Editing Seleucus I Nicator (section)

==Death and legacy==
[[File:Seleucus I portrait.jpg|thumb|right|330px|Tetradrachm of [[Antiochus I]]. Obverse shows the bust of Seleucus I, with bull's horns. The reverse shows [[Apollo]] seated on [[Omphalos of Delphi|omphalos]], holding bow. Greek legend reads:  BAΣIΛEΩΣ ANTIOXOY, ''Basileōs Antiochou'', "of king Antiochus".]]
Seleucus now held the whole of Alexander's conquests except Egypt and moved to take possession of Macedonia and Thrace. He intended to leave Asia to Antiochus and content himself for the remainder of his days with the Macedonian kingdom in its old limits. He had, however, hardly crossed into the [[Thracian Chersonese]] when he was assassinated by [[Ptolemy Keraunos]] near [[Lysimachia (Thrace)|Lysimachia]] in September 281 BC.<ref name=EB1911/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.livius.org/articles/person/seleucus-i-nicator/|title=Seleucus I Nicator|work=Livius}}</ref>

It appears certain that after taking Macedonia and Thracia, Seleucus would have tried to conquer Greece. He had already prepared this campaign using the numerous gifts presented to him. He was also nominated an honorary citizen of [[Athens]].<ref name="Grainger97-57">Grainger 1997, p. 57</ref>

Antiochus founded the cult of his father. A cult of personality formed around the later members of the Seleucid dynasty and Seleucus was later worshipped as a son of Zeus Nikator. One inscription found in Ilium ([[Troy]]) advises priests to sacrifice to [[Apollo]], the ancestor of Antiochus' family. Several anecdotes of Seleucus' life became popular in the classical world.<ref>{{cite book| author= Graham Shipley | title=The Hellenistic World. | year =1999 | pages=301–302 | publisher=[[Routledge]] | isbn=978-0-415-04618-3}}</ref>
[[File:Cult relief of the Gad (Fortune) of Dura, from the Temple of the Gadde - YDEA - 25209.jpg|alt=Limestone relief sculpture with three figures, the one on the right (in military dress) holding a crown over the head of the figure in the middle.|thumb|Cult relief showing Seleucus I Nicator on the right, crowning the Gad of Dura.]]
Seleucus’ reputation as a founder of cities also seems to have persisted after his death. Excavations at the site of [[Dura-Europos]] in Syria, for instance, uncovered a cult relief from a temple showing Seleucus, as the founder of the city, crowning the Gad of Dura.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Baird |first=Jennifer |title=Dura-Europos |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |year=2018 |pages=19}}</ref> Clearer evidence that the city considered Seleucus to be its founder come from a fragmentary papyrus document, P. Dura 32, which designates Dura-Europos as "the colony of the Europeans of Seleucs Nicator".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kosmin |first=Paul |title=Dura-Europos: Crossroads of Antiquity |year=2011 |pages=97}}</ref> The sparse archaeological remains from the Hellenistic period of the site, however, indicate that the site began life as a small garrison settlement (a ''phourion'') on royal land that did not yet have the status of a ''polis''.<ref name=":0" /> The road system and fortifications only seem to have been constructed in 150 CE.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Baird |first=Jennifer |title=Dura-Europos |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |year=2018 |pages=20}}</ref> The small community, living around the base of the citadel, with small plots of land for each soldier in the surrounding countryside,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Baird |first=Jennifer |title=Dura-Europos |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |year=2018 |pages=21}}</ref> is unlikely to have had much royal attention in this early period, but the legend surrounding Seleucus I Nicator as a city founder seems to have led later inhabitants to attach his name to their settlement.