Review: The Seleukid Empire Trilogy, by John D Grainger

 

This is a collective review of the three part history, starting with The Rise of the Seleukid Empire, continuing with The Seleukid Empire of Antiochos III, and concluding with The Fall of the Seleukid Empire.

 

Some parts of this, notably the reigns of Seleukos I and Antiochos III, were fairly familiar to me, but other parts were largely or entirely new.

Our tale begins with the death of Alexander the Great and the struggle by his Successors to hold together his empire, which quickly became a scramble to carve our their own territories. Seleukos (also spelled Seleucus) was one of the most successful but the sprawling territory he amassed proved both boon and bane compared to the more cohesive and compact Macedonian and Egyptian realms that were created from the ashes of Alexander’s land.

Historical sources are very uneven, which is why Antiochos III has a whole volume to himself as both Livy and Polybius covered this in some degree. The most recent part of Livy I read was the one including this section, and I fairly recently compared two editions of Polybius so I was fairly up to speed on the central volume. This was also something of a convenient reign to have good historical sources because it was roughly central in terms of both timing and power.

 

I’ve read many Pen & Sword books over the years but lack of space meant this was my first foray into their e-books. The expected downside of maps being almost entirely useless was true, but there was an unexpected upside which is that endnotes were very convenient (just click to check then press back to return to the text).

The author’s coverage of certain reigns was dictated by the presence, or absence, of sound historical sources which means some are flitted over and one gets a whole book but this cannot be helped. Where inferences and educated guesswork come into play this is made plain. Mostly easy to read, there were occasional typos or a slightly repetitive sentence structure but nothing terrible. Familiarity with ancient geography was helpful due to the map situation but the descriptions were usually good enough to paint an accurate picture (for example, I’m not sure I’ve seen Arachosia on a map but it was clear enough it was well to the east).

Battles and war are covered to good effect, as are some surprisingly interesting sections on the foundations of cities, especially by Seleukos I. Much of what happens in Asia Minor (sometimes part of the Empire), Egypt, and Macedonia is also covered in much the same way that medieval English history necessarily has plenty of info on relations with France.

I decided to read the trilogy all together and review it in a single section because reviewing the final part of a trilogy always seems close to pointless (if you like parts 1 and 2 then almost always part 3 is good). It covers the early Diadochi era of Alexander’s Successors through a more stable period and then, inevitable, the whittling away of territory until there’s a rather tame end.

I suspect many readers, like me, will know something of the start of the Seleukid Empire and the reign of Antiochos III, although it’s worth mentioning this history did furnish additional perspective/details that I wasn’t necessarily expecting. The extra knowledge about the fragmentary nature of Asia Minor, relations with the murder-incest enthusiasts of the Ptolemaic dynasty, the birth of Parthia, Tigranes’ rapid rise and demise, and the familial loyalty that came too late after decades of infighting were all very interesting.

Never felt like stopping reading the trilogy or taking a break once I’d started, and it’s a very good read that I recommend to fans of classical history.

 

Thaddeus