The Greek Empire

'If Alexander the Great Had Lived On', in Toynbee (ed.): Some
Problems in Greek History (Oxford University Press, 1969):early steam engines are combined with early rail tracks to allow the Greeks to form a mighty empire.Arnold Toynbee considered what might have happened if Alexander the Great had not drunk himself to death in 323 B.C. at the age of thirty-three. … The world religion he envisions under a global empire ruled by a continuous succession of Alexanders is a hellenized version of Buddhism, highly plausible given the extraordinary similarity between the teaching of the popular Greek philosopher Pythagoras and those of the Buddha.

Click to expand...

Hellenistic science
The military campaigns of Alexander the Great spread Greek thought through Egypt, Asia Minor, Persia, and to the Indus River. The resulting Hellenistic civilization produced seats of learning in Alexandria and Antioch along with Greek speaking populations across several monarchies. Hellenistic science differed from Greek science in at least two ways: first, it benefited from the cross-fertilization of Greek ideas with those that had developed in the larger Hellenistic world, secondly, to some extent it was supported by royal patrons in the kingdoms founded by Alexander's successors. Especially important to Hellenistic science was the city of Alexandria in Egypt, which became a major center of scientific research in the third century BC. Two institutions established there during the reigns of Ptolemy I Soter (reigned 323 - 283 BC) and Ptolemy II Philadelphus (reigned 281 - 246 BC) were the Library and the Museum. Unlike Plato's Academy and Aristotle's Lyceum, these institutions were officially supported by the Ptolemies; although the extent of patronage could be precarious, depending on the policies of the current ruler.[20]
Hellenistic scholars frequently employed the principles developed in earlier Greek thought: the application of mathematics and deliberate empirical research, in their scientific investigations.
In medicine, Herophilos (335 - 280 BC) was the first to base his conclusions on dissection of the human body and to describe the nervous system.
Geometers such as Archimedes (ca. 287 BC – 212 BC), Apollonius of Perga (ca. 262 BC – ca. 190 BC) , and Euclid (ca. 325 BC – 265 BC), whose Elements became the most important textbook in mathematics until the 19th century, built upon the work of the Hellenic era Pythagoreans. Eratosthenes used his knowledge of geometry to measure the distance between the Sun and the Earth along with the size of the Earth.
Astronomers like Hipparchus (ca. 190 – ca. 120 BC) built upon the measurements of the Babylonian astronomers before him, to measure the precession of the Earth. Pliny reports that Hipparchus produced the first systematic star catalog after he observed a new star (it is uncertain whether this was a nova or a comet) and wished to preserve astronomical record of the stars, so that other new stars could be discovered. It has recently been claimed that a celestial globe based on Hipparchus's star catalog sits atop the broad shoulders of a large second-century Roman statue known as the Farnese Atlas.

The level of Hell
enistic achieveme

The Antikythera mechanism

nt in astronomy and engineering is impressively shown by the Antikythera mechanism (150-100 BC). It is a 37-gear mechanical computer which computed the motions of the Sun and Moon, including lunar and solar eclipses predicted on the basis of astronomical periods believed to have been learned from the Babylonians. Devices of this sort are not found again until the tenth century, when a simpler eight-geared luni-solar calculator incorporated into an astrolabe was described by the Persian scholar, Al-Biruni.
The interpretation of Hellenistic science varies widely. At one extreme is the view of the English classical scholar, Cornford, who believed that "all the most important and original work was done in the three centures from 600 to 300 BC" At the other is the view of the Italian physicist and mathematician, Lucio Russo, who claims that scientific method was actually born in the 3rd century BC, to be forgotten during the Roman period and only revived in the Renaissance.

Click to expand...

It is likely that the Diolkos was built by the second tyrant (ruler) of Corinth, Periander (628-588 B.C.).
If so, this means of portage was apparently Periander's second choice, as he originally envisaged a canal through the Isthmus[1].He was dissuaded apparently by some Egyptian mathematicians, who warned him that directly linking the two seas risked submerging the entire Peloponnese.
Periander replaced the previous method of transporting boats – on large wooden rollers – with a 4-mile (6 km) long trackway from Schinous on the Saronic Gulf to Poseidonia on the Gulf of Corinth.
The trackway, varying between 3m to 6m in width, was paved with limestone blocks. These were set in a deep layer of sand and gravel. Two parallel grooves were cut into the trackway, 1.5m apart (surprisingly close to the 1.435m standard gauge of modern railways). Along these ran the wheels of the olkos ,a vehicle analogous to a modern rail flatcar, on which boats were pulled by teams of slaves or animals. The transported boats' cargoes would be unloaded to reduce weight and carried separately across the isthmus and then reloaded at the other end.

Click to expand...

This illustration is Leonardo's sketch of his "architronito", which he attributed to Archimedes in the following sentence: "The Architronito is a machine of fine copper, an invention of Archimedes, and it throws iron balls with great noise and violence."

Click to expand...

The use of a paddle wheel in navigation appears for the first time in the mechanical treatise of the Roman engineer Vitruvius (De architectura, X 9.5-7), where he describes multi-geared paddle wheels working as a ship odometer. The first mention of paddle wheels as a means of propulsion comes from the late 4th century military treatise De Rebus Bellicis (chapter XVII), where the anonymous Roman author describes an ox-driven paddle wheel warship:
Animal power, directed by the resources on ingenuity, drives with ease and swiftness, wherever utility summons it, a warship suitable for naval combats, which, because of its enormous size, human frailty as it were prevented from being operated by the hands of men. In its hull, or hollow interior, oxen, yoked in pairs to capstans, turns wheels attached to the sides of the ship; paddles, projecting above the circumference or curved surface of the wheels, beating the water with their strokes like oar-blades as the wheels revolve, work with an amazing and ingenious effect, their action producing rapid motion. This warship, moreover, because of its own bulk and because of the machinery working inside it, joins battle with such pounding force that it easily wrecks and destroys all enemy warships coming at close quarters

Click to expand...

seleucusVII said:

@ lounge60:
This world will be more technologically advanced than ours, it is in my ideas, but I don't know how much. Maybe a scientific revolution in the 100's is good.

Click to expand...

Another option exists. At the decisive battle Seleucus was, in his way, too cautious to actually arrive in time for the fighting. What if he arrived, and the allies appeared weak enough that he could take it all?

Click to expand...

seleucusVII said:

Since I've made some changes in the first part, here's the TL 'till the part I've done now. For now on, except in the first week of may, there will be TL updates every friday or before.
The scientific revolution part will appear in the next update.

PART 1- Introduction (Demetrius)

308-301 b.C.: Fourth Diadochi War. Antigonus Monophtalmus (“the One-Eyed”) of the Antigonids fights to recover the old Macedonian Empire, together with his son, Demetrius Poliorcetes (“the Besieger”), king of the Antigonids. In the midst of it was the siege of Rhodes, in 305 b.C., where new siege weapons, like the Helepolis, were tested.

301 b.C.: Battle of Ipsus. ‘Till here, Antigonus has never lost a battle. In this one, he was killed by a javelin, at the age of 81. His army was annihilated, and then Demetrius, son of Antigonus and the ruler of the Antigonid Empire, retired to Ephesus.

301-295 b.C.: The reversal of fortune stirred up many enemies against Demetrius, with the Athenians refusing him to enter the city. But this would change. During this time, he ravaged the territory of Lysimachus and made peace with Seleucus, giving to marriage his daughter Stratonice.

294-289 b.C.: He established himself in the throne of Macedon, murdering Antipater II, son of Cassander. In this year, Demetrius conquered Athens, and didn’t punish its inhabitants for their former misconduct.
By this time, Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, threatened the western and defenceless portion of Macedon, since Demetrius wasn’t present all time.

POD:
288 b.C.: Pyrrhus, Ptolemy and Lysimachus attacked Demetrius and his army. OTL, he lost and left Macedon. But here he won’t.
After the attack, differently from OTL, the army of Demetrius holds on and they beat the invaders. In the end of that year, Demetrius invades Epirus and makes Pyrrhus his “vassal”, imposing himself. Pyrrhus, fearing the troops of Demetrius, accepted the “vassalisation”, relutanctly.
OTL, the joint army overrun Macedon, and Pyrrhus is put in the throne. Years later, Lysimachus would take him out.

287-282 b.C.: Ptolemy gets angry with the vassalisation of Epirus, and makes and attack against Demetrius and Pyrrhus. Lysimachus supports Ptolemy, and Seleucus stands neutral.
So then, the fifth Diadochi war begins.
Demetrius invades Lysimachus’ possessions in Asia, with varying success. In OTL, he would ask for Seleucus’ help, but here the epirot army would solve the problem, and the asiatic possessions of Lysimachus passes for Demetrius, together with Ptolemy’s anatolian territory.

286 b.C.: OTL, Demetrius advances over Syria and is captured. Cyprus is captured by the macedonian army, and in the same year, the Hellespont is crossed and Thrace begans to fall. In this year, future Archon of the Army Alypios is born in Sparta.

285-284 b.C.: The campaign of Thrace. In one year, the entire region is taken by the army of Macedon, lead directly by Demetrius and his son and successor, Antigonus Gonatas.
In the beginning of 284 b.C., Lysimachus is captured by the macedonian army. He is taken for trial to Demetrius, who let him survive. Lysimachus then become a companion of the king.
In Thrace, Demetrius would meet a woman, Berenice, with whom he would have a bastard son, Brinzakeis. This bastard would be considered for the king as son as Antigonus, and potential successor to the heir, mainly because of the intelligence that Brinzakeis would show.
In this time, Pyrrhus leads an army against Ptolemy, with relactive success. Cyrenaica and the nearby regions are taken.

283 b.C.:OTL, Demetrius dies this year. Pyrrhus enter truly in Egypt. Demetrius and Antigonus go to Egypt help Pyrrhus, and the armies meet at Alexandria.
Ptolemy I Soter dies of natural causes. His son, Ptolemy Philadelphus, moved the court and the library to Tyre soon before the arrival of the macedonians.
The city would fall in the end of the year. Demetrius orders to let the city untouched.

282 b.C.: Ptolemy Philadelphus surrenders completely to Demetrius. With the surrendering, Demetrius makes the Levant a vassal and put Ptolemy in charge of it.
This way, Ptolemy II Philadelphus becomes Ptolemy I of Khanaan. The Kingdom of Khanaan would be a "holder" of the Seleucid Empire.
Ptolemy continues to make the so-known library, the Library of Tyrus.

282-280 b.C.: The armies didn’t want to stop, but the king did.
So then Demetrius put his son Antigonus to lead the troops, and resigned formally to the title of Archon.
Then the new Archon of Macedon, Antigonus Gonatas, conquer Crete and Rhodes, showing his power as ruler.

281 b.C.: Macedon declares war on Sparta. The region is conquered with some difficulty, but the city itself was specifically hard. Demetrius himself command the army, and he orders to rescue the old spartan tradition of military training.
In the near future, the spartans would become the elite warriors again. A child, son of a soldier, named Alypios, is taken from the city and sent to Athens, together with his mother, who was given to marriage for a companion of the king.
Alypios would become a close friend of Brinzakeis in the future.
The Romans invade Magna Graecia. The citizens of Tarentum ask for help, for Macedon (OTL asks for Epirus). Demetrius says that he wouldn’t interfere himself in the italian affairs, differently from his son, who wants to attack Italy. But he obeys his father and stays conquering the islands.
This year, OTL, Lysimachus would die.

280 b.C.: Two months back to Athens, after the conquest of Crete, Antigonus Gonatas orders the crowning of his father as “true ruler of the empire, but not a simple one”, in his words.
In 12 of June of 280 b.C., Former Archon Demetrius becomes Basileus Demetrius I, Greek Emperor.

280-277 b.C.: Governing from Athens as Emperor, Basileus Demetrius recieve news from Thrace. A woman says that she has a son of him. Demetrius makes the woman to come to Athens.The children, Brinzakeis, is admitted to his dinasty. With the time, he would be proven as a good philosopher and maybe a great potential ruler.

280 b.C.: OTL, Pyrrhus invades Rome, starting the Pyrrhic War. TTL, he would never attack Italy, happy with the throne of Epirus and Cyrenaica.

277 b.C.:Three years after his crowning, the Basileus dies with a heart attack. Antigonus Gonatas, besides his title of Archon of Macedon, becomes Basileus Antigonus II, honoring his grandfather.
His first acts would be:
1) The year counting would start by the crowning of Demetrius;
2) The Macedonian Greek Empire is the true successor of Alexander's.

PART 2- Antigonus II (Expansion)

276 b.C.: This year, OTL, the son of Antigonus would born, Demetrius II Aetolicus. But here, Antigonus decides to not have a son so soon at this point.
Diplomatic incident with the Seleucid Empire. The old Seleucus I Nicator , that OTL died in 281, murdered, discords about the crowning of Antigonus II as basileus. This makes the tensions grow, but not much.
An exemple of this is in the Gallic invasion of Macedon. Due to the northern expansion of Demetrius, the Gauls wait a bit longer, not invading in 279 b.C.. Lysimachus dies, leading an army in the Battle of Salonicca. Antigonus is smart, and he turns the Gauls into central Anatolia, Seleucid territory. The gauls advance and take the entire Seleucid Anatolia.

275 b.C.: OTL, Pyrrhus ends the italian campaign after the defeat of the Battle of Beneventum. But here, Pyrrhus is now eager for battle. He asks for Antigonus II about an invasion of Italy. Antigonus thinks well and starts to make the troops.

274 b.C.: The Kingdom of Galatea is created by the Empire. It was in the same month as the death of Seleucus (3/3), and, so, the seleucids didn’t said a word about it.
Antigonus declare war on the roman republic. Pyrrhus goes together with the basileus.
OTL, in this year Pyrrhus would attack Macedon and take Antigonus off of a great part of the empire.
Magas of Cyrene rebels, OTL against Egypt, TTL against Epirus. Pyrrhus, working in the italian campaign, doesn’t care, and Cyrenaica become independent.
Brinzakeis is taken for military training. Other children, like his friend Alypios, are taken too.

274-268 b.C.: “Prima Bella Graeciarum” or “Prota Pólemos Romanoi”, called, respectivly, by the romans and greeks.
In this period, the Empire advanced over Italy, with 180.000 men, by two ways. The Epirots went in the middle, with 64.000. 33.000 would die in Italy, in the horrendous battles.
In the beginning, there were many easy victories to the greek army: Tarentum, Croton, Heraclea....
But, as OTL, the romans were much more numerous. Nothing could avoid the fatal Battle of the Tiber, in March 12, 268 b.C..
The joint macedonian-epirot army came from the south, trying to cross the river near Ostia. It was lead by Pyrrhus himself, with 24.000 pikemen, 22.000 horses, 50.000 mercenaries, without counting siege weapons.
The roman army, lead by Dictator Cornelius Severus, was composed by 60.000 peasants, 40.000 infantrymen (archers, velites and simple legions), 10.000 equites.
In this battle, numbers counted much. The romans, behind the river, caught Pyrrhus advancing trying to advance from the southeast, for then, possibly, siege the city from west, waiting for the reinforcements of the macedonian general Socrates Mikros (the small), who fought that time with the rebels.
In the morning of March 11, Pyrrhus saw 50.000 roman men. He sent the mercenaries, who were stopped before crossing the river, with the bows and all
Then he sent the infantry, that crossed the river and killed most of the army.
After, he sent the cavalry, to kill the remaining enemies.
No more romans were seen that day, and Pyrrhus ordered to stay still. But in March 12, the true roman army show itself before dawn. Another 60.000 men, this time better soldiers.
Pyrrhus was killed in the beginning of the battle, with an arrow in the eye. The soldiers would fight ‘till night, but it wouldn’t care. The battle was lost, and so, the idea of conquering Rome that time.
From march to october, the romans would advance into South Italy, being stopped only by Socrates’ army, in several points.
Soon after the greek victory of the 2nd Battle of the River Aufidus, in 2 of october of 268 b.C., there would have peace, finally.
Macedon would control directly the area of Magna Graecia, and Rome would control the rest of Italy.

270 b.C.: Brinzakeis makes his first book, in the age of 14: a philosophy treatise about the Thracians and another barbarians, called Barbaros (OOC: It doesn't make too much "Greek Chauvinism").

268 b.C.: Basileus Antigonus II Gonatas claim the throne of Epirus. Cyrenaica is attacked and reconquered.
By this time, Antigonus shows signals of depression, and loses most of his will. He starts to write something, saying "this is my life" when writing it. Socrates Mikros recieve the title of "Archon of the Army" (OOC: A kind of supreme leader of the army and regent at the same time), a position higher than a general and, in military, the 2nd of the Empire, only above the Basileus.

270 b.C.: At the age of
265 b.C.: Illyrian ships of the King Pleuratus attack macedonian merchant vessels. Antigonus II send Archon Socrates and the troops to Illyria. Antigonus also send Brinzakeis and his friend Alypios together with Mikros.

265-264 b.C.: The Illyrian War. In one year, the region is annexed for the empire.
The final battle, the Battle of Skodra, in November 26, 264 b.C., happens in the city where the Illyrians would be able to hold on for one more winter, possibly causing a defeat for the Empire.
In this battle, Socrates Mikros would pass the command of the army directly to Brinzakeis, in his words, "because a future basileus need to know how to control an army in an important and tense time". Brinzakeis would be proven as a strong, powerful and merciful general in this battle, going beyond the expectatives of the Archon. King Pleuratus is saved from killing by Brinzakeis, who send Pleuratus to Athens, to his brother judgement. Pleuratus is left alive and he would become leader of the Illyrian legion in the wars to come.

264 b.C.: In april, the same month that the armies were returning from Illyria, Antigonus II Gonatas die with a heart attack at the age of 56, the same thing that killed his father thirteen years before (OOC: That was what the people heard, and what passed to history; Actually, he killed himself with poison, and Brinzakeis would be the only one to know it).
The news come for Brinzakeis when he approaches the city, and he is ordered to proceed directly to the center of Athens, where he,
follwing the testimonial of his brother, would have to read a text wrotten by the Basileus.
Brinzakeis goes to the center of the city, near to the Senate, where he reads the testimonial and of Antigonus, a treatise called Law and Control of an Empire.
"Citizens of Macedon; I, the Basileus Antigonus II, grandson of Antigonus I and son of the great Demetrius, pass this to you: I was with a heavy disease and I had few days of life. But here is my last gift, and wish:
"The Basileus is the leader of the Empire, but not a god. You shall not adore him as such. Consequently, his word isn't a complete Law: He doesn't know all, and for that reason, he have the people: a close and intelligent senate is necessary and has to be put in use.
"The heir of the Empire: It shall not be just from the family of the former Basileus: it can be any free citizen that the former Basileus has chosen, to make a better ruled Empire.
"About the Seleucids and Romans: They are terribly strong and powerful peoples, and thus they shall be respected and treated well.
"My heir: This time, I will follow the old ways and call my little brother, of now 20 years, to be Basileus, Archon of Macedon, of Egypt, of Greece, etc.etc.etc.etc., but not because he is my brother: He will become Basileus because of his intelligence and capacities, not for any other reasons."
The treatise tells many other things, and some only to Brinzakeis himself. There were pages that Brinzakeis was ordered to burn himself.
In April 8, 263 b.C., Brinzakeis becomes Basileus Brinzakeis I, Archon of Macedon, Epirus, Greece, Egypt, Magna Graecia, Illyria and Cyrenaica.

His reign would be marked as one of the greatest in the history of the world.

Click to expand...