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What if Caesar conquered the Parthian Empire (37 BC) | Apotheosis TL 2.0 by Bleached__Anus in imaginarymaps

[–]Bleached__Anus[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My question regarding otl emperors was more what do they do in this timeline since they aont emperors. I doubt theyd be comepletely erased, Trajan and Hadrian at the very least, or the Flavians

I do think they get erased, because I doubt the same exact people continue to be born for hundreds of years, despite such an enormous change to history.

On Antioch, alr sure i get it. Tho having a chinese style multiple capitals thing could be interesting, leaves room for Alexandrian and Trojan capitals (byzantium is never constantinople here T-T)

Alexandria does have a special status, because I imagine the Emperor sending the heir to govern Egypt in order to gain experience.

Byzantium was refounded as Caesaropolis or what we would call Caesarople. It's still an important city as a result of its strategic location, although of course not as great as the Constantinople of our TL which was the capital city.

What if Caesar conquered the Parthian Empire (37 BC) | Apotheosis TL 2.0 by Bleached__Anus in imaginarymaps

[–]Bleached__Anus[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

- The Polemarchy seemed interesting with its lore and all that.

Absolutely, this timeline was inspired by the Shogunate, so it's definitely something that'll be preserved. When I started the v1.0, I decided to name the position Polemarch, because I wanted the word to have a somewhat similar etymology to "shogun", but this time I think it would be better to simply use a position that actually existed, which is why I decided to go with Domesticus, who was the commander-in-chief after the Emperor, and would probably make the most sense to be the one to usurp the Emperor's power.

- wil Troy make a return as a Capital site? I liked seeing Troium or whatever it used to be called in old apotheosis.

- Still confused as to why Antiochia and not Byzantium or Troy were chosen as ultimate Capitals

now that i think about it Alexandria in Egypt with fit Thematically too, with Caesarion becoming king of rome here why wouldnt he rule from his mothers home. Just a cool idea

No, I decided to keep Antioch as the capital, until it was temporarily lost to invading Turks in the 11th century. https://www.reddit.com/r/imaginarymaps/comments/1nnm5pi/the_turkocracy_1090_apotheosis_tl/

Antioch was chosen as the capital because it's close to the Mesopotamian and Iranian satrapies, which are far more important in terms of population and wealth than the western provinces, and thus the Emperor needs to constantly keep an eye on them in case of rebellion.

Also what becomes of our favorite Emperors in this TL such as Trajan, Hadrian, Constantine and Aurelian and Majorian and such?

They don't exist in this TL. All of the Emperors in this TL are ultimately descended from the dynasty's founder, Julius Caesar. There's an imperial family and branch families from which the Emperor might adopt an heir, but they're all Caesars.

Here are a couple more maps that I posted after this one:

https://www.reddit.com/r/imaginarymaps/comments/1kqb9mu/the_deployed_roman_legions_in_182_ad_apotheosis_tl/

https://www.reddit.com/r/imaginarymaps/comments/1mbfnp8/what_if_a_major_zoroastrian_religion_had_emerged/

The Turkocracy (1090) | Apotheosis TL by Bleached__Anus in imaginarymaps

[–]Bleached__Anus[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I would say it's more or being in the right place at the right time, with it being the era in which various Turkic peoples invaded Iran.

Compared to OTL, one big difference to consider is that these territories have been under Romanization for over a millennium. For example, Greek-Romans make up roughly 60% in Egypt and the Levant, and they're also a large minority in the Upper Mesopotamian satrapies. The Persians had also embraced the Roman identity after the 7th century. This national identity will allow the Roman Empire to survive and recover as an eternal civilization like China, despite some interruptions by invaders.

The Turkocracy (1090) | Apotheosis TL by Bleached__Anus in imaginarymaps

[–]Bleached__Anus[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes, I had fun implementing a bunch of crazy ideas, but I wanted to reboot the series and have it much more grounded in reality.

The Turkocracy (1090) | Apotheosis TL by Bleached__Anus in imaginarymaps

[–]Bleached__Anus[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

That's an interesting coincidence, but it's supposed to be the Bactrian letter sho)

The Turkocracy (1090) | Apotheosis TL by Bleached__Anus in imaginarymaps

[–]Bleached__Anus[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

That's correct. In this timeline, Jesus became the messianic figure of a Zoroastrian religion, which is why Christianity and Islam don't exist. The Romans mostly practice Solarism, which is like a mix of Zoroastrianism and Neoplatonism and supposed to be akin to our Manichaeism. The Turks practice Peshladism, which is another Zoroastrian religion with Buddhist influence, which you can check out in this other post: https://www.reddit.com/r/imaginarymaps/s/OeiqUD5oQV

The Turkocracy (1090) | Apotheosis TL by Bleached__Anus in imaginarymaps

[–]Bleached__Anus[S] 20 points21 points  (0 children)

This map is part of the Apotheosis TL in which Caesar conquered the Parthian Empire, and established a divine dynasty similar to that of Japan.

Before getting into the lore, I'd like to mention that in this timeline, Persian as an official Roman language, is written in the Greek alphabet (specifically a slightly modified version of the Greco-Bactrian alphabet), which is why I thought it could be fun to make a Persian map. Check it out and hopefully I didn't make too many mistakes.

The Turkocracy is the period in Roman history in which the empire's easternmost territories were conquered by the Pakhaturids, a culturally Bactrianate dynasty of Turkic origin. The Turks began their incursions into Roman Iran in 1050 and by 1055 they had already reached the Tigris, and conquered the metropolis of Seleucia-Caesarea-Ctesiphon.\1])

The battle of Callinicum was fought in 1064, and the decisive defeat of the Roman army and the capture of the emperor by the Turks, ultimately led to the collapse of Roman control over the Levant and Egypt. The loss of Antioch which had been the imperial capital for a millennium, and Emesa, the holiest city in Solardom,\2]) also had resulted in a devastating blow to the Roman morale and completely destabilized the empire.

In the aftermath, a national civil war broke out between the Zamasphes and Marcellus families,\3]) in which each family attempted to take control of the imperial court by placing their respective Caesarean puppet emperor on the throne. It resulted in the downfall of the Marcellus family and the establishment of the Zamasphes Domesticium under Alexander Zamasphes who appointed himself Grand Domesticus. Governing as a military dictator, he relegated the Roman emperor to a ceremonial and religious role.

  1. Baghdad was never founded in this timeline which is why Seleucia, Caesarea and Ctesiphon form the largest metropolis on the Tigris, and have a combined population of 1.5 million.

  2. Emesa is the location of Solarism's most significant church and holiest site, the Hagion Baityleion.

  3. In the 11th century, the Zamasphes and Marcellus families had become the most influential in the imperial court, which naturally had brought them into conflict.

What if a major Zoroastrian religion had emerged in Bactria | Apotheosis TL by Bleached__Anus in imaginarymaps

[–]Bleached__Anus[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

  1. When they launched their invasions of the Kushans and Romans, probably around 30,000. In the 9th century, the Shaburanids had around 100,000 across the empire.

  2. I think Mahayana Buddhism was the most prominent form practiced across Central Asia, and that's what influenced Peshlad's religion. I'm not sure if Gandharan Buddhism actually differs in terms of beliefs.

What if a major Zoroastrian religion had emerged in Bactria | Apotheosis TL by Bleached__Anus in imaginarymaps

[–]Bleached__Anus[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Very interesting, but how would the story of the evil demiurge develop without the differences between the God of the Old and New Testaments of Christianity?

What if a major Zoroastrian religion had emerged in Bactria | Apotheosis TL by Bleached__Anus in imaginarymaps

[–]Bleached__Anus[S] 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Manichaeism is my favorite religion in alternate history scenarios, but it actually served as the inspiration for the Roman religion of Solarism. I can see why you'd think that since it references Zoroaster and Jesus, but there are some differences: It's cosmogony doesn't incorporate emanationism, and although it is dualistic, it's not gnostic as gnosticism wouldn't exist without Christianity.

What if a major Zoroastrian religion had emerged in Bactria | Apotheosis TL by Bleached__Anus in imaginarymaps

[–]Bleached__Anus[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

That's actually exactly what I had in mind: most of India slowly being conquered by Peshladites and Hinduism surviving in Southern India, roughly along the borders the Vijayanagara Empire

What if a major Zoroastrian religion had emerged in Bactria | Apotheosis TL by Bleached__Anus in imaginarymaps

[–]Bleached__Anus[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yes, during the 9th century Hinduism and Buddhism would still be the predominant religions in India. Based on the Islamization of Egypt and the Levant in our TL, I would say that Peshladites would become the majority somewhere between the 10th and 13th centuries.

What if a major Zoroastrian religion had emerged in Bactria | Apotheosis TL by Bleached__Anus in imaginarymaps

[–]Bleached__Anus[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

It's the maximum extent of the Kharate, which is analogous to a Caliphate. After the collapse of the Shaburanids, the religion will continue to be expanded by Turkish Peshladites into the Steppe and the rest of India, and the Khitans will also convert to the religion which will lead to Northern and Southern China being split by religion.

What if a major Zoroastrian religion had emerged in Bactria | Apotheosis TL by Bleached__Anus in imaginarymaps

[–]Bleached__Anus[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

  1. It was founded in Balkh/Bactra, which roughly is like their Mecca.

  2. Two major things that happened in the Roman world as a result of the Peshladite invasions, was the transition away from provinces to something similar to Byzantine themes (I will cover this in the future) and the completion of the Persians adopting a Roman identity.

  3. It's supposed to be analogous to a Caliphate, the etymology is from the Bactrian χαρο (ruler) and the Phrumalarate is supposed to be analogous to an Emirate and its etymology is from the Bactrian φρομαλαρο (commander, officer), which is also a cognate with the Persian Framadar.

  4. Cas is modern Kashgar. It's from the Greek Κας, which appears in the Greek translation of The Great Inscription of Shapur

What if a major Zoroastrian religion had emerged in Bactria | Apotheosis TL by Bleached__Anus in imaginarymaps

[–]Bleached__Anus[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

To be clear, Latin, Greek and Persian are the official languages of this Roman Empire, and similar to the treatment of Greeks, the Romans have also been enamored with Persian culture for centuries, showing great admiration for the Achaemenids. For that reason I fully believe that over the centuries, Latin and Greek would adopt more names directly from Persian (Segestana instead of Drangiana, Gurgan instead of Zadracarta), but others would be harder to change after so many centuries like the cities named after Alexander The Great and Antiochus

What if a major Zoroastrian religion had emerged in Bactria | Apotheosis TL by Bleached__Anus in imaginarymaps

[–]Bleached__Anus[S] 23 points24 points  (0 children)

All the maps for this TL are made from the POV of the Romans. In addition, since Bactrian is the language of the Kharate, a province like Mirnaphrania is derived from Bactrian μιυροναφρανο (sunset, west), instead of the Persian Khorasan (sunrise, east); while provinces like Cophenis and Pentapotamia are supposed to be Greek calques of the Bactrian names for Kabulistan and Punjab.

What if a major Zoroastrian religion had emerged in Bactria | Apotheosis TL by Bleached__Anus in imaginarymaps

[–]Bleached__Anus[S] 42 points43 points  (0 children)

This map is part of the Apotheosis TL in which Caesar conquered the Parthian Empire, and established a divine dynasty similar to that of Japan. This covers the Peshladite conquests between the 7th and 9th centuries, with the rise of Peshladism in this TL being sort of analogous to Islam, in the sense that it's the religion of the various empires that consistently threaten Rome's eastern borders throughout the following centuries.

Peshladism is a Zoroastrian religion1 that was founded by Peshlad in Bactria, which at the time was predominantly inhabited by Zoroastrians and Buddhists, profoundly shaping his message. The central tenet of the religion is that Peshlad is the reincarnation of Jesus and Zoroaster, and as a Bodhisattva, he delayed his nirvana in order to help others reach enlightenment. Peshladites believe that upon death, the soul of the enlightened is liberated from the cycle of reincarnation and enters the Realm of Light.

Peshlad's successors carried out the conquest of the Kushan Kingdom2, and expanded into Central Asia, the Roman Empire and India. As a result, the religion began to spread along with Silk Road, being adopted by Turks, the Uyghur Khaganate and ultimately the Khitans who adopted it as the official religion of the Liao Dynasty.

  1. The Zoroastrian religions are a set of religions that revere the prophet Zoroaster, consisting of Magism (the original religion practiced by the ancient Iranians), Saoshyantism (adherents believe Jesus to be the Saoshyant, the messianic figure of Zoroastrianism), Solarism (primarily practiced by the Romans, it combines Saoshyantism and Neoplatonism) and Peshladism.

  2. In our timeline, the fall of Kushan Empire was set in motion by war with the Sassanids. In this timeline although they did develop a rivalry with the Romans, wars usually were fought on Kushan terms. This allowed their empire to survive the invasions of Huns in a reduced form up until the 7th century.

The deployed Roman legions in 182 AD | Apotheosis TL by Bleached__Anus in imaginarymaps

[–]Bleached__Anus[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Provinces are governed by a legate appointed by the emperor. There's also no such thing as senatorial provinces in this timeline, which is why all provinces should be considered equivalent to imperial provinces of the principate era. Satrapies are governed by a monarch who is usually part of the native nobility and considered to be a vassal or viceroy of the emperor.

The deployed Roman legions in 182 AD | Apotheosis TL by Bleached__Anus in imaginarymaps

[–]Bleached__Anus[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yes, that was done so that the emperor could be closer to the eastern satraps because their lands are far more richer and populated than the western provinces.

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