Seleucus (I) Nicator (c. 358-281 BC)

Macedonian general under Alexander (III) the Great and founder of the Seleucid dynasty of Syria. After Alexander's death in 323 BC, Seleucus became governor and then, in 312 BC, ruler of Babylonia, founding the city of Seleucia on the River Tigris. He conquered Syria and had himself crowned king in 306 BC, but his expansionist policies brought him into conflict with the Ptolemies of Egypt and he was assassinated. He was succeeded by his son Antiochus I.

After some years as governor of Babylonia, Seleusus was ousted by Antigonus (I) Monophthalmus in 316 BC and took refuge in Egypt. He returned in 312 and by 307 had recovered Babylonia and much of the neighbouring area as far as Bactria. In 306 he invaded India, but ceded the old Persian territories there to Chandragupta in return for the elephants which helped him win at Ipsus in 301. This gave him access to the Mediterranean via Syria, where he founded Antioch. Further campaigns consolidated Seleucid control over the eastern Persian Empire, and victory over Lysimachus at Corupedium in 281 gave him Asia Minor. Perhaps now aiming to take over Lysimachus' possessions in Thrace and Macedonia, he crossed the Hellespont (modern Dardanelles), but was murdered soon after landing at Lysimacheia.