Your Day in the Ancient Greek World

September 3

September 3 in ancient Greece is represented in our source-audited archive by one verified record dated 175 BC. The entry below connects this calendar date with its surviving historical evidence and context.

Across the centuries

On This Day

  1. 175 BC

    Event That Shaped History

    Seleucid Empire, probably Syria Politics & Power High

    Seleucus IV Is Assassinated

    Seleucus IV Philopator, ruler of the Seleucid Empire, died on September 3, 175 BC. A Babylonian royal chronicle, BM 35603, supplies the unusually precise chronological anchor. Appian preserves the political tradition that the king was killed in a plot involving Heliodorus, a member of the royal court. Seleucus’s death opened a succession crisis that would bring Antiochus IV Epiphanes to power. The episode is a reminder that some Hellenistic dates survive with remarkable precision because Babylonian scribes maintained detailed records.

    Sources

    Primary evidence

    • Babylonian royal chronicle BM 35603
    • Appian, Syrian Wars 45 for the Heliodorus assassination tradition

    Modern scholarship

    • Modern study of Seleucid chronology using BM 35603
    • Attalus chronology for 175 BC

    Public links