The Greek World After Alexander 323–30 BC by Graham Shipley

Author:Graham Shipley
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Taylor and Francis
Published: 2000-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

Antiochos then went east (165–164) and restored Seleukid rule in Greater Armenia, which, like other eastern satrapies, had asserted its independence after 188. He tried to do the same in parts of Iran, but succumbed to a fatal illness. If his strategic aim was to hold up the Parthians’ advance, it was at least temporarily achieved, and he may be accounted one of the more successful Seleukid kings.78

Methods of control

Unity versus regionalism

The Seleukids faced problems of geographical distance and ethnic diversity, of traditional and new power-centres; but they ruled with forceful ambition and exploited the resources of their empire with considerable success. In this section we shall see that they had learned from their Achaemenid predecessors to rule by means that did not involve the expensive over-use of force.

When Alexander defeated Dareios he took over the existing system of provinces ruled by satraps, usually Persian men though sometimes local nobles. Alexander appointed both Macedonians and occasionally Persians; Seleukos continued the practice.79 The Persian system had been designed to ensure the loyalty of a province – meaning, in effect, its ruling élite – as a reliable source of tribute and, when necessary, military manpower on the rare occasions of a major levy. The limited design meant that the Persians did not have to create a complex, interventionist administration; indeed, they seem to have had no aspirations to change the economy or society of a province, desiring to get out of it only what they wanted. The system, however, offered the satrap many opportunities to further his own power, even to the extent of refusing to pay the tribute and claiming independence. If this happened, a province could only be won back by military action on the part of the king, so a satrap might be able to avoid paying tribute for a long time. The best tactic for the king was to pick his satraps carefully and keep a close eye on them by having centrally appointed officers within the provincial palace.

Herodotos, in the fifth century, gives a useful indication of the government’s potential income when he records the amounts of tribute supposedly received by Dareios I in the late sixth century from each district of his empire (3. 89–95), and though we do not know whether the amounts are accurate, or whether they are the sums actually delivered, his account indicates which satrapies were seen as most important. Of areas that later formed part of Seleukid territory, the one paying the most was Babylonia-Assyria (1,000 talents of silver), followed by the Persian gulf (600), Cilicia (500), Media (450), and the Greek and neighbouring areas of western Asia Minor (400), though the whole of Asia Minor excluding Cilicia paid 1,060 talents. Phoenicia, Syria, Palestine, and Cyprus are listed as paying only 350 talents between them, but this may be because they provided warships; it may be, too, that in relation to the populations of these small areas their contributions were high. Interestingly, Baktria on its own paid 360, but the Parthians, Chorasmians, Sogdians, and Areians together only 300.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.