The Land of the Elephant Kings: Space, Territory, and Ideology in the Seleucid Empire

Taking in the bulk of Alexander the Great's Asian conquests, the Seleucid Empire encompassed remarkable ethnic, religious, and linguistic diversity; yet it did not include Macedonia, the dynasty's ancestral homeland. Paul Kosmin shows how rulers over lands to which they had no historic claim transformed the territory into a coherent space.

“This engaging book appeals to the specialist and non-specialist alike. Kosmin has successfully brought together a number of disparate fields in a new and creative way that will cause a reevaluation of how the Seleucids have traditionally been studied.”

—Jeffrey D. Lerner, American Historical Review

“It is a useful and bright introduction to Seleucid ideology, history, and position in the ancient world.”

—Jan P. Stronk, American Journal of Archaeology