Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/974

 954 SELEUCEIA. carefully executed plan, with drawings .and sections of the tunnels, &c., has lately been published by Cap- tain Allen, who surveyed the site of the harbour, but not of the town, in 1850. {The Dead Sea. (f-c. Map at end of vol. i., and vol. ii. pp. 208—230.) [G. W.J COIN OF SELEUCEIA IN SYRIA. SELEUCEIA or SELEUCIA (SeXev/ceio). 1. A town near the northern frontier of Pisidia, surnamed Sidera (ji 2i57;pa, Ptol. v. 5. § 4 ; Hierocl. p. 673), probably on account of iron-works in its vicinity. There are some coins of this place with the image of the Asiatic divinity Men, who was wor- shipped at Antioch, and bearing the inscription KAau- Sio-o-eA.euK-ea)!', which might lead to the idea that the place was restored by the emperor Claudius. (Sestini, Mon. Vet. p. 96.) Its site is now occupied by the town of Ejerdir. 2. A town in Pamphylia between Side and the mouth of the river Eurymedon, at a distance of 80 stadia from Side, and at some distance from the sea. {Stadiasm. Mar. Mag. § 216.) 3. An important town of Cilicia, in a fertile plain on the western bank of the Calycadnus, a few miles above its mouth, was founded by Seleucus I., sur- named Nicator. A town or towns, however, had previously existed on the spot under the names of Olbia and Hyria, and Seleucus seems to have only extended and united them in one town under the name Seleucia. The inhabitants of the neighbouring Holmi were at the same time transferred to the new town, which was well built, and in a style very ditferent from that of other Ciliciun and Pamphylian cities. (Steph. B. s. v.; Strab. xiv. p. 670.) In situation, climate, and the richness of its productions, it rivalled the neighbouring Tarsus, and it was much frequented on account of the annual celebra- tion of the Olympia. and on account of the oracle of Apollo. (Zosim. i. 57; Basil. Vita S. Theclae, i. p. 275, Orat. xsvii. p. 148.) Pliny (v. 27) states that it was surnamed Tracheotis; and some ecclesi- astical historians, speaking of a council held there, call the town simply Trachea (Sozom. it. 16; Socrat. ii. 39; comp. Ptol. v. 8. § 5; Amm. Marc. xiv. 25; Oros. vii. 12.) The town still exists under the name of Sele/kieh, and its ancient remains are scattered over a large extent of ground on the west side of the Calycadnus. The chief remains are those of a theatre, in the front of which there are considerable ruins, with porticoes and other large buildings: farther on are the ruins of a temple, which had been converted into a Chris- tian church, and several large Corinthian co- lumns. Ancient Seleuceia, which appears to have remained a free city ever since the time of Augustus, remained in the same condition even after a great portion of Cilicia was given to Arthelaus of Cappa^ docia, whence both imperial and autonomous coins of the place are found. Seleuceia was the birthplace of several men of eminence, such as the peripatetics Athenaeus and Xenarchus, who flourished in the SELEUCEIA. reign of Augustus, and the sophist Alexander, who taught at Antioch, and was private secretary to tlie emperor M. Aurelius (Philostr. Vit. Soph. ii. 5.) According to some authorities, lastly, the emperor Trajan died at Seleuceia (Eutrop. viii. 2, 16; Oros. I. c), though others state that he died at Selinus. COIN OF SELEUCEIA IN CILICIA. 4. Seleucia in Caria [Tralles.] [L. S.J SELEUCEIA or SELEUCIA (2eA6i^/feia, Polyb. V. 48; Strab. xi. p. 521 ; Ptol. v. 18. § 8), a large city near the right bank of the Tigris, which, to distinguish it from several other towns of the same name, is generally known in history by the title of SeAeOrceia iirl t<^ Tiyp7]Ti. (Strab. xvi. p. 738; Appian, Syr. 57.) It was built by Seleucus Nicator (Strab. I.e.; Plin. vi. 26. s. 30; Tacit. ^?jn. vi. 42; Joseph. Ant. Jud. xviii. 9. § 8; Amm. Marc, xxiii. 20), and appears to have been placed near the junction with the Tigris, of the great dyke which was carried across Mesopotamia from the Euphrates to the Tigris, and wdiich bore the name of Nahar Malcha (the royal river). (Plin. I. c, and Isid. Char. p. 5.) Ptolemy states that the artificial river divided it into two parts (v. 18. § 8). On the other hand, Theophylact states that both rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates, surrounded it like a rampart — by the latter, in all probability, meaning the Nahar Malcha (v. 6). It was situated about 40 miles NE. of Babylon (according to Strabo, 300 stadia, and to the Tab, Peutinger., 44 M.P.). In form, its original structure is said to have resembled an eagle with its wings outspread. (Plin. I. c.) It was mainly constructed of materials brought from Baby- lon, and was one principal cause of the ruin of the elder city, as Ctesiphon was (some centuries later) of Seleuceia itself. (Strab. xvi. p. 738.) It was placed in a district of great fertility, and is said, in its best days, to have had a population of 600,000 persons. (Plin. ^.c.) Strabo adds, that it was even larger than Antiocheia Syriae, — at his time probably the greatest commercial entrepot in the East, with the exception of Alexandreia (.vi. p. 750). Even so late as the period of its destruction its population is still stated to have amounted to half a million. (Eutrop. v. 8; comp. Oros. viii. 5.) To its commercial importance it doubtless owed the free character of its local government, which appears to have been administered by means of a senate of 300 citizens. Polybius states that, on the over- throw of Molon, the Median rebels Antiochus and Hermeias descended on Seleuceia, which had been previously taken by ]Iolon, and, after punishing the jieople by torture and the infliction of a heavy fine, exiled the local magistracy, who were called Adei- ganae. (^ASetydvat, Polyb. v. 54.) Their love of freedom and of independent government was, however, of longer duration. (Ph'n. /. c; Tacit. Ann. vi. 42.) Seleuceia owed its ruin to the wars of the Romans with the Purthians and other eastern nations. It is first noticed in that between Crassus and Orodes (Dion Cass. si. 20); but it would seem