Here I was in Syria, visiting Apamea. The Cardo Maximus is at least two kilometers long, flanked by rows and rows of columns. Initially, there were 1200 of them, now about 400 still standing – an awe-inspiring view.
I hear that Seleucos (later called Seleucos Nicator, i.e., the Victorious) built this city and named it after his wife, Apame. During the mass wedding party that Alexander the Great organized in Susa in 324 B.C. as a symbolic fusion between east and west, between Macedonians and Persians, Apame, the daughter of Spitamenes the Bactrian, became Seleucos' bride. It seems to have been one of the few successful marriages, for she accompanied her husband on all his expeditions, even as far as India – even though traveling cannot have been very comfortable in those days.
For those who don't know, Seleucos was one of the generals in the army of Alexander the Great. Upon Alexander's death in 323 B.C., he and his fellow generals got caught up in a series of succession wars that went down into history as the Wars of the Diadochi. Those were very confusing times when every general tried to get the best or most prosperous tracts of land since Alexander had not appointed any successor (his son with Roxane, the later Alexander IV, was not born yet, and Heracles, his son with Barsine, was, in fact, a bastard son). The initial division of Alexander's Empire among his generals, in which Seleucos was appointed satrap of Babylon, lasted only a short time. Less than a year later, despite his best intentions, Perdiccas was murdered by his own generals, Seleucos, Peithon, and Antigenes, when he invaded Egypt. Ptolemy retaining Egypt for himself came to terms with the murderers by granting them, respectively, the provinces of Babylon, Media, and Susiana.
After that, Seleucos managed to stay more or less out of further conflicts and successive Diadochi Wars and finally included Persia and Media in his conquests. He even made an alliance with King Chandragupta of India. The Diadochi Wars were over by now, but Alexander's generals' fierce fighting and endless greed were still causing more wars. Seleucos defeated Antigonus Monophthalmus in the Battle of Ipsus and killed Lysimachos on the battlefields of Lycia in 281 B.C. Soon afterward, Seleucos died too, assassinated by Ptolemy Ceraunus, son of Ptolemy I of Egypt, at one time one of Alexander's generals. Brother in arms with Ptolemy for so many years, he is killed by his son in later life. How glorious can one's life be?
If Alexander could have foreseen his own untimely death, I'm sure he would have provided arrangements for his succession. Unfortunately, this was not the case. Yet, there certainly was no room in his mind for the constant wars and futile bloodshed that unfolded.
Between all this fighting and conniving, Seleucos still found time (and money) to expand and structure his Empire. After using Babylon as his kingdom's capital, he moved it to Antioch-on-the-Orontes, today's Antakya in Turkey. He was at ease in this part of the country that he built another marvelous city further inland (initially started by his rival and enemy Antigonus Monophthalmus). He called it Apamea in honor of his wife. It thus became one of his main cities. But he didn't stop there, of course. He also built Laudetia, now Lattakia, the Syrian port on the Mediterranean, which he named after his mother (to keep things in the family), and later on, he founded Seleucia-on-the-Euphrates (named after himself!) as his Empire by then reached from the Mediterranean all the way to the Indus! Alexander's example definitely was not lost on him.
Well, this is what the books have to say. Now I am finding myself in Syria, driving up to Apamea. The first thing I see is a high flat-topped hill crowned with many towers connected with city walls – 16 km long, they say. Well, well,… The bus drives uphill and stops at the northern end of the Cardo Maximus, at the Antioch Gate, so I can walk down the road to the other end of the city. I'm immediately drawn to the Cardo with all those impressive columns, of course, but I can't help turning around to take a closer look at the rubble behind me where the very gate is supposed to be. Now that's a surprise! A surprise I am the only one to notice, though, for this gate is Hellenistic! Once you have seen the Hellenistic towers in Perge (inside the Roman walls), you can't miss recognizing them even in ruins – like in Side and Sillyum, all in today's Turkey. And now I find them here, of all places! If ever I expected this! Seleucos had quite a master to follow in his footsteps!
Alexander's achievements did indeed leave an ever-lasting imprint on his entourage and on his generals. This is what the birth of Hellenism truly means. Even in his boldest and most daring dreams Alexander the Great could not have envisaged this to happen. Still, it did – and this proves how Alexander has changed history in geography, economy, army tactics, and architecture! The Romans copied him, and so did the Persians, the Indians, the Italians of the Renaissance, the British with Christopher Wren – you just name it! Nothing was left unchanged; nothing was ever the same. As I often say, there was a time before Alexander and the world after Alexander. We owe him so much. We owe so much to his Hellenization!
Alexander never ceases to amaze me, for here again, I saw what he accomplished and instigated others to do so many years after his death! Isn't that amazing?
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