King Seleucus I Nicator had been one of Alexander the Great’s generals.
Seleucia on the Tigris was built largely with materials brought from Babylon, and its founding marks the end of Babylon’s political significance.
Seleucia was populated with Macedonian and Greeks and also included many Jews and Syrians. The Tigris and Euphrates flowed near its walls and rendered it one of the richest commercial cities of ancient times.
Seleucia retained its independence during the Parthian Empire and was probably at the heart of numerous internal conspiracies and power struggles for the throne in the first century BC and AD.
Because of it location on the Tigris Seleucia was one of the targets of Roman attack in any campaign against Parthia and later Persia.
Avidius Cassius burned the city in AD 164, and when Septimius Severus passed through the region on his Parthian campaign of 198 the site was completely abandoned.
The name Seleucia was used for other cities in the East, founded in the Greek style.
Seleucia on the Tigris
