Hi there, you're listening to the Hellenistic Age podcast.

Episode 104, the Salucod Empire, Madness and the Divine.

With the death of Antiochus III in 187, the Salucca dynasty had lost its greatest ruler in over a century.

Despite the humiliating defeat at Magnesia and the subsequent stripping of territory in Asia Minor through the Treaty of Apamea, the Seleucid realm was still the

strongest kingdom in Asia, its influence stretching to Afghanistan and the newly acquired

Koyle Syria. Maintaining this authority is a different matter, as it would require a king with the same level of vigorous determination to assert its might over a landscape that saw increasing competition.

Born in 217, Salukas IV was the second eldest son of Antiochus III and Queen Laudyke III, his older brother and the crown prince, known simply as Antiochus III and Queen Laodice III. His older brother and the crown prince,

known simply as Antiochus the son, had died of unknown circumstances in 193. This tragedy clearly

affected King Antiochus, but the adult age Seleucus was already prepared for an administrative

position in the newly built Lycemaquia,

and would be a suitable replacement as heir to the throne.

He also acted as a cavalry commander during the war with Rome,

campaigning in Purgamine territory and leading the cavalry on the Salukid left at Magnesia.

To confirm his new role as joint king, Salukas was to marry his brother's widow,

Lao D.K. 4th, who was also his sister. A son named Demetrius was born that same year,

and another boy named Antiochus would arrive in 180. In the aftermath of the war with Rome,

Seleucus was responsible for delivering grain to the corrupt

Manlius Vulso, who was conducting his illegal war against the Galatians in 187. Later that summer,

King Antiochus III was killed in a botched plundering of an Elamite temple.

Seleucus probably was in Babylon at the time, as the Cuneiform records verified that he was

crowned shortly after the news of his father's demise reached a court. Quite unlike Antiochus,

Seleucus's reign is extremely sparse in terms of our sources. Only a few letters from Seleucus survive,

...