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The Seleucid Empire was one of several political states founded after the death of Alexander the Great, whose generals squabbled over the division of
Alexander's empire.
The Seleucid Empire, founded in 323 BC by Seleucus I Nicator, controlled a large region including Mesopotamia, Persia (eastward to the Indus River), modern-day Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan. The Seleucid Empire lost much territory just prior
to and during the 2nd century BC; Gedrosia on the coast of the Arabian Sea and
Arachosia on the west bank of the Indus
were ceded to Chandragupta in 303
BC; Bactria asserted independence in 250
BC, followed by Parthia ten years later. Antiochus III the Great is considered the greatest of the Seleucid monarchs, but his
campaigns in Greece in 192 BC attracted the
attention of the Roman Republic, who exacted punitive war indemnities.
The Seleucids subsequently declined, and the Seleucid dynasty
itself eventually vanished in the mid-1st century BC.
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