Antiochus the Saviour: Because we need more Diadochoi timelines!
- Thread starter Basileus Giorgios
- Start date
Fear not, none have been forgotten, and all will play a role! It's a shame in many ways Mithridates VI must be butterflied away, but hey, that's AH for you.
Part III: The world in flux
108BC: Marius defeats the Cimbri in a huge engagement outside Rome, before driving them back North. The conquering hero enters Rome in triumph, where he is acclaimed as “Rex” by the overjoyed urban mob.
107BC: In Seleucia-on-the-Tigris, the Great King Antiochus VII passes away at the age of fifty one. He has ruled the Seleucid Empire with a strong and steady hand, and restored Mesopotamia to her rightful place as a true heartland of Empire. He is immediately succeeded by his son, the twenty nine year old Antiochus IX. In Italy, the Roman Senate, still in Capua, declares “King” Marius to be an enemy of the state.
106BC: Major outbreaks of rebellion against Roman rule- especially in Spain and Numidia. Seizing the opportunity to build up his position, Antiochus IX crosses the Taurus at the head of a large army, and imposes his own candidate, Nicomedes, upon the throne of Cappadocia. The kings of Pontus and Lycia are also forced to submit to the Great King, and even the young Roman governor of Asia, one Lucius Cornelius Sulla sends Antiochus gifts. Marius marches on Capua.
105BC: Antiochus IX dies unexpectedly, leaving the throne to his son, the one year old Demetrius III. Demetrius’ mother Eurydice quickly marries Seleucus, the younger brother of King Antiochus. In Italy, Marius renounces his claim to monarchy, hoping to end the civil war, but this simply makes matters worse by dividing the Senatorial armies into factions.
104BC: Seleucus has himself crowned Great King, directly pushing his infant nephew out of the picture. More worryingly still for the infant Demetrius, his mother falls pregnant later in the year. With the absence of Roman interference, Egypt and Phoenicia go to war- Queen Tryphaena seeking to assert her full right to the Ptolemaic throne.
103BC: Eurydice delivers Seleucus a son, named Alexander Philopator. The forces of the Roman Senate inflict a series of defeats on the Marians and drive them out of Rome. The Marians retreat northwards, and recruit mercenaries from amongst the Cimbri, who have occupied the Po Valley. The Egyptian war is brought to an abrupt end by the death of Queen Tryphaena, who is succeeded on the throne by her youthful son Alexander, a feckless nonentity, who is, nonetheless, the brother-in-law of Seleucus V through the marriage to Seleucus’ sister Olympias.
102BC: King Ptolemy X Alexander is killed attempting to subdue a major native revolt in Egypt. He is succeeded by his son, Ptolemy XI, but the natives defeat the younger Ptolemy too, and push him back to Alexandria. Judea erupts into violence, and seizes her independence.
101BC: Seleucus V campaigns against the Irano-Scythians, and receives ambassadors from the Chinese Emperors. The Marians, accompanied by their Cimbri mercenaries, return to Rome, and wreak a bloody vengeance, occupying the city and executing hundreds of their political opponents. The Roman Republic has now been consolidated under a single faction. Marius brings peace to Italy by promising citizenship rights for all Italians. The rest of Republic’s domain, however, is in a state of anarchy.
100BC: Sulla crosses from Asia to Greece, and crushes several small rebellions against Rome, that have been covertly funded by the Seleucids. He establishes himself at Athens, and reaffirms his loyalty to Marius, who is dealing with a slave revolt in Sicily. Towards the end of the year, King Jugurtha of Numidia completes his conquest of the Roman province of Africa.
99BC: Marius defeats the slave revolt, and recalls Sulla to Italy, where the general is awarded a triumph. Nonetheless, he is angered by being immediately sent out of Italy again- Marius is eager to reassert Rome’s dominion over the East, and considers a victorious war there is necessary. The Senate therefore declares war on Lycia, a Seleucid vassal.
98BC: Seleucus marches west, eager to complete Rome’s downfall. He arrives in Antioch and demands gold and soldiers from his weak brother-in-law Alexander of Phoenicia, who hurries to comply with the orders of the Great King. Sulla, meanwhile, establishes himself in Athens, and begins to stir up trouble in Pontus and Cappadocia.
97BC: The Great King once again crosses the Taurus, accompanied by a huge royal army. The traditional Hellenistic phalangites are augmented by Scythian horse-archers and Parthian cataphracts, as well as Jewish, Arabian, and Cilician levy troops. Sulla moves across the Aegean to Pergamum, before travelling inland with a smaller, but much more cohesive and experienced force. The two armies meet up outside the town of Gordion in Phrygia, for a battle that will determine the fate of the Mediterranean world.
Well that showed me and my shoddy research. Mithridates VI will be King, it seems, but he'll be a very different man from OTL- I doubt the unusual circumstances in which he rose to power would've survived the butterfly effect.
Like I said, this won't be a Helleno-wank. I'll leave it at that...
Sulla submits to Marius?Sincerly i didn't expect this solution...I thought the Republic broke in civil war, but it is a interesting development...
Also, i will wait for the result of the battle of Gordion...
It's more Sulla simply retains his OTL original loyalty to Marius here- the relationship between them only broke down during the Jugurthine War, IIRC. No Jugurthine War means no breakdown.
They did work together during the start of the cimbri invasion,and that was after the Jugurthine War.
In otl the marian reforms were first used on the army marius used for his war against Jugurtha, the army of Q.C. Metellus Numidicus ( consul 109) already in Numidia was polybian. This is another butterfly.
Oh and on Mithridates VI, his mother was the daughter of Antiochus IV.Tought his fathers assasination could easily be butterfly away.
In otl the marian reforms were first used on the army marius used for his war against Jugurtha, the army of Q.C. Metellus Numidicus ( consul 109) already in Numidia was polybian. This is another butterfly.
Oh and on Mithridates VI, his mother was the daughter of Antiochus IV.Tought his fathers assasination could easily be butterfly away.
Rex Romanum
Banned
Also, i will wait for the result of the battle of Gordion...
Seconded. But I must admit that the Roman victory won't really interesting...
Part IV: The Divided Sea
96BC: A peace treaty is signed between Sulla and Seleucus, promising to respect the respective Roman and Seleucid spheres of influence in Anatolia. The Great King also promises to provide the Romans with gold to assist with Marius’ grinding war in Africa, which has succeeded only in regaining a couple of coastal cities. Towards the end of the year, he returns to Antioch, and summons Queen Eurydice and his son Alexander. Notably, the ten year old Demetrius III is left behind in Seleucia.
95BC: Seleucus dies, some say of shame at the defeat at Gordion. Immediately, there are uprisings in Judea and Pontus. To everyone’s surprise, Eurydice does not uphold the claim of her elder son Demetrius, but instead champions that of the eight year old, who becomes Alexander II Philopator. The Queen quickly remarries, to a senior general named Cassander. Sulla returns to Rome and celebrates a second triumph. Marius, meanwhile, finally begins to advance against King Jugurtha, helped by a generous subsidy of gold from the East.
94BC: The Phoenicians declares war upon the Seleucid Empire, seeking to champion the claim of Demetrius III against Alexander II. The Jews immediately pledge their allegiance, as do the various Anatolian client kingdoms. Queen Eurydice flees Antioch and sets up court at the relatively obscure town of Edessa. The Antiochene mob, meanwhile, continues to support her and Alexander against her “Mesopotamian” son.
93BC: The new King of Egypt, Ptolemy XII Helios, inflicts a major defeat on the native rebels, and reconquers Upper Egypt for the dynasty. The Phoenician army links up with a Jewish force, and conquers Damascus. Following the death of Marius in Africa, a peace treaty is signed with King Jugurtha, which leaves him with a substantially larger Kingdom of Numidia.
92BC: The general Cassander, seeking to avoid a civil war, overrides his wife and summons Demetrius III, now a boy of fourteen, to the Royal court, to join him on campaign. Cassander then marches west with a relatively small army made up largely of cavalry. Using this mobile force, he is able to cross the Anatolian plateau without much difficulty, and inflict several minor defeats upon the rebellious princelings, cuffing them back into line.
91BC: Demetrius III secretly arranges a marriage between himself and Cleopatra, the sister of Ptolemy Helios. When the news reaches Edessa, his mother flies into a rage, and proclaims her son to be a bastard. The civil war finally erupts into open violence. Cassander, who is with Demetrius in Tarsus, is forced to choose between his wife and his stepson- he ultimately sides with Demetrius, and they lay siege to Antioch.
90BC: Eurydice appeals to Rome for support, but her ambassadors are not given more than vague messages of support from the Senate, which has no wish to involve itself in an Eastern war. Political trends in the Republic are urging a period of consolidation, explaining the recent catastrophes as being a warning from the Gods about Roman arrogance. Towards the end of the year, Demetrius enters Antioch in triumph, but is forced to unleash barbarian mercenaries on the stubbornly pro-Eurydice mob. In the ensuing chaos, half of the city is burned down.
89BC: Consolidating their control over the Levant, Demetrius and Cassander march into Judea, there to accept the welcome of the Jews. Demetrius provides funds for an extension of the Temple complex, though he alienates conservative Jewish opinion by requesting the erection of a number of statues to himself in Jerusalem itself. Towards the end of the year, he finally meets his bride, Queen Cleopatra.
88BC: Leaving Cassander in Syria to maintain order, Demetrius III takes personal command of the Royal army, and marches to Edessa. Queen Eurydice begs for mercy, but to no avail- she is executed without even laying eyes on her son. Demetrius is more merciful towards his fifteen year old brother Alexander, whom he recognises as being merely a pawn in their mother’s schemes. Alexander is forced to renounce his claim to the throne, but in return is rewarded by the governorship of Syria-Coele, a region that has always championed him.
87BC: King Jugurtha of Numidia arranges for an alliance with Ptolemy Helios, marrying off his daughter Saphanabaal to the Ptolemaic King. With marital alliances both east and west, Helios feels confident enough to campaign vigorously against the Nabatean Arabs. A final revolt erupts in Syria in support of the claim of Alexander II to the Seleucid throne, but it is abruptly curtailed when the young prince dies of fever. Demetrius III, at the age of nineteen, is now the sole and unquestioned Great King.
I'd given up on this little TL due to lack of comments: I'd better get back to work on it, hadn't I?
I wasn't aware until now that it had been updated.
Eurydice proclaiming her own son to be a bastard? Wouldn't that reflect badly and/or lead to consequences and repercussions for HER?
After all, that would mean she was getting busy with someone other than her husband.
Eurydice proclaiming her own son to be a bastard? Wouldn't that reflect badly and/or lead to consequences and repercussions for HER?
After all, that would mean she was getting busy with someone other than her husband.
I'd given up on this little TL due to lack of comments: I'd better get back to work on it, hadn't I?
yaaaaay!
TL CPR can work!
Short update to prove to y'all that work on this TL has restarted.
86BC: An Irano-Scythian prince adopts the regal name of “Cyrus”, and unveils his descent from the old Achaemenid dynasty. The Seleucid Satrap of Persia marches into battle against Cyrus’ coalition, but is routed, and the Iranians march into Pasargadae. Statues of Demetrius III are torn down.
85BC: Demetrius sets about gathering the Royal army, and is able to expel a group of Iranian raiders from Mesopotamia towards the end of the year. He snubs his general Cassander though, by refusing to allow Cassander to come to Babylonia to defeat the Iranians.
84BC: Cassander, frustrated by being sidelined in Syria, launches an unprovoked war of aggression against the Jews, claiming that King Joseph failed to show him sufficient respect when visiting Damascus. His force, though, is badly led and equipped, and is ambushed in a pass by a joint Jewish/Phoenician army. Cassander’s army is cut apart, and the general himself is taken back to Jerusalem in chains. King Joseph sends messengers to Demetrius III, asking him what to do with the disgraced commander.
83BC: Demetrius brings general Cassander back to Babylon, where the Strategos is executed for perceived treachery. The Great King meanwhile sends gold to the Jews, and assures them of his friendship and protection. After three years of preparation, he is finally ready to march against the Iranians. Meanwhile, in Italy, Sulla is elected to his third consulship, serving alongside one Junius Antonius.
82BC: The Seleucid army reoccupies the major urban centres of lowland Persia, but their Iranian foes remain formidable, and ambush smaller Seleucid detachments. Demetrius is determined to end the war once and for all, and to totally reassert Royal control over Persia. Ptolemy Helios completes his conquest of Nabataea, and formally annexes the region to his kingdom. Wary of the rising influence of Antonius, Sulla has his consular colleague put on trial for corruption. Antonius is duly convicted, but refuses to back down quietly, fleeing to Spain and there raising four legions.
81BC: Cleopatra Helios, Great Queen, dies giving birth to her second child. Immediately, scrambling begins to find a new wife for Demetrius, who is still only twenty five. Demetrius eventually chooses Stratonice, the daughter of the disgraced general Cassander, in order to symbolise the return to favour of the family in Royal eyes. The marriage proves to be a surprisingly happy one, and Stratonice is heavily pregnant by the end of the year. Junius Antonius’ attempt to invade Italy is defeated, but some forty Senators slip away, and join him in Spain, where he founds a “New Rome” on the site of the old Numantia.
80BC: Sulla himself is put on trial and exiled to Sicily, where he dies three years later. The Roman Republic seems to be returning to her old ways of murderous political rivalry, but without the threat of invasion. Demetrius continues his war in Persia, and inflicts a major defeat on an Irano-Scythian army: but he is himself ambushed and badly mauled by the Scythians later in the year. The Great King sends his seven year old son Seleucus to Antioch, to be a visible representation of the Royal presence there. In Jerusalem, Joseph I “the Great” dies after a thirty four year reign, and passes on a flourishing, and increasingly Hellenised, kingdom to his son Simon.
79BC: Cyrus the Scythian is finally cornered and defeated by Demetrius, who has the pretender king sent back to Seleucia in chains. To honour his victory, the Great King founds two new settlements to guard the eastern fringes of the Iranian plateau- Demetriopolis and Nicoscythia. Junius Antonius, revelling in his role of Princeps of the Second Rome, grants Roman citizenship to a disparate band of some two hundred thousand men and women living in and around Numantia, as well as his own legions.
Part V: The rise of the New Alexander
86BC: An Irano-Scythian prince adopts the regal name of “Cyrus”, and unveils his descent from the old Achaemenid dynasty. The Seleucid Satrap of Persia marches into battle against Cyrus’ coalition, but is routed, and the Iranians march into Pasargadae. Statues of Demetrius III are torn down.
85BC: Demetrius sets about gathering the Royal army, and is able to expel a group of Iranian raiders from Mesopotamia towards the end of the year. He snubs his general Cassander though, by refusing to allow Cassander to come to Babylonia to defeat the Iranians.
84BC: Cassander, frustrated by being sidelined in Syria, launches an unprovoked war of aggression against the Jews, claiming that King Joseph failed to show him sufficient respect when visiting Damascus. His force, though, is badly led and equipped, and is ambushed in a pass by a joint Jewish/Phoenician army. Cassander’s army is cut apart, and the general himself is taken back to Jerusalem in chains. King Joseph sends messengers to Demetrius III, asking him what to do with the disgraced commander.
83BC: Demetrius brings general Cassander back to Babylon, where the Strategos is executed for perceived treachery. The Great King meanwhile sends gold to the Jews, and assures them of his friendship and protection. After three years of preparation, he is finally ready to march against the Iranians. Meanwhile, in Italy, Sulla is elected to his third consulship, serving alongside one Junius Antonius.
82BC: The Seleucid army reoccupies the major urban centres of lowland Persia, but their Iranian foes remain formidable, and ambush smaller Seleucid detachments. Demetrius is determined to end the war once and for all, and to totally reassert Royal control over Persia. Ptolemy Helios completes his conquest of Nabataea, and formally annexes the region to his kingdom. Wary of the rising influence of Antonius, Sulla has his consular colleague put on trial for corruption. Antonius is duly convicted, but refuses to back down quietly, fleeing to Spain and there raising four legions.
81BC: Cleopatra Helios, Great Queen, dies giving birth to her second child. Immediately, scrambling begins to find a new wife for Demetrius, who is still only twenty five. Demetrius eventually chooses Stratonice, the daughter of the disgraced general Cassander, in order to symbolise the return to favour of the family in Royal eyes. The marriage proves to be a surprisingly happy one, and Stratonice is heavily pregnant by the end of the year. Junius Antonius’ attempt to invade Italy is defeated, but some forty Senators slip away, and join him in Spain, where he founds a “New Rome” on the site of the old Numantia.
80BC: Sulla himself is put on trial and exiled to Sicily, where he dies three years later. The Roman Republic seems to be returning to her old ways of murderous political rivalry, but without the threat of invasion. Demetrius continues his war in Persia, and inflicts a major defeat on an Irano-Scythian army: but he is himself ambushed and badly mauled by the Scythians later in the year. The Great King sends his seven year old son Seleucus to Antioch, to be a visible representation of the Royal presence there. In Jerusalem, Joseph I “the Great” dies after a thirty four year reign, and passes on a flourishing, and increasingly Hellenised, kingdom to his son Simon.
79BC: Cyrus the Scythian is finally cornered and defeated by Demetrius, who has the pretender king sent back to Seleucia in chains. To honour his victory, the Great King founds two new settlements to guard the eastern fringes of the Iranian plateau- Demetriopolis and Nicoscythia. Junius Antonius, revelling in his role of Princeps of the Second Rome, grants Roman citizenship to a disparate band of some two hundred thousand men and women living in and around Numantia, as well as his own legions.