Zoroaster Supreme

Since the Mithraism thread was so popular, how about we have a swing Zoroastriasm?

Maybe not overshadowing Christianity, but how about Islam? Heck, we could even have Muhammed become a Zoroastrian. That'd mess things up a bit.
 
Khosroe II is not murdered and Persia remains relatively strong. Loses some territory to the Arabs but retains a large part of the empire.

Possible consequences? Islam doesn't spread to Central Asia? Buddhist Afganistan? What about the Indian subcontinent?

Islam, prevented from expanding east, expands south into Africa? Conquest of Ethiopia? Links with the Islamic world lead to greater economic and technical advancement in East Africa?
 
mishery said:
Khosroe II is not murdered and Persia remains relatively strong. Loses some territory to the Arabs but retains a large part of the empire.

Possible consequences? Islam doesn't spread to Central Asia? Buddhist Afganistan? What about the Indian subcontinent?

Islam, prevented from expanding east, expands south into Africa? Conquest of Ethiopia? Links with the Islamic world lead to greater economic and technical advancement in East Africa?
Sounds good, but there's a probability that Islam makes it into Persia with the missionaries.
 
593 (POD)- The Roman Emperor Maurice allows his troops to pull back across the Danube from their offensive against the Avars to winter in a frontier fortress.

594- The Roman army again crosses the Danube and inflicts a final, heavy defeat on the Avars before pulling back across the Danube, some staying behind to help guard the frontier while the rest head to Constantinople for a victory parade. Among the dead in that final defeat is an all but unknown officer named Phocas.

595-614- Maurice spends the last years of his reign campaigning against the Slavs that have settled in the Balkans in the Avars' wake and persecuting the Monophysites. The Persian Shahanshah Khosrow II, grateful to Maurice for his assistance in regaining the Persian throne and married to Maurice's daughter Mary, decides to leave Byzantium alone and campaigns against the Turks in Central Asia.

615- Maurice dies and his son Theodosius rises to the Eastern imperial throne as Theodosius III while his other son Tiberius becomes the Western emperor and reigns from Rome, the 'second capital'.

616-633- Business as usual. With Maurice dead, the Eastern Empire (Byzantium) and Persia have the occasional skirmish along the frontier in Armenia and Mesopotamia, but nothing like OTL's devastating war. Theodosius also sends troops to assist his brother Tiberius in Italy, further draining the imperial coffers to little effect. Meanwhile, in Arabia, Muhammad and Islam arrive on schedule.

634- The Muslims begin pouring out of Arabia, invading Palestine and defeating the Imperials at Ajnadain.

636- Arabs defeat Imperials at Yarmuk, near the southern Syrian border.

637- Muslims invade Sassanid Persia, defeating the first Persian force sent against them at Al Qadisiya, at the fringes of Persian territory. Khosrow II gathers his centralized forces and moves south from Ctesiphon against the rapid advance of the Arabs, meeting them in battle at Vologesias. After a hard fought battle, in which the Persians use armored elephants in addition to their heavily armored dehgans and lighter armored horse archers, Khosrow II manages to defeat the Arab force and pursues them out of Mesopotamia and back into the deserts of Arabia.

638- The Muslims take Antioch, bringing all of Palestine and Syria under their rule. The Imperials finally manage to stem the Muslim advance at the Taurus Mountains of Anatolia.

639- Muslim forces invade Egypt and make another try at Persia. The advance into Egypt is swift while, in Persia, Khosrow is more than ready for them this time and inflicts a heavy defeat at Uruk. Correspondence is exchanged between Khosrow and the Muslim Caliph and the Caliph signs a 50 year peace agreement with Sassanid Persia. Khosrow, meanwhile, is happy to encourage the Caliph to continue his advance against the Eastern Roman Empire and, in fact, readies his forces to take advantage of the situation.

640- Imperials defeated by Muslims at Heliopolis on the Nile. Forces used by the Caliph against Persia in OTL start to be diverted to either the Taurus Mountains or to Egypt.
Khosrow II dies and his eldest son rises to the Persian throne. The typical intrigues upon the ascension of a new Shahanshah erupt and Khosrow's son is forced to deal with them.

641- Alexandria falls to Muslim forces in Egypt and Al-Fustat (Cairo) is founded. The Monophysites of Syria, Palestine and Egypt, tired of endless persecution under rule from Constantinople, welcome the Arabs as liberators and begin converting to Islam.

642- Libya falls to the Muslims, the Monophysite populace there also welcoming them as liberators.

643-650- A war is fought between the Eastern Roman Empire, who is already trying to hold back the Muslims at the Taurus Mountains, and Persia. Finally settled on the throne, Khosrow's son invades Roman Mesopotamia and Armenia and sweeps across the regions to the very edge of the Anatolian heartland. There, however, he suffers a defeat at the hands of the Imperials and, after a bit more of back and forth fighting, Theodosius III cedes Roman Mesopotamia and all of Armenia to Persia (roughly equivalent to what the Muslims gained in OTL). Persia is well enough pleased by the territorial gains and settle down to absorb their new conquests and eye the continuing war between the Imperials and the Muslims, eyeing recently conquered Syria and Palestine to give Persia access to the Mediterranean.

How's this?
 
Very good, but all this does is keep the Arabs out of Persia. What keeps the Persians from converting? Personally, I think what would be better would be if the Byzantines and Persians drive the Muslims back into the desert. That keeps the caliphate from becoming a threat to our Zoroastrian Persia.
 
DominusNovus said:
Very good, but all this does is keep the Arabs out of Persia. What keeps the Persians from converting? Personally, I think what would be better would be if the Byzantines and Persians drive the Muslims back into the desert. That keeps the caliphate from becoming a threat to our Zoroastrian Persia.

How about there are converts, but this brings on a renewal movement in Zoroastrianism. I don't know much about Zoroastrian ritual but perhaps Reform Zoroastrian is iconoclastic and has a simple ritual like Islam. This is supported by the Shah and reinvigorates the religion.

Mesopotamia changes hands between the Arabs and the Persians every few decades or so.

Zoroastrianism spreads into N. India? Islam spreads along the coast of India but doesn't penetrate far in land?

The Central Asian Turks embrace Zoroastrianism? Zoroastrian Ottoman Empire?

"The Great Fire Temple is the highlight of any visit to Istanbul. Built by Mimar Sinan in the 1550's ...

The dakmas or 'towers of silence' on the Princes Islands are another "must see" attraction..."
 
Saoshyant

One thing to note about the religion of Zoroaster is that included a prophecy of a future apocalyptic savior called Saoshyant. At some point this will be causing somebody to go around saying he is Saoshyant.
 
mishery said:
How about there are converts, but this brings on a renewal movement in Zoroastrianism. I don't know much about Zoroastrian ritual but perhaps Reform Zoroastrian is iconoclastic and has a simple ritual like Islam. This is supported by the Shah and reinvigorates the religion.

Mesopotamia changes hands between the Arabs and the Persians every few decades or so.

Zoroastrianism spreads into N. India? Islam spreads along the coast of India but doesn't penetrate far in land?

The Central Asian Turks embrace Zoroastrianism? Zoroastrian Ottoman Empire?

"The Great Fire Temple is the highlight of any visit to Istanbul. Built by Mimar Sinan in the 1550's ...

The dakmas or 'towers of silence' on the Princes Islands are another "must see" attraction..."

Yeah, thats a good possibility. Of course, I'm a sucker for having the Byzantines survive...
 
As Tughril Beg (is this an islamic name?, if yes it will need to be changed in ATL), the founder of Seljuk empire is not a Muslim in this ATL, but rather a Zoroastrian, he is less interested in conquering the Christian Byzantine empire, he is more interested in creating a new Turkic Zoroastrian Empire comprising of the those lands once ruled by Persia and neighbouring lands. Much more resisistance from the Arabs...and no battle of Mazinkert, no Turkish Anatolia and probably no crusades. Big old butterflies...but Byzantium survives.
 
mishery said:
As Tughril Beg (is this an islamic name?, if yes it will need to be changed in ATL), the founder of Seljuk empire is not a Muslim in this ATL, but rather a Zoroastrian, he is less interested in conquering the Christian Byzantine empire, he is more interested in creating a new Turkic Zoroastrian Empire comprising of the those lands once ruled by Persia and neighbouring lands. Much more resisistance from the Arabs...and no battle of Mazinkert, no Turkish Anatolia and probably no crusades. Big old butterflies...but Byzantium survives.
Works for me. :D
 
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