State · 312 – 63 BCE

Seleucid Empire

A state of 312 – 63 BCE — 249 years in the Middle East and North Africa. It was replaced by Parthian Empire. The atlas records 65 things within it — wars and battles 14 · unrest and atrocity 1 · treaties 1 · people 49. Its line of rulers holds 55 people, 15 with dated terms.

Held with the record of Seleucid dynasty, merged into this one.

For the full story, the article on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0); this page holds what the record says of the state.

Stood: 249 years; 312 BCE – 63 BCE
Rulers: 55; the Seleucid ruler
Most ground: 2.98 million km²; in 301 BCE
Within it: 65; recorded rows
Symbol: 1; on record, with years

Map: Seleucid Empire in 301 BCE, its borders in gold among its neighbours — Seleucid Empire in 301 BCE, when it held the most ground the borders dataset draws for it: 2.98 million km². Its neighbours wear their tints, as on the atlas's own map. Borders from Cliopatria (CC BY 4.0), coast and rivers from Natural Earth, cities from Reba, Reitsma & Seto 2016 (CC BY 4.0), each city under the name it bore that year.

Seleucid Empire in 301 BCE, at its largest — The rise and the fall in one frame: the same ground at the years the borders dataset first maps it, maps it largest, and last maps it.

Seleucid Empire in 66 BCE, last mapped — The rise and the fall in one frame: the same ground at the years the borders dataset first maps it, maps it largest, and last maps it.

Where it sits in time

Five thousand years, 3000 BCE to 2026; the state in gold, what it replaced or followed and what replaced or followed it in grey.

Before and after

The states the record files it as replacing or following, and those that replaced or followed it - Wikidata's own statements, each read from this state's side.

After it

Parthian Empire · replaced by · 247 BCE – 224 CE

Rulers

The line of Seleucid ruler - the office this state names as its head of state.

killed, executed or dead in battledied in officeending not on recorda second row: a reign that began before the last had ended — rival claimants, or a shared throne

Ruler	Reign	Length	How it ended · source	To the ruler before
Seleucus I Nicator	312 BCE – 281 BCE	31 years	killedWikidata's manner of death
Antiochus I Soter	281 BCE – 261 BCE	20 years	the term ends after the recorded deathread off the dates alone	child
Seleucus	280 BCE – 266 BCE	14 years	died in office, manner not recordedread off the dates alone	child
Antiochus II Theos	261 BCE – 246 BCE	15 years	the term ends after the recorded deathread off the dates alone	sibling
Seleucus II Callinicus	246 BCE – 225 BCE	21 years	died by accidentWikidata's manner of death	child
Seleucus III Ceraunus	225 BCE – 223 BCE	2 years	killed, the article saysread from the ruler's own article	child
Antiochus III the Great	224 BCE – 187 BCE	37 years	died in office, manner not recordedread off the dates alone	sibling
Antiochus	210 BCE – 193 BCE	17 years	died in office, manner not recordedread off the dates alone	child
Seleucus IV Philopator	187 BCE – 175 BCE	12 years	killed, the article saysread from the ruler's own article	sibling
Antiochus IV Epiphanes	175 BCE – 164 BCE	11 years	died in office, manner not recordedread off the dates alone	sibling
Antiochus V Eupator	163 BCE – 161 BCE	2 years	the term ends after the recorded deathread off the dates alone	child
Demetrius I Soter	161 BCE – 150 BCE	11 years	died in office, manner not recordedread off the dates alone	sibling
Alexander Balas	150 BCE – 146 BCE	4 years	killed, the article saysread from the ruler's own article
Antiochus XII Dionysus	87 BCE – 82 BCE	5 years	killed, the article saysread from the ruler's own article
Antiochus XIII Asiaticus	69 BCE – 64 BCE	5 years	died in office, manner not recordedread off the dates alone

55 rulers, 15 with terms dated as terms, covering 312 BCE – 64 BCE. Median reign 12 years. 8 of 14 handovers irregular - a killing, a deposition, a rival claimant, a rising or a coup beside it. A blank in the last column means no kin on record, which is coverage, never “unrelated”.

Ground held, by year

km² inside its borders as the borders dataset draws them, measured on an equal-area grid; a step series, held between the years the dataset maps.

2.32 million km² in 302 BCE, 89,000 km² in 82 BCE; at its largest 2.98 million km² in 292 BCE. Cliopatria, CC BY 4.0.

Flag or arms

Each symbol with the years its own statement gives; the timeline flies the one of the year on screen.

coin, undated201209071746a Berlin Pergamonmuseum, Tetradrachme Seleukos' I, Silber, Pergamon, 281-280 v.u.Z · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Hartmann Linge

What happened within it, by century

Every row the atlas hosts under this state, by the century it began in: wars and battles in red, risings, regime changes and massacres beside them, everything else in grey. A tall bar is a century the record is full for, which is partly a fact about Wikipedia.

400 BCE – 301 BCE11 rows

Seleucus I Nicator · ruler · 358 – 281 BCE
Antiochus I Soter · ruler · 323 – 262 BCE
Menander I · person · 301 – 130 BCE
Stratonice of Syria · ruler · 318 – 268 BCE
Laodice III · ruler · 301 – 201 BCE
Laodice I · ruler · 301 – 261 BCE
Andragoras · person · 301 – 238 BCE
Laodice II · ruler · 301 BCE

and 3 more in the atlas.

300 BCE – 201 BCE22 rows · 9 wars and battles

Antiochus III the Great · ruler · 242 – 187 BCE
Antiochus IV Epiphanes · ruler · 215 – 164 BCE
Antiochus II Theos · ruler · 286 – 246 BCE
Seleucus II Callinicus · ruler · 265 – 225 BCE
Seleucus III Ceraunus · ruler · 243 – 223 BCE
Seleucus IV Philopator · ruler · 217 – 175 BCE
Alexander II Zabinas · ruler · 201 – 123 BCE
Syrian Wars · war · 274 – 168 BCE

and 14 more in the atlas.

200 BCE – 101 BCE28 rows · 5 wars and battles · 1 risings, regime changes and massacres

Bartholomew the Apostle · person · 101 BCE – 100 CE
Posidonius · scientist · 135 – 51 BCE
Maccabean Revolt · unrest · 167 – 160 BCE
Demetrius I Soter · ruler · 187 – 150 BCE
Cleopatra Thea · ruler · 164 – 121 BCE
Cleopatra IV · ruler · 138 – 112 BCE
Antiochus V Eupator · ruler · 173 – 162 BCE
Demetrius II Nicator · ruler · 161 – 125 BCE

and 20 more in the atlas.

100 BCE – 1 BCE3 rows

Nicolaus of Damascus · philosopher · 64 BCE – 4 CE
Antiochus XIII Asiaticus · ruler · 85 – 64 BCE
Philip II Philoromaeus · person · 51 BCE

Among all states

Each measure against the states that carry it, never against all of them: a bar is the share of those states below this one.

How long it stood249 years
stood longer than 68% of 3,187 states with a recorded end or still standing.
The most ground it held2,977,000 km²
held more ground at its peak than 95% of 1,465 states with a border in Cliopatria.
Wars recorded per century3.2
had more wars on record per century than 99% of 3,187 states, counting the wars the atlas hosts under each.
How long a reign lasted, at the median12 years
had longer reigns, at the median, than 41% of 967 states whose dated line can carry a median.
Rulers on record55
has more rulers on record than 98% of 1,968 states with a line of rulers.

What led to it, and what came of it

The investigation's own picture: 2 causes the record names and 1 result, the strongest six of each at their own years, joined to the state by the kind of claim - a recorded statement solid, the article's sentence dashed, a theory dash-dot.

linkedcoincidence

Open the investigation: every row with its evidence, the conditions at the time, the theories condition by condition, and the succession analysed.

Open in the atlas

On the timeline, 337 BCE – 38 BCE, with everything that stood beside it.
On the map in 301 BCE, live: scrub the year and watch its borders move.
Investigate it: what led to it, what came of it, and its succession analysed.

Wikidata Q93180 (CC0) · borders Cliopatria, CC BY 4.0 · coast and rivers Natural Earth · symbols from Wikimedia Commons, each credited above · data built 2026-10-06 · Pastlas v2.9.1, by Oleh Voronko. The published atlas and its data are for non-commercial use.