‘Ptolemy and Seleucus: The Saviour and the Victor’

Between 316 and 311 BC Seleucus Nicator deftly negotiated the turbulent political landscape of the early hellenistic era. Initially a symbol of resistance for those Diadochoi who chose to make a stand against the power of Antigonus Monophthalmus, he would later return to Babylonia in a triumphant fashion as the self-declared general of all Asia. While Nicator’s astonishing rise owes much to his own ambition and talent, it was in fact the patronage of Ptolemy that facilitated his ascendency. This seminar explores the relationship between Ptolemy and Seleucus. It argues that Nicator’s return to Babylonia was simply the latest in a long line of the machinations that Ptolemy made in order to bolster his position in Syria.