How Seleucus Nicator gave away most of Pakistan and Afghanistan for 500 elephants
But almost two years later he was standing on the beaches of River Indus as a king seeking to secure his boundaries and enlarge his empire.
Almost 20 years after the Macedonian emperor Alexander the Great started a campaign to the northwestern portion of the Indian subcontinent at 326 BCE, the area was on the point of confronting another invasion--now by one of his generals, Seleucus I Nicator.
From the fifth century BCE, the Mauryan emperor Chandragupta Maurya had spawned big areas of the region formerly dominated by Alexander, which directed Seleucus to effort involving the east to secure his empire's boundary. Nonetheless, in an interesting turn of events, what was a full-fledged war rather ended up indicating a solid foundation of diplomatic relations between the Mauryan Empire and the early Greek kingdom.
In a time once the growth of empires through military attempts proved to be a frequent occurrence, the diplomatic ties between both kingdoms carried for generations to come including during the reign of Ashoka the Great.
Who had been Seleucus-I?
After the untimely death of Alexander the Great in age 32, his vast empire was abandoned without a heir. The abrupt departure of this king resulted in a struggle of series between his rival generals, loved ones, relatives and friends, together called the Diadochi.
"Seleucus had emerged in the latter portion of Alexander's career of conquest as a senior commander, however with little in the sense of private distinction to mark him out of the rest. He had been one of a bunch of Alexander's contemporaries that were being encouraged from the king to free him by the sway and warning of the elderly guys he'd inherited from his dad," historian John D Grainger writes in his book The growth of the Seleucid Empire.
In years ahead, Seleucus shifted loyalties throughout the wars of the Diadochi to grow up the ladder.
"He had been of such a big and strong framework that after when a crazy bull had been brought for sacrifice to Alexander and broke loose from his ropes, Seleucus maintained him with nothing but his hands, therefore his figurines are ornamented with horns," Greek historian Appian of Alexandria notes from his account .
Seleucus' victory in warfare also acquired him that the surname'Nicator' (a Greek name significance victor) and helped him to build his own empire that went on to become called the Seleucid Empire and has been among the biggest countries in the ancient world for almost 150 decades ago
"It extended from the oasis cities of Central Asia into the riding Peninsula of Bulgaria, by the uplands of Armenia into the Bahrain archipelago," Kosmin notes from his publication The property of the Elephants.
During its summit, the empire of Seleucus also bordered by India from the east. Thereby from the fourth century BCE, he chose to conquer the area and directed a campaign against the creator of the Mauryan Empire, Chandragupta Maurya.
Read more about Seleucus Nicator
コメント