Page:A general history for colleges and high schools (Myers, 1890).djvu/205

Rh Lysimachus held Thrace and the western part of Asia Minor; Seleucus Nicator, Syria and the countries eastward to the Indus; Ptolemy ruled Egypt ; and Cassander governed Macedonia, and claimed authority over Greece.

After barely mentioning the fate of the kingdom of Lysimachus, we will trace very briefly the fortunes of the other three monarchies until they were overthrown, one after the other, by the now rapidly rising power of Rome.

Thrace, or the Kingdom of Lysimachus.—The kingdom of Lysimachus soon disappeared. He was defeated by Seleucus in the year 281, and his dominions were divided. The lands in Asia Minor were joined to the Syrian kingdom, while Thrace was absorbed by Macedonia.

Syria, or the Kingdom of the Seleucidæ (312–63 B.C.).—This kingdom, during the two centuries and more of its existence, played an important part in the political history of the world. Under its first king it comprised nominally almost all the countries of Asia conquered by Alexander, thus stretching from the Hellespont to the Indus. Its rulers were called Seleucidæ, from the founder of the kingdom, Seleucus Nicator.

Seleucus Nicator (312–280 B.C.), besides being a ruler of unusual ability, was a most liberal patron of learning and art. He is declared to have been "the greatest founder of cities that ever lived." Throughout his dominions he founded a vast number, some of which endured for many centuries. Antioch, on the Orontes, in Northern Syria, became, after Seleucia on the Tigris, the capital of the kingdom, and obtained an influence and renown as a centre of population and trade which have given its name a sure place in history.

The successors of Seleucus Nicator led the kingdom through checkered fortunes. On different sides provinces fell away and became independent states. Antiochus III. (223–187 B.C.), called