Seleucid Empire

When Alexander the Great died in 323 BCE, his generals carved up his conquests, and Seleucus I claimed the largest share: a Greek-ruled empire spanning Mesopotamia, Persia, and reaching toward India. Its kings founded Hellenistic cities like Antioch and spread Greek language and culture across the Near East. But the empire was too vast and too diverse to hold. The eastern provinces broke away to the Parthians, the Jews revolted, and rival claimants tore at the center. By the 1st century BCE the Seleucids ruled little more than Syria. In 63 BCE the Roman general Pompey simply annexed what was left.