| Ruler | Reign (BCE) | Yrs | Father | Mother | Greek Name | Ελληνικά | فارسی7 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Empire | |||||||
| Seleucus I (Nicator) | 305–281 | 24 | Antiochus of OrestisMacedonian nobleman | Laodice | Séleukos | Σέλευκος Νικάτωρ | سلوکوس یکم (نیکاتور) |
| Antiochus I (Soter) | 281–261 | 20 | Seleucus I | Apama ISogdian, dau. of Spitamenes | Antíochos | Ἀντίοχος Σωτήρ | آنتیوخوس یکم (سوتر) |
| Antiochus II (Theos) | 261–246 | 15 | Antiochus I | Stratonice of Syria | Antíochos | Ἀντίοχος Θεός | آنتیوخوس دوم (ثئوس) |
| Seleucus II (Callinicus) | 246–225 | 21 | Antiochus II | Laodice I | Séleukos | Σέλευκος Καλλίνικος | سلوکوس دوم (کالینیکوس) |
| Seleucus III (Ceraunus) | 225–223 | 2 | Seleucus II | Laodice II | Séleukos | Σέλευκος Κεραυνός | سلوکوس سوم (کرونوس) |
| Antiochus III (the Great) | 223–187 | 36 | Seleucus II | Laodice II | Antíochos | Ἀντίοχος Μέγας | آنتیوخوس سوم (کبیر) |
| Seleucus IV (Philopator) | 187–175 | 12 | Antiochus III | Laodice III | Séleukos | Σέλευκος Φιλοπάτωρ | سلوکوس چهارم (فیلوپاتر) |
| Antiochus IV (Epiphanes) | 175–164 | 11 | Antiochus III | Laodice III | Antíochos | Ἀντίοχος Ἐπιφανής | آنتیوخوس چهارم (اپیفانس) |
| Antiochus V (Eupator) | 164–162 | 2 | Antiochus IV | Laodice IValso his father's sister1 | Antíochos | Ἀντίοχος Εὐπάτωρ | آنتیوخوس پنجم (اوپاتور) |
| Demetrius I (Soter) | 162–150 | 12 | Seleucus IV | Laodice IV | Dēmḗtrios | Δημήτριος Σωτήρ | دمتریوس یکم (سوتر) |
| Alexander I (Balas) | 150–145 | 5 | claimed Antiochus IVcontested2 | unknown | Aléxandros | Ἀλέξανδρος Βάλας | اسکندر یکم (بالاس) |
| Demetrius II (Nicator) 1st reign | 145–138 | 7 | Demetrius I | Laodice V | Dēmḗtrios | Δημήτριος Νικάτωρ | دمتریوس دوم (نیکاتور) |
| Antiochus VI (Dionysus) | 145–142 | 3 | Alexander I Balas | Cleopatra Thea3 | Antíochos | Ἀντίοχος Διόνυσος | آنتیوخوس ششم (دیونیسوس) |
| Diodotus Tryphon | 142–138 | 4 | non-royal4 | unknown | Diódotos Trýphōn | Διόδοτος Τρύφων | دیودوتوس تریفون |
| Antiochus VII (Sidetes) | 138–129 | 9 | Demetrius I | Laodice V | Antíochos | Ἀντίοχος Σιδήτης | آنتیوخوس هفتم (سیدتس) |
| Demetrius II (Nicator) restored | 129–125 | 4 | Demetrius I | Laodice V | Dēmḗtrios | Δημήτριος Νικάτωρ | دمتریوس دوم (نیکاتور) |
| Cleopatra Thea | 126–121 | ~5 | Ptolemy VI of Egypt | Cleopatra II of Egypt | Kleopátra Théa | Κλεοπάτρα Θεά | کلئوپاترا ثئا |
| Seleucus V (Philometor) | 125 | <1 | Demetrius II | Cleopatra Thea3 | Séleukos | Σέλευκος Φιλομήτωρ | سلوکوس پنجم (فیلومتور) |
| Antiochus VIII (Grypus) | 125–96 | 29 | Demetrius II | Cleopatra Thea3 | Antíochos | Ἀντίοχος Γρυπός | آنتیوخوس هشتم (گریپوس) |
| Antiochus IX (Cyzicenus) | 116–95 | 21 | Antiochus VII | Cleopatra Thea3 | Antíochos | Ἀντίοχος Κυζικηνός | آنتیوخوس نهم (کیزیکنوس) |
| Fragmentation and Civil War5 | |||||||
| Seleucus VI (Epiphanes) | 96–95 | 1 | Antiochus VIII | Cleopatra Tryphaena | Séleukos | Σέλευκος Ἐπιφανής | سلوکوس ششم (اپیفانس) |
| Antiochus XI (Epiphanes) | 95–92 | 3 | Antiochus VIII | Cleopatra Tryphaena | Antíochos | Ἀντίοχος Ἐπιφανής | آنتیوخوس یازدهم (اپیفانس) |
| Philip I (Philadelphus) | ~95–84 | ~11 | Antiochus VIII | Cleopatra Tryphaena | Phílippos | Φίλιππος Φιλάδελφος | فیلیپ یکم (فیلادلفوس) |
| Demetrius III (Eucaerus) | 95–87 | 8 | Antiochus VIII | Cleopatra Tryphaena | Dēmḗtrios | Δημήτριος Εὔκαιρος | دمتریوس سوم (اوکایروس) |
| Antiochus X (Eusebes) | ~95–92 | ~3 | Antiochus IX | unknown | Antíochos | Ἀντίοχος Εὐσεβής | آنتیوخوس دهم (اوسبس) |
| Antiochus XII (Dionysus) | 87–82 | 5 | Antiochus VIII | Cleopatra Tryphaena | Antíochos | Ἀντίοχος Διόνυσος | آنتیوخوس دوازدهم (دیونیسوس) |
| Tigranes the GreatArmenian occupation6 | 83–69 | 14 | Tigranes I of Armenia | unknown | Tigránēs | Τιγράνης | تیگران بزرگ |
| Antiochus XIII (Asiaticus) | 69–64 | ~5 | Antiochus X | Cleopatra Selene of Egypt | Antíochos | Ἀντίοχος Ἀσιατικός | آنتیوخوس سیزدهم (آسیاتیکوس) |
| Philip II (Philoromaeus) | 65–63 | 2 | Philip I | unknown | Phílippos | Φίλιππος Φιλορωμαῖος | فیلیپ دوم (فیلورومایوس) |
1 Laodice IV was a daughter of Antiochus III who married, in turn, her brothers Seleucus IV and then Antiochus IV — making Antiochus V's mother also his father's sister, a pattern of sibling marriage recurring in the dynasty's final generations.
2 Alexander Balas's claim to be a son of Antiochus IV Epiphanes is reported by 1 Maccabees and Diodorus, but ancient historians such as Justin/Trogus regarded it as a fiction of convenience for a low-born pretender raised up by Pergamon, Egypt and Rome to unseat Demetrius I.
3 Cleopatra Thea, daughter of Ptolemy VI of Egypt, married three Seleucid kings in succession — Alexander Balas, Demetrius II, and Antiochus VII — and was mother to three more. She later ruled in her own name and jointly with her sons, an unusual span of direct female sovereignty for the Hellenistic world.
4 Diodotus Tryphon was a Seleucid official from Apamea, not of royal blood. He rose as regent for the child-king Antiochus VI before deposing and reportedly murdering him and reigning independently.
5 From 96 BCE the throne fractured among rival cousins and half-brothers, several ruling simultaneously over shrinking, overlapping territories. Their chronology is reconstructed largely from coinage and remains genuinely disputed among historians; the dates above should be read as approximate.
6 Tigranes II of Armenia was not of Seleucid blood. He annexed a exhausted, war-torn Syria as a foreign conqueror during the interregnum, ruling it until driven out by Rome — after which the last Seleucid claimants briefly returned before Pompey ended the dynasty.
7 Unlike the Achaemenids, Parthians and Sasanians, the Seleucids were a Greco-Macedonian dynasty with no native Iranian throne names of their own — see the shaded “foreign rule” entry on the home page. The Persian-script forms given here are simply the standard modern Persian transliterations of each king's Greek name, as used in Persian-language scholarship on the “Seleukiyan” (سلوکیان) period, not a native Iranian title.
The principal ancient sources are Appian's Syriaca, Justin's epitome of Pompeius Trogus, Diodorus Siculus, Josephus and 1–2 Maccabees, supplemented heavily by royal coinage — especially for the fragmented final decades, where literary sources largely fail.