Website powered by

Seleucus I of Macedon

"...[Seleucus] courted the favor of the soldiers who were with him: he treated them unfailingly as equals, and this earned him the respect of all his men... When he entered Babylonia, most of the inhabitants came to meet him... He had been the satrap of Babylonia for four years, and had always treated everyone well, so that he had gained the loyalty of the people..."
- Diodorus on Seleucus' return to Babylon
(Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca historica, 19.90.5 - 19.91.2)
--------------------------------------------
For Seleucus' portrait, I wanted to emphasize the Seleucid founder-king's origin as one of Alexander the Great's infantry commanders as well as to convey his underdog status compared to Alexander's other successors. To do so, I opted to depict Seleucus with the formidable but cumbersome sarissa—the long pike used in the Macedonian phalanx. The main inspirations behind Seleucus' design are the Roman bust of Seleucus at Herculaneum, a small sculpture of Seleucus from the Temple of the Gad in Dura-Europos, and (of course) the coins minted in his memory by his son, Antiochus I.

Full View

Full View

Close Up

Close Up

Designing Seleucus (behind the scenes)

Designing Seleucus (behind the scenes)