A realization that I got while I was reading about these wars and the personalities involved was that reading history was like reading the 2500 year old gossip columns.
But whereas you would feel guilty or useless for reading contemporary gossip columns, you can write a book footnoted with ancient gossip which was often rather sordid. The Seleukids and Makedonians in general where a particularly vile lot but not alone. No shortage of vileness when it comes to decaying polities.
Another thing is that studying ancient history puts to rest that cliché expression, “History is written by the victors.” Why? For example the history of The Peloponnesian War was written by Thucydides a strategos (general) of the losing side. But his depiction of the war is so unbiased that he even praises and glorified Brasidas the general who had defeated him at the Battle of Amphipolis, a defeat that caused Thucydides to be exiled by the Athenians for losing. (One of the faults of direct democracy.) It cost Brasidas his life, he died in the battle, one of the only two causalities on the winning side. He died because he led from the front—the front line. But, much later when Alexander read the exploits of Brasidas by Thucydides he exclaimed “I am not afraid of an army of lions led by a sheep, but an army of sheep lead by a lion.” This was in reference to how Brasidas inspired untrained men to win the Battle of Amphipolis facing a trained and experienced army.
But knowing ancient histories also ruins your enjoyment for Popular History movies like Netflix’s “Cleopatra” where she is depicted as a weapon wielding sub-saharan African warrior queen, whereas in reality her heritage was 87.5% Makedonian, and 12.5% Persian, and 100% incestuous, who let others do her dirty work of killing for her.
The Oscar’s should have a category for historical movies that are historically accurate, with those that are the most accurate as the winners. Otherwise you get TV-series like Rome that were atmospheric but butchered the history and many of the characters. For example Atia of the Julii was portrayed as a harlot when in reality she was a pious, noble, and even saintly personality.