The Legend of SeleucusIn the chaos that followed the death of Alexander the Great his distinguished marshal Seleucus was reduced to a fugitive, with only a horse to his name. But by the time of his own death, Seceucus had reconstructed the bulk of Alexander's empire, built Antioch, and become a king in his turn, one respected for justness in an age of cruelty. The dynasty he founded was to endure for three centuries. Such achievements richly deserved to be projected into legend, and so they were. This legend told of Seleucus' divine siring by Apollo, his escape from Babylon with an enchanted talisman, his foundations of cities along a dragon-river with the help of Zeus' eagles, his surrender of his new wife to his besotted son, and his revenge, as a ghost, upon his assassin. This is the first book in any language devoted to the reconstruction of this fascinating tradition. |
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
Birth Myths and Omens of Greatness | 23 |
Seleucus Horseback Flight from Babylon | 68 |
Omens and Myths of City and Cult Foundation | 99 |
Combabus and Stratonice | 174 |
Antiochus and Stratonice | 207 |
Omens of Death Death and Revenge | 247 |
Coins Texts and Traditions | 270 |
Appendices | 326 |
Appians Seleucus Excursus and Agatharchides of Cnidus | 334 |
E Suggested Analyses of Appians Seleucus Excursus | 342 |
| 351 | |
| 379 | |
Other editions - View all
The Legend of Seleucus: Kingship, Narrative and Mythmaking in the Ancient World Daniel Ogden No preview available - 2020 |
Common terms and phrases
Agatharchides Alexander Romance Alexander's Alexandria anchor Antigonus Antiochus and Stratonice Apamea Apollo Apollonius Appian Appian Syriake Ardeshir Arrian Arrian Anabasis Arsinoe Athenaeus Babylon Babylonia birth myth Branchidae Brodersen 1989 century Chaldaeans Chapter coins context cult Daphne death diadem Diodorus Discussion Downey dragon dream eagle empire episode Erasistratus eunuch father Fatouros and Krischer foundation golden Goukowsky 2007 Grainger 1990a Greek Heckel Heracles Herodotus Hieronymus Hippocrates Ipsus John Malalas John Malalas Chronicle Justin killed king Kuhrt Legend of Seleucus legendary material Libanius Libanius Orations Lightfoot 2003 Lucian Lysimachus Macedon Macedonian Marasco Mehl mother motif narrative Ogden omen oracle Orontes Pausanias Pausanias of Antioch Pausanias Periegetes Perdiccas Perseus Persian Philetaerus Phylarchus Pliny Natural History Plutarch Plutarch Demetrius Primo Ptolemy Ceraunus recension river Seleucia-in-Pieria Seleucia-on-the-Tigris Seleucid Seleucus Seleucus tradition Stephanus of Byzantium story Strabo Stratonice Syrian Tetrapolis tells thunderbolt whilst wife Zeus καὶ