Seleucid Rulers

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Alexander III the Great
Regnal Name: Alexander III

Macedonian / Alexandrian Period

336-323 BC

Macedonian conqueror who destroyed the Achaemenid Persian Empire and brought the lands of Judah into the Hellenistic world.

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Philip III Arrhidaeus
Regnal Name: Philip III

Wars of the Successors / Early Hellenistic Period

323-317 BC

Half-brother of Alexander the Great who served as a nominal king during the struggle among Alexander's successors.

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Alexander IV
Regnal Name: Alexander IV

Wars of the Successors / Early Hellenistic Period

323-309 BC

Posthumous son of Alexander the Great and nominal co-king whose murder ended the direct Argead royal succession.

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The Seleucid Empire emerged from the division of Alexander the Great's conquests and became one of the largest powers of the Hellenistic world. Founded by Seleucus I Nicator, it controlled territories stretching from Syria and Mesopotamia deep into Asia. The Seleucids repeatedly competed with Ptolemaic Egypt, particularly for control of Coele-Syria and Judea. After the victory of Antiochus III the Great over the Ptolemies around 200 BC, Judea passed firmly under Seleucid authority.

Relations with the Jewish population deteriorated dramatically under Antiochus IV Epiphanes. Political conflict within Judea was followed by restrictions on traditional Jewish worship and the desecration of the Jerusalem Temple in 167 BC. These actions provoked the Maccabean Revolt, led initially by Mattathias and his sons. The Temple was recaptured and rededicated in 164 BC, an event commemorated by Hanukkah. Continued Seleucid civil wars allowed Jonathan, Simon, and later John Hyrcanus I to expand Jewish autonomy. By the late second century BC, weakening Seleucid power had enabled the Hasmoneans to establish an effectively independent Jewish state.