ABSTRACT
The Seleukid empire was the largest of the Successor kingdoms. Unlike Macedonia and Egypt, it was not a geographical unity populated mainly by one ethnic group, but embraced many landforms and cultures. It offered the greatest opportunities for interaction between Greeks and non-Greeks; it is the part of the Greek world after Alexander where we can most often see ‘hellenization’ at work, through city foundations. At the same time, because of its size, it presented particular problems of control and imposed crucial constraints on the aims of its rulers. Other aspects of the empire have been discussed earlier; here the emphasis will be on landscapes and resources, and on issues of military, economic, and other forms of management and control. Following a geographical outline and an examination of military problems within a narrative setting, the techniques and structures with which the Seleukids ruled their empire will be considered. A recurrent theme in these sections is the degree to which the Seleukids built a new structure or inherited an existing system for exploitation; to a large extent the ground had been cleared for the Seleukids, since the Persians over two centuries had selectively targeted the more profitable parts of the empire, particularly Asia Minor and the lowlands, creating an infrastructure of communication, fiscal administration, and military control which was not overthrown by Alexander. Finally, a brief examination of the history of the Attalid dynasty will lead on to a scrutiny of the causes of imperial decline for the Seleukids.
