"Rome must be destroyed- What if Alexander the Great..." Topic
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Tango01 | 18 Apr 2015 3:57 p.m. PST |
… had not died so young? Part 1 "Many readers know that I have written a historical novel entitled ‘Rome must be destroyed : What if Alexander the Great had not died so young?' (See List of my Published Books and Articles and also the book's cover on the left of this page) which has been published a few years ago in Greek. I quote here the prologue, the beginning of the first chapter and the accompanying Historical Note for the English-speaking readers. I hope you enjoy it. I apologize in case that the translation in English is not "literary" enough (or maybe it is!). Copyright is mine, thereby for a probable reproduction of this text, please read the terms (ask2use). Some more text of the novel you can read in ROME MUST BE DESTROYED (Part II) . . The official abstract of the novel: What if Alexander the Great had not died so young? Would he be able to conquer the peoples of the Known World of his era? This is an exciting novel on the adventures and the new conquests of the great king, on the glory that in reality his early death (only 33 years old) had deprived him of. Through the narration of Aelius Sembronius Vulca, an adventurous Roman mercenary in Alexander's army, an enthralling era is coming alive. Vulca, the main hero of the novel, is following Alexander at every step of his campaigns, until around 315 BC the warrior-king turns against the peoples and states of the Western Mediterranean and dismisses all mercenaries from those regions. Vulca, the devout soldier of Alexander who fought for ten years at his side ready to sacrifice his life for his commander, will be found on the battlefields confronting him and enemies who until then were his brotherly friends, defending his homeland against the formidable Macedonian phalanx … Will he manage to prepare Rome, Carthage and the other Italian and Western Mediterranean states for the approaching threat? A Rome torn, ravaged by wars in Italy, intrigues and personal ambitions? Alexander is determined: Rome has to open her gates or be destroyed!… This unique alternative history novel is the first part of a trilogy on the hypothetical march of Alexander to the Western Mediterranean and Europe. It is a work based on solid historical evidence, which enthrals the reader from the first page. An exciting adventure historically based on the real plans of the great warrior-king which, if not cancelled by his sudden death, may have formed completely different the World map until today … A novel that came so close on becoming reality…" Full text here link Part 2 "All the barbarians were dead, except two women. The older one had the common Asiatic appearance. Her heavy wound indicated that she was running out of time. The other woman had an uncanny beauty, a real temptation for us men from the Inner Sea. She was young and diminutive. We were impressed by her narrow slanted eyes that looked like reptilian, her protruding cheek bones in her face below the eyes, her small slender nose and her very pale, almost yellow skin. Her body which was silhouetted below her thin leather dress, appeared to be well formed. Her breasts were small, but firm and well rounded. I knew that most of the Sauromatae people resembled in appearance to the Asiatics. I now verified from this woman and her other dead comrades, that some resembled to the Serae and the Phryni who live afar in the East, beyond India, around a large Yellow river as they call it. I have seen a few Serae merchants at Farthest Alexandria. They had the same strange appearance and the same yellowish skin. The local Sogdians speaking about them, say that they are exceptionally civilised, their kingdoms are powerful and their armies are worthy of the Greek ones. They may say it to tease the Macedonians! Volsinius the Campanian who had captured her, was most enchanted by the reptilian-eyed woman. "That is my trophy!" said with joy. He could not wait for the moment to enjoy her. He dragged her holding her stiffly by the hair, whilst she pounded and kicked him. Three of the soldiers, who were passionately looking at her, approached the young girl. They wanted to taste her … If they wanted her Volsinius was unable to deny. He had the right to enjoy the woman first and keep her for his own, after the others had done with her. However the Italian mercenary did not want to share the girl and he was holding tightly his bloodstained spear. Centauros who had seen the threatening situation spoke. "We don't have time for this. We are leaving immediately! ". "We won't be long Centauros …" said Numerius. "The Sauromatae we killed were few. They surely belong to a larger raiding party. Somewhere, close by, more enemies are lurking…. " Full text here link Amicalement Armand |
goragrad | 18 Apr 2015 10:31 p.m. PST |
Interesting, but I would like to see an English version of that book on Chinese armies.. |
bsrlee | 19 Apr 2015 6:27 a.m. PST |
It's been done in a few fantasy/alternate history series back in the 1990's IIRC. |
piper909 | 19 Apr 2015 12:20 p.m. PST |
Noted Classical historian Arnold Toynbee wrote a fascinating long essay on "If Alexander the Great Had Lived On" that is published in The Impact of Alexander the Great: Civilizer or Destroyer? (edited by Eugene Borza). This is fascinating reading for anyone interested in the subject and comes from someone with sterling academic credentials to boot. Alex does conquer Italy, sweeping aside the puny powers there fairly handily, as I recall (Carthage, too), and the future united Hellenistic world is quite different from our own. |
GurKhan | 19 Apr 2015 1:55 p.m. PST |
And in Toynbee's version, Rome didn't need to fall, but allied with Alexander against the Samnites and Lucanians, who were after all the true threat to the Greek cities of Italy in the 4th century. |
Tango01 | 20 Apr 2015 10:44 a.m. PST |
I would go for Toynbee version. Amicalement Armand |
Winston Smith | 20 Apr 2015 11:58 a.m. PST |
All the speculation I have read suggests that Carthage would be the next target of Alexander. Rome was nothing but a minor city state at this time. I would think that Rome would be much more likely to be an ally of Macedonia than a target. Rome is not all that important now. Useful but not vital. |
Mars Ultor | 20 Apr 2015 8:04 p.m. PST |
Agreed that it seems that Carthage and Sicily would have been targets of AtG first. But respectfully disagree regarding Rome. She was certainly NOT a minor city state in 323 BC. Even at the end of the Regal Period, most recent historians (Cornell 1995 , Forsythe 2005 in particular) will acknowledge that Rome was the largest city of Latium, equal to some if not all of the greatest cities in Etruria and Magna Graecia. By this time Rome owned the Latins of Latium outright (taken in 338 BC…coincidentally same year as Philip did to Greece at Chaeronea) and most of central Italy and Campania were in her grasp (not Samnium, though, which was a sizeable chunk); the system of military alliances that eventually ground down Pyrrhus was beginning to snowball with its mandated supply of soldiers; and the first Samnite War was done, though they were about to suffer the Caudine Forks and some setbacks. Rome was a power, though most of the Greek world didn't take much notice til Pyrrhus was sent packing and Rome was close to needing a new theater of war. If Alexander had lived long enough to go at Carthage, one must consider: would one of ROme's treaties with that Phonecian city mean that it would join in Carthage's defense? Maybe or maybe not. But then ROme would face the choice of allying against Macedon or being picked off individually, and I don't think Rome at that time envisioned itself as anyone's catspaw – I believe they saw their path at least as rulers of Italia, if not beyond, and I don't think they would accept anything less in an alliance with AtG. A good deal of conjecture is always needed here. |
Tango01 | 20 Apr 2015 11:22 p.m. PST |
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Trevsky | 21 Apr 2015 4:44 p.m. PST |
It's an interesting topic with bags of wargaming and counter-factual campaign potential. There are lots of questions to consider though. Is Hephaestion also still alive, and how does that affect Alexander's sanity and increasing despotism? With a son born as he heads west, is Alexander's succession secure? With the king and army away, what happens in Asia? There is a new power rising in India and rebellious Greeks in Bactria. What then would happen in the far east when so far from the royal eye. Who secures the Satrapies? Antigonas is well entrenched in Asia Minor but Ptolemy and Seleucus are yet to rise. Peucestas holds much of the important Persian heartland and is popular with his subjects. Does he remain loyal without Eumenes at his side? What of Antipater? He was called to Asia and due to be replaced by Craterus as Macedonian regent just before Alexander's death. Do he and Cassander make a bid for personal power? Is Olympias an asset, a nuisance or a loose cannon? Does Greece rise again? Where does Alexander strike first? Arabia was on the cards if memory serves but Sicily is central and Italy or Illyria closer. The Galatians overran a Macedonian army in the early Hellenistic era but were later defeated by Elephants. Mithridates VI of Pontus had planned an invasion of Italy from the north east, in emulation of Hannibal, Alexander could have beaten them both to it and invaded the fledgling Roman state with Gallic allies? Would this have ended well? The able Pyrrhus bled for his victories, would Alexander have fared better? If Sicily, would there have been great naval engagements with Carthage? Could Syracuse hold out where Tyre could not? All good stuff. :) |
TKindred | 21 Apr 2015 9:09 p.m. PST |
I think that Alexander leaves the bulk of his Royal army in place in the Middle East, and uses the forces he left behind in Macedonia as a core for a new army. Remember that Alexander left fully half of his army behind in order to prevent any hanky panky from the greeks while he was away. Those were well trained pike units, as well as cavalry. He could have easily gotten more peltasts from the Thracians, Agrianians, Illyrians, etc. Anyway, that's my theory. It's all great speculation. |
Trevsky | 22 Apr 2015 7:02 a.m. PST |
Hi TK, Alexander didn't leave quite half his army behind. Parmenion was already in Asia with an advance force and some of those left behind could have been mercenaries. Plus many more were sent to join the army once in Asia. 6000 reached them at Ecbatana plus others too I think. I have a fuzzy recollection of a quote about the depopulation of Macedonia but can't remember the source. Also, in the historical funeral games, the veterans were the core of each army, so I doubt Alexander would have entirely started afresh. Plus stripping Macedon would have left Greece free to act in his rear. A dangerous move when attacking Greek states in Italy. What too of the Phoenicians? Could they be trusted to sail against their kinsmen in Carthage? |
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