How did the Greeks govern all of this? It wasn't as if they had any experience governing humongous Empires before...

How did the Greeks govern all of this? It wasn't as if they had any experience governing humongous Empires before, and with a hostile foreign populace? The Romans had the system of governors and praetors and quaestors etc etc to keep the roads paved and free of bandits, to secure the grain supplies, the subdue rebellions, etc, but how did the Greeks pull it off? Did they just copy the Persian satrap system?

>How did the Greeks govern all of this?
Poorly

And then it collapsed

It was fine until Alexander died. Then it all went to shit.

Look at op's pic

That's not Alexander's empire

>Did they just copy the Persian satrap system?

Mostly this I think. But they didn't "copy" anything, since they took control of the actual Persian administrative infrastructure, when Alexander conquered the Achaemenid Empire.

This.

It was a personal kingdom. It wasn't founded on any other principles but the might and legitimacy of the King and the dynasty. There were no grand ideas of an new hellen empire or even the near full adoption of local customs akin to ptolemaics. Basically, it came to be because the King managed to enforce it and it stood for as long as he could keep enforcing his legitimacy. In this sense it was pretty much a military empire.

As to how it was governed. There was the King and his Friends - basically his Council - this was entirely appointed by the King and could just as well include his relatives, literal friends and foreign experts. The only function of the Court was to support the King. Another branch by which the King exercised his power was through the Military - for example, military settlements. As it was a military monarchy, its policies and both foreign and domestic relations often came down to the needs and capability of the Military.

These institutions governed Territories (and the People therein) which weren't equal in standing nor autonomy. As in the rest of the Hellenic world, there were distinctions between cities - autonomous to a degree and often democratic poleis - , peoples - people with minimal or no civic structure and controlled by the King or local Princes - and dynasts - Princes of either local origin or related to and/or appointed by the King to lord over a territory (and people).

As one can expect, due to the vastness only the nucleus was under stricter central control. The Periphery had Special Commands set up which pretty much viceroyalties/satrapies - which often mirrored the Persian ones, though over time they could and would naturally change. They were also often given to heirs and close members of the Dynasty and had a certain hierarchy of prestige to them.

Don't quote me tho, might have forgotten someshit.

This. Greeks were terrible administrators and governors.

Where did you learn this? Is there a book containing information about the Seleucids I could get my hands on? Maybe a general book about the successor states to Alexander's empire.

I'd advise you to go to multi-volume overarching works on ancient history before diving into primary or narrow and secondary sources. For example, I find Cambridge Ancient History particularly comfy and even read it to pass time. I also like how they methodically go over the primary sources and their particularities. Though it might be a bit dated, but still going over the relevant volumes and chapters should rub your itch fur that sweet Seleucid lore rather sufficiently.

Tl;dr CAH vol. VI-VII iirc

goodpost

They just took over the infrastructure and the satrapy system. They didnt need to change much

The Land of the Elephant Kings by Paul J. Kosmin. An entire (and very recent) book on the way in which the Seleucid dynasty managed their kingdom and tried to establish their legitimacy as an ethnically foreign ruling house. Very good look at Seleucid political thought and administration.

There wasn't that much to govern, most of all that land was either deserted or else just populated by hill tribes.

You kill the Warlord and most of his men, boom, you're now the government for at least another generation or two. Whether you stay or leave.

>There wasn't that much to govern, most of all that land was either deserted or else just populated by hill tribes.

Oh yeah because it isn't like Mesopotamia, Syria, Iran and Bactria weren't some of the most prosperous, fertile and populated places in the world at that time.

Syria and Mesopotamia were precisely the only places the Greek Dynasties were actually capable of controlling. Bactria slipped out of the Seleucid's grasp relatively quick, and became its own Greek kingdom. Everywhere else was literally empty desert and mountains.

why you such stupid questions?

who make these threads?
and here we have another stupid reply

are you the same as OP?
your paid your tax and you were left alone, they didnt have an army to rebel agaisnt the ruler

Asia, Cillicia, Pheonicia and the Upper Satrapiesconfirmed for empty desert and mountains

>became its own Greek kingdom.
the elite/rulers were greek and they mixed their culture with the natives one

You are retarded. The Near East, especially the Levant, Mesopotamia, Caucasus, and Western Asia in general were heavily urbanized and contained something like nearly half the world's population at the time. The Achaemenid/Persian Empire at its height controlled 45% of the entire global population in the late 6th to mid 5th century BC. Europe was sparsely populated in comparison at the same time.

>How did the Greeks govern all of this?
You are aware that the Persian Empire was the biggest oldest most complex beast in the 4th century BC.

They Greeks just took it over and ran it.

They didn't have to build shit. It was already there.

Thousands of years of civilization, just sitting there waiting for Alexander to hop in and drive it like a fine sportscar.

Fucking Babylon and Sumer dude. Massive cities and civilizations that had already been there for thousands of years by Alexander's time.

>Hi my name is Alexander
>Welcome to Antique Empire Restoration
>Today we'll be refurbishing this classic fertile crescent civilization
>It was first built sometime around 3,000 BC...

You're an idiot if you think ancient Persia, Media Atropatene, Transoxiana etc. were empty desert and mountains.

A while ago a bunch of people called the Assyrians came and slaughtered everyone who resisted them and established a harsh system of tribute and empire.

When everyone got sick of them they were overthrown and then the Medes came who largely kept this system in place but were a bit kinder.

The Medes themselves were overthrown by the Persians who were later defeated by the Macedonians.

Essentially the invading greeks just took over the system and put themselves in charge instead.

There was never a systematic effort to hellenize the Near East. Certainly alot of culture and influence flowed in from Greece but whatever local culture existed continued to thrive despite it.

Hill Tribe/Petty Kingdom-shit is only applicable to inner Anatolia, the Caucasus, and Ariana. And a lot of those are city-states.

>The Medes themselves were overthrown by the Persians
To be fair, it was just a family change. The Achaemenids are a branch family of the Median royal family themselves.