Seleukos Nikator (Routledge Revivals)

Download or read book Seleukos Nikator (Routledge Revivals) written by John D Grainger and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-02-04 with total page 277 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Following the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC, one of his commanders, Seleukos Nikator, rose over a period of forty years from being a landless refugee to the most successful of the Successor kings. This biography, first published in 1990, makes use of both historical and archaeological sources to trace the stages of Seleukos’ life as he added province to province, kingdom to kingdom, gradually building an empire which stretched from India to Greece and founding a state which lasted for the next two centuries. This strangely neglected figure in ancient history emerges as a modestly proficient general, an excellent strategist, a consummate diplomat, and an inventive and constructive ruler, the diversity of his empire demanding intelligence of a high order to hold it together. Seleukos Nikator will be of interest to students of ancient history and the politics of the Hellenistic world.