Hellenistic world · 312-140 BC

The Seleucids: Greek kings from Syria to Iran

The largest successor kingdom stretched from the Aegean to Central Asia and was run by Greeks ruling dozens of peoples. Students follow the Seleucids from Babylon to Antioch, watch them plant Greek cities across Asia, and see the giant shrink as Parthians, Romans and rebels close in.

Teach it live New Open on the map
Length
50 minutes
Ages
12–15
On the map
3 steps, 300 BC to 140 BC
Live lesson
7 rounds, 3 on the map
Worksheet
Two A4 pages, with Classroom
You need
A projector; phones for live

Live lesson · new in Classroom

Teach it live. The class answers on their phones.

Put the board on the projector. Students join with a six-digit code, no account needed, and tap the map: where was the frontier, where did the grain come from. Their pins drop in together when you reveal, and the closest student takes the round.

€19 per month: every lesson live, every worksheet, cancel anytime. Rome at its height runs live for free.

A live lesson on the projector: the class's pins on the map around Alexandria, the closest students listed beside it A student's phone: the question and a map to tap
7 rounds
3 places to find on the map, quiz questions, a class vote and a one-line answer.
About 15 minutes
Run it as the map step, or to open the discussion. You move on with the space bar.
A report
Every answer, per student and per round, to read back or print after the lesson.
1

Introduction

5 min

Read aloud

The largest successor kingdom stretched from the Aegean to Central Asia and was run by Greeks ruling dozens of peoples. Students follow the Seleucids from Babylon to Antioch, watch them plant Greek cities across Asia, and see the giant shrink as Parthians, Romans and rebels close in.

By the end of the lesson, students can

  • Locate Seleucia on the Tigris and Antioch and explain why the Seleucids had two capitals.
  • Describe how the Seleucids used new Greek cities to hold their empire.
  • Use the map to show how the kingdom shrank between 300 and 140 BC and name one cause.
2

Explore the map

15 min

Project the map, or let students follow on their own devices. Each step opens the map at the right year and place.

a

300 BC

From Babylon to the Indus

Open the map in 300 BC. The Seleucid Kingdom covers Mesopotamia, Iran and Central Asia. Seleucus had taken Babylon in 312 BC and founded a new capital, Seleucia on the Tigris, nearby. Turn on the Cities layer and find Babylon. Why build a new Greek city 60 km from the old one?

Open this view on the map
b

200 BC

A string of Greek cities

Jump to 200 BC. The kingdom now reaches west into Anatolia and Antioch is its main capital. The Seleucids founded dozens of cities named Antioch, Seleucia, Apamea or Laodicea after the royal family and settled Greek soldiers in each. Find Antioch near the coast and trace a line east to the Tigris.

Open this view on the map
c

140 BC

The shrinking kingdom

Go to 140 BC and compare the Seleucid lands with 200 BC. Anatolia went to Rome's allies after 188 BC, Iran and then Mesopotamia to the Parthians (141 BC), Judea to the Maccabees. The map's borders here are rough, but drag the slider between 200 and 100 BC and watch the kingdom shrink.

Open this view on the map
3

Class discussion

15 min

Pick two or three. They run from what happened to why it mattered.

  1. Seleucus married a Persian noblewoman, Apama, and their son Antiochus ruled the east. Why would a Greek king want a half-Persian heir?
  2. The Seleucids planted Greek cities with theaters, gymnasia and Greek laws across Asia. Who benefited from these cities, and who did not?
  3. In Babylon, priests kept writing astronomical records in cuneiform under Greek kings, and some Seleucid kings took part in Babylonian rituals. How did the old and new cultures get along?
  4. The empire had no natural borders and was too big to defend everywhere. What is the difference between ruling a region and merely owning it?
  5. Within 150 years the largest kingdom in the world had shrunk to Syria. Was the Seleucid Empire a failure, or an impossible job well done for a long time?
4

Game round

10 min

Play one round of Rule History as Alexander the Great, then compare with Seleucus, who inherited the hardest part of his empire. Ask: Alexander marched through Asia in ten years; Seleucus and his heirs had to govern it for 250. Which is the harder task?

Open Rule History
5

Worksheet

5 min

This worksheet comes with Classroom

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