**Susa marriages dissolved**
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stavros
**Susa marriages dissolved**
Is this true? did the Seleucid Empire after ATG death dissolve these marriages that ATG strongly wanted?
Re: **Susa marriages dissolved**
Seleucus married Apama, daughter of Spitamenes, and this was one of the few Susa marriages to survive. She was probably of Achaemenid descent, although at some remove from the royal family, and so some of his legitimacy in the eyes of his subjects came from that marriage - so it is unlikely that he would want to dissolve these marriages.
Of the rest, Craterus at least had the decency to marry off his Persian wife Amastris before marrying Phila; Nearchus may have stayed married to his wife, one of Barsine's daughters, as it would have been a useful link to Alexander; but I can't think offhand of any other marriages that survived. Susan
Of the rest, Craterus at least had the decency to marry off his Persian wife Amastris before marrying Phila; Nearchus may have stayed married to his wife, one of Barsine's daughters, as it would have been a useful link to Alexander; but I can't think offhand of any other marriages that survived. Susan
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stavros
Re: **Susa marriages dissolved**
Hello and thankyou. obviously the greeks wanted to maintain their hellenic identity within the empire. cheersstavros
Re: **Susa marriages dissolved**
In my mind these marriages were not meant to last. As soon as the soldiers became homesick they had absolutely no problem in abandoning their Persian wives and return as wealthy men in their home country and marry local wives.
Same as in the Greeks colonies. The few first Greek settlers were almost exclusively men. In the first few difficult years their main effort was the establishment of the colony and they had no problem in "marrying" local wives. This is documented in Cyrene in North Africa and in the colonies of Southern France but it must have happened everywhere.
However once the colony was established and Greek females were arriving (most of them for that sole purpose, these colonists would abandon their foreign wives to have a "normal" marriage with a Greek one.
Perhaps the two cases are not identical but they give us an idea of the way those Macedonian soldiers thought.
Same as in the Greeks colonies. The few first Greek settlers were almost exclusively men. In the first few difficult years their main effort was the establishment of the colony and they had no problem in "marrying" local wives. This is documented in Cyrene in North Africa and in the colonies of Southern France but it must have happened everywhere.
However once the colony was established and Greek females were arriving (most of them for that sole purpose, these colonists would abandon their foreign wives to have a "normal" marriage with a Greek one.
Perhaps the two cases are not identical but they give us an idea of the way those Macedonian soldiers thought.
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Tre
Re: **Susa marriages dissolved**
It wasn't the marriages that were important, it was the children produced, who would be automatically melded into an empire of mixed races, with total allegiance to neither side, but to their King, Alexander, thereby allowing the King to circumvent in the future his problems of allegiance to the homelands in the present. It was a very good idea, but only for a King who could depend on his friends to carry on his wishes, or a King with a long life ahead of him, neither of which was to come to pass.