Seleucus (Commander)

Seleucus was 30 BC. A Ptolemaic commander of the eastern Egyptian defense post Pelusion .

In the final stage of the decisive military conflict between the triumvirs Mark Antony and Octavian (the later Emperor Augustus ) for sole rule in the Roman Empire , Antony and his lover, the Ptolemaic Queen Cleopatra VII , withdrew after their defeat in the Battle of Actium (2. September 31 BC) returned to Egypt. In the summer of 30 BC BC Octavian's armies advanced from the west and east towards the Nile land . At that time, Seleukos was the commander of the eastern border post Pelusion, but he surrendered so quickly that Seleukos was suspected of treasonously surrendering the bastion. The ancient biographer Plutarch mentions that, according to rumors, Seleucus did not act without the consent of Cleopatra in his alleged betrayal, but this claim is doubted in modern research. In any case, the queen had Seleucus 'wife and children Antonius handed over for execution, but it is not known whether Seleucus' relatives were actually executed. There is also no information about Seleucus' further fate.

literature

Michael Grant : Cleopatra. Bastei-Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 1998, ISBN 3-404-61416-X , p. 304.
Christoph Schäfer : Cleopatra. Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 2006, ISBN 3-534-15418-5 , p. 240 with note 108.
Felix Staehelin : Seleukos 14). In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume II A, 1, Stuttgart 1921, column 1247.

Remarks

^ Plutarch : Antonius. 74, 1f.
^ So by Christoph Schäfer: Cleopatra. P. 240 with note 108.
^ Plutarch: Antonius. 74, 1f .; compare Cassius Dio : Roman History. 51, 9, 5f., Who portrays the treacherous surrender of Pelusion on behalf of Cleopatra as certain and indicates, among other things, as a motive for this that the queen believed alleged declarations of love by Octavian.

personal data
SURNAME	Seleucus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Ptolemaic commander of Pelusion
DATE OF BIRTH	1st century BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH	1st century BC Chr.

[1] Plutarch : Antonius. 74, 1f.

[2] So by Christoph Schäfer: Cleopatra. P. 240 with note 108.

[3] Plutarch: Antonius. 74, 1f .; compare Cassius Dio : Roman History. 51, 9, 5f., Who portrays the treacherous surrender of Pelusion on behalf of Cleopatra as certain and indicates, among other things, as a motive for this that the queen believed alleged declarations of love by Octavian.