Editing Seleucus I Nicator (section)

==Early career under Alexander the Great==
[[File:Hypaspist.jpg|thumb|250px|Seleucus led the Royal ''Hypaspistai'' during Alexander's Persian campaign.]]
In spring 334 BC, as a young man of about twenty-three, Seleucus accompanied Alexander into Asia.<ref name=EB1911/> By the time of the [[Alexander's Indian campaign|Indian campaigns]] beginning in late in 327 BC, he had risen to the command of the elite infantry corps in the Macedonian army, the "Shield-bearers" (''Hypaspistai'', later known as the "[[Silvershields]]"). It is said by Arrian that when Alexander crossed the [[Jhelum River|Hydaspes river]] on a boat, he was accompanied by [[Perdiccas]], [[Ptolemy I Soter]], [[Lysimachus]] and also Seleucus.<ref>Arrian Anabasis [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2008.01.0530%3Abook%3D5%3Achapter%3D13%3Asection%3D1 5.13.1]</ref> During the subsequent [[Battle of the Hydaspes]] (326 BC), Seleucus led his troops against the elephants of [[King Porus]]. It is unknown the extent in which Seleucus participated in the actual planning of the battle, as he is not mentioned as holding any major independent position during the battle. This contrasts with [[Craterus]], [[Hephaistion]], [[Peithon]] and [[Leonnatus]] – each of whom had sizable detachments under their control.<ref name="G9">Grainger 1990, pp. 9–10</ref> Seleucus' Royal ''Hypaspistai'' were constantly under Alexander's eye and at his disposal. They later participated in the Indus Valley campaign, in the battles fought against the [[Mallian Campaign|Malli]] and in the crossing of the [[Gedrosia]]n desert.

At the [[Susa weddings|great marriage ceremony]] at [[Susa]] in the spring of 324 BC, Seleucus married [[Apama]], daughter of [[Spitamenes]]. They had his eldest son and successor [[Antiochus I Soter]], at least two legitimate daughters (Laodice and Phila) and possibly another son ([[Achaeus (son of Seleucus I Nicator)|Achaeus]]). At the same event, Alexander married the daughter of the late Persian King [[Darius III]] while several other Macedonians married Persian women. After Alexander's death (323 BC), when the other senior Macedonian officers unloaded their "Susa wives" ''en masse'', Seleucus was one of the very few who kept his wife, and Apama remained his consort (later Queen) for the rest of her life.<ref name="G912">Grainger 1990, p. 12</ref>

Ancient sources report several anecdotes about Seleucus' activities during the life of Alexander. In the first of these episodes, he participated in a sailing trip near [[Babylon]], where Alexander's [[diadem]] was blown off his head and landed on some reeds near the tombs of Assyrian kings. Seleucus swam to fetch the diadem back, placing it on his own head while returning to the boat to keep it dry. The validity of the story is dubious. In the second, he took part in the dinner party of [[Medius of Larissa|Medeios the Thessalian]] with Alexander. The story of the dinner party of Medeios may be true, but the plot to poison the King is unlikely.{{Clarify|post-text=insufficient details and context|date=May 2009}} In the final story, Seleucus reportedly slept in the temple of the god [[Serapis]] shortly before Alexander's death in the hope that his health might improve.<ref>Plutarch, ''Alexander'' 76; Arrian, ''Anabasis'' 7.26; {{harvnb|Ogden|2017|p=64}}</ref> The validity of this story is also questionable, as the Graeco-Egyptian Serapis had not yet been invented at the time.<ref name="Heckel p. 256">Heckel p. 256
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