The Last Man Standing: Life of Seleucus I Nicator
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 9 ก.พ. 2025
- How did one low ranking general in Alexander the Great's army, found one of the largest Empires in history? FIND OUT NOW!
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Seleucus' interaction with India/Persia is a very important part of his life. Seleucus suffered a final huge defeat and seceded all the territories in modern day Pakistan and Southern Afghanistan to Mauryans and gave his daughter's hand in marriage, the Mauryans gave him 500 war elephants with the trained riders as dowry/good will gesture. These elephants were put to great use by Seleucus in the West and they proved to be much better than the North African elephants. Seleucus also actively incorporated cavalry from Persia and Scythians into his army and was less reliant on phalanx. He also had his Sogdian wife as the chief consort, unlike the rest of the generals of Alexander. When he was assassinated his family from India waged a war for revenge.
What's the source of last line? Family wagging war to revenge his death?
@@chakraborty1989The family from India that his daughter was married to.
Ashoka the emperor of Magadha probably had larger army as Megasthenes said that the Maurya of the time of Chandragupta Maurya had an army of 600,000 infantry, 30,000 cavalry, 8,000 chariots and 9,000 war elephants.
Yoooo Bro is here
Seleucus and his heirs made it clear that while Alexander conquering the Persian Empire was undoubtedly impressive, reconstructing and maintaining it with Macedonian and Hellenistic rulers was doubly so
Ptolemy hahahaha you beat this guy
Seleucus was probably the only Diadochi who truly rivaled Alexander
Maybe!
Antigonus as well, before the Babylonian war and ipsus
The assassination of Seleucus was one of the most tragic moments from the Hellenistic period.
From what I read and researched. I really cannot find a reason behind it other than ptolemy wanted macedon for himself. But yeah tbh the assassination just confuses me lol.
@@AncientHistoryGuy was ptolemy a general in the army of seleucus?
@@yourikemink1941 Ptolemy Thunderbolt was a very volitile character with drama following him everywhere he went. He was said to have a destructive personality and was impatient and impetuous.
In Egypt he became involved in a power struggle and ended up leaving to join the court of Lysimachus, in Thrace.
In Thrace, he became involved in another power struggle between his sisters...and ended up leaving again and joined Seleucus' court. After Seleucus' victory at Corupedium, against Lysimachus, Seleucus made Ptolemy part of his inner circle in for political reasons.
Seleucus made an unplanned stop in Argos, in Thrace, to make a sacrifice when he was killed by the impetuous Thunderbolt. The name Argos has a special meaning to the Macedonian Royalty.
They're called the Argead Dynasty because they came from a place called Argos. Which was in Orestis, just west of Macedonia. (not the Argos in the Peloponnese).
Btw, Seleucus himself was an Orestean. The Oresteans were Epirots that shifted toward Phillip and Orestis became Upper Macedonia.
Seleucus was on the verge of becoming Macedonian Royalty... probably the reason why he was distracted by this Argos place in Thrace.
@@tylerdurden3722 that is a really interesting storry and sounds like a horrible man. tnx for sharing it.
Great work. Extremely sensational!!
Just add a bit of mauryan chronicles. They were important in the line of seleucus.
Because, after seleucus was murdered, the mauryan emperor( now seleucus' brother -in -law) and his son ( seleucus' nephew) turned over the murderers with a massive army.
Such an aliance
@MANOJ KUMAR PATHAK that's because Vishwagurus didn't write about history
Antigonus I Monophthalmus will forever be my fave successor
خليت بطليموس الي كتب ان حيات االاسكندر يضحق
seleucus the true successor of alexander!
my fav diadochi
I favor the antiginod kingdom of macedon
@@BronzetheGolden all of the successors are interesting and cool but selecus and his dynasty were the only ones who ruled an empire that could rival alexanders at least in size
@@panoskatrin4910 yes I agree tho I see antiginos as more wise
Well technically Ptolemy was his true successor because of the Macedonian tradition of the king being buried by his heir
I'm going to have to fire up the old Rome 2 grand campaign and play some Seleucid total warring after this.
My last campaign was as the seleucids!
4:06 He probably just had sweaty hands
haha!
Selucus lost to Chandragupta Maurya, that is precisely why he had to marry his daughter to Chandragupta Maurya instead of him marrying a Mauryan princess. Defeated kings used to marry off their daughters to Victorious kings as a guarantee for future "friendship".
Selucus lost a lot more land than just the current Pakistan (in fact Greek ruke east of Indus river was already decimated by Chandragupta) , whole or much of the current Afghanistan which is confirmed by the Inscriptions of Ashoka in as far as Kandahar.
Just found this channel, I love the artwork, it's wonderful.
Really great video, you are an excellent channel.
The Seleucids are so underated!
definitely
Because he didn't achieve any thing. 😁 He loose many time from Chandra Gupta mourya .
@@AncientHistoryGuy Yeah more documentaries focused on the them would be welcomed. (Antiochus whisper "I am Great").
@@competativeprogramming7480 Chandragupta Maurya was def a better general, and the more important person in history, but seleucus has his own achievements that are worth admiring, Seleucus is my favourite ancient greek cause I just find his rise from nothing not even really worth a footnote in history to the king of one of the biggest empires the world had known.
@@Armorius2199 hahaha stay tuned!
You have the best battle channel
thankyou!
Dude was as awesome as he was weird. Kinda disappointed that you didn't bring up the time he gave his young wife to his son after she gave birth to a daughter of Seleucus because Anitochus I Soter had a massive crush on her and had actually lost weight over his grief.
He gave his wife to his son because his son fell gravely ill because he was down bad for her but as she was his step mom he preferred to die than make a move on her. Seleucus was really confused at first but later chose his son over his wife. 🙄
Seleucus Nictator was defeated by Chandragupta Maurya
I love the nervous breathing at the start
Asthma we love it :)
@@AncientHistoryGuy oh i didnt know that... Sorry. I had lots of asthma issues when i was a kid, so glad i got rid of it
i might be mistaken but i think there is a small mistake at 5:36 the regent antipiter and antigonus actually had a good relationship, eumenes was the rival of antigonus and the reason why antigonus conquered the eastern part of the empire before he kicked seleucus, actually even after antipiters death antigonus supported cassander the son of antipiter and eumenes polyperchon.Great video nonetheless!
What an underrated channel
6:15 *Decisive Mauryan victory*
Treaty of the Indus
Defeat of Seleucus Nicator
*Chandragupta Maurya conquers and regains all Indian territory lost which were conquered by Alexander the Great*
Seleucid Empire's eastern satrapies ceded to Mauryan Empire
Seleucus gives the hand of his daughter to Chandragupta, founding a dynastic alliance
Chandragupta gives 500 war elephants to Seleucus
Greek ambassador Megasthenes sent to Mauryan Empire
Establishment of diplomatic relations
As an Indian, Seleucus is well known in Indian history as the Greek general who fought against Chandragupta Maurya. Chandragupta married the daughter of Seleucus in exchange for 500 war elephants. Since then the Greeks and the Romans used war elephants in their army.
Nope Selecus Nicator Fought against ChandraGupta of Aparantaka Empire,, not Mauryan Empire
ChandraGupta Maurya was never a Contemporary to Selecus Nicator but Demetrus and Pantelon was the Contemporary to ChandraGupta Maurya and Bindusara Maurya
Mind you there were 2 Alexenders (of Different timeline) in Indian History.
.
1> Alexender 1 (Son of Caranus 1) who Invaded against Nanda Empire at 1500 BCE but was only Successful to Annex Sindh Kingdom from Nanda Territory which later Mauryan Empire retook it back and Pushed Indo-Greek upto Bactria Province.
ChandraGupta Maurya, Never Married to a Greek Women..... he has only one Wife ie QUEEN DURDHARA and that too she died while giving a son BINDUSARA and thats it... he live Remaining of his life as Widow.
Later after Living in many Centuries opposite to the Indus River, finally Indo-Greek Rulers started using Indian Names and Became Kushaans.
2> Alexender 2 (son of King Phillip 2 of Macedonia) who invaded from the Opposite Bank of Indus river at 900 BCE When Alexender did a Military Conquest in Afghanistan and then in NW front of India (Present day Pakistan) he was shocked to see a Hybrid Hellenisitic-Buddhist/Hindus Culture in Takshashila (Taxila) which was Opposite Bank of Indus River.
But ALexender was Thrashed by Minor King Porus of Punjab Kingdom who was the Vassal Kingdom of Buddhist Empire ie APARANTAKA EMPIRE..
as Alexender wanted to go out from India at one Piece hence his Army General gave his Daughter to Buddhist king ChandraPrakash's son whose name was ChandraGupta urf "SANDROCOTUS".
So ChandraGupta of Chandra Dynasty Married to a Greek Women which Selecus gave..
@@JokerJoker-xc7xb "brainwashed"
@@oneaboveall5175 they are brainwashed in a way that india have no history
@@JokerJoker-xc7xbyou watch tto much bollybood movie
@@mdkhan40 where did you find my comment related to bollywood????
where did you brought this Garbage to completly fill in your mind?????
Amazing video, glad I found out your channel!
Give this guy a freaking movie Hollywood 😢
Great video! I was wondering do you think Antiochus III was a successful or unsuccessful Seleucid King? Antiochus III the Great was a Seleucid king who traveled to India, took Hannibal, the Carthaginian general, in his court, and campaigned against Rome. During his reign he was the indisputable ruler of the Seleucid Empire. His life and rule is very fascinating to study but was he a successful or unsuccessful Seleucid King?
During his reign he ruled over a large region of the territory in Syria. He expanded the empire’s territory and campaigned all the way to India. This level of military achievement had not been achieved since Alexander the Great. Antiochus III was even referred to as “the great” or “great king.” He even declared himself as the “champion of Greek freedom against Roman domination.” He even stood against Rome. For a brief moment, it seemed as if he would be the one to stand up to Rome and reverse the course of his declining empire. However, history seemed to have other plans. He appeared to make numerous mistakes during his military campaigns against Rome and would lose a big portion of his western territories. This was sealed in the Treaty of Apamea (188 BCE) where he agreed to all of the terms of the Romans. Antiochus III spent his last years trying to maintain and expand his weakened influence over the east. He was killed in Elam in 187 BCE, as he was pillaging the temple of Bel in an attempt to replenish his empty coffers.
Antiochus III the Great had managed to become the king who had, at the same time, both restored the glory of the Seleucid Empire and seemed to also sign its doom.
So, overall, should he be labelled as a successful or unsuccessful Seleucid King? Was he only successful in the short-run but failed in the long-run? Did he succeed or fail in other areas other than the military (economy, people’s opinion etc)? What were the ancient historians opinions of him?
This question really interests me and I believe he doesn’t get enough attention. Thanks!
Make an video on pushyamitra shunga vs greeks😎
A real pleasure to watch, very nicely done...Μπράβο!
Thankyou!
He is written prophecy in Daniel chapter 8. He is the last of the four men who stood in Alexander the Great.
Quality Content
thankyou!
The Seleucid empire was the the superpower of the ancient world during the 3rd century BC, and definitely deserve more attention.
The man is also the closest thing there ever was to a proper successor of Alexander the Great.
Selucus defeated by chandragupta
@@lokpalshekhawat2696 but managed to get 500 war elephants for losing and In the same year marched his army from India to Ipsus a feat greater than Hannibal and took command and as a result antigonus would perish in battle. Seleucus was the only reason the coalition triumphed. The greatest of the Diadochi.
@@jojobinx9667 bro i think you know nothing about hinduism and Indian culture it is a ritual if you marry you have to give something precious to father of child whom you are getting married to so he give 500 elephants out of 9000 elephant and also the Sindh region present day Pakistan and Afghanistan and this is also know known as dowry
@@himanshunagarwal1019 you legit gave the textbook definition to my funny comment. It is very ironic in any situation to lose a battle let alone a conflict and be given a reward. He lost a lot of his most eastern regions during the treaty. Seleucus knew how to play the game better than any of tbe Diadochi. Can a brother not enjoy history and see the irony? Sheesh people these days. I find the Mediterranean and Hellenistic cultures more fascinating because I share the blood much like you do for Hinduism. We all have preferences in history and it’s pretty sad that you expect people to be like god and understand everything. No one ever understands everything. Be more considerate next time you try to become a keyboard warrior. 🤷
@@jojobinx9667 bro it a custom which is also known as dowry and was compulsory in ancient time whether rich or poor it still happens in India in rural areas especially whether u are are poor some people gave their more than annual income
chandragupta and chanakya end his winning conquest. he even had to marry his daughter Helen to chandragupta maurya ..........
Well not really seleucus needed to secure his eastern borders
@@wankawanka3053 he gave away Pakistan and Southern Afghanistan to the Mauryans
@@wankawanka3053 he lost to Chandragupta. He had go back to other side of the world
His name is so cool
BRO WASNT LYSIMACHUS MEANT TO BE NEXT..... ;( 😢😭
Fake story. Alexander got injured and run away. Seleucus got defeated and surrender.
The elephant was given as gift from chandragupta maurya.
He was defeated by Mauryan Emperor Chandragupta Maurya
nope
@@a_pure_hindutva. Yup
@@BhagyalaxmiKumari-vb4ub Then why did chandra give five hundred elephants to him? So that selucus could kill more indians, persians, hindus and asians?
Nic-Kate-Tor
love your vids
Don't speak Greek! And cheers!
Nicator is pronounced ‘Nike-tor’
How pleasantly he said mauryans and Greeks came to the negotiating table brother research selucus lost the war from emperor Chandragupta Maurya who then was the emperor of the most of the modern day India seculus married her daughter(Helena) to him and gave the concoured land upto morden day Iran and 500 war elephant as dowry
That white skin can't be winning all the time poor mate
Seleucus is my favourite diadochi
He lost majority of modern day pakistan , also he had to marry one of his daughter with Chandragupta Maurya
One daughter for 500 War elephants. Pretty good deal for ancient standards.
In the west, Antigonus was becoming very powerful. To the point where he would bee too difficult to stop. Some of the other Diadochi were planning to join forces to attack him. But they weren't powerful enough on their own. So Seleucus was also approached to join. Even with Seleucus, it was a difficult task to defeat Antigonus and his allies
Anyway, Seleucus had just barely started his invasion of the Mauryan Empire, when all this went down in the west. Seleucus obviously couldn't just leave to go west and expect the Mauryans to not remain hostile after he tried to invade them😅.
Plus, fighting on two fronts, a great distance away, would have been a losing battle.
So, for Seleucus, there were 4 options:
1. If he remains in Pakistan, Antigonus will defeat everyone in the wesr and then gobble up Seleucus' empire.
2. If he goes west, the Mauryans will gobble up territory as far as they can.
3. If he fights on both fronts, he'll lose on both fronts.
4. Option 4 is to pacify one of the two fronts...in order to fully concentrate on the other front.
It was a lose-lose-lose-lose situation. There was no way Seleucus was not gonna lose territory...if not his entire empire.
The only viable option for Seleucus, was creating peace on one of those two fronts.
A real peace with Antigonus was never ever gonna happen.
With the Mauryans, peace seemed to be possible. In fact, good relations between the two lasted for many generations.
And those elephants he got played a critical role. Antigonus' cavalry on the left wing managed to defeat it's opposition and was about to finish the battle in the typical Alexandian Hammer and Anvil style.
But, Seleucus had kept his elephants in the rear, in reserve. The smell of these elephants panicked the Antigonid horses and prevented the Antigonid hammer from dealing the winning blow.
....and the course of history was changed forever.
1. Seleucus gained a trustworthy neighbor that secured the border in the east.
2. He got elephants that was key to defeating Antigonus. (He didn't just get elephants. He got Mahouts, the guys in the Howda, more infantry that protect the elephant and more support staff and food etc). 500 war elephants need 225 tons of supplies per day...not counting the humans that come with that elephant)
Moving 500 elephants accross Asia was quite an insane logistical feat. The Mauryans helped him with that too.
3. The Macedonian throne was a huge step closer with Antigonus taken care of.
So, the move Seleucus made was probably the best possible move to make if your objective was to win this game of thrones against the other Successors....and he came very close to winning 😅.
@@AncientHistoryGuy 😂Selecus lost the war with Chandragupta Maurya and had to gave his daughter and one more thing Mauryans had thousands of elephants in there army so nothing bad for them . and Mauryans never attacked Selecus , Selecus tried to attack India then got raped
@@AncientHistoryGuy one daughter and huge part of his empire to Mauryan empire
@@darthashpie huge part bruh it wasn't that big ....
Almost at 20k!!!!!!!!!!!!11
Scripting needs work. Animation, sound, topics info all very good and plenty decent enough. The script is definitely the slight weak point but it'll come I'd say if you keep plugging away. Maybe study writing scripts or watch the channels you like on here with a eye to how they do it. I'm giving this advice because I honestly think you have potential and could make something good. You over use certain words and the connections between the sentences is a bit stiff. Keep plugging mate hope you grow.
Such an anticlimactic Ending
Great video! Please could you do a video about the brief History of China?
Actually secus was defeated by chandragupta maurya. Then he gave his daughter's hand to chandragupta to ensure that there won't be any invasion by mauryan empire.
He married daughter of Chandragupta Maurya ,emperor of india then
Correction : He gave his daughter to chandragupta maurya .
@@Satyam-tr7pj and in dowry he got 500 elephants
@@himanshunagarwal1019 Actually Chandragupta got pakistan and Southern Afghanistan as Dahej from his Sasur Seleucus
Me and the 11 early boys commenting on cool history videos be like.
Legends
Seleucus gave Stratonice to Antiochus but her opinion is not recorded. But Seleucus did try to convince Stratonice if she protested. Why would she protest if she wasn't happy with Seleucus? Seleucus was old and Antiochus was young. He even participated in their wedding. Its all so bizzare. Stratonice was firs married off to a friend of her Father and then gets her pregnant. After that he divorces her and marries her off to his son. Yikes. 😬🤢 Was Stratonice that helpless that she couldn't go back to her father or did she do it out of love for Seleucus. I doubt she would have loved an old guy unless she had daddy issues. 🤢
India .....Mauryan empire was in modern day India not Pakistan ...Chk the history and the geography before making a fool of yourself.
@Yahweh Official ... exactly my point... Good Ur intelligence is way way better than most
It extwnded to Pakistan as well with even soem parts of Afghanistan. Pakistan is as much as successor and have claim in lineage to the Empire as India.
@@Dan-kt1zs...pakistan claims everything under the sun and is under perpetual inferiority complex. In any case Pakistan claims ghazni, ghori and Mir Quasim all invaders and marauders as its own just because they belong to the Arab cult. So by that logic automatically the mauryan dynasty claim is void coz it was a Hindu / Buddhist kingdom.
.....and the capital was patliputra which is Bihar and india...
Rest is pure logic😊😊
e
Chandragupta the great 🔥🇮🇳
Murayan empire never came to negotiation table. Selucus urged for peace by marrying his own daughter with chandragupta muriya, and left all alexander's conquered lands in India to chandragupta. After that, friendship stablished, they exchanged gifts. Chandragupta gave some war elephants to selucus this way.
I love how Indians deny Alexander's conquest of India but seem so proud of the fact that the Maurya empire defeated Seleucid. I wonder how Seleucid even got those Indian lands. I know! He inherited them from Alexander!
Alexander could never win from Magadha's army because Magadha's army was the greatest army in the world. If Alexander fought with Magadha's army, he would have to face defeat, so he decided to retreat and after the death of Alexander, his commander Seleucus Nicator tried to attack in India and was defeated by Magadha's king Chandragupta Maurya and Maurya marries Seleucus's daughter Helen.
Alexander never conquered india you can even read it in Western records too and only defeated porus a small kingdom's king but it is talked alot because the battle was fought near indus river which was one of the major routes of trade and Indian's never denied the porus defeat 🤦♂️
@@Global_Navigationn By India I mean North Western India (modern day Pakistan) you bafoon. India wasn't even a single state back then.
@@Global_Navigationn And he didn't defeat "only Porus" he had multiple campaigns before and after the battle of Hydaspes. He conquered the known world and that's plenty great.
@@Global_Navigationn Plus alot of indians do deny the defeat of Porus.