The first in a three volume set on the Seleukids, by John Grainger. After the death of Alexander the Great, his generals divided up the empire. The division was not harmonious. The result is called The Successor Wars (one of the things that always puzzled me is all of the successors attempted to claim the empire of Alexander; none tried to expand their territories into areas Alexander hadn’t conquered). After some alliances and fighting with Antigonas (see Antigonas the One-Eyed,) and Ptolemy, Seleukos ended up as king of Mesopotamia; he expanded his holdings to the east, to include what’s now Afghanistan and Iran, and to the west, into Syria and Asia Minor.

Seleukos I comes across as a patient strategist, founding cities as defensive measures and not risking battles unless victory was fairly certain. His successors Antiochus I, Antiochus II, Seleukos II and Seleukos III struggled to maintain the empire, with bits and pieces nibbled off by their own rebellious satraps and relatives and other Hellenistic rulers. Life was pretty uncertain for Hellenistic rulers; Seleukos I was assassinated while visiting a temple, Antiochus II was poisoned by his wife Laodike, Seleukos II died in a fall from a horse and Seleukos III was assassinated by his bodyguard. It was hard to be a relative, too; Antiochus I executed his eldest son Seleukos and Seleukos III executed his aunt Stratonike (she rebelled in indignation after he refused her marriage proposal).

Grainger comments that the ancient records are uncertain; many are from Babylon and note things like “there was fighting against the king” without explaining who was fighting or why. He’s quite cautious and apologetic when speculating from scanty data. Still this is quite readable for a scholarly history. Grainger provides adequate maps and a genealogical table; still it’s sometimes hard to keep track of things like which Stratonike is which. Adequate endnotes and bibliography and a useful index. I’ll have to track down the other books in the series. ( )