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Bible Dictionaries
Seleucus
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
or SELEUCUS . 1. Seleucus I , ( Nikator ), originally a cavalry officer of Alexander the Great, became satrap of Babylon on the death of the king. After some vicissitudes his position there was securely established in b.c. 312, from which date the Seleucid era was reckoned ( 1Ma 1:18 ). The battle of Ipsus, b.c. 301, made him master of Syria and great part of the East. He founded Antioch and its fortified port Seleucia ( 1Ma 11:8 ), and is said by Josephus ( Ant. XII. iii. 1) to have conferred on the Jews the privileges of citizenship. He is the ‘one of his [ i.e. the king of Egypt’s] princes’ ( Daniel 11:5 ). He died b.c. 280. 2. Seleucus ii . ( Callinicus , b.c. 246 226), son of Antiochus Soter , is entitled the ‘king of the north’ in the passage ( Daniel 11:7-9 ) which alludes to the utter discomfiture of the Syrian king and the capture of Seleucia. 3. Seleucus III . ( Ceraunus , b.c. 226 223), ‘one of his [Seleucus ii.’s] sons’ ( Daniel 11:10 ), was murdered during a campaign in Asia Minor: the struggle with Egypt was continued by his brother Antiochus ( Daniel 11:10-16 ). 4. Seleucus IV . ( Philopator; but Jos. [Note: Josephus.] , Ant. XII. iv. 10, calls him Soter ), son of Antiochus The Great , reigned b.c. 187 176. He it was who despatched Heliodorus to plunder the Temple ( 2Ma 3:1-40 , cf. Daniel 11:20 ). 5. Seleucus V . (b.c. 125 124) and VI . (b.c. 95 93) are not of importance to the Biblical student. The four first-named belong to the ‘ten horns’ of Daniel 7:24 .
J. Taylor.
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Hastings, James. Entry for 'Seleucus'. Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdb/s/seleucus.html. 1909.
