WoA House Seleucus
From MRQWiki
House Seleucus
Characteristics
STR 16, CON 14, POW 10, INT 5, DEX 8, CHA 11, SIZ 21
Ruler
Antiochus Soter, son of Seleucus Nicator
Patron God
Apollo. Seleucus was reputedly Apollo’s son and had Apollo’s symbol, an anchor, as a birthmark on his thigh.
House Symbol
Upturned Anchor
Area Under Domination
Persia, Chaldea, Syria, Armenia, Cilicia, Cappadocia, Lydia and Caria.
Royal City
Antioch
The Seleucid Empire is very cosmopolitan. Peoples of many races and cultures mingle freely in the ancient trading cities of the empire, and the new influx of Greek colonists provide yet another level of culture. The Seleucids have added a new feature to the established government of the empire. They have constructed new fortified cities throughout the kingdom, colonised them with Greek settlers, and given each a royal garrison. These towns enjoy a great deal of independance, but each is under the control of a governor. These cities include Antioch and Seleucia-on-the-Tigris, and all are great centres of Greek learning, culture, religion and artistic tastes. Meanwhile agriculture provides much of the empire’s wealth, while trade provides the rest. Many of the empire’s cities are also great centres of trade and commerce, and to promote this aspect of the economy, the Selecucid kings have maintained a network of roads that stretch from India in the east, to the wealthy Syrian ports on the coast of the Mediterranean.
The Seleucid system of government owes much to the previous Persian organisation, with the retention of the Persian satrapies under Macedonian governors (still called satraps). Hellenic culture was grafted wholesale onto the diverse cultural mix of the empire’s inhabitants. The Greek language was quickly adopted as the administrative, legal and diplomatic language of all the empire’s territories, while the language it replaced, Aramaic, continued in use as a secondary or subsidiary international language. Greek coinage came into widespread use, carried along with Greek language, religion and values, by merchants, artisans and mercenaries who had migrated out into the cities founded by Seleucus and his descendants.
A local district around a Greek city is governed by an overseer who is responsible to the satrap (governor) of the satrapy (province). Every satrap has a chief priest and priestess who are responsible for the administration of all Olympian cults within the province. All settlements, villages, towns and cities have assemblies of their most distinguished citizens, who vote on important matters and enjoy some degree of autonomy. Many of these citizens are aristocratic landowners or wealthy merchants.
A city can be granted the title of ‘Holy and Inviolate’ by the king which means that he cannot exact reprisals from it during peacetime, it is immune to arbitrary seizure and its private properties will not be used to billet troops (perhaps the very worst calamity that could beset any settlement!). The settlement is literally blessed by the gods.
Seleucid priesthoods are often up for sale, or rather, one of the main factors in gaining a temple position is money as well as suitability. Slaves can be manumitted (freed) by selling them to the goddess Nanaia at Susa for their purchase price. This is an iIncentive for good behaviour. The slaves often raise this money themselves and it is donated to the cult.
The main regions of the Seleucid Empire are:
- The Kingdoms of Asia Minor (Lydia, Caria, Cilicia and Cappadocia
- Armenia
- Syria
- Assyria and Babylonia (known together as ‘Chaldea’)
- Persia and the many tribes of the interior
- Bactria
“In my view it is beyond dispute that Seleucus was the greatest king of those who succeeded Alexander, of the most royal mind, and ruling over the greatest extent of territory, next to Alexander himself.” - Arrian, The Campaigns of Alexander
Seleucus - Founder of the Great House With the death of Alexander in 323, the empire quickly fragmented, despite the attempts of Perdiccas. Soon Alexander’s military officers were siezing more territory and coming into conflict with each other. Seleucus had been awarded the Persian satrapy of Babylon in 320. Following an insult received badly by the visiting general Antigonus One-Eye, Seleucus had his money and possessions siezed by the voracious leader. Seleucus was forced to flee and in 316 took shelter in Egypt with Ptolemy. It was Ptolemy who then launched an offensive against the growing might of Antigonus and his young son Demetrius. At the Battle of Gaza (312) Demetrius was soundly defeated and Ptolemy sent Seleucus on to Babylon with a contingent of troops to re-establish his rule. There he slew Nicanor, the satrap left behind by Antigonus, and was received enthusiastically by the people. Seleucus quickly extended his rule to encompass the cities of Media. For his slaying of Nicanor in hand-to-hand combat, Seleucus was awarded the title ‘Victorious’. Seleucus was a tall, powerfully-built man who had previously commanded Alexander’s elite foot guards, the Hypaspists. Once, during the sacrifice of a wild bull in the presence of Alexander, the beast broke loose and Seleucus wrestled it to the ground with his bare hands. In honour of this feat statues of Seleucus are often horned.
Seleucus wasted no time in extending his empire. In 305 he invaded India and fought the Indian king Chandragupta until both sides signed a peace treaty (under which terms Seleucus received some 500 elephants). At this time Seleucus, following the example of Antigonus One-Eye, declared himself king and came into direct conflict with the old war-leader. This led to the famous Battle of Kings in 301. At Ipsus in Asia Minor, Seleucus and his allies (Lysimachus, Ptolemy and Cassander) shared out the territories of Antigonus, who fell in the battle aged 80. Now Seleucus ruled Syria, Mesopotamia, Armenia, Cappadocia (and the rest of Asia Minor), Persia, Bactria, Parthia, Areia, Tapuria, Sogdiana, Arachosia, Hyrcania, Gedrosia and assorted tribes s far east as the Indus. The king was by far the most ambitious of Alexander’s successors and came closest to re-establishing his mighty (if short-lived) empire.
Seleucus was a prolific founder of cities, with sixteen named Antioch, after his father, five named Laodicea, after his mother, nine named Seleucia, after himself, and four named after his wives - three Apamea and one called Stratonicea. The most famous of these are Seleucia-on-the-Tigris and Seleucia-by-the-Sea, Antioch at the foot of Mount Lebanon, Apamea in Syria and Laodicea in Phoenicia. Other cities he founded are named after places in Macedonia or Greece, or the achievements made either by Alexander or himself. The foundation of both Seleucia-by-the-Sea and Seleucia-on-the-Tigris were accompanied by great omens. A portent of thunder preceeded the establishment of the former which led to thunder becoming the city’s divinity and emblem, hymns are sung and worship carried out in its name even today. The king is said to have consulted Persian Magi to selected the most propitious day and hour to begin work on Seleucia-on-the-Tigris, but they deceived him with a false time. Even so, the army suddenely began work on the foundations, unbidden, at the correctly predicted time, as if compelled by some powerful force. And so the trickery of the Magi was revealed. They were then forced by the events to bless the foundation of this new city.
Seleucus ruled twenty satrapies, and gave over control of those in the east to his promising son Antiochus (born to Seleucus’ Persian wife Apamea). Meanwhile, his aging friend Ptolemy died peacefully in his bed in Alexandria, to be succeeded by his younger son, Ptolemy II Philadelphus. In 281 Seleucus realised that Lysimachus, the aging ruler of Macedonia and Thrace, had become an unbearable threat and fought his armies at Corupedion in Lydia. The Seleucid army continued on into Europe, for a time it looked as if the king might even re-unite Alexander’s vast empire. But Ptolemy Ceraunos (the Thunderbolt), the elder brother of Ptolemy Philadelphus, stabbed Seleucus to death at Lysimacheia. The Macedonian troops who had followed Lysimachos rallied around Ceraunos, hailing him as king of Macedonia. However, there were rivals and there were invasions of Celtic barabarians. Over the next few years a succession of kings of Macedon were defeated or ousted util the Celtic tribes were defeated in 277 and Antigonus Gonatas emerged as the undisputed ruler of Macedonia.
Seleucus, struck down by a treacherous blade (Ceraunos had sought shelter at the Seleucid court some time before), had carved out for both himself and his heir, a vast empire almost equal in size to that of the Persian Great Kings. After a reign as king of 34 years, Seleucus died aged 73 years old, and was immediately succeeded by his son Antiochus I Soter.
Antiochus - Saviour of the Empire Born in 324, Antiochus became a trusted co-regent alongside his ambitious empire-building father, Seleucus. This came about when the king discovered that his son had fallen in love with Seleucus’ pretty wife Stratonice. On the advice of his learned physician Erasistratus, the king allowed his son to marry his wife. He then granted his son the governance of the eastern half of the Seleucid Empire. Following the death of his father by treachery in 281, Antiochus became king of the entire empire. He relinquished any claim to Macedonia when Phila, the daughter of Seleucus and Stratonice, was married to Antigonus Gonatas of Macedon in a political union. Antiochus deified his father Seleucus after his death, a practice followed by later Seleucid rulers. These cults included a sanctuary, temple, altar and priests, and allowed their followers to display their loyalty and achieve promotion through these priesthoods.
Upon his accession, Antiochus had to quickly suppress a wave of rebellion touched off by Ptolemaic agents. He later had to wage a full scale war against Ptolemy II Philadelphus for control of the wealthy Phoenician ports during the First Syrian War (274–271). Seleucus and Ptolemy I had never come to blows over control of the region and had left the question unresolved. The king also fought against the Celtic hordes that had swept into Asia Minor in 277, but he was unable to prevent them from settling in the central highlands.
ARMENIA
Armenia is an ancient kingdom that has suffered the attentions of Persia for centuries. Long under the Achaemenid Persian aegis, the kingdom has a very strong cultural flavour of that land. The Armenians have long been open to influence from Persian culture, with Ahura Mazda and Mithras being the chief gods of the nobility and wealthy elite, and Persian costume being adopted universally throughout the kingdom. Soft hill boots with curled toes are very common.
In centuries past Armenia was known by other, less well known titles, as Urartu or Ararat. Centred on the lakes of Mannai and Nairi and the fertile mountain valleys of the eastern Taurus, Armenia is a strong mountain-orientated kingdom. Mount Ararat sits at the centre of the land. Armenia is rich in metal and a source of strong hill horses. It has a formidable army with a good cavalry arm, giving the kingdom a degree of power. The unruly and wild Scythian tribes occasionally raid Armenian valleys, some stay on to become mercenaries in the pay of either Armenia, Seleucia or Macedon.
The Armenian kingdom is divided up into small mountain provinces, each governed by a member of the nobility. These governors reside at fortified provincial capitals, complete with store-houses, stables and garrisons, and have at their disposal a contingent of the king’s standing army. This is supplemented by a provincial levy of shepherds, archers and peasant spearmen. Armenian cavalry is composed of tough cataphracts (men of the royal family, other high-born family members running the provinces) and horse archers (lesser nobility running large farms and villages for the governor). The royal capital is Artaxata in the rich valley of the easterly-flowing Arax. Like all Armenian cities it is heavily fortified with stone walls strengthened by buttresses and towers. Cities, palaces, irrigation canals, storehouses and temples are all constructed with great energy. The kingdom’s wealth comes from a combination of iron-working and agriculture (including orchards and vineyards as well as grain). These cities and valleys are connected by high mountain trails and passes. The steep and treacherous mountains of Armenia are covered with thick snow for months in winter; deep ravines, high peaks and impassable ridges make Armenia a formidable environment.
The Armenian landscape is typified by a complex of plateaux and high peaks, the tangled uplands where the Pontic, Taurus and Zagros Mountains meet and coalesce. This mountain-land is freezing cold in winter and scorching hot in summer. Any journey through Armenia is a slow one, but one with spectacular scenery. Numerous clear blue lakes are nestled between fabulous but barren scrub-covered mountains. Banks of reeds proliferate around the shore-lines, reed-beds teeming with storks, ducks and herons. The lower more fertile slopes of these peaks are littered with pyramids of cow-dung, to be burnt in the winter-time as fuel for peasant fires. Lake Nairi is a vast inland sea that plays host to vast flocks of white storks and pink flamingos. Poppies grow on the slopes around it, and a local breed of wild-cat can sometimes be spotted. These fishing cats can swim and have one blue and one green eye. In the cliffs to the west and overlooking the lake is the Rock of Nairi, a towering pinnacle of rock, full of rock-cut chambers and ancient Urartian tombs.
CAPPADOCIA
This very mountainous and ravine cut land lies north of Cilicia and west of the upper Euphrates river. It is a high plateau, a tableland intersected by lofty mountain chains. The region has had many overlords, from the Medians to the Lydians, the Persians and now the Seleucids. It is a remote satrapy. Once extending northwards to the shores of the Black Sea, Cappadocia now only encompasses the high interior of Asia Minor, with northern Cappadocia now a separate and independant kingdom called Pontus. It has only four small hill-top cities; Mazaca, near Mount Argaeus, the residence of the Cappadocian ruling house, Tyana, Archelais and Comana. Smaller cities of some note are Melitene and Arabissus.
Cappadocia is a land of soft-rock cliffs and mountains, eroded over time by wind and water to create a spectacular landscape. In some places cones of soft rock have been hollowed out to create entire villages. A region characterised by steep-sided gorges, all exposing layer after layer of brightly coloured rocks, Cappadocia is also home to fruit and vine cultivation on a massive scale. It is a very fruitful region.
CHALDEA
Introduction: Chaldea encompasses the great cities of the Land Between The Rivers (‘Mesopotamia’). Farming is the greatest industry - the river valleys are farmed intensively using a complex irrigation system of ditches and canals. Where crops aren’t cultivated, palm trees grow or livestock is grazed. This is the source of Chaldea’s incredible wealth. With little timber, stone or metal, the Chaldeans have to trade extensively. Their caravans trek out to Syria and curve south to Phoenicia and Egypt, or east into the Zagros Mountains. Seleucia-on-the-Tigris is the current capital of Chaldea.
The immense cities of Chaldea are built almost solely without stone, instead baked mud brick is used. From palaces to walls, temples to town houses, evey thing is built in mud brick - since mud and straw are the land’s greatest commodities. Towns, cities and villages have their own assemblies which any citizen of the community can join. Reed huts cover the marshes and are the homes of the local farmers and fishermen. Reed boats are used by locals on the rivers. Larger sail-boats ply great rivers between the trade cities. The people, villages and cities are very well organised by the current Persian overlordship and its efficient administration, and the cities are teeming with Chaldean civil servants, scribes and secretaries. Many work for the vast temples of the gods - the huge stepped-pyramids called ziggurats. Chaldeans know their place - they are ‘owned’ by the gods and are all his servants, rebellion is almost unknown. All goods flow into the temples for redistribution, the rest is used in great trading ventures. The great gods of Chaldea are Marduk, Nabu and Ishtar.
The Land: Chaldea is called the ‘Land Between The Rivers’. This is because it is a low-lying land crossed by three rivers, bordered on the north by the Zagros Mountains, the east by the Persian Sea, the south by the Arabian Desert, and the west by highlands leading into a mountain range known as the Pillars of An. More than any other factor, the three rivers dominate Chaldea.
The foremost of the rivers is the Euphrates, which runs south-west out of the Pillars of An, and then due east towards Chaldea, and the Persian Sea. This great river is navigable nearly all the way to the Pillars of An. The second river is Tigris, which runs more directly towards Chaldea. The Tigris runs faster and deeper than the Euphrates, but is not navigable nearly as far. The third river is called Iltanu. It is the northern most of the rivers, which leaves cities on its shores more exposed to barbarian invasions from the Mountains of Kur.
The rivers flood once every year, in spring, when the crops are already growing in the fields, so their overflow must be controlled and used. As such, the inhabitants of Chaldea have become experts in the art of creating dikes and irrigation canals. This one fact of life has shaped Chaldea’s society more than any other factor. To maintain this water system, inspectors must monitor all facets of the system, and large work forces must be used to keep the canals in proper working order.
Climate: Water is the chief concern of the inhabitants of Chaldea, but for all that, they receive very little rainfall. Chaldea’s year begins with summer, when crops are stored, and the flocks taken into the mountains. During summer, it is not unheard of for temperatures to reach 40 degrees in the shade. The winds come in off of the Arabian Desert, bringing not moisture, but a fine, dusty sand. As such, the inhabitants take shelter during mid-day in dark inner-rooms in their houses, or in cellars dug in the ground. At late afternoon they emerge to do what business must be done, and then sleep on their roofs in the comparatively cool night air.
In autumn the sun ceases to blast the land, the flocks are brought back down out of the mountains, and the crops are planted in preparation for the next spring’s harvests. Winter is a comparatively cool time, when frost appears, in particularly cold years. For several days, the land might experience heavy rains, the only time during the year when this is possible, which can test the condition of the dikes and canals. Spring is a time of work, when the canals must be maintained and protected during the annual floods, and then the harvest is brought in, to be followed by a twelve-day New Year festival.
Resources and Trade: The soil of Chaldea is rich, allowing abundant harvests of food, but otherwise it is a very poor land. Being an alluvial plain, the land has almost no native sources of rock or minerals. It is for this reason that the people of Chaldea have become experts in building with mud-bricks made from the rich clay that they have in abundance. These bricks are hardened by being baked in the sun, but as might be expected, these bricks do not last very long. As such, buildings in Chaldea must be periodically demolished and rebuilt.
For more important structures, these mud-bricks are backed in a kiln which renders them much harder and durable. However, with so many clay items being produced in Chaldea, such as pots and important writing tablets, only the more important structures are built with kilned bricks. When the bricks are to be decorative, the bricks are glazed red, green or blue.
The gold, silver and copper, which the craftsmen of Chaldea are such experts in, are nearly all imported. The one exception to this is along the northern shore of the river Iltanu, where gold has been found. Minerals are imported from Sogdiana, Bactria and India.
Even in terms of trees, the land of Chaldea is not blest. The only tree which thrives in this environment is the date-palm, which has a wood that is unusable for building. This makes wood of surprising value in Chaldea. For example, when a house is rented, the renter is expected to provide his own door! Some merchants ply their trade by making an annual trip up the Euphrates and Tigris rivers with a donkey train of export goods to the mountains. There, they purchase wood and a few other items. The wood is built into barges, which are then floated down to their respective cities, where they are broken-up and the wood put to other uses.
The exports that Chaldea uses to support the continual importation of minerals and wood are manufactured wares. Textiles are made from wool and flax, and are exported heavily. Also, the objects of iron, bronze, silver and gold that are created by Chaldea’s smiths and artisans are in demand in most of the Successor Kingdoms.
City-States: The basic unit in Chaldea is the city-state. That is, a large city in Chaldea will control as much land as it can around its circumference, for its own enrichment. How much is decided by the Seleucid satrap (governor) of Chaldea. Small cities and towns are pulled into the sphere of influence of one of these large cities, and their inhabitants are considered citizens of the large city. Each city-state is analogous to a religious commune. In this case, there is no substantive separation of the temple and the government of the state. In the Chaldean view of their city-states, one particular god is the owner of the state, in much the same way that an absentee landlord is owner of his manor. All citizens of the city are servants of the owning god, and are equal to each other in that sense. The citizens have n assembly at which all men can attend. The elders of the city are able to control various factions and clans. Clan and family feuds form part of the colourful political life of the Chaldean cities. To a Chaldean his city is his universe. Overlords come and go, but the city, with its clans and guilds remains.
Due to the view of the city-state as belonging to a god, individual property, though existing, is not paramount. All citizens of the city-state are expected to labour for the city, and as such the god, whenever they are called to by the authorities. For most of the population this labour is in the form of working in the temple fields, and working on the system of dikes and canals that irrigates the land. For skilled craftsmen, some of their work in their craft will be for the temple-state. In payment for these services, the citizenry is paid by the temple-government either in food, usually barley, or in silver. The temple maintains warehouses of grain, which are used for paying for services, and held in case of a drought.
Buying and Selling: The analogy between Chaldean city-states and a manor has many ramifications in the general economy. In general, the temple owns between one quarter and one half of all of the arable land, with the rest belonging to free citizens. The Seleucid king (through his representatives the tax collectors) will always be the largest land-owner, with the rest owned by various important people, who might are referred to as ‘freemen’. The freemen maintain a large amount of wealth compared to the common people, but not enough for them to constitute a leisure class. That is, they still will work in their own fields, or in their own workshops. The land not actually farmed by the freemen is rented out to tenants, who farm it and pay rent in the form of a percent of the food that they raise on that land. Grain raised on the land belonging to the freemen is generally consumed by the people who actually raise it, with the excess being sold to the temple. Other foods may be sold at various gates of the city, which does not maintain a formal ‘market-square.’ Common foods sold this way include onions, cucumbers, dates, figs, pomegranates, sesame oil, and honey.
The other part of the economy is the workshops, or factories which are maintained by the freemen. These workshops produce iron weapons, bronze items (such as mirrors, shaving razors, and other metallic items), and clothing and textiles of all forms. Items are not generally sold directly from the workshops, but are also sold at the gates.
The Citizens: The citizens of Chaldea can be viewed as belonging to four classes. The highest class are referred to as the ‘freemen.’ These are the land-owners, the overseers and the priests. This class owns all of the land, and all of the tools of production in the city-state. This does not grant then a tyranny over the entire populous, however. This seeming hegemony is balance by the overwhelming number of the tenants, the power of the governor, and the dictates of the gods.
The second class is the tenants. These are the people who work the land of the temple, the Persian king and the land of many freemen. They also create the items manufactured in the workshops. Their lot is often hard, but the mixed nature of the Chaldea economy does allow them to build up wealth and perhaps move into the freeman class.
The third class is comparatively quite small, and they are the slaves. The slaves of Chaldea are most often enemies captured in battle, or commoners who went too deeply into debt, and voluntarily accepted slavery in payment of those debts. Slavery in Chaldea is not overly harsh, and slaves can work extra hard, and earn enough to purchase their freedom. This is not to say that slaves are tenants under a different name. Slaves are bound to whoever owns them, and the owner determines where a slave will work, and runaways are often branded on the face, or lose an ear as punishment. Slaves are easy to spot, due to the distinctive hair-style they are required to wear.
Finally, there is a fourth class who are referred to as ‘clients.’ These are people who are not citizens of the city-state where they reside, and are not part of the commune structure. These people work for a wage, either for the temple or for a patrician, and pay taxes against this wage. There is no real way for a client to become a citizen, but if they marry a citizen and have children by that citizen, then the children will automatically be considered citizens.
Literacy and Education: The only source of formal education in Chaldea is the scribe schools maintain by the temple. At these schools (edubba), a master scribe (ummia) teaches young men and women the art of being a Chaldea scribe. This process takes years, and cost a great deal of money. As such, only members of the free class send their children to school. However, after the education is complete, the literate individual can either become a scribe in the pay of the temple, a priest, a merchant, or perhaps an officer in the army. Therefore, education acts as the gate-keeper for the Chaldea social hierarchy. Only children of freemen can afford to be educated, and only the educated can operate in the freeman class.
Clothing and Fashion: Chaldea is a land of extreme heat, and as such, the natives have had to adapt their clothing to the environment. Coolness is the chief aim of Chaldea clothing, and linen is the most common material used. Open nudity is not prohibited in Chaldea, and people will often remove all of their garments when performing strenuous labour. In many ways, clothing is used to display the wealth of the wearer. Simple farmers often wear clothing of poor quality and labour naked, while rich patricians will wear fine linen or silk clothing, Persian-style baggy pants, and thigh length kaftans, dyed brilliant greens, yellows or scarlet. Foot-wear, while important, is not required in Chaldea. Those who wear footgear tend to wear soft boots or slippers, while those journeying into other lands will wear harder boots of leather. Chaldeans have shoulder-length hair and often finely curled-beards. Short little hats or simple headbands are common.
Women wear a long, loose-fitting dress, caught at one shoulder, and hanging down to their feet. Long, dangling earrings and necklaces of stones and shells are the preferred ornaments, with the wealthy wearing lapis lazuli, carnelians and gold. To highlight their eyes, Chaldea women will often blacken their eyes with malachite. Unlike the men, Chaldea women wear their hair parted down the middle, braided, with the braids fastened around the head like a crown. Very young Chaldea children will often go around naked, while older children are dressed like adult members of their sex.
Seleucia-on-the-Tigris: This once-prestigious city sits on the left bank of the wide river Tigris. The city was specifically planned to act as the terminus for caravans traveling from Khorasan to Ecbatana and Media, and forms a perfect crossing point. A magnificent Royal Canal constructed at great expense at Seleucia connects the river Tigris to the river Euphrates, and by linking these two great rivers has greatly transformed communications and trade in the region. Seleucia is a vast city, with sprawling districts and long straight avenues, in the lee of massively fortified fortifications. The city is very cosmopolitan and a Chaldean ziggurat has been constructed by House Seleucus for the benefit of worshippers of the native gods. On the southern Silk Route, goods from Ecbatana pass into Syria via the route through Chaldea to Seleucia.
CILICIA
A province of the Seleucid Empire in south-east Asia Minor. It is separated from northern Syria by the Amanus Mountains in the east, and from Cappadocia in the north by the lofty Taurus range. The important Iron Gates control the strategic pass within the province that connects the inland plateau to the Cilician plain and northern Syria. The Cilicians are reputed to take their name from Cilix, a son of Agenor who came to the land in search of his sister Europa and, abandoning his search, decided to settle there. During Achaemenid Persian rule, the Cilicians paid a tribute of 360 white horses and 500 talents of silver annually. Cilicia is renowned for its fearsome pirates. The coastline is dotted with coves and shelters where the mountains meet the sea, and the pirate fleets rest here during the winter months. Tarsus is the mountain capital of Cilicia, a Hellenised city that can boast a school of philosophy.
There are two main regions of Cilicia - Cilicia Tracheia (Rugged) and Cilicia Pedias (Plain). Pedias to the east is rich grassland, well watered and well farmed. The Cilician plain is one of the most fertile parts of Asia Minor, and is cut by the rivers Pyramus and Cydnus. Flax, vines, olives and corn are grown in abundance. In the small town of Olba there once existed an ancient priestly dynasty that claimed its descent from the heroes Teucer and Ajax. The dynasty ruled for several centuries. Tracheia is a wild and mountainous district, its chief products are woven goods and timber for shipping. This latter resource is chiefly exploited by the bands of pirates that are well established along this rugged coastline. Cilicia Tracheia is formed mainly by the Taurus Mountains as the skirt the coast of the Middle Sea. Villages here cling to the thin coast-line in the shadow of soaring mountains. In the valleys are tiny farming communities, tending orchards and herding goats. Paths wind through attractive gorges with rocks rising steeply on both sides, plunging the surging water-courses into shadow. Shepherd boys swim in the river below and frothing water cascades over rocky outcrops.
Tarsus: The capital city of Cilicia which can claim as its founder either Triptolemus, Perseus or Heracles. The chief industry of the city is linen production, but Tarsus is a central staging point on the merchant trade routes. The inhabitants have a strong affinity for Heracles and keep up many shrines to their hero.
Taurus Mountains: The mighty Taurus Mountains form the ‘backbone of Asia’, essentially dividing the world into a cool northern and warm southern region (at least according to Dicaearchus, c.300 BC). The range soars to an average of 2,100 metres and runs from south-western Asia Minor eastwards along the coast of Lycia. On the border of Cilicia the vast range throws off the Antitaurus which march north-east to meet the Pontine Mountains and approach the northerly Caucasus. Meanwhile the Taurus continue ever eastwards, first throwing off a mighty southern range, the Zagros. The Taurus continue on through Armenia to skirt the southern shore of the Caspian Sea as the Elburz and on to the Paropamisus (Hindu Kush) and the mythical Imaus Mountains, finally ending, so it is said, on the shores of the Eastern Ocean at Tamus Headland.
SYRIA
Ten ‘sister’ cities long ago made an alliance to defend one another and participate in a trade agreement. The greatest of these ten cities (or ‘decapolis’) is Antioch and this city dominates the hot land of Syria. Syria has never been a united kingdom, it sits at a cross-roads and other powers have always dominated the land. Syria is a region of great wealth and agriculture (with rich wheat and barley fields), mineral deposits, springs and rivers. It is a land of warm rains, fertile valleys and mountains chains that is caught between the Middle Sea to the west and the desert to the east. North lies the barrier of the Taurus Mountains, and south the fertile landscape is dominated by impressive sea-ports (Phoenicia). The major river of Syria is the Orontes, which flows north through Antioch to meet the sea at Seleucia-by-the-Sea. For millennia powerful caravan cities have flourished in Syria as traders have passed through, sought shelter and paid taxes. The people of this land are canny merchants all, thieves, con-men, sellers, cajolers and smooth-talking tricksters.
The ten cities of the Decapolis are: Antioch, Emesa, Beroea, Hieropolis, Seleucia-by-the-Sea, Laodicea, Cyrrhus, Apamea, Europus, Zeugma.
Amanus Mountains: A mountain horseshoe separated from the Taurus range by the deep gorge of the Jihun. The Amanus are crossed by two great passes: Amanid Gates (Baghce Pass), Syrian Gates (Beilan Pass).
Orontes River: The chief river of Syria, 272 km long, set in a very fertile valley which has become the main route followed by both traders and armies.
Antioch: Antioch lies on the left bank of the river Orontes, 24km from the sea. As an Ionian colony city, it has a grid-plan. Most of the inhabitants are Syrian, but the city also boasts a large Jewish population. whose privileges go back to the days of Seleucus I. The city’s wealth is derived from its crucial centre as a military and administrative capital, and its favourable position on the road from the deserts of Asia to the Middle Sea. The greatest local industry is wine production, but almost every trade and craft is practised within the city walls. Antioch is a constituent part of what is known as the Decapolis, an alliance of ten proud Syrian cities founded by House Seleucus that operate in concert. They refer to one another as ‘sister-cities’. Antioch is by far the largest and Seleucia by far the strongest. Antioch is ringed by a huge defensive wall, and consists of four districts, each with its own set of fortifications. Thus the citizens of Antioch are doubly protected. Antioch is the metropolis of Syria and once the royal capital of the Seleucid Empire. In power and size it does not fall far short of Alexandria in Egypt. Seleucus I is reputed to have brought the descendants of Triptolemus to the city and so the Antiochenes honour him greatly like a hero, complete with a festival that is held on Mount Casius close to Seleucia. On Mount Casius the monster Typhon overcame Jupiter in his battle against the gods and cut the sinews of Zeus’ hands and feet.
Down-river from Antioch (about 7km) lies the small town of Daphne with a large shaded grove (diameter 14km) dedicated to sibling gods Apollo and Diana. The Antiochenes hold an annual festival within this grove. The chief-priest of the sanctuary was an appointee of the king himself, such was the responsibility of the post.
The main road of Antioch is very wide, constructed with large stone slabs and flanked by pavements. On either side are pillared colonnades under which are all manner of shops, stalls and gatherings of people trying to stay out of the heat. Many of the city’s inhabitants are artisans, farmers, merchants and slaves. Trade flourishes and the city plays a central role as a destination for camel caravans from further east. The city deity is Athena Tyche, representing good luck. Statues represent the goddess sitting on a rock, with a head-dress of fortified walls. At her feet the god Orontes emerges from the river. The city stands close to the banks of the river Orontes which rises in Coele Syria and flows through Apamea towards Antioch, reaching the sea near Seleucia-by-the-Sea.
Seleucia-by-the-Sea: Seleucia-by-the-Sea at the mouth of the river Orontes is the port for the city of Antioch, which lies further up the river. It has become a powerful naval base for the Seleucid naval fleet with garrisons, shipyards, warehouses, training grounds and slip-ways. King Antiochus buried his father, Seleucus I, here and built a temple over the site. Surrounding it is a sanctuary to the cult of the dead king called the Nikatereion (belonging to the Conqueror).
Seleucia is sometimes known as Seleucia-in-Peria, the name of a neighbouring mountain which adjoins the Amanus. Seleucus had originally identified this city as his capital, but Antiochus, his son, has moved the seat of the empire to Antioch instead. In those days, the city was named Hydatos Potamoi (Water Rivers). Seleucia, as already noted, is a very well fortified city, and is thought to be virtually impregnable. The city is one of the most cosmopolitan after Alexandria. The following cults have sanctuaries in Seleucia: Zeus Olympias, Zeus Coryphaeus (the mountain-peak), Apollo, and the dynastic cults of Seleucus.
Laodicea: Laodicea, in comparison, is a very beautiful sea-port with a sheltered, well-built harbor. The surrounding land is a great producer of many crops, but the local vineyards are of particular importance, stretching away up the mountain slope inland, almost up to the summit.
Apamea: Apamea is dominated by the towering mountain rising on its seaward side. The city has a well fortified acropolis. The city in general is well sited for defence, being located on a steep hill that sits in a bend of the river Orontes. The land all about is a flat plain, cut by marshes and water meadows suitable for grazing cattle and horses. Because of its impregnable situation, the city is sometimes known as Chersonesus (peninsula). House Seleucus once house most of their war elephants at Apamea, as well as much of the army and thousands of horses.
OSROHENE
Osrhoene is a client kingdom of great wealth of strategic importance to the SElucid Empire. The kingdom is situated on the fertile plains between the Upper Euphrates and the River Khabur (a tributary). The kingdom’s great wealth is derived almost solely from trade. Fantastic caravan cities are home to wealthy trading houses and merchant princes; goods from across the world pass through the gates of these cities and travel on to their markets. The cities have traditionally been independent (when not occupied by a foreign power) and some have existed for millennia. The SEleucid client kingdom of Osrhoene is governed from the powerful city-state of Edessa.
Carrhae: This city in Osrhoene has a very long history. For centuries it has come under the domination of more powerful forces. It is an important cult centre of the moon god Sin and the god’s temple there is richly endowed, being lavishly rebuilt by the Chaldean king Nabonidus, whose mother was a priestess. The city sits on the prime caravan route of the region, on the Bilichus river, a tributary of the mighty Euphrates.
Edessa: The current capital of the client kingdom of Osrhoene. It is situated on a limestone ridge, an extension of the ancient Mount Masius in the Taurus mountains of southern Anatolia. Here the east-west highway from Zeugma on the Euphrates to the Tigris meets the north-south route from Samosata to the Euphrates via Carrhae.
PERSIA
The great kingdom of Persia is ruled by the awesomely powerful King of Kings from the Seleucid capital of Antioch. Below him are the princes who govern his vassal states - the satrapies. Some of these princes are Persian nobles, who have recognised the authority of the new Seleucid King of Kings and been allowed to remain in their posts. Others are Macedonian nobles newly installed as Persian-style satraps. These princes ensure that troops are available for war, and lead their own clan armies in battle. On the very edge of the Seleucid empire, the satrapies form defensive frontiers against the nomad barbarians beyond.
At the bottom of the governmental system are the petty nobles (dihqan) and village headmen, responsible for tax collection and organising the levy. The commoners themselves are no better than livestock, and are bought and sold as part of any estate, along with land and livestock. Their menial status is matched by their legal status - Persian peasants are treated brutally and both torture and trial by ordeal are common.
The right hand man of the King of Kings is the Grand Vizier - a powerful potentate who controls the Seleucid administration and its diplomatic affairs. Below him are the divans, the government ministries, run by Macedonian nobles who excel in the field that each one covers. The Persian economy is sophisticated and diverse. Banking is well developed as is trade. Commodities from the edges of the known world arrive in Persian bazaars, including silk from Cathay, glass, amber, papyrus, pepper and other spices.
The estates of the powerful Macedonian and Persian nobility resemble fortified enclosures guarded by elite garrisons against possible peasant revolt. The nobility enjoy feasting, hunting, the women of their harem, the beauty of their cultivated parks (‘paradises’), music, martial training, riding, archery and literature. Their life is good.
The armies of the King of Kings are led by a Supreme Commander, a post held by a member of the royal family. Lesser posts are held by political favourites from the Greek or Macedonian elite and include the Commander of the Cavalry and Adjutant-General. The core of the army is made up of heavily armoured cavalry, the Royal Companions or ‘cataphracts’, provided by the wealthier nobles, as well as the Agema, a large force of cataphracts that are not nobles, but professional cavalry soldiers owning land and farming it in peacetime. The better-trained and most hardened of the nobles join the elite Persian cavalry force - the legendary Copmanions. Each Persian Companion rides a superbly trained warhorse, and both rider and mount are clad in scale armour from head to foot. Even the rider’s face is shielded by an iron face-mask. The sight of such a formation, glittering in the sun like martial statues of gleaming silver, row upon row, rank upon rank, is enough to send shivers of fear coursing through an opponent’s army.
Light horse-archers are provided by the less well-off Persian nobility (as well as nomad mercenaries and horse-owning klerouchoi). The bulk of the infantry are the land owning pikemen, the klerouchoi, semi-professional warriors farming or patrolling in peacetime. There are a number of ethnic klerouchoi organized in their own units and recruited from the satrapies. The very best of the infantry are the Argyraspides, an elite force of 10,000 picked from the best Macedonian and Greek settlers.
Important in many battles are the well-trained archers and slingers; many are mercenaries or levies from the mountain tribes. Fully-armoured elephants usually bring up the rear of a formation - these impressive beasts provide a massive psychological boost and act as mobile firing platforms for javelinmen and archers.
Persia is a vast land of many different terrains, many of them rugged and inhospitable. The kingdom is dominated by a central plateau ringed by mountain chains on all sides. To the north running parallel to the southern shore of the Hyrcanian Sea are the Elburz Mountains, containing the incredible Mount Damavand. Hyrcania is a wild and mountainous but fertile district; a country split between grassy plains extending to the shores of the Hyrcanian Sea and the lushly forested northern slopes of the Elburz Mountains behind. The Hyrcanian Gates are the safest way through the mountains. The land is hilly and inhabited by hill-tribes. Zadrakarta is the central city of the kingdom. Alexander the Great campaigned here and set Heracleides with a party of shipwrights to build a fleet of galleys that might explore the Hyrcanian Sea and prove once and for all whether the sea was truly a sea (as his tutor Aristotle had taught) or whether it was in fact a gulf of the Ocean.
To the west the Zagros Mountains divide the plateau highland from the lazy rivers of flat Chaldea. A high grassy plateau cut by seasonal rivers and fertile gorges is formed by the northern end of the Zagros Mountains and this satrapy is called Media. To the east of the Persian plateau are lesser mountains. There are two deserts in Persia, the harsh salt desert in the centre of the plateau, and the sand and rock desert. Both are uninhabited and desolate. In the springtime and winter, small streams flow into the salt desert, creating little lakes and muddy swamps. At other times the deserts are dry and barren. The region between the sourthern flanks of the Elburz Mountains and the terrible desolation of the salt desert is called Parthia, a wind-blown steppe of wild horses and wild nomads.
The hot mountains and high salt lakes at the sourthern end of the Zagros chain form the satrap of Persia Proper. Persia Proper is the original home of the Persian royal family, and the seat of the original Achaemenid dynasty. The cities of Persepolis and Pasargadae flourished here in lush, well watered river valleys. The region is still wealthy, rich and fertile - a place for Seleucid nobles to relax and enjoy the fruits of their luxurious lifestyles. Further east along the coastline are the Carmanian Mountains, a low warm hill-land with fantastic pasture and easy access down to the fertile coastal plains. This satrap of Carmania is focused on the Straits of Salmus, and the satrapal capital and wealthy port of Salmus.
The Persian plateau drops away to the east to a lower level and the satrap of Zarangia. Sited on the shores of Lake Seistan, Zarangia’s capital is Zaranj (established by the Parthians). This lower land has a number of salt lakes fed by rivers gushing down from the mountains that rise up formidably to the east - the vast and frightening range of the Hindu Kush. Many of Persia’s rivers are seasonal, flowing only during the wettest parts of the winter and spring. There are lakes dotted across the plateau, but they are small, salty and prone to shrinking in the high heat of summer. Persia is so huge that different parts have very different climates. The table-land of the Elburz Mountains is cold and chilly, the southern areas near the Persian Sea are extremely hot, and elsewhere along the plateau the climate is temperate.
The plateau is generally grassy steppeland used by locals for grazing cattle and sheep. Nearer the arid deserts the landscape turns to thorn and scrubland. The seaward slopes of the Elburz are fertile and lush, as is the Hyrcanian plain on the shore of the Hyrcanian Sea. Deciduous trees stand proud in sprawling forests, and vines are cultivated. The Zagros Mountains are covered with a semi-humid forest cover of oak, pistachio, walnut and elm. Many species of wildlife live on the Persian plateau and the mountains surrounding it, including hyena, jackal, bear, ibex, wolf, leopard, porcupine, pheasants and partridges.
The Further Satrapies of Persia lay east of the central Persian plateau. From the most northerly, up on the grassy windswept steppes of Sogdiana, southwards to Bactria, Aria, Arachosia and finally Gedrosia, these provinces virtually form separate kingdoms of their own, since they are so far removed from the Persian capital at Ecbatana. The distances involved are mind-blowing, but these Further Satrapies are part of the mighty Seleucid Kingdom.
| Satrapal Capitals of Persia |
|---|
| Arachosia - Kandahar |
| Aria - Artacoana |
| Bactria - Zariaspa |
| Carmania - Salmus |
| Zarangia - Zaranj |
| Gedrosia - Pura |
| Hyrcania - Zadrakarta |
| Media - Ecbatana |
| Parthia - Hecatompylos |
| Persia - Pasargadae |
| Sogdiana - Marakanda |
To the west the Gedrosian Desert becomes scrubland and is home to the capital of the satrap, Pura. A fishing village called Gwadar exists precariously on the coast, backed by the awful might of the desert. Even further west a traveller will reach Carmania and is on his way back to the Zagros Mountains.
