History of the Seleucid Empire | Ancient History Documentary

[@AncientHistoryGuy]

We decided to upgrade our History of Seleucid Empire video! Im really proud of the artwork for this video. What subjects would you like to see? Let me know down below!

[@jamesk5541]

Idk understand why life so weird but I literally was looking up and watching stuff on this earlier and most is old content here you post something new on it I find that wildd

[@Георг-л5л]

@@jamesk5541 Part of that KZbin algorithm, didn't know this channel existed till I search up about Secludid empire.

[@jamesk5541]

@@Георг-л5л I was already subscribed to him tho

[@ibrahimsuleiman8473]

Kush,Askum,China never felt it.

[@adrianciprian7889]

Just give me the data without the globalist circle jerking you do for good goy points, thank you!

[@barbiquearea]

Selecus's wife Apama was the daughter of a Sogdian warlord. They were married as part of Alexander's Susa Weddings, but unlike the other Macedonian generals, Selecus stayed married to Apama after Alexander's death and even made her his queen. They had three children together, and in a way their union signified that the Seleucid Empire was going to be a mix of Greek-Macedonian and Iranian cultures.

[@LaylaHatun-q4n]

I guess four children, two boys and two girls. He had one girl with Stratonice too named Phila who was married off to Antigonus Gonatas.

[@wankawanka3053]

no need to say "greek-macedonian" culture that's like saying irano-persian culture

[@RecoveringAhole]

I don’t blame him.. some Iranian women can be gorgeous

[@michaelkazmierczak2973]

Glad more people are using the alternative history art style

[@AncientHistoryGuy]

Haha it was just an easy way of drawing people in keynote at the time!

[@Paulftate]

​@@AncientHistoryGuysome people

[@daudiochero]

" ahh I see you're a man of culture as well"

[@olesmokey3023]

He really made his mark on KZbin and I’m happy, I’ve watched that dude forever, probably why I got recommended you friend!

[@Paulftate]

@@olesmokey3023 friend .... you don't know me ..... and me ..... just opinionated .... ✌

[@Kabcr]

Seleucus is my favorite of the Diadochi and the Seleucids my favorite empire, the ones I consider to be the real successor to Alexander due their tolerant multicultural approach. Shame their downfall was a foregone conclusion.

[@AncientHistoryGuy]

My fav too!

[@Fallout3131]

Why was their downfall a foregone conclusion? 😭

[@Fallout3131]

They are my favourite aswell!

[@arishemghoul9571]

@@Fallout3131 they haded terrible borders.

[@zombiecatcherscrazyskills2533]

I like the guy because he was the only diadoch that I feel started from scratch, unlike others who basically were satraps or wielded power in some way. Unfortunately, much information of the guy conquests is not known

[@LaylaHatun-q4n]

Seleucus was an ambitious man and he attained title of Baseilus. That was his main goal and he would have conquered Macedonian too if he wasn't got assassinated.

[@arishemghoul9571]

i doubt he would have Conquered it.

[@LaylaHatun-q4n]

@@arishemghoul9571 I guess he would have.

[@arishemghoul9571]

@@LaylaHatun-q4n Macedon would have beaten him on top of that they would probably have the whole the Greece and Ptolemy Egypt Support.

[@LaylaHatun-q4n]

@@arishemghoul9571 Still I think he would have defeated them 🙄 He had armies of Persia and median lands and was ally of a powerful Indian Emperor

[@josephmanno4514]

@@arishemghoul9571 In a word ... ridiculous.

[@LaylaHatun-q4n]

We deserve a movie or web series on Seleucids 😢

[@briangoad6194]

Excellent video thank you so much! Not enough video content on the Seleucid empire!

[@AncientHistoryGuy]

Thankyou!

[@nielsifly]

Great video!!! Thank you so much for your effort in making and uploading this, is truely appreciated :)

[@AncientHistoryGuy]

Thankyou!

[@truthfulgaming996]

I really enjoy learning about history and this video is masterfully made and is quite inspirational.

[@AncientHistoryGuy]

Thankyou!

[@truthfulgaming996]

@@AncientHistoryGuy You are very welcome. I love learning about history.

[@jeff5534]

Thanks for the videos, really appreciate the time and effort you put into these

[@nicholasricardo8443]

You of course had to release thisthe day after my research essay was due on the Seleucids

[@charlesdeleo4608]

Fun fact: Seleucus was a distant ancestor of mine. Still, we jokingly refer to ourselves as the “Last of the Seleucids”.

[@vittoriolepporio122]

i honestly want to know more about this, how were you able to trace your lineage back so far?

[@jhealey4826]

​@@vittoriolepporio122He's my ancestor too. He followed a line of kings through time. Royalty is easier to trace.

[@jhealey4826]

I'm a descendant of the Yngling dynasty of Scandinavia and I followed the line to Seleucus. I suppose we're related.

[@TonyGModesto]

@@jhealey4826 Aren’t the Ynglings mythical?

[@jhealey4826]

@@TonyGModesto Freyr was a real king, he was worshipped as a diety afterwards. But there's a lot of myth that evolved with the actual history.

[@antoniomoreira5921]

If anyone's interested in the topic I strongly recommend Schwerpunkt's hellenistic warfare and history series

[@micahistory]

interesting, I find that this empire tends to be underrated so I am glad you made a video about it

[@AncientHistoryGuy]

It is somewhat isn't it? Thanks!

[@LaylaHatun-q4n]

Alexander's invasions were felt all over the world except maybe China and other east asian nations. In North Western India which included Pakistan and Afghanistan, Greek language became popular due to indo greek Satraps and rulers.

[@kudjoeadkins-battle2502]

The Greek language became popular because of trade.

[@LaylaHatun-q4n]

@@kudjoeadkins-battle2502 Trade alone cannot make a language popular, it only becomes popular if rulers patronize it.

[@kudjoeadkins-battle2502]

@@LaylaHatun-q4n the rulers spoke mainly among themselves Greek did not become a part of any language traditions in that area until much later with the Romans. And that being in the Levant. Greek writing on the other hand was seen as more simple and easier to learn by no Greeks.

[@kasifhanif2046]

Ahhh the mighty Seleucid empire which had the most potential out of all the Hellenistic kingdoms but alas did not reach its untapped potential. One of the most glaring strengths which the Seleucid empire had was its gigantic manpower reserve (which dwarfed the manpower of the Roman republic) but alas the Selecuids elected not to enroll natives into the Phalanx or army proper and instead used then as auxillaries (unlike Alexander and his 30,000 Persian phalanx) and the empires fetish with Syria lead to its downward trajectory and which of course was hastened by Rome and Parthia and internal civil strife betwixt rival claiments to the throne

[@AncientHistoryGuy]

Yup! Interestingly one of the oldest ancient Persian units the Cardakes are noted at having served in seleucid armies all the way to antiochus the great!

[@zakariyaabdullahi5669]

Around the time of Antiochus III facing off with Rome, the Roman Republic had. A population between 2 and a half million to 3 million people. Meanwhile the Seleucid Empire had around 18 million inhabitants according to modern estimates. On paper the Seleucids should of had no problem dealing with the immense manpower reserves of Rome, but due to their exclusionary policy of non Greeks from the phalanx in essence the maximum mobilization of their army was around 80 thousand troops while they should've been able to mobilize much more men. Out of all the Mediterranean empires of the rise of the Roman Republic (Rome, Carthage, the kingdom of Macedon, Ptolemaic Egypt and the Seleucid Empire) the Seleucids most definitely had the smallest mobilization rate out of all those empires.

[@kasifhanif2046]

@@zakariyaabdullahi5669 Well actually the Seleucids managed to field more soliders than Macedon the Macedonians fielded around 44,000-50,000 men during the battle of Pydna (mercenaries included) and the Ptolomies suffered from similar problems that the Seleucids did that they avoided recruiting natives and they fell behind the Seleucids heavily in terms of military power and (that is what lead to the Ptolomies turning to the native population and recruiting 20,000 natives in the phalanx. The native phalanx played a decisive role in the battle of Raphia and lead to the ptolomaic victory. The native phalanx did revolt however and caused issues but I really cant blame them. The only Ptolomy to learn the native language was Cleopatra) Also Carthage relied mainly on soldiers of fortune and its citizenry tried to avoid fighting and pay someone ells to do it for them.

[@zakariyaabdullahi5669]

​@@kasifhanif2046 Well, the Seleucid Empire did regularly field larger armies than the largest armies the Macedonian Kings could field. But if you look at it as a proportion of the population, Macedon fielded a much higher proportion of the population due to having a much smaller population than that of the Seleucids. At the battle of Pydna, King Perseus had to field nearly every available able-bodied man to field such a huge army. The Seleucid Kings never resorted to such mass mobilisation. You're right about the Ptolemies and the Seleucids facing similar problems with including the natives into the army. But the Ptolemies did more into incorporating the natives than the Seleucids did. But not as good as the Romans did. I'd disagree with what you said about Carthage. There is a big misconception that Carthage extensively relied on Mercenaries and barely used citizens, this doesn't paint the whole picture. Carthage was very similar to Rome, by the time of the 2nd Punic war, the Macedonian wars and beyond, the bulk of Rome's armies weren't made of 'Romans' but was made of Italian Socii (allies). This is actually very similar to the set up of Carthage where the core of the Carthaginian army was usually made up of Libyo-Phoenicians from the African hinterland around Carthage. Sure they weren't 'Carthaginians' but the relationship between the Libyans and Carthaginians was essentially the same as that between the Italian Socii and the Romans where they essentially had citizenship but to a lesser degree than the inhabitants of the city. In the Punic wars up to 50 thousand Libyans would be fielded and they would make up the bulk of the rowers in the Carthaginian fleet. Even if you look at the Iberian troops, at first they were utilized as mercenaries, but by the time of the Barcid conquest of Iberia, the Iberian troops functioned as some of the most loyal of Hannibal's troops, hardly mercenaries. While yes the Carthaginians did make heavy usage of Mercenaries, this reputation is overblown as the core of their army was made up of loyal subjects of their empire in the same way Rome made extensive usage of Socii and Auxiliaries.

[@kasifhanif2046]

@@zakariyaabdullahi5669 The Carthaginians usage of soldiers of fortune dwarfs anything Rome did. The Roman's would use mercenaries to supplement there force which would be 70%-80% recruits and topped up by auxiliaries and during the Republic the Roman and itallian allies fought together (the Itallian allies werent mercenaries) Meanwhile the Carthaginian armies were roughly 40/60 (in favour of mercenaries) or higher in favour of the mercs. Carthages heavy reliance on them lead to the mercenary war. Where the Hellenistic kingdoms are concerned I agree that the Seleucids wasted their potential hence my initial comment. However your comment that Perseus recruited every able bodied man to fight is way of the mark. The kingdom of Macedons population was roughly 4 million people and Perseus's army at Pydna numbered 40,000 to 50,000 men (including mercenaries, he could have had more merceneries but was a notorious miser) Also only 29,000 of Perseus's soldiery were Macedonians with the rest being mercenaries and thracians. During the Time of Philiph and Alexander the great the Macedonian army numbered around 80,000 men. So what lead to the huge decline in number of the Macedonian army (where in 222 BC they could only field 18,500 men) well Firstly the finest and best traveled to Egypt or Syria were they were given huge amount of land and paid handsomely (more than what the king of Macedon could afford) Secondly there had been a huge influx of gold and silver into Greece and Macedon increasing prices of mercenaries and thus an average soldiers pay would also have to increase. Thirdly Alexander the great had abolished direct taxation on Macedonians. So caught betwixt the finest soldiers leaving, spiraling wages and a lack of revenue the Kingdom of Macedon's army fell from roughly from North 80,000 during the time of Alexander the great (Alexander had roughly 47,500 men with him during the battle of Arbela and at the same time Antipater had 40,000 men with him during the battle of Megalopolis (and that's not including garrisons which Alexander had left behind) King Philliph 5th of Macedon fielded an army roughly 26,000 strong at Cynoscephalae. After the battle Philiph undertook huge reforms to increase the royal treasury which of course lead to his son Perseus managing to field 40,000-50,000 soldiers at Pydna. So for Macedon the small size of the army was more related to finaces than anything else.

[@ThatOliveMrT]

R2 TW sparked my interest in these realms. Bactria would be interesting next pls

[@AncientHistoryGuy]

Same, and writing up the script now!

[@Георг-л5л]

Just discovered your channel. Became a subscriber right after lol.

[@AncientHistoryGuy]

Awesome! Thank you!

[@obscurehistory1]

My personal favourite Hellenistic state

[@AncientHistoryGuy]

Same!

[@TaeSunWoo]

“Hey babe, new Greco-Roman history channel dropped”

[@TheLoyalOfficer]

Seleucus was a visionary, no doubt, but his empire had bad borders.

[@AncientHistoryGuy]

It just was a time of truly great and ambitious men all trying to be their hero Alexander the Great. It wasn't helped by a maniac like Hannibal coming in and stirring up a war with Rome.

[@LaylaHatun-q4n]

​@@AncientHistoryGuyRomans were barbaric to Carthage though , Hannibal was a dominant figure in history and brutal enough to actually deal with romans.

[@LaylaHatun-q4n]

​@@AncientHistoryGuyWon't call them great but definitely ambitious, Ptlomey forcing his kids to marry each other due to pureblood maniac and Seleucus trying to subtly colonize and favoring Greeks is not a very nice gesture but guess he was way better than whatever happened in Medieval era. Oh the horrors.

[@samym1694]

Heard about this as a faction frome Total War: Rome 2. So when can you talk about the kingdom of Baktria?

[@KelsaRavenlock]

Where does that pronunciation of echelon come from? I know it isn't US, Canada, UK, India, or AU and can't place it elsewhere. Is it the old French pronunciation for a step?

[@matedajka5254]

You should show the map a bit more, I didn't have the time to process it without stopping the video

[@BobGeogeo]

"Eklions"? Do you mean "echelons"? Or is it a Greek term?

[@darklordmalthric3633]

Is this a remaster?

[@AncientHistoryGuy]

Completely new script and everything!

[@darklordmalthric3633]

@@AncientHistoryGuy ok. By the way, have you ever thought of making what if scenarios?

[@AncientHistoryGuy]

Yup! But, i always find they become a bit to Alt History Hub-esk

[@darklordmalthric3633]

@@AncientHistoryGuy I understand

[@AlternativeGeopolitics]

I cant say no to these animations gets me every time.

[@AncientHistoryGuy]

thankyou!

[@cyrus_vasile]

strong vid

[@AncientHistoryGuy]

Thankyou!

[@Miller09095]

Ah yes, the best of the Hellenistic Empires. Have one like.

[@1987MartinT]

Why is it that, despite being BY FAR the largest and most powerful of the 3 main Diadochi kingdoms, the Seleucid Empire is the least remembered? Everyone knows about Ptolemaic Egypt because of Cleopatra. And, while less well remembered, a lot of people are still aware of Antigonid Macedonia due to Cynoscephalae and Pydna. But the Seleucid Empire? Despite dwarfing the other 2 in size, population, fiscal wealth, cultural wealth, and military might, it is one most people have never heard of.

[@shaifunnessa7816]

Maratha empire Shivaji Maharaj history please make video

[@Worldcitizen7777]

Why Chandra Gupta Muryan's Army is shown like an less advanced tribal army it was the most advanced army of that time

[@AncientHistoryGuy]

Most advanced weapon and training wise in terms of armour and strategy not so much. Ancient indus weapons and fighting were notoriously bloody and effective. However their armies did rely heavily on poor conscripts. The actual warrior class was comparatively small, and only they would have been decked out in all of the advance armour. More often than not the mass Infintry block was made up of every able man of a village being led by the village leader but not stratified into distinct officers. However the training was absolutely brutal. There's a famous quote where a Greek is asking a general if they just use mass conscripts would you take someone with no combat experience into battle and the general replies rather bluntly "no". Wrestling and spear training could last for weeks before a conscript army was ready to march out. As these armies were predominantly conscript forces local Lords couldn't afford to equip everyone so they had the basics, a few rubbery leathery armour over the belly and one of the most brutal spears in the Ancient world. Hence the depiction :)

[@shubhangijha3898]

​​@@AncientHistoryGuyprobably you should be studying about mauryan more Because your perception is very wrong The army was very big and defeated greeks like no one

[@Worldcitizen7777]

@@AncientHistoryGuy It was really more advanced than any army of that time India had the one of the best or the best Iron and Steel quality on that time even the Indica states Muryan army was comparatively more advanced than Greeks Megasthanese sates Muryan was the best in armoury and wepons also in number of troops

[@LaylaHatun-q4n]

@@AncientHistoryGuy WTAF, well wont blame you as your sources are definitely altered but come on ,Mauryans were way superior than Seleucids in strategy. Poor guy don't know about Chanakya. Can't blame him though. The education system doesn't teach much in both worlds about each other. 😢

[@LaylaHatun-q4n]

@@Worldcitizen7777 Jaane do yaar, use kya pata Magadhi lohe ki taqat, Chandragupta ke sasur ji ne to jhela hai. 😂🤣 Unse zyada thodi janta hoga 😂 Khaie, he won't accept it as his sources are predominantly western and also he has soft side for Seleucids 😂

[@Dataism]

Love me some Seleucids

[@AncientHistoryGuy]

Same!

[@LaylaHatun-q4n]

Still Hollywood brutally ignores them and rather is obsessed with Cleopatra who was a prominent historical figure no doubt but is overrated

[@evanrogers503]

This reads like it was written by a 10th grader trying reeeaaaallly hard to use as many big words as they know

[@matts7125]

They were so close to defeating the Ptolomys but decided to pick a fight with rome then Bactria and Parthia took advantage of their defeat

[@billdehappy1]

remind me of trap lore ross for some reaason

[@hasanmatloob3788]

How can a video be made about Seleucid Empire without mentioning the Battle of Magnesia in 190 BC?

[@JustinianG]

Hi, can we do a collaboration?

[@JOGA_Wills]

Dang you got to 5 digits fast...

[@leepreston9637]

No mention of the Seleucids atrocities in Jerusalem and how they led to an independent Israel?

[@عليياسر-ذ5ب]

Jesus: Hahaha I just see that they were my blood because God was controlling them so that they could be killed. Didn’t you see that the original Jews only exist in Iraq, in Syria, in Iran, and their numbers are very large in Iran, and they resemble the indigenous people. You cannot differentiate between them and the indigenous people.

[@matts7125]

I heard that the selucids invited the Armenian king to take their land, not sure how true that is or if you had heard of something similar

[@LaylaHatun-q4n]

He gained upperhand because unlike Ptolemy he didn't force his kids to marry each other 😂

[@AncientHistoryGuy]

Antiochus kids did though, one of his daughters basically married all of her brothers!

[@LaylaHatun-q4n]

@@AncientHistoryGuy Lol 🤣and I thought they were slightly better 🤣😂

[@LaylaHatun-q4n]

Seleucus was betrayed badly by Ptolemy. Guess he got Karma of betraying Perdiccus.

[@LaylaHatun-q4n]

There was some sort of political and marital alliance between Chandragupta and Seleucus. Seleucus ruined his name and called him Sandrocottus. 😂Strabo amd Appian mentioned it. There is a mention of a persian Emperor named Meghanand helping Chandragupta in defeating Xandrammes (Dhan Nanda). 😮 I don't remember Seleucus having a persian Satrap named Meghanad? 😕🤔

[@ayushkumarsingh3029]

Sandrocottus is a greek corruption of Sandrocoptus -Chandragupta And Aggrames was a greek corruption of Sanskrit Augrasainya which means son Or descendant of Ugrasena(Mahapadma Nanda)

[@beepboop204]

[@anthonysmall1677]

NICA- WHAT??!

[@BasitKhanSafi]

Chat GPT narration

[@thewinner7382]

"Seleushus the first" lol, bro it's pronounced Seleukus.

[@trisbruce891]

It's nice to get some relatively unknown history, but please please spare us the awful infant's picture book drawings. Maybe show us some Hellenistic art or photos of these historic lands. And pleeeease don't pronounce "echelons" as "EKLIYONZ"! .… or "amidst" as "admits"!

[@LaylaHatun-q4n]

Your picture of Chandragupta's army was so cute 😂 but they would be wearing armours too, they weren't tribals but a proper military power. West and its tendency to undermine Indians and their history, as always. 😒just because Indians followed morality and didn't slaughter people like other so called great Generals doesn't means we were not powerful. 😒 Bhay bin hot na preet😢😒🙄 Indians followed utmost morality in battlefield and always cared for not hurting civilians.

[@emperor_justinian]

Yes india and chinese too underestimated they can be equal to greek and roman even more 

[@LaylaHatun-q4n]

@@emperor_justinian Indians were a force to reckon with, Alexander had a lot of trouble in north western India (including modern day Pakistan and Afghanistan). Seleucus was defeated by Chandragupta but it was customary in India to not be too brutal with the enemy if his borders were far away and rather make him a feudatory or a vassal. Won't call Seleucus a vassal but he also wasn't powerful like Chandragupta, well atleast not more powerful than him if not less. That's why both Emperors made marital alliance despite being so different in their worldly approaches. It was mutually beneficial.

[@adamnesico]

Not what Ashok did.

[@عليياسر-ذ5ب]

​@@LaylaHatun-q4nNo, Alexander defeated the Indians easily

[@isaacr8163]

Promo_SM

[@Sunavagun341]

That’s what happens to conquerors, they go back into the ground and the native inhabitants rise again more refurbished.

[@عليياسر-ذ5ب]

The Parthians spoke the Greek language

[@terorbeam]

Please ! I beg you ! Stop it !!!!!! It's SeleuKid Empire. SeleuKos. MaKedon

[@galaxytab2949]

El imperio seleucida fue un imperio griego al igual que el imperio macedonio,cualquiera que niege que los griegos no tuvieron imperio deberia saber que es un terraplenista historico.

[@g_g8537]

Butchered seleukos name.