11:8), and is said by Josephus (Ant. XII. iii. 1) to have conferred on the Jews the privileges of citizenship. He is the ‘one of his [i.e. the king of Egypt’s] princes’ (Dan_11:5). He died b.c. 280.—2. Seleucus ii. (Callinicus, b.c. 246–226), son of Antiochus Soter, is entitled the ‘king of the north’ in the passage (Dan_11:7-9) which alludes to the utter discomfiture of the Syrian king and the capture of Seleucia.—3. Seleucus III. (Ceraunus, b.c. 226–223), ‘one of his [Seleucus ii.’s] sons’ (Dan_11:10), was murdered during a campaign in Asia Minor: the struggle with Egypt was continued by his brother Antiochus (Dan_11:10-16).—4. Seleucus IV. (Philopator; but Jos. [Note: Josephus.] , Ant. XII. iv. 10, calls him Soter), son of Antiochus The Great, reigned b.c. 187–176. He it was who despatched Heliodorus to plunder the Temple (2Ma_3:1-40, cf. Dan_11:20).—5. Seleucus V. (b.c. 125–124) and VI. (b.c. 95–93) are not of importance to the Biblical student. The four first-named belong to the ‘ten horns’ of Dan_7:24.
J. Taylor.