Geographical and Economic Studies in the Mahabharata: Upayana Parva c5.72

c5.72

Before coming to Sahadeva’s embassy to Antioch it is better for us to know certain broad facts in the history of the Seleucid kings. Alexander died in 323 B.C. and Seleucus I assumed the satrapy of his eastern empire. It was not till 311 B.C. that he was free to deal with his distant provinces. The date of his Indian expedition is stated to be 304 or 305.⁴⁷ He was defeated by Candragupta Maurya and had to transfer to his adversary the Satrapies of Arachosia (Kandhar) and the Paropanisadae (Kabul), with at least some portion of Gedrosia (Balūchistān) and Aria (Herat). In 293 he became joint king with his son Antiochus.⁴⁸ He was assasinated in 283 B.C. Seleucus was the founder of the city of Antioch—a city in Syria described as Epidaphnes or "on the Orantes" to distinguish it from the fifteen other Greek towns which like itself owed their foundation to Seleucus Nicator, and their names to his father Antiochus.⁴⁹ The probable date of the foundation of the city is 300 B.C.⁵⁰