Seleucia ad Belum

Seleucia ad Belum, also called Seleucia-near-Belus and later Seleucobelus or Seleucopolis, was an ancient Greek and Roman city on the Orontes River, and its exact location remains uncertain. The name honoured Seleucus I Nicator, one of the successors of Alexander the Great, although the city may have been founded by his son and successor Antiochus. The qualifier Belus distinguished it from other cities named Seleucia and appears to have been a title of the Orontes. It was a Hellenistic foundation of the Seleucid Empire on the west bank of the Orontes near its headwaters, which positioned it as a depot for overland trade, and in the heyday of the empire it formed a suburb of the larger nearby settlement of Apamea. After the 2nd century it typically appeared as Seleucobelus. Scholars have placed it near Al-Suqaylabiyah, Jisr al-Shughur or Bara in Syria.