Seleucid

American  

[si-loo-sid] / sɪˈlu sɪd /

noun

• Seleucidae
  plural

1. a member of a Macedonian dynasty, 312–64 b.c., that ruled an empire that included much of Asia Minor, Syria, Persia, Bactria, and Babylonia.

---

adjective

1. of or relating to the Seleucids or their dynasty.

Seleucid British  

/ sɪˈluːsɪd /

noun

1. a member of a royal dynasty (312–64 _bc ) that at the zenith of its power ruled over an area extending from Thrace to India

---

adjective

1. of, relating to, or supporting the Seleucids or their dynasty

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• Seleucidan
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• Seleucidae
  plural

Etymology

Origin of Seleucid

1850–55; < New Latin Seleucidēs < Greek Seleukídēs “offspring of Seleucus ( def. ) ”; see -id ¹

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Seleucid Seleucidae

The festival celebrates the victory of the Jewish Maccabees against the Greek-led Seleucid Empire, which sought to eradicate Judaism.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 10, 2025

Hanukkah itself celebrates an ancient Jewish victory over the Seleucid Empire, which sought to impose Hellenistic culture and forced assimilation in Judea.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 17, 2024

In 175 B.C. the Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes came into power and tried to force Judeans to assimilate.

From National Geographic ● Dec. 7, 2023

They managed an extensive trade network, maintaining the roads built during the Seleucid period and establishing water routes by way of the Caspian Sea.

From Textbooks ● Apr. 19, 2023

According to one source, he also pivoted north in time to repulse a Seleucid counterattack against Egypt.

From "Circumference" by Nicholas Nicastro

A number of half-independent towns and communes lay as tempting subjects of dispute between the Seleucidae, the Nabathaeans or Arabs of Petra, and the Jews.

From Prolegomena by Julius Wellhausen

But in spite of the sack of cities and the devastations of armies, the old monarchy of the Seleucidae remained rich and grand.

From The Old Roman World, : the Grandeur and Failure of Its Civilization. by John Lord

By turns she owned the sway of the Ptolemies and the Seleucidae, until finally, in 203, she was declared a Syro-Macedonian province.

From Jewish History : an essay in the philosophy of history by S. M. (Simon Markovich) Dubnow

In Bactria the Greek satrap took the lead, and the Bactrian kingdom was, at any rate at its commencement, as thoroughly Greek as that of the Seleucidae.

From The Seven Great Monarchies Of The Ancient Eastern World, Vol 6. (of 7): Parthia The History, Geography, And Antiquities Of Chaldaea, Assyria, Babylon, Media, Persia, Parthia, And Sassanian or New Persian Empire; With Maps and Illustrations. by George Rawlinson

The struggle of the Jews, under the Maccabean house, against the Seleucidae was as important for mankind as that of the Greeks against the Persians.

From Evolution of Theology: an Anthropological Study by Thomas Henry Huxley