I really like the seleucid Empire and ive beaten 3 games (1 being when I left the desert to go to Ireland).

Ok well in terms of allies - get the greeks on side right away. *Sometimes* you can fend off egypt with an alliance with them for about 10 turns. Dont bother with Parthia - in fact by turn 3 you should be taking their cites from them in the east. Make each city a builder of 1 unit type at the begining i.e. 1 city producing archers etc.

Ignore the rebel towns at first and go for the 2 nearest Parthian towns. Then take Damascus, If you can get Jerusalem off the egyptians early - you'll net a good unit producing town. Enslave the towns to bolster your other towns with governors and raise trade a bit.

I usually find im good for cash - its just getting those good units pumping out asap. Dont bother at all with levy pikemen - theyre useless - go for phalanx asap, militia cav and archers asap. Because I usually have a good cash flow I can usually bribe some cataphracts off the rebels or parthia.