Seleucus of Seleucia

Seleucus of Seleucia (Greek: Σέλευκος Seleukos; born c. 190 BC; fl. c. 150 BC) was a Hellenistic astronomer and philosopher. Coming from Seleucia on the Tigris, Mesopotamia, the capital of the Seleucid Empire, or, alternatively, Seleukia on the Erythraean Sea, he is best known as a proponent of heliocentrism and for his theory of the origin of tides.

Heliocentric theory

Teaching around 150 BC, he is known to have been a follower of the heliocentric theory of Aristarchus of Samos, which stated that the Earth rotated around its own axis which in turn revolved around the Sun. According to Plutarch, Seleucus was the first to demonstrate the heliocentric system through reasoning, but it is not known what arguments he used. According to Bartel Leendert van der Waerden, Seleucus may have constructed his heliocentric theory by determining the constants of a geometric model and by developing methods to compute planetary positions using this model, as Nicolaus Copernicus later did in the 16th century. He may have used trigonometric methods that were available in his time, as he was a contemporary of Hipparchus.

Seleucia

Seleucia (/sɪˈluːʃə/), also known as Seleucia-on-Tigris or Seleucia on the Tigris, was a major Mesopotamian city of the Seleucid, Parthian, and Sassanid empires. It stood on the west bank of the Tigris River opposite Ctesiphon, within the present-day Babil Governorate in Iraq.

Name

Seleucia (Greek: Σελεύκεια, Seleúkeia) is named for Seleucus I Nicator, who enlarged an earlier settlement and made it the capital of his empire around 305 BC. It was the largest and most important of the many cities to bear its name but is sometimes distinguished as Seleucia-on-Tigris or Seleucia on the Tigris (Latin: Seleucia ad Tigrim) from the name of its river. It also appears in the Hebrew Talmud under the names Selik, Selika, and Selikos and in the Aramaic Targum under the names Salwaḳia and Salwaḳya. In other languages, it was known as Zochasia, Coche, and Mahoza.

History

Seleucid Empire

Seleucia (Sittacene)

Seleucia (Greek: Σελεύκεια, also transliterated as Seleuceia, Seleukeia, Seleukheia; formerly Coche or Mahoza, also Veh Ardashir) was an ancient city near the Euphrates river and across the Tigris from the better-known Seleucia on the Tigris, in Sittacene, Mesopotamia. The editors of the Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World place the city at Sliq Kharawta in central Iraq.

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Seleucia (Pamphylia)

Seleucia (Greek: Σελεύκεια – also transliterated as Seleukeia) was an ancient Greek city on the Mediterranean coast of Pamphylia, in Anatolia, approximately 15 km northeast of Side; the site is currently about 1k north of the village of Bucakşeyhler (also Bucakşıhler), approximately 12 km northeast of Manavgat, Antalya Province, Turkey. It is situated on a hilltop with steep escarpments on several sides making a strong defensive position. The track from the village has recently been clearfelled but the main site is still within a mature pine forest. The German researcher Johannes Nollé has suggested, however, that the remains at this location are not those of Seleucia but rather those of Lyrba.

There are remains of an agora containing a row of two-storey and three-storey building façades, a gate, a mausoleum, a Roman bath, a necropolis, in addition to several temples and churches.Because of its remote location,the site has not been plundered for building materials and the area is littered with columns and other items like large grindstones for flour making.