An Age of Iron and Rust

"...our history now descends from an empire of gold to one of iron and rust, as affairs did for the Romans of that day."
Roman History, by Cassio Dio.

363 - The Roman Emperor Julian, commands an invasion of Sassanid Persia, in order to solidify his position with the Eastern Army. Despite defeating a Persian army, the roman forces failed to achieve their many goal, the conquest of Ctesiphon. Believing that the Sassinid forces were weaker than his own, the Roman Emperor ordered the burning of his fleet, forcing the roman forces to take the land rote back to the Empire. At Samarra the Persian forces attack the rear of the Roman column. In the following skirmish the Emperor is wounded, but manages to rout the Persian forces.

Despite the best attempts of Oribasius of Pergamum, the wound is to severe and the hemorrhage can't be stopped. Knowing his end is near, the Emperor appoints his old friend Saturninius Secundus Salutius, as his successor, despite the latter claims that his old age and illness made him unsuited to the Purple. Knowing that his old companion will honor his will, the Emperor spends his last moments, discussing philosophy with him and Oribasius. His last words were : "Don't make such long faces my friends, for today i will be in the Plains of Asphodel, with Hadrian and Aurelius."

The next morning Salutius was acclaimed Emperor. His first command was to order a forced march north, to try to rally with the forces commanded by the late Emperors cousin, Procopius.

After a week of forced marches, the Roman forces managed to find Procopius forces near the town of Nineveh. There the Roman forces, make a stand, challenging the Persian into open battle.

The King of Kings Shapur II, knowing that his forces can't defeat the Romans, that now number 55000 men, sends envoys to negotiate a peace treaty with the new Emperor.
After two weeks of negotiations both sides come to an agreement. Their will be no change in the borders, or areas of influence that both Empires hold. The captives of both sides will be traded in exchange of payment. Even through the treaty ended protecting the interests of both sides, neither the Roman Emperor nor the King of Kings are happy with the end result.

364 - Emperor Salutius, adopts Flavius Valentinian and appoints him as Caesar and sent him Mediolanum were he would command the Roman forces in the West, while Salutius remained in the East.

365 - Procopius appears in Constantinople, while Emperor Salutius was in Antioch, declares himself Emperor and bribes the two legions stationed there and quickly took control of Thrace.

Salutius was preparing to march against the usurper, when a messenger arrived from Constantinople. The rebellious legions had murder the usurper after he failed to give them the money they had been promised and now asked the Emperor if he would forgive them. Salutius needs every men he need in the army, so the two legions are quickly forgiven, but their rebellion will not be forgotten. Knowing the disloyalty that ran in the army, Salutius begins working on a new military reform.

In the West, Caesar Valentinian manages to defeat the Alamanni near the city of Durocortorum, and manages to convince the survivors to enlist in the Imperial Comitatenses.

366 - Emperor Salutius crosses the Danube, with his Comitatenses and the border legions in an effort to drive the Visigoths further north.

Jovinus is appointed Magister Equitum, by Valentinian. The Caesar then proceeds to order his new Master of the Horse, to invade Alemanni territory.

367 - Jovinus campaign is a success and the Alemanni agree to stop their raids into roman territory and to provide 5000 men to the Comitatenses.

In Gaul, Valentinian plans to strength the border legions, but can't find enough able men to serve in the army. After going to a Imperial mine, he decides to enlist the slaves into the Limitanei. Valentinian is skeptical about them but he is desperate for new soldiers, but he soon finds out that for a men that as survived the live in the mines the live of a soldier is a paradise. These men would then proceed to prove themselves to be steady soldiers, able to endure the hardest of privations and with an almost fanatical loyalty to their Caesar.

The Danubian campaign goes well and the Visigoths are forced to retreat, but Emperor Salutius isn't well. The Emperor was well into his fifth decade when he was acclaimed as Augustus, he had always been a men with an iron health, but this campaign proved to be a hard probation to him. The aged Emperor was now a tired sixty-one year old men, and he knew that he wouldn't be able to continue campaigning, so he signed a treaty with the Visigoths. The Goths are forced to retreat two hundred miles from the Danubian border, their chieftains must send their sons has hostages, to Constantinople, and lastly they must provide 4000 horsemen to the Comitatenses.

368 - In Britannia the roman garrison on Hadrian's wall revolts and allow the Picts to invade roman territory, at the same time the Scotti and the Attacotti invade from Hibernia while Saxon and Frankish warships raid northern Gaul and southern Britannia.

Valentinian sends Flavius Theodosius to Bononia, where he is ordered to gathered an army with the available military units. The army that sets sail was composed by the Heruli seniores, the Batavi iuniores, one vexillationes from the Legio I Flavia Gallicana Constantia, another vexillationes from the Legio II Britannica, the newly raised Legio X Flavian Fidelis, the Alae Sarmatian and the Alae I Augusta Ituraeorum sagittariorum making a total of 7000 infantry and 1000 cavalry.

Theodosius managed to defeat the Picts near Eboracum and then proceed to attack the Scotti that were besieging Isca Silurum. When he arrived in Isca the Scotti had already retreated back to Hibernia. He then declared a amnesty to every men that came back to Imperial allegiance, allowing him to regarrison Hadrian's Wall.
In the south the Classis Britannica and the Classis Germanica had managed to defeat the Saxonic and Frankish raiders.

369 - Following his victories against the Picts, Theodosius decides to invade Scotti territory, in order to stop their attacks against Britannia Secunda. He gather his forces, now 8000 strong, and sets sail from Segontuim to northern Hibernia. They land near a river, the locals call Ban-dea. The local tribes seeing the size of the roman force, put aside their hates and differences to fight the invaders. Despite their bravery, the Scotti tribes are defeated and the chieftains are forced to accept the status of Foederati , must provide enough men to field three cohorts and are forced to send their eldest sons to Londinium as hostages.

In Africa a revolt was hatching. Firmus, the son of a local Moorish Prince, was enraged with the behavior of the Comes Africae Romanus, and disappointed with Imperial inaction against this corrupt commander.

In the Danubian border, Valentinian ordered the construction of fortifications in Quadi territory, enraging their King Gabinius.

370 - With the war in Britannia finished Caesar called back Theodosius and his army back to the continent. Then as a reward for his victories in Britannia and Hibernia, Valentinian rewarded Theodosius with a promotion to Magister Peditum.

In the East, Emperor Salutius finished the his plans to a new military reform in the Empire and begun implement them. The Salutius Reforms, has they were to be known, were a series of measures to ensure the loyalty of the troops to the Emperor[1].

371 - After two years of planning Firmus and the rest of conspirators killed Romanus. Then the they proceeded to declared Firmus as Roman Emperor.

In the western Danubian border King Gabinius attacked the roman fortifications and then he proceeded to invaded Noricum ripense with a mixed horde of Sarmatians, Goths and Quadi.

To face both dangers, Valentinian sent Theodosius with the army in Hispania to face the African usurper, while he and Jovinus faced the Danubian invasion.

Meanwhile, the Sassanid King Shapur II died, being succeed by his son Shapur III. The death of this great monarch, marked the end of the Sassanid Gold Era.

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[1] The next update will be entierly about the Salutius Reforms.

Oooh, A Late Antique TL! Dis gonna be good!

A good start certainly, I wonder what this somewhat greater stability and security has already done for the economy (if only by not having to give as many donativum to the army)

Salutius Military Reforms - Bellicus to Order

During his reign, Emperor Constantine, had divided the Roman Army into two regular unit types[1]:

• Comitatenses
• Limitanei

The Comitatenses were officially created has a central reserve, that the Emperor could use to fight back any invasion in a certain area, in reality they were created so that the Emperor could had a strong army nearby in case of rebellion.

With the creation of the this type Comitatenses (at least since Gallienus, the Emperor had a Comitatenses but that was much smaller than before the Constantine's reforms), the border armies, Limitanei, were the only ones left to fight raids and invasions.

Emperor Salutius realized that this deposition of troops was a fatal mistake. With the majority of the Imperial forces concentrated deep inside the Imperium , there was barely enough men to patrol and guard the huge frontiers. But he also knew, that he just couldn't concentrate large armies in the borders, or, like in the third century, every general that won a battle against the invaders would bide for the Imperial Purple.

Salutius knew that the troops had a deep respect for him, but he had to implement his reforms in a smooth way or the army would revolt against the new regulations.

So, with this in mind, the first set of measures were purely bureaucratic and more focus on creating a strict military structure, and were known as Bellicus to Order.


Introduction of a career course in the military, the Tutela Bellum[2]. Now low ranking officers, were obliged to serve five years in the Limitanei, before being able to serve in the Comitatenses. High command was barred to this officers.[3]
Future high ranking officers, would first serve three years in the Protectores . Then they would obliged to serve has cohort commanders, with the ranks of Protector , in the Limitanei for four years. After their service in the border legions, they could continue to serve in the Limitanei, but this time as Praefectus, for another four years. Those that chose to be transferred to the Comitatenses, would keep their rank, but would receive the title of Tribunus , for four years. At the end of their, three years as junior officers and eight years of service as cohort commanders, they would now be available to serve as legion commanders.

Creation of a military court. This tribunal called Exercitus Lex, was created to regulate the army. Their purpose of its member was to create a series of regulations to ensure loyalty in the army, to judge the soldiers and officers and to implement a stricter discipline, through new regulations. Their members would be handpicked by the Emperor himself.

The command structure was rearranged. From that moment own hierarchy would be followed strictly, to the point where giving orders to units out of ones command, would end in a inquiry by military court. This way, only the Emperor could command every unit in the Empire, since every officer was directly under his command.

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This are the measures are the one Salutius implements in the last update. There will be more reforms to be made but i will only mention them when they are applied.
[1] - I'm talking about regular army units. Guard units are considered elite army units.
[2] - There had been a military course for the members of the Equestrian Order, called Tres Militiae.
[3] - This officers are forbidden to achieve High Command, because, the current Emperor still remembers about the barrack Emperors.

Looks good, I will be following this one.

372 - Theodosius arrives at Hispania, only to find a week and demoralize army. He tries to prepare them for campaign but he is forced to send to send a letter to Caesar, informing him that the army will only be campaign ready next year.

In the Danube, Valentinian is fighting the horde of king Gabinius. His forces fight bravely but his are too few. When Theodosius letter arrives, he sends back the courier with orders to bring the Hispanic forces to the border. The usurper Firmus will have to wait.

In the Sassanid Empire, the new King of Kings, Shapur III, is thinks of a new war. His father was the greatest monarch the Sassanid Empire ever had, and his son is determined to step way from his shadow. The enemy that would bring him the greatest glory in victory is the Roman Empire, but the Empire as already proven to be a hard prey, that still has enough teeth to bit. So, for now Shapur will leave the wolf alone, there are easier preys in the south.

From the great step a new horror is about to clash against the Empire.

The Huns have arrived.

And their first prey, are the Gothic tribes of the Thervingi.

373 - Last year, the arrival of Theodosius and his untrained army, had been enough to stabilize the border, but now Valentinian is determined to destroy the barbarian king Gabinius. Now the Quadi would learn about the rage of this particular Caesar.

In Africa, Firmus is trying find a compromise with the Emperor, but the sixty-six year old Augustus already has an heir and, even though they aren't blood related, he his determined that he will become the Emperor of all the Empire and not only part of it.

In Crimea, the Huns defeat the Alans near the Tanais River, and then proceed to attack the kingdom of the Greuthungi.

The Gothic king Ermanaric manages to defeat a Hunnic column, lead by the warlord Rugila and forces the Huns to retreat from Greuthungi lands, but his victory will be short lived. For less than two months after his victory, he is deadly wounded by the two brothers of Sunilda, the wife he had put to death.

374 - Emperor Salutius orders an expedition to be sent against the African usurper. The expedition will be lead by Theodosius the Younger, son of the Western general Theodosius the Elder. With the aid of his main adviser Oribasius, he begins to plan the implementation of the second part of his military reforms.

The campaign against the Quadi and their allies goes well for the Empire, with Jovinus defeating their Sarmatians allies near Gorsium, while Valentinian and Theodosius managed to capture the younger son of king Gabinius in a skirmish near Carnuntum.

375 - The Quadi war rages on, but now the Imperium his on the attack with roman columns systematically burning down Quadi villages and killing their population.

Theodosius the Younger, storms into Carthage and captures the city after a two weeks siege. Firmus retreats into the african desert where he will lead a guerrilla campaign with the aid of the indigenous tribes.

Aws ibn Qallam[1], king of Lakhmid, thinking the new Sassanid king to be a weakling minded foul, renounces him has his suzerain and declares himself King of all the Arabs.

Shappur III advances with his army against the rebellious Lakhmid king, but the Arab king isn't a foul. Realizing he could never hopped to defeat the Sassanids in a open battle he uses light cavalry tactics and the arabic desert as a weapon against his Persian foes. This war will be long a bloody.

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[1] POD - Aws ibn Qallam was a christian arab noble, that was the fourth Lakhmid king. He was supposed to die in 368, at the hands of the Lakhmid nobleman Juhjuban ibn Atik al-Lakhmi during the latter's revolt.

Might need some bits of copy-editing, but still a good new update ! I wonder if the Empire's offensive in Germania might push some people toward the Goths, thus strenghtening them a bit against the Huns (especially if its Sarmatian cavalry that goes East)

Hecatee - thanks for the feedback especially the part of the editing (English isn't my first language and sometimes I mess up with the grammar). Now about your questions: the stability was doing wonders for the economy until the African revolt. Without the African grain, prices in Constantinople and Rome rose and with the need of keeping a strong currency parts of the empire are in economical crisis (I will be making an update about the economy and religion and I expect it to be done at the end of the week). I can't reveal the part about the goth hunnic wars but let's just say Attila won't have an easy time with them.

TaylorS - thanks mate

Donald Reaver -thanks mate

I will post an update tomorrow (unless Jupiter optimus maximus decides to destroy my laptop ) and here is a hint of what's coming


"Why did you, a Ephthalite, risked your life to save me when my own countrymen have decided betray me?" Arsham's answer came without hesitation " Because you are my King"

374 – The African campaign was going badly, for Theodosius the Younger. Despite having lost the majority of the African cities loyal to him, the African usurper wasn’t willing to give up. Using his knowledge of the African landscape, and with the help of the Berber tribes, Firmus manages to elude the roman forces and is even able to defeat one roman column marching to Leptis Magna. In Carthage, Theodosius’s despair grows every day.

After almost four years of intense warfare, the hordes of the Quadi are destroyed by an army lead by Jovinus. King Gabinius, manages to escape the escape the battle, only to be murder by his eldest son, Vannius.

In Constantinople, the Emperor was about to start the implementing of the second phase of his reforms,when in late November he has a stroke. The Emperor manages to survives but it take him almost one year before he completely recovers.

375 – The Desert War rages on. Shapur’s attempts to crush this Arabic revolt keep on failing, and after two years of military blunders the Sassanid noblemen are tiered of this weak ruler and begin to plot his murder. Their plot would succeed had it not been for the intervention of a Ephthalite guardsmen, named Khush-Newaz. While on guard duty, he sees that a group of nobles were about cut the ropes of his tent while he was inside. Knowing that the life of his King is at risk, he takes out his sword and rushes in to save his sovereign. Disturbed with the noise outside, the King of Kings leaves his tempt, only to find this brave Ephthalitewarrior fighting against five Persian nobles. The King quickly calls for the rest of the guard, that alerted by the noise arrive at the scene and quickly apprehend the traitors. Shapur impressed with Arsham’s loyalty, asks "Why did you, a Ephthalite, risked your life to save me when my own countrymen have decided betray me?" Arsham's answer came without hesitation " Because you are my King".

Impressed with the devotion the Ephthalite showed to him, Shapur promotes him to commander of his personal guard, and decides the Sassanid Empire needs to change his ways. During all his reign he, like his father and his father before him, treated the Ephthalite tribes [EXTRA] with contempt and had forbidden them from attaining high office, the King of Kings learns a valuable lesson that day. And from now on, Persian and Ephthalite would ride, fight and die as equals.

In the Imperium everything is going well.

The African campaign is over. Theodosius the Younger, tiered of the guerrilla war, bribes some of the Berber tribes. The deal is highly profitable for this tribes for, in exchange of 60000 solidi all they had to do is capture and hand over the usurper. In April the usurper is captured and the war is over.

In the West peace is reigning. With the end of the Quadi war the borders have been in relative peace. But events in Constantinople are about to end it.

In December the Emperor is already full recovered and, despite his age, wastes no time and goes back his second pet project [1], the Salutius Monetary Reforms, when a delegation arrives from Mediolanum. The leader of this delegation,is Aurelius Ambrosius the Bishop of Mediolanum himself.

They went to Constantinople demanding the Emperor gives back to them the privileges that Juslianus had revoked [2]. The Emperor tells them that if he does that, then he must give the pagan priests equal privileges, or he will go against his own Edict of Tolerance. The clergymen tell him that the followers of false gods deserve nothing and that the true followers should be rewarded. With heavy sarcasm, Salutius tells them that if they are true followers of Christ then they must rejoice with the “privations my predecessor, and friend, decided to give you”. Enraged the Bishop declares that the Emperor is a follower of Satan and a false Christian and even threatens him with excommunication.On that moment the Emperor lost control of his temper and orders the arrest of the delegation. Afterwards he declares the Edict of Separation [3].

In response the Arian and Catholic priests declare that Salutius is a false Emperor and a follower of Satan. The Orthodox priest stay quiet.

The Secular Schism, is born.

376 – Theodosius the Elder is sent to Britannia with the rank of Dux Britannicus and is ordered to augment the area of roman territory in Hibernia. The plan is to create a Pro-Roman tribal hegemony in the island that will send men to fight in the legions.

The Western clergymen begin to incite the population to revolt against, “The Pagan Tyrant”. Unfortunately for them, the common people love this Emperor that as managed to give them a full decade of relative peace and stability, so most of the appeals only work against the clergy, that are seen as greedy men that only cared about their privileges.

The Desert war is nearly finished. King Shapur’s new legislation that allows the Ephthaliteto serve in all arms of the Army and even allows them to held civic and military offices, allowed him to create a new Sassanid Army that is completely loyal to him. The Ephthalite horsemen are unleashed against their ancient foes and are able to ambush and kill Aws ibn Qallam, thus ending the revolt.

377 – While in Isca, Theodosius is approached by the Britannic bishops. They have proposition to him. In exchange for the recovery of their former privileges, and the creation of several new ones, they will give their support to the general if he bides for the throne. Needless to say the aged general is enraged by this demonstration of betrayal and orders the arrest of the bishops. When one of them asks him why does he betray the Mother Church, his answer is simple “I may be a son of the Church, but I’m first and foremost a soldier of the Emperor.” Afterwards he sent the traitors, with a strong escort to Constantinople.

When the traitors arrive, they find both the Emperor and his heir waiting for them.

Valentinian had been called to the Capital to the discussion of the new monetary and economic reforms and they had been in consilium, when news of the Britannic Conspiracy arrived. The Caesar, despite being an Nicene Christian, like the Bishops involved, wanted to have them crucified, to send a clear message to every clergymen that dared to question Imperial rule. In the end the punishment the traitors suffered was in the words of the Caesar himself a lot worse that what he wanted.

They would be sent in exile to the Hunnic tribes, whose hatred to the catholic faith was well known in all the Imperium.

378 - Theodosius arrives with an army in Hibernia starting the, soon to be famous, Hibernian War. He will spent the next five years fighting in the island.

The War between the Huns and the Goths goes badly for the latter. They have been fighting a devastating war for the last six years and now they decided to turn to the Roman Empire for help. The Romans, despite being worried with the successes the Huns are having demand heavy terms. They demand near 100000 solidi and 5000 men to serve in the Limitanei legions stationed in the Sassanid border in exchange for their help. The Goths hard pressed by the Huns are forced to accept this treaty but they won't forget about this and their hatred grows.

Theodosius the Younger and Sebastianus are ordered to march with 30000 men from the Imperial Comitatenses.

Because of supply problems the expedition will only be able to leave Constantinople in late December.

379 - The Roman Expedition arrives at Crimea in the middle of January. There they randevu with the forces of the Gothic king Valamir. The allies have almost 60000 men, while the Huns only have 30000 of their own riders plus a few thousands of Sarmatian and Alan horsemen.

The two forces clash near a unknown river in northern Crimea and after a six hour battle the allies are victorious but the casualties are huge. Almost a quarter of their army his death and another ten thousand are hounded and while the Huns have been defeated they and even lost half of their army they only managed to defeat one of their two kings[5]. Gothic casualties were in the number of 15000 death and 5000 wounded while the Romans were only 5000 death and 6000 wounded. In the end the Goths are even more enraged with their Roman allies.

380 (part one) – In February Emperor Salutius dies after 17 years of rule, his death is deeply mourned in the East, while in the West the priests declare that his death was caused by the wrath of god. He is succeeded by Valentinian whose first act is to declare his son Gratian Caesar[4]. The Dual Monarchy will continue with a Caesar in the West and a Augustus in the East.

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[1] - the military reforms were implemented while he was convalescent.

[2] - most of Julianus or Julian the Apostate reforms were revoked in matters of religion except the right that Christian bishops had to be consulted on appointments and to act as private courts, among others things like not having to be part of the municipal curia.

[3] - This edict will be better explained in the next update. It's main purpose was to divide state and religion from one and other and the other purpose was to consolidate the power of appointing bishops in the hands of the Emperor.

[4] - His brother Valentinian II died in 373.

[5] - I will make an update about this battle. EDITE: decided to pass this battle because of lack of time, but if i make a thread in the Finished Timelines and Scenarios this battle will receive a proper update.

[EXTRA] - THANKS TO Epimethius that noticed a mistake in the TL, i changed the parthians for the white huns. In the TL the Hephthalite Tribes are stationed in the north of the Sassanid Empire with many of them serving in the armies of the persian kings but the Seven Parthian Clans demand that they should be barred from High command.

Do the slaves serving in the army receive their freedom?

Donald Reaver - During their army years they receive the status of Foederati. After they serve the 25 years, twelve active duty plus six as veterans plus seven as reserves, they receive full roman citizenship.

Karolus Rex said:

Donald Reaver - During their army years they receive the status of Foederati. After they serve the 25 years, twelve active duty plus six as veterans plus seven as reserves, they receive full roman citizenship.

Click to expand...

Won't all this exacerbate the existing Roman problems of labor shortages and shrinking tax bases? Rome really needed to break up the massive estates of the super wealthy, as they were partly responsible for the demonetization of the economy, made general manpower less accessible, and were not, as a class, very loyal to the state. I'm not sure what could fix Rome (In the West anyway) at this point, but the needed reforms are going to have to be quite deep.

iddt3 said:

Won't all this exacerbate the existing Roman problems of labor shortages and shrinking tax bases? Rome really needed to break up the massive estates of the super wealthy, as they were partly responsible for the demonetization of the economy, made general manpower less accessible, and were not, as a class, very loyal to the state. I'm not sure what could fix Rome (In the West anyway) at this point, but the needed reforms are going to have to be quite deep.

Click to expand...

From what i could gather Emperors only thought about short term solutions. So the plan to enlist slaves would be a solution for the lack of recruits for the army, and the Emperor would just ignore the need for labor shortages, plus the enlistment of the slaves would force the wealthy to employ citizens.

Since the army won't do any offensive campaigns, with the Hibernian campaign being the only exception, the wealthy will have difficulty to get new slaves.

Plus i need the wealthy to become a bit pissed off for my next update

380 (part 2) – In July the Hibernian campaign arrives at a cross roads. While the last two years have been successful, the Britannic army is now in a critical position. While Theodosius was campaigning deep inside northern Hibernia, news arrive from the forces stationed in Hadrian’s Wall.

The Caledonian tribes are invading Britannia Inferior.

Theodosius as two options, either he races back to Britannia, and the campaign would had to be postponed for a full campaign season, or he leaves the Britannic garrison to fight off the invasion and keeps subduing the Hibernians.

Knowing that every minute counts, Theodosius sends messengers to all roman forces of the campaign army, with orders to rally near Salutiusopolis [1], from where they will and sets sail to Caledonian territory. Meanwhile the Classis Hibernia sail to raid the Caledonian coast.

The army lands some forty kilometres north of Hadrian’s Wall, and they begin to raid every Caledonian village, to force the invaders to retreat from Britannia to face them.
After two weeks the Caledonian forces arrive near the roman encampment.

They number some fifteen thousand warriors.

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Battle for Hadrian’s Wall​

August 5, 380, some forty miles north of Hadrian’s Wall.

He was annoyed. A full campaign season was wasted, because the Comes Britannicus, suffered a panic attack he hated waste. Then a new thought came to his mind I could have him executed, he toyed with the idea for a while but then step it aside. He might despise the men, but he would never kill him for panicking, the man was an administrator not a soldier.
A noise can from outside his tent. Footsteps he thought Flavius must have news.

“Come on in Flavius,” said Theodosius.

“Sir, how did you knew it was me?” chuckled, Flavius Aurelius, while pretending to be surprised by his commander.

“You are the only men, whose footsteps, can be heard in Constantinopolis” Theodosius then stared at him “I can never imagine how did you managed to be part of the Agentes”

A smile can to Flavius face, but he kept himself quiet. He didn’t like to remember his days in the Agentes in rebus.

“Niceties aside Sir, the scouts inform that the barbarians left their encampment and are marching toured us.”

“Anything else?”

“The Praefectus sent a liburna informing, that his ships are two hours away from the coast”

“Did the Trierarch, said how much time it took him to arrive here?”

“He said, he can did the journey in one hour. But that if would took two to three hours to arrive.”

"Come with me, Flavius."

Theodosius rose from his seat and left the tent, with Flavius behind him.

His first order was for the unit commanders to come to his tent.

He was in the middle of ordering his cavalry to be ready to leave camp at any moment, when the army officers arrived.

“Everymen must have his horse ready to ride, and they must be in full battle gear, his that understood?”

“Yes, Sir” the decurion saluted his commander, before running to order his men to be battle ready.

Noticing the officers had arrived he turned to face them.

“Gentlemen, the enemy his approaching our position. Our scouts inform me that their forces ranged from ten to eighty thousand strong. The cavalry commanders are to go to their units, and they must be ready to leave camp. ” He paused to allow the officers to digest the information, and then pointed to Flavius. “Flavius, here, knows my purpose in doing this he will command the cavalry, and you are to obey every one of his commands, is that understood?”

“Yes, Sir”

“Flavius, go with them and inform them about the plan”

While Flavius left with the cavalry commanders, Theodosius signaled the infantry commanders to follow him.

“Iovinus, are your Gallic troops ready?”

“They are ready and eager.”

“Romulus, how are the Hispanic soldiers?”

“They demand to know, why he haven’t engaged the enemy earlier, general”

“Arbogast, are the Germans ready for battle?”

“The men are eager to make the Caledonians taste roman steel.”

“Demetrius, are your Sagittarii cohorts ready?

“They are determined that no barbarian will set his foot on this walls”

When they arrived at the battlements, he pointed to the forest some twelve miles [2] north.

“The cavalry will hide in that forest, and after the enemy employed every last of their reserves to the storming of our positions, they will move to attack the enemy from the rear.”

The commander of the X Hispanica Dimidium Legio, must have looked troubled for Theodosius asked what the problem was.

“General, would will the cavalry boys know when to charge? And unless the enemy scouts are blind they will notice the marks that the cavalry left, behind them.”

“Well regarding your first question, I fear we must rely in Flavius judgment.” He knew, Romulus wouldn’t very happy about this point. Even though he admitted that the young Illyrian officer was very skilled and resourceful, he despised his layback attitude and the fact that he was always the target of Flavius jokes. “About your other question, let’s just say that some of our scouts lost some ‘orders’ about a raid in a village, two days from here. So we have to hope that the barbarians fall for that trick, if not, we will once again be in the hands of Flavius, ever dwindling, good judgment.”

That last part, brought a smile to everyone’s face.

“Now I think you would like to know the battle order.” A grim came to Theodosius face while he spoke. “The eastern wall will be manned by the III Germanica Dimidium Legio, the southern wall will be under the guard of the X Hispanica Dimidium Legio and finally the Legio IV Galica Victrix will man the northern and western walls and they will also act as a tactical reserve.”

He then turned to the Praefectus Sagittarius [3].

“Demetrius, how many men’s do you have?”

Demetrius thought for a while before answering “I have some twenty-five hundred archers fit for duty and the other three hundred are in the infirmary, of those one hundred of them can fight but I’m afraid that the rest are too weak to fight.”

“Send two cohorts to support the Germans and other two to the Hispanics. That should leave you with some five hundred men in reserve.” Theodosius voice begun to show the iron beneath the men. “Gentleman, go to your troops make sure that they are ready to fight. I don’t expect the enemy to attack us today, it will take them a while to be ready for an assault so the attack will most likely happen tomorrow, but we must never underestimate the enemy so be ready for every possibility. Dismissed.”

The plan is set. Now all I can do is pray.

While praying, three words came to his mind.

Alea iacta est.

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August 7, 380

“Give the order centurion.”

“Yes, sir.” The centurion turned to the men and shouted “SAGITTARII, TO THE WALLS.”

Two thousand, mail cladded archers, begun marching to their positions.

“They are to open the moment the enemy comes into range. If any of them fires before order there are forfeiting their share of the spoils. Understood?”

“Yes, sir. I will inform the men immediately.”

The hard faced centurion, left Demetrius side to go back to the ranks with the new punishment for those that disobeyed orders.

He knew the new order would be resented, but he had to ensure that they didn’t wasted any arrows.

I shouldn’t waste time with thoughts like this, the Caledonians are a more pressing matter.

Five thousand Caledonian warriors, cladded with roman mail or good letter armours and armed with swords and spears, were advancing throe the eastern wall, bringing with them six latters, followed by two thousand men armed with bows and javelins.

Waiting for them were two cohorts of Sagittarii, armed with composed bows and short swords and protected with mail. Behind the Sagittariiwere two thousand men of the III Germanica Dimidium Legio, each one of them armed with a spear, a spatha, three plumbatas and an oval shield and protected by scale and mail armour.

“Arbogast can your boys take care of those ugly bastards?”

“You hurt me, with those words, Praefectus.” Said the stocky German officer. “It will be a black day, when a German warrior fails to kill an enemy.”

“Very funny Primus Pilus.”

“We can take care of them easily enough, sir.” Apparently, Arbogast decided to leave his jokes for a later time. "They may look menacing, but most of them only have letter armour to protect them."

Demetrius had to agree on that last part. The enemy did look menacing, but most of them were lightly armed, with the exception of a few hundreds that wore roman mail and brought heavy battle-axes.

"We can't spent more time chitchatting, Arbogast." Demetrius voice was harder than what he wanted. “Go back to your men, and make sure they take cover."

Its a shame we had to leave the artillery in Hibernia. Those barbarians would make a perfect target.

When the enemies, front rank was 400 meters away from the roman positions, Demetrius sent orders for the men to get ready to fire.

380...350...330...300...270...250...220... Now

"FIRE."

A thousand arrows, strung from the bows toward the Caledonian front line. The first barrage was still in the middle air, when the Sagittarii shot a second one.

Ignoring their casualties the Caledonians keep moving, trying to protect themselves, the best they could, with their shields. At 150 meters the Caledonian archers begun, firing back against the their roman foes. When the Caledonians were 80 meters away from the fortifications, the Sagittarii retreated from the walls, being replaced by the men from the III Germanica Dimidium Legio.

When they were fifty meters away from the walls, the men carrying the ladders begun sprinting to the walls, only to find a surprise waiting for them. For the terrain in front of the walls, was convert with caltraps.
And now the legionaries, begun throwing their plumbatas.

The barbarians were almost at the breaking point, when one of their chiefs grabbed a latter, by himself, and ignoring the projectiles and the caltraps run to the roman fortifications and managed to place the latter into the wall. Encouraged by their leaders' courage, the thirty-five hundred, remaining warriors gained hearth and stormed the roman positions.

The fighting was hard, with roman soldiers trying to hold to their positions, but then the enemy sent their reserves to the struggle. And now the enemies numbers were beginning to force them to give their ground.

The Caledonians were paying an high price, but now the roman line was beginning to waver.

Demetrius was running, through the lines trying to find Arbogast, when he noticed a group of soldiers dragging a corpse.

"What are you doing?" He demanded to know.

"Sir, the Primus Pilus was killed. We are trying to protect his body"

Demetrius was shocked to find that the german officer was killed. He had been a bigger than life figure. For him to end up dying, here was a surprise.

"Leave his body here, and go to general Theodosius and tell to that we need reinforcements." Seeing that the soldiers were too shocked to move, with the idea of leaving their commanders body in the mud, he shouted to them. "Arbogast wouldn't care of what happened to his body after he is dead, but i can assure that he will haunt us for all eternity, if we lose this fight. NOW GO."

My friend you died fighting, i can only hope that you are now feasting in your Hall of the slain.

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"Praefectus the scouts, say that the enemy have engaged all of their reserves into the fight."

"Very well. Draconarius signal the advance."

Flaivius was trilled. After two days of hiding and avoiding/killing the enemy scouts, all the men under his command were eager for a fight.

And now he would give them one.

************************​

"General, Praefectus Demetrius asks for reinforcements."

Before giving the soldier, an answer, Theodosius turned to the Tribunus in command of his Scoti Custodiae [4].

"Go to the southern wall, and warn me if the fleet comes into sight." He then processed to find the commander of the Legio IV Galica Victrix. "Tribuni Comites, leave two hundred men to man the western wall and send the rest of the men, stationed there, to reinforce Arbogasts' boys."

Now the die is really cast. Either i hope that Flavius arrives in time or that, the liburnian Trierarch wasn't only bragging when he said he could reach the fleet in only one hour.

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The southern wall was holding well.

Despise the casualties the X Hispanica Dimidium Legio was suffering the men were able to hold the battlements. But now, after three hours of intense fighting, the men were exhausted. And the Caledonians and just sent more fresh men to the fighting.

Ignoring, his own exhaustion, Romulus kept fighting. He knew the men were looking at him, and that if he showed any sign of weakness, they would lose hearth. So he keep going. His shield was shattered and his sword was beginning to blunt.

"Sir, Sir." A voice was shouting for him, but he ignored it and kept moving forward, against the Caledonians.

When he found, what he thought was the enemy leader, Romulus didn't faltered, he charged, in rage, against him. They were both armed with mail shirts, but Romulus Lorica was stronger and heavier, but he was weary and his sword was blunt. In contrast his opponent was fresh and had a heavy ax in his right hand, while the left held a wooden shield.

The Caledonian was the first to make a move. He swung his ax against Romulus head, trying to end the fight with one killing blow. Romulus rose his shield and stabbed is opponent, but his sword failed to go through the mail. Wasting no time, he used his shield as a weapon, hitting the Caledonian with it. The Caledonian was pushed back, but he immediately charged. They kept fighting, but Romulus was beginning to worm-out, all that kept him going was anger and fear. He was dodging a swing of the ax, that was aimed at his head, when he slipped and felt to the ground.

The ax once again swung, while Caledonian was smiling in triumph. Desperate, Romulus hold the shield with both hands, trying to protect himself for the upcoming blow. But the expected impact, never came.
Romulus was so surprised that for a moment, didn't knew what to do. Then a strange men appear and offered is hand.

"Do you need help?" The voice was strangely familiar.

Still to surprise, for still being alive, all that Romulus could do was to hold the strangers hand, so that he could rise.

"Who are you?"

"Seriously you don't know, who i am?" The men was clearing mocking him "I guess the barbarian, killed the what remained of your brain."

Romulus now knew who the men in front of him.

"Damn you Flavius" Despite his words, a grim came to his face.

Flavius had arrived in time.

The battle was won.

************************​

The Battle for Hadrian's Wall, ended as a decisive Roman victory over the Caledonian tribes. Roman casualties amounted to some two thousand death and a thousand wounded, while the Caledonian forces had lost over six thousand men, with an equal number having been captured.

Among the prisoners, was the High King of Caledonia, Cynbel. In exchange for his freedom, Cyndel was forced to accept the status of Foederati, the Caledonians were forced to supply fifteen hundred men to the Comitatenses every ten years and his two eldest sons were to be sent to Londinium as hostages.

381 - Caesar Gratian begins preparations for a campaign against the Lentienses.
In Constantinople, the Patriarch of Antioch, Meletius, asks the new Emperor to free Bishop Ambrose. The petition is refused.
The Hibernian Campaign manages a great success, when Theodosius achieves a great victory near the Boann river. With this victory the north and western parts of the island are subdue under roman rules.
In Ctesiphon, the King of Kings is readying is soldiers for war. With his new army, combining Ephthalite fast moving horse archers with Persian heavy cavalry, Shapur is confident he can defeat, his greatest enemy. The two decades of peace between Rome and Ctesiphon are over.
Death is coming from the east.



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[1] - Roman city founded in the mouth of the Ban-dea river. Capital of the roman province of Hibernia Inferior.

[2] - A Roman mile as a length of 1,481 meters (for you heretics that use the Imperial unit system, a roman mile is 1,617 English yards in length).

[3] - Praefectus Sagittarius is a new rank in the roman army, used to appoint the commander of all archer cohorts. It's an ad hoc officer rank, only used in campaigning armies. It's usually given to the senior Praefectus in command of a Sagittarii cohort. It's cavalry equivalent is named Praefectus Equites.

[4] - Theodosius personal guards. Their members are, recruited among the Scotti tribes. The name means Scotti Guard.

Loving this timeline well done but just one nit picky detail. The Parthians came before the Sassanids. The Parthians are as Persian as the Sassanids. The Parthians were a minor Iranian (or persian) tribe on the outskirts of the Selucid empire. They kicked the Selucids out and reestablished Iranian rule over the former Achamenid empire. The first Sassanian ruler appeared during the reign of Caracalla and led a successful rebellion that toppled the last Parthian ruler. The Sassanians are simply a much more civilized version of the parthians.

That minor correction aside keep it up I love seeing the Roman empire reform itself.

Epimethius - I will be honest, i always thought that the Parthian and Persian tribes were different. I thought that because of the existence of a Parthian and a Persian language, so i thought that they were two different Iranian tribes. For the sake of all my plans for this TL, please ignore that mistake , and pretend that they are different.

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382 – On the 15th of February, a small group of Ephthalite horse archers crosses the Sassanid-Roman border and raids the villages around the ancient city of Karkemish. They were followed by sixty thousand men commanded by the King of Kings himself.

News of the invasion only reach Constantinople, in the second week of March.

Emperor Valentinian, famous for his bad temper, was enraged by the news, and started yelling. So big was his rage, he keep yelling at every men of his court, until, he suddenly felt into the floor. His personal physician, noted that during his rage a blood vessel broke in his skull, killing him instantly.

The members of the Eastern Senate, unhappy with Gracians’ and Valentinians’ laws restricting the size of the land a men could own, decided to elect his own Emperor. Their purpose would, was to choose a man that would be little more than a puppet, to protect their ambitions and wealth. In the end, using bribery and treats, the man elected to wear the purple robe was the commander of the Thracian army, Theodosius the Younger.

While his son was bidding for the imperial throne, General Theodosius was overseeing the creation of a treaty with the south Hibernian tribes, ensuring that the full western part of Hibernia would be under roman control. In the last days of March, the treaty is signed and the Hibernian War is over, after almost five years and ten thousand roman casualties, the majority of which sustained during the Battle of Hadrian’s Wall and the Battle of the Bonan River. One week later Theodosius, now sixty-one years old, is wounded during a hunting trip by a stray arrow. When the news of his son betrayal arrive, the old general falls into lethargy and dies two days later. His last words were “May God forgive my son. For I cannot.”

Emperor Gratian is campaigning in the lands of the Lentieneses, when news of the usurper arrive. He decides to continue with the campaign, knowing that the usurper would be too distracted with the Sassanid threat, to mount an effective assault on his own lands. On the same day General Theodosius draws his last breath, the Emperor defeats and kills the Lentienese king Priarius, near Augusta Vindelicorum. Some thirty thousand barbarians were killed, while roman casualties amounted to a third of the Lentienese casualties. The loss of then thousand men was a bad blow to Emperor Gratia, but the destruction of the Lentienese tribe brought peace to the Danubian and Rhine borders.

In the East, the usurper Theodosius leaves the Thracian border army in Constantinople, while ordering the Anatolian and Thracian Comitatenses to advance against the Sassanid invadors. Half of the Anatolian army, marches to the Armenian border, to guaranty that the Armenians stay out of the conflict, while the other half, commanded by Sebastianus marches to Antioch. Theodosius, sets sail from Constantinople to Antioch. There he gathers the troops stationed in Syria, Syria Palestina and Egypt, raising the number of his troops from fifty thousand men to forty thousand. From the Syrian capital, he implements a scorched earth policy, while waiting for the arrival of the Anatolian troops.

In his camp, near Zaugma, Shapur receives a report from his Armenian scouts, informing that sixteen thousand roman soldiers are encamped near the Armenian border, in the city of Melitene, while another sixteen thousand are marching from Tarsus to Antioch. Shapur is determined to grab this golden opportunity. He sends twelve thousand horsemen, under the command of general Peroz to delay the roman force marching to Antioch, while he advances with the rest of his troops to destroy the romans near Armenia, for a victory against those soldiers would ensure that Armenia would join him against the Roman Empire.

To ensure the safety of his supply line, the king of kings leaves six thousand men as garrison in Zeugma, and moves to attack Samosata with thirty thousand infantry and fourteen thousand cavalry. The city lies in at the crossing point of the river Euphrates and is located at the end of several military roads. Because of his strategic importance, the city is protected by the Legio XVI Flavia Firma and several auxiliary cohorts. With thick walls and five thousand defenders the city is vital for the Persians, for it would open a door to Anatolia.

Despite the courage of his defenders, the city is successfully captured on the fourth day of the siege. Shapur impressed with the courage of the defenders, gives amnesty to all surviving members of the garrison. The remaining fifteen hundred roman soldiers are allowed to march from the city to Antioch, with their weapons and with their insignia's.

General Peroz manages to engage the roman forces, when they were crossing the Pyramus. The roman general Sebastianus, is able to keep the Sassanid forces at bay with the help of his light artillery, but suffers heavy losses during the first moments of the battle. The roman forces, retreat to the western bank and wait for help to arrive form Antioch. After three days of skirmishers, general Peroz orders his forces to retreat back Zeugma, but is intercepted, two days later, by seven thousand roman cavalrymen, commanded by Emperor Theodosius. Trapped between Sebastianus twelve thousand men and Theodosius seven thousand, Peroz decides to try to break through Theodosius forces. The Sassanid cataphractos and clibanarii charge against their roman counterparts. With the roman heavy cavalry distracted, Peroz orders the advance of his light cavalry. Armed with a compose bow and a short sword the Ephthalite horse archers, begin an attack against the flank right flank of Theodosius forces. The Emperor rallies a group of Syrian cavalry and charges against the hose archers, but one arrow kills is horse and he is put unconscious, and his brought back to Antioch by his personal guard. Rumors of the Emperors death quickly spread and the roman forces break and try to retreat. Peroz, amazed with the retreat of the roman cavalry, turns his army to face the forces of Sebastianus. With almost eight thousand men ready for battle, he sends the Ephthalite forces ahead of his heavy cavalry with orders to harass the roman infantry. Caught in open terrain, the legionaries form a hollow square and wait for the enemy to spend all his arrows. The Ephthalite commander orders his men to stop firing at the enemy, and waits for the arrival of the Persian heavy cavalry. When Peroz arrives, one hour later, he orders the ctaphractos and clibanarii to form a wedge behind him. The heavy cavalry begins a slow march towards the roman infantry, which transforms into a full gallop when they are two hundred meters away. The charge breaks the roman line and the light cavalry notices an opportunity and begins clouding the sky with arrow volleys. The battle of the Pyramus River, is a complete Sassanid victory, where they managed to defeat two roman forces at the cost of five thousand men but the romans lost over twelve thousand.

In October, Shapurs’ forces arrive at Melitene. The roman commander refuses to offer open battle and entrenches inside the city. Shapur can’t storm the city, for that would ensure a huge butchers bill, so he orders the blocked of the city. When general Peroz arrives, bringing the news of his victory, Shapur sends the general to Armenia to try to get their armies to his side. The Armenian king, impressed with the news of the Sassanid victory, is tempted to join their side, but there is a problem. He is a Christian and Shapur is Zoroastrian, and for the last eighty years the Persians have been persecuting the followers of Christ. In the end a treaty is signed. In exchange for Armenian aid against the Roman Empire, Shapur agrees in stopping the persecution of Christians inside Persian domains.
The siege of Melitene continues into late December, until a group of citizens opens the gates to the besiegers. The street fight that follows is terrible, but in the end the city falls into Persian hands. This time Shapur will not be as benevolent as he had been in Zeugma, and orders that every captive will be sent as slaves to the Eastern part of the Sassanid Empire.
In the West, Emperor Gratian begins preparations for an invasion of the Eastern Empire.

383 – In March, the forces of Emperor Gratian are marching towards Constantinople, when a messenger arrives with an offer. The commander of the Thracian army was killed and the commander of the troops elected the Roman-Vandal, Flavius Stilicho [1] as their commander. The officer, of vandal origin, knows that his men can’t possibly face the mighty of the Western Empire alone. So Stilicho proposes that his men would change their loyalty to Gratian and in exchange the Emperor will forgive the men of the Thracian army. Gratian quickly accepts the proposal and keeps Stilicho as commander of the Thracian army.

In April, Theodosius is forced to face the troops of Shapur near Caesarea. The Roman army was able to recover from last year’s casualties and now number sixty-eight thousand men. The Sassanid have a forty-four thousand men force, but an Armenian army of thirty thousand men is marching towards the battlefield. The romans, despite their numerical advantage, decide to stay on the defensive. Shapur, knowing that the majority of the roman soldiers are little more than raw recruits and forced conscripts, deploys is troops with the Daylami in the center, with horse arches and light cavalry in both flanks, while the heavy cavalry and light infantry stay in reserve. The first to advance are the foot archers that begin firing arrows against the roman forces. Theodosius orders his men to form in testudo and orders his light cavalry to rout the enemy archers. When the light cavalry approaches the Sassanid archers, the Ephthalite horse archers advance against their flanks, forcing them to retreat back to the safety of the roman line. This game of cat and mouse continues for several hours, until the Armenian army arrives at the field. Now that his allies have arrived, Shapur orders his heavy infantry to advance against the legionaries, while the cavalry begins harassing the enemy’s flanks. The Daylami are able to weaken the roman line, and when the Armenian infantry rushes to the front, Shapur orders his heavy cavalry to advance against the roman left flank. Victory is at Shapur’s grasp.

But when the Armenian infantry arrives at the front line, they begin attacking their Sassanid allies, while their cavalry attacks the Persian ctaphractos. In the same moment the Armenians begins attacking the Sassanids, Theodosius orders his own ctaphractos and clibanarii, to charge against the enemy.
Betrayed by the Armenians, Shapur rallies his troops and succeeds in breaking through the Armenian cavalry. Forced to flee from the battlefield with only his retainers and a few hundred Persian cavalrymen, the Sassanid King vows to avenge the Armenian betrayal and swears that when he is over Armenia will seize to exist. The Battle of Caesarea ends as a crippling defeat for the Sassanid Empire that loses all of their men, engaged in the battle, and are forced to retreat from roman territory. For the Eastern Empire and Armenia this is a huge victory, achieved with relative low casualties, only seven thousand romans and two thousand Armenians fall, compared with the twenty thousand Sassanid deaths with the rest of the army being sold into slavery. Theodosius victory is stained when he learns of Stilicho’s betrayal, and the loss of his European possessions.

Emperor Gratian, is forced to go back to the Rhine frontier when news of a Frankish invasion arrive at Constantinople, in middle May. He races back into Gaul with the Italian and Thracian armies, leaving the Hispanic army guarding Thrace and Greece.

In July, Theodosius crosses back to Greece, into Thessalonica, with the Anatolian and Egyptian armies. The Hispanic commander Iovinus, marches with his twenty thousand men to face the usurper’s thirty thousand men. The two armies clash near the city of Traianopolis, and after a five hour engagement, Gratian’s Hispanic troops break when their commander is killed, while trying to stabilise his army right flank. Despite achieving victory, Theodosius lost over ten thousand casualties and is unable to advance towards Constantinople, protected by eight thousand men. Unable to bring more troops from Asia, with fear that the Persians might attack, Theodosius leaves the army in Thessalonica, while he returns to Antioch to oversee the eastern borders.

It’s late July, when Gratian arrives with his men at Durocortorum. From the city he sends the Thracian army toward Colonia Agrippina, while he advances with the Italian army to Augusta Treverorum. During the last two months the Galic army under Magister Militum Aegidius, was able to hold their positions in Gemania Inferior, but the Frankish were still able to raid the province and at one point they had almost capture Augusta Treverorum, but Aegidius was able to repel them. Now with the arrival of fifty thousand fresh troops, the Romans are able to fight back against the enemy. With the Rhine border stabilized, Gratian campaigns into the Frankish lands bringing havoc and destruction. In the end the Franks are forced to submit to Imperial Power, forced to accept the status of foederati and obliged to provide three thousand men to the Hibernian and Britannic armies. But the last of the Frankish forces only bend their knee in late October, too late into the campaign season for Gratian to advance back into the East.

In Salutiusopolis the Comes Hibernicus Flavius Aurelius, begins planning a campaign to conquer the rest of the island for the Roman Empire. When he sends a request to the Emperor for the campaign, the answer is positive but comes with one condition. Flavius can advance with the subjugation of the rest of the Hibernian tribes, but first he is order to bring his fifteen thousand veterans to the continent for next year’s campaign against the Eastern Empire.

384 – The loss of his western armies was a crippling blow to Shapur’s ambitions, but the King of Kings has a powerful drive behind him. Revenge.
He orders the tribesmen from the upper Iranian plateau to gather at Ctesiphon, while messengers ride to far way satraps in the Indian border. Shapur even offers gold to the far north hordes in exchange for military service. The preparations take a full year to finish, but in the end Shapur’s army numbers over sixty thousand infantry and twenty-five thousand cavalry. To support them were twenty-two Indian war-elephants, and eight thousand nomads from the Hunnic and Magyar tribes.

In Antioch Theodosius spends the first three months gathering extra troops. After leaving two extra Dimidium Legio in Syria, he sets sails toward Thessalonica, were his armies wintered. When he arrives he begins preparations to advance towards Constantinople.

Emperor Gratian concentrates the Italian and Hibernian armies in Iuvavum, before marching across Illyria to face the Eastern usurper.
One month later, while the Western armies rest in Naissus, news arrive from the Eastern capital. Constantinople is under siege, and the commander of the city asks the Emperor to speed up his advance, for the city is about to fall.
Gratian manages to arrive at Constantinople after two weeks of forced marches, but it is too late, Constantinople fell to the usurper. Having left the artillery train in Iuvavum, to speed up the march, the Western Emperor is forced to retreat for the time being. He decides to leave his troops encamped near Naissus, allowing him to control all of Moesia Superior, while he returns to Augusta Treverorum determined to ensure the borders safety for next year’s campaign.

385 – Shapur is once again ready for war. After being forced to spend the last year recovering from the wounds at Caesarea, the King of Kings is determined that he will be the one to have the last laugh. He sends his nomadic mercenaries ahead to cause havoc in Armenia, a kingdom he is determined to destroy. With the Armenians distracted with the nomad thread, Shapur orders his men to march against the romans, laying siege to the ancient city of Palmyra, determined to burn her to the ground.
Theodosius is unable to go back to Syria with the Western armies at his doorstep, and he is only able to send five thousand men to aid the Syrian army, commanded by Magister Militum Maurus.

General Maurus is unable to face the Sassanid forces with thirty-five thousand men, and his eventually trapped with his army inside Antioch.
Shapur begins the Great Siege of Antioch and orders general Peroz to take twenty thousand men to crush the Armenians.

In Thrace, Emperor Gratian advances ahead of a fifty thousand men army against the city of Constantine. Theodosius desperate to return back to Syria, to try to save his part of the Empire, abandons Constantinople to the advancing Western Armies.

He arrives at Laodicea two weeks later, and orders an advance to relive Antioch.

When they arrive, they find the full Sassanid army entrenched and ready to face them.

With their forces evenly matched, both sovereigns are reluctant to offer open battle. Instead they reach an agreement. In exchange for peace, Theodosius must pay one hundred thousand solidus and his forced to aid Shapur in the destruction of the kingdom of Armenia. The Eastern Emperor is reluctant to agree to such terms, but if the situation develops into a full battle he will still be forced to face the Western Armies that are already in Nicomedia.
In the end they agree on the following terms:

• Armenia is to be divided between both Empires;

• Theodosius will aid in the subjugation of the Armenians, and in exchange Shapur will allow his nomad mercenaries to aid the Roman Emperor to face the Western Armies;

• Theodosius agrees to pay fifty thousand solidus in a two years term, with a further fifty to be paid in advance.

The rest of the campaign season is spend defeating the Armenian armies, while the Western armies capture the cost of western Anatolia and the African army prepares an advance towards Egypt.

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[1] – in this TL, Stilicho father achieved the rank of Tribunus, thus allowing Stilicho to rise to the roman high military ranks.

Who are these separate groups of Christians you refer to as Orthodox and Catholic?