Seleuceia
SELEUCEIAor SELEUCIA, two towns in Syria.
1.AD BELUM(Σελεύκεια πρὸς Βήλῳ), sometimes called SELEUCOBELUS,situated in the district of Cassiotis, placed by Ptolemy in long. 69° 30′, lat. 34° 45′. The Belus was a tributary of the Orontes, running into it from the W., and since, as Pococke remarks, Seleucia was exactly in the same latitude as Paltos, it must have been due E. of it. Now Boldo, the ancient Paltos, lies two hours S. of Jebilee, ancient Gabala, on the coast. Seleucia ad Belum must be looked for 1° 10′ to the E., according to Ptolemy's reckoning, who places Paltos in long. 63° 20′, lat. 34° 45′. Modern conjecture has identified it with Shoghand Divertigi, which is placed 30 miles E. of Antioch. (Ptol. 5.15.16; Pococke, Syria.vol. 2. p. 199.) Pliny mentions it with another not elsewhere recognised, in the interior of Syria: Seleucias praeter jam dictam (i. e. Pieria), duas, quae ad Euphratem, et quae ad Belum vocantur(5.23.19).
2.PIERIA(Σελεύκεια Πιερία : Eth. Σελευκεύς), a maritime city of Syria, placed by Ptolemy in long. 68° 36′, lat. 35° 26′, between Rhossus and the mouths of the Orontes. Its ancient name, according to Strabo, was Rivers of Water(Ὕδατος ποταμοί), a strong city, called Free by Pompey (Strab. 16.2.8). Its position is fully described by Polybius. It was situated on the sea between Cilicia and Phoenice, over against a large mountain called Coryphaeum, the base of which was washed on its W. side by the sea, towards the E. it dominated the districts of Antioch and Seleucis. Seleucia lay on the S. of this mountain, separated from it by a deep and rugged valley. The city extended to the sea through broken ground, but was surrounded for the most part by precipitous and abrupt rocks. On the side towards the sea lay the factory (τά ἐμπορεῖα) and suburb, on the level ground, strongly fortified. The whole hollow (κίτος) of the city was likewise strongly fortified with fine walls, and temples, and buildings. It had one approach on the sea side, by an artificial road in steps (κλιμακωτήν), distributed into frequent and continuous slopes (cuttings?--ἐλκλίμασι) and curves (tunnels?--σκαιώμασι). The embouchureof the Orontes was not far distant--40 stadia, according to Strabo (16. p. 750). It was built by Seleucus Nicator (died B.C. 280), and was of great importance, in a military view, during the wars between the Seleucidae and the Ptolemies. It was taken by Ptolemy Euergetes on his expedition into Syria, and held by an Egyptian garrison until the time of Antiochus the Great, who, at the instigation of Apollophanes, a Seleucian, resolved to recover it from Ptolemy Philopator (cir. B.C. 220), in order to remove the disgrace of an Egyptian garrison in the heart of Syria, and to obviate the danger which it threatened to his operations in Coele-Syria, being, as it was, a principal city, and well nigh, so to speak, the proper home of the Syrian power. Having sent the fleet against it, under the admiral Diognetus, he himself marched with his army from Apameia, and encamped near the Hippodrome, 5 stadia from the city. Having in vain attempted to win it by bribery, he divided his forces into three parts, of which one under Zeuxis made the assault near the gate of Antioch, a second under Hermogenes near the temple of the Dioscuri, the third under Ardys and Diognetus by the arsenal and suburb, which was first carried, whereupon the garrison capitulated (Plb. 5.58--60). It was afterwards a place of arms in the further prosecution of the war against Ptolemy (Ptol. 66). The Mount Coryphaeum of Polybius is the Pieria of Ptolemy and Strabo, from which the town derived its distinguishing appellation. Strabo mentions, from Posidonius, that a kind of asphaltic soil was quarried in this place, which, when spread over the roots of the vine, acted as a preservative against blight (7. p. 316.) He calls it the first city of the Syrians, from Cilicia, and states its distance from Soli, in a straight course, a little less than 1000 stadia (14. p. 676). It was one of the four cities of the Tetrapolis, which was a synonym for the district of Seleucis, the others being Antioch, Apameia, and Laodiceia, which were called sister cities, being all founded by Seleucus Nicator, and called by the names respectively of himself, his father, his wife, and his mother-in-law; that bearing his father's name being the largest, that bearing his own, the strongest. (Strab. 16. p. 749.) The auguries attending its foundation are mentioned by John Malalas ( Chronographia, lib. 8. p. 254). It became the port of Antioch, and there it was that St. Paul and Barnabas embarked for Cyprus, on their first mission to Asia Minor ( Acts, 13.4), the Orontes never having been navigable even as far as Antioch for any but vessels of light draught. Pliny calls it Seleucia libera Pieria,and describes it as situated on a promontory (5.21) clxxv. M. P. distant from Zeugma on the Euphrates (12). He designates the Coryphaeum of Polybius, the Pieria of Strabo, Mount Casius, a name also extended by Strabo to the mountains about Seleucia, where he speaks of the Antiocheans celebrating a feast to Triptolemus as a demigod, in Mount Cassius around Seleucia (16. p. 750). The ruins of the site have been fully explored and described in modern times, first by Pococke ( Observations on Syria, chap. 22. p. 182, &c.), who identified many points noticed by Polybius, and subsequently by Col. Chesney ( Journal of the R. Geog. Society, vol. 8. p. 228, &c.). The mountain range noticed by Polybius is now called Jebel Musa;and the hill on which the city stood appears to be the low mountain, called Bín-Kilíseh, or the 1000 churches. Part of the site of the town was occupied, according to Pococke, by the village of Kepse, situated about a mile from the sea. The masonry of the once magnificent port of Seleucia is still in so good a state that it merely requires trifling repairs in some places, and to be cleaned out; a project contemplated, but not executed, by one Ali Pasha, when governor of Aleppo. The plan of the port, with its walls and basins, its piers, floodgates, and defences, can be distinctly traced. The walls of the suburb, with its agora, the double line of defence of the inner city, comprehending in their circumference about 4 miles, which is filled with ruins of houses; its castellated citadel on the summit of the hill, the gate of Antioch on the SE. of the site, with its pilasters and towers, near which is a double row of marble columns; large remains of two temples, one of which was of the Corinthian order; the amphitheatre, near which Antiochus encamped, before his assault upon the city, with twenty-four tiers of benches still to be traced; the numerous rocky excavations of the necropolis, with the sarcophagi, always of good workmanship, now broken and scattered about in all directions, all attest the ancient importance of the city, and the fidelity of the historian who has described it. Most remarkable of all in this view is the important engineering work, to which Polybius alludes as the only comnmunication between the city and sea, fully described by Col. Chesney, as the most striking of the interesting remains of Seleucia. It is a very extensive excavation, cut through the solid rock from the NE. extremity of the town almost to the sea, part of which is a deep hollow way, and the remainder regular tunnels, between 20 and 30 feet wide, and as many high, executed with great skill and considerable labour. From its eastern to its western extremity is a total length of 1088 yards, the greater part of which is traversed by an aqueduct carried along the face of the rock, considerably above the level of the road. Its termination is rough and very imperfect, about 30 feet above the level of the sea; and while the bottom of the rest of the excavation is tolerably regular, in this portion it is impeded by large masses of rock lying across it at intervals: which would imply either that it was never completed, or that it was finished in this part with masonry, which may have been carried off for building purposes. It is, perhaps, in this part that the stairs mentioned by Polybius may have been situated, in order to form a communication with the sea. There can be no doubt whatever that this excavation is the passage mentioned by him as the sole communication between the city and the sea; and it is strange that any question should have arisen concerning its design. A rough plan of the site is given by Pococke (p. 183); but a much more carefully executed plan, with drawings and sections of the tunnels, &c., has lately been published by Captain Allen, who surveyed the site of the harbour, but not of the town, in 1850. ( The Dead Sea, &c., Map at end of vol. i., and vol. ii. pp. 208--230.) COIN OF SELEUCEIA IN SYRIA.[G.W]
SELEUCEIAor SELEUCIA(Σελεύκεια).
1.A town near the northern frontier of Pisidia, surnamed Sidera (ἡ Σιδηρᾶ, Ptol. 5.5.4; Hierocl. p. 673), probably on account of iron-works in its vicinity. There are some coins of this place with the image of the Asiatic divinity Men, who was worshipped at Antioch, and bearing the inscription Κλαυδισσελευκέων, which might lead to the idea that the place was restored by the emperor Claudius. (Sestini, Mont. Vet. p. 96.) Its site is now occupied by the town of Ejerdir.
2.A town in Pamphylia between Side and the mouth of the river Eurymedon, at a distance of 80 stadia from Side, and at some distance from the sea. ( Stadiasm. Mar. Mag. § 216.)
3.An important town of Cilicia, in a fertile plain on the western bank of the Calycadnus, a few miles above its mouth, was founded by Seleucus I., surnamed Nicator. A town or towns, however, had previously existed on the spot under the names of Olbia and Hyria, and Seleucus seems to have only extended and united them in one town under the name Seleucia. The inhabitants of the neighbouring Holmi were at the same time transferred to the new town, which was well built, and in a style very different from that of other Cilician and Pamphylian cities. (Steph. B. s. v.;Strab. 14. p. 670.) In situation, climate, and the richness of its productions, it rivalled the neighbouring Tarsus, and it was much frequented on account of the annual celebration of the Olympia, and on account of the oracle of Apollo. (Zosim. 1.57; Basil. Vita S. Theclae, 1. p. 275, Orat.27. p. 148.) Pliny (Plin. Nat. 5.27) states that it was surnamed Tracheotis; and some ecclesiastical historians, speaking of a council held there, call the town simply Trachea (Sozom. 4.16; Socrat. 2.39; comp. Ptol. 5.8.5; Ammian. 14.25; Oros. 7.12.) The town still exists under the name of Selefkieh, and its ancient remains are scattered over a large extent of ground on the west side of the Calycadnus. The chief remains are those of a theatre, in the front of which there are considerable ruins, with porticoes and other large buildings: farther on are the ruins of a temple, which had been converted into a Christian church, and several large Corinthian columns. Ancient Seleuceia, which appears to have remained a free city ever since the time of Augustus, remained in the same condition even after a great portion of Cilicia was given to Archelaus of Cappadocia, whence both imperial and autonomous coins of the place are found. Seleuceia was the birthplace of several men of eminence, such as the peripatetics Athenaeus and Xenarchus, who flourished in the reign of Augustus, and the sophist Alexander, who taught at Antioch, and was private secretary to the emperor M. Aurelius (Philostr. Vit. Soph. 2.5.) According to some authorities, lastly, the emperor Trajan died at Seleuceia (Eutrop. 8.2, 16; Oros. l. c.), though others state that he died at Selinus. COIN OF SELEUCKIA IN CILICIA.
COIN OF SELEUCKIA IN CILICIA.Seleucia in Caria [TRALLES] [L.S]
SELEUCEIAor SELEUCIA(Σελεύκεια, Plb. 5.48; Strab. 11. p. 521; Ptol. 5.18.8), a large city near the right bank of the Tigris, which, to distinguish it from several other towns of the same name, is generally known in history by the title of Σελεύκεια ἐπὶ τῷ Τίγρητι (Strab. 16. p. 738; Appian, App. Syr. 57.) It was built by Seleucus Nicator (Strab. l. c.;Plin. Nat. 6.26. s. 30; Tac. Ann. 6.42; J. AJ; Ammian. 23.20), and appears to have been placed near the junction with the Tigris, of the great dyke which was carried across Mesopotamia from the Euphrates to the Tigris, and which bore the name of Nahar Malcha(the royal river). (Plin. l. c.,and Isid. Char. p. 5.) Ptolemy states that the artificial river divided it into two parts (5.18.8). On the other hand, Theophylact states that both rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates, surrounded it like a rampart--by the latter, in all probability, meaning the Nahar Malcha(5.6), It was situated about 40 miles NE. of Babylon (according to Strabo, 300 stadia, and to the Tab. Peutinger., 44 M. P.). In form, its original structure is said to have resembled an eagle with its wings outspread. (Plin. l. c.) It was mainly constructed of materials brought from Babylon, and was one principal cause of the ruin of the elder city, as Ctesiphon was (some centuries later) of Seleuceia itself. (Strab. 16. p. 738.) It was placed in a district of great fertility, and is said, in its best days, to have had a population of 600,000 persons. (Plin. l. c.) Strabo adds, that it was even larger than Antiocheia Syriae,--at his time probably the greatest commercial entrepôt in the East, with the exception of Alexandreia (16. p. 750). Even so late as the period of its destruction its population is still stated to have amounted to half a million. (Eutrop. 5.8; comp. Oros. 8.5.) To its commercial importance it doubtless owed the free character of its local government, which appears to have been administered by means of a senate of 300 citizens. Polybius states that, on the overthrow of Molon, the Median rebels Antiochus and Hermeias descended on Seleuceia, which had been previously taken by Molon, and, after punishing the people by torture and the infliction of a heavy fine, exiled the local magistracy, who were called Adeiganae. (Ἀδελγάναι, Plb. 5.54.) Their love of freedom and of independent government was, however, of longer duration. (Plin. l. c.;Tac. Ann. 6.42.)
Seleuceia owed its ruin to the wars of the Romans with the Parthians and other eastern nations. It is first noticed in that between Crassus and Orodes (Dio Cass.); but it would seem that Crassus did not himself reach Seleuceia. On the advance of Trajan from Asia Minor, Seleuceia was taken by Erucius Clarus and Julius Alexander, and partially burnt to the ground (Dio Cass.); and a few years later it was still more completely destroyed by Cassius, the general of Lucius Verus, during the war with Vologeses. (Dio Cass.; Eutrop. 5.8; Capitol. Verus, 100.8.) When Severus, during the Parthian War, descended the Euphrates, he appears to have found Seleuceia and Babylon equally abandoned and desolate. (Dio Cass..) Still later, in his expedition to the East, Julian found the whole country round Seleuceia one vast marsh full of wild game, which his soldiers hunted. (Ammian. 24.5.) It would seem from the indistinct notices of some authors, that Seleuceia once bore the name of Coche. [COCHE]
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