Seleucid History: New Perspectives and Current Challenges

Abstract

This comprehensive review article examines the recent transformation in Seleucid historiography, analyzing fourteen contributions from the third Payravi Conference on Ancient Iranian History held at UC Irvine in 2020. The work addresses a fundamental shift in scholarly perspective from viewing the Seleucid Empire as a fragmented, declining successor state to understanding it as an ideologically coherent, adaptable empire that successfully integrated central authority with local negotiation across diverse territories from Asia Minor to Central Asia. The article traces the evolution of Seleucid studies over the past two decades, highlighting key theoretical developments

including Kosmin’s spatial analysis of territorial conception, Chrubasik’s examination of usurpation as normal political practice, and systematic administrative studies by Aperghis and Capdetrey. The authors introduce the concept of “Irano-Hellenica” to transcend traditional East-West dichotomies, though they acknowledge the limitations of applying globalization theories like “glocalism” to ancient contexts.

The fourteen contributions span diverse methodological approaches and geographical regions. Methodologically, the contributions demonstrate the field’s increasing sophistication in combining textual analysis with archaeological evidence, numismatic studies, and comparative imperial analysis. The work particularly emphasizes the importance of Babylonian sources and the complex dynamics of center-periphery relationships in imperial administration.

The review identifies persistent challenges in Seleucid studies, including the continued focus on elite perspectives, limited integration of intercultural dynamics, and insufficient attention to the empire’s later periods. Despite these limitations, the volume represents a significant advancement in understanding the Seleucid Empire as neither purely “Eastern” nor “Western” but distinctly “Seleucid” in its foundation, ideology, and identity, while simultaneously becoming integral to Iranian history during its first 150 years. This work contributes substantially to Hellenistic and Near Eastern historiography by providing new theoretical frameworks, methodological approaches, and empirical evidence that will inform future research on ancient Iranian history, imperial studies, and cultural transformation in the post-Achaemenid period.