AH: A stronger Seleucid Dynasty

What if the Seleucid Empire remained strong by paying attention to it's eastern borders with Parthia, not interfering in the Roman-Macedonian Wars (the Battle of Magnesia was a crippling blow to the empire's morale and manpower) and having better cultural tolerance to it's peoples (aka preventing the Maccabees Revolt). Could someone do an ATL story out of this idea?
 
Could someone do an ATL story out of this idea?

Oh, I would love to!

But this is possible only after my retirement. :(

As for the Seleucid Empire it is somehow doomed in the end because of the Roman expansion to the East.
As the Seleucids had their core in their Western 'Grek/Macedonian' part.

But they might have had a fair chance if we butterflied away Rome (or at least made it less strong:D ).
It was discussed here
 
Seleucid survival is difficult, but not impossible, I don't think. They need to win a couple of victories over the Parthians to consolidate at least western Iran and Mesopotamia, and they need to remain relatively restrained in the Mediterranean. Taking Cyprus and southern Anatolia from the Ptolemies would help, these are pretty rich regions.
 
Also, IMHO, they need to at lease partially reform their army. The rigid Greek phalanx is awesome, but was repeatedly beaten by Roman legions/maniples. If we have less Hellenisation, the Oriental tradition of light infantry could eventually develop into a Spanish style, or even a Roman analogue, like someone (Phrygians I think they were) else did. Then we can have a continued militarily-potent Seleucid Empire, assuming the Parthians are defeated. We could have a cavalry focus in the East and an infantry focus in the West, maximising performance in the respective theatres.
 
Given the rugged terrain of Anatolia and Iran, wouldn't it be something the Seleucids would recognize without needing less Hellenization?
 
I think regarding Seleucid armies as being rigid homogenous Greek armies of phalanx pikemen blundering about Iran is monstrously unfair. As Elfwine said, they would have been perfectly able to figure out that certain tactics favour certain terrain types. They specifically adopted the Kataphraktoi style of heavy cavalry, and let's not forget that in the 'Argead' style of phalax warfare cavalry is just as important as the phalanx itself is.

As for the survival of the dynasty, there's a number of things that can be done. Firstly, better control over the Parthian satrapy. Secondly, better control over the Bactrian satrapy. In the case of the former, the Parthians were the ones to prove the most threatening to the Seleucids; Romans did a lot of damage yes, but the Parthians were responsible for the most damaging territorial losses. In the case of the latter, the Bactrian satrapy was rich and densely populated, and when it rebelled the Empire lost a lot of resources that was then spent fighting nomads and conquering sections of Central Asia. Other things; not getting involved against the Romans is certainly a good idea. It's entirely possible that with a different King, on a different day, they might have been able to beat the Romans in a head on confrontation. Considering that the Seleucids were Greeks and Macedonians cut off from their homeland, controlling an Empire stretching from Anatolia to West India, they did a pretty decent job of attempting to consolidate it in my opinion in the circumstances. If that's the case, then I feel that the dynasty surviving is mostly going to be related to getting lucky in a few situations in which it was very unlucky.
 
Also, IMHO, they need to at lease partially reform their army. The rigid Greek phalanx is awesome, but was repeatedly beaten by Roman legions/maniples. If we have less Hellenisation, the Oriental tradition of light infantry could eventually develop into a Spanish style, or even a Roman analogue, like someone (Phrygians I think they were) else did. Then we can have a continued militarily-potent Seleucid Empire, assuming the Parthians are defeated. We could have a cavalry focus in the East and an infantry focus in the West, maximising performance in the respective theatres.
IOW Thureophoroi & Thorakites, the Seleucids had them, though they were IIRC mostly regarded as light troops. Thorakites with mail and good training should do well against legions, basically being the same, only lacking the pila.
 
Alternatively, Cleopatra's sister Berenice could have remained in power in Egypt and continued the dynasty in Egypt/Cyrene/Cyprus with her Seleucid husband.
 
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