Pertinax and the Praetorians: a Rome TL

[CandyDragon]

I was reading about the year of the 5 Emperors, and was intrigued by the preliminary Emperor, Pertinax, a man who had had a long successful military career, and seemed to have his head in the right place, increasing silver content in the currency.

As deeply influenced by the Romans and their culture and methods of war we are, we often wonder what would have happened had the Empire not fallen. This has given rise to a number of Timelines focused on various points of divergence. This timeline will not involve Rome to 2011 (or 2012), though it uses a PoD that was used, in the novel “Romanitas” to bring Rome to the modern era. However, I will have a fall of Rome, when the circumstances are right for such a thing. Rome was bound to fall someday, whether I like it or not. This fall may be entirely different, or in a different manner than the idea of a “fall” in many of your eyes, but that matters little. This will occur naturally, and as such I will never be planning more than 20 years into the timeline, in an attempt to keep the timeline fresh, and to keep it from seeming stale. This timeline will probably not include a full exploration of all topics, as that would be insane for a timeline.

Now, after I’ve scared off all you who would be afraid of such a strange and stale undertaking I will reveal the PoD, and the method I will be using. I am going from the reign of Pertinax, who, after some of the Praetorians revolted (in a sense of the word) and went to his palace to “have a little chat with him” was cut to bits, because he went and had a little chat with them. In this time, I am going to assume that he sends for the Equites Singulares Augusti, the faithful bodyguards of the Emperor (and the cavalry counterpart to the Praetorians,) to go and chop the revolting Praetorians into little bits.

The butterfly style I will be using for this TL will be moderate. Some changes will have resulted in chains of changes that resulted in zero divergence, while others will have major divergence. However, geography will still be important in this TL, because this must be reasonable. I will not have random wanky expansionism, no matter how fun it is. Now that’s all over, why don’t I actually begin. Additionally I will be using OTL dates (November, AD, etc.) rather than Roman, because it just gets wacky after a while.

BTW: Actual content will be in Times New Roman, Authors Notes, Prefaces, etc. will be in standard font.

[Pertinax]

[OTL SECTION]

The Emperor Pertinax took power immediately following the reign of the debauched and insane Commodus, son of the philosopher-king Marcus Aurelius. After a palace conspiracy, which may or may not have involved the future emperor himself, the chief conspirators went to the ornate mansion of Pertinax, where on the 31st of December 192 AD, they offered him the position of Emperor. After a long night of preparation, the following morning, he went to the Castra Praetoria, and was proclaimed Emperor.

Attempting to adopt moderate ruling policies, Pertinax was frustrated in many regards by the Praetorians, who, enraged by his reluctance to pay them the traditional bonus they received upon the ascension of a new Emperor. Eventually, convinced by their rhetoric (ability to kill and overthrow him) he relented, and sold off the estates and sex slaves of Commodus, though many rumors say he bought a good deal of those for himself.

In March of that year, after setting down several currency reforms designed to curb inflation, he was the victim of an attempted coup whilst inspecting arrangements for the grain handouts in Ostia. When he returned to Rome, the ringleaders were executed, and the attempted Emperor, the Consul, Quintus Sosius Falco, was pardoned. Later in March, after receiving either less of the promised pay, or being displeased at the failure of the coup earlier, late at night 300 of the Praetorian Guard, armed only with their blades, were allowed into the courtyard of the palace, intent on killing the Emperor and placing one more favorable to their interests on the throne.

[Praetorians]

Pertinax refused to come out of the palace, (PoD) instead sending an envoy to declare them as acting against their interests, as well as those of the State and of the Gods, and thus rebels. At that point, the Equites Singulares Augusti, who had been roused earlier in the night after reports of the Praetorians entering the palace reached them, charged into the mass of unarmored Praetorians, killing them all within a very short period of time.

Immediately afterwards, Pertinax sent the Imperial Cavalry to the Castra Praetoria, where the faithful bodyguards of the Emperor killed nearly a thousand of the Praetorian Guard before they could even attempt to resist. By the end of the next day, most of the Praetorian Guard was dead or captured, and the Emperor declared them enemies of the state, and had the living ones deported to mine the rest of their days away in Spain.

Soon afterwards the Praetorian Guard was disbanded permanently, with lasting consequences for the state, and no new bodyguard was devised. Lacking entirely a full replacement for the Praetorian Guard, it would be nearly 5 years before such a thing would occur.

The policies of Pertinax were distinctly senatorial, as he had been a significant member of that body, and derived much support from them as well. Later in the year 193, towards late September, he removed the idea of “Equestrian” provinces. Henceforth all political power was concentrated within the millionaire senators, and all senatorial power was derived from the Emperor, largely by concentrating all power within his own person, a strategy which had been used to greater effect by Emperors such as Augustus before him.

Through much division of power, by the end of the year 193, Pertinax was reasonably secure in his throne, enough to finally implement the fiscal reforms that he had been planning. The silver content and gold content of coins was significantly increased, and agricultural reforms (which in OTL had been proposed) were implemented, giving fallow land the ability to be plowed and used by whomever should occupy it. This reform largely benefited the large scale landowners, who had the power to enforce their control of the land, and lead to much servitude by lower classes, an unintended effect.

In 195, after roughly three full years in power, Pertinax died, at the age of 69, in his sleep. His son, Publius Helvius Pertinax, who was eleven at the time, succeeded him, having been nominated as "Caesar" two months before, under the regentship of a former general and personal friend of Pertinax, Didius Julianus, who had served with the dead Emperor as join Consuls under Marcus Aurelius.

The regent soon proved to be fond of his power, leading several futile raiding expeditions out of Dacia to pacify and subjugate unruly barbarians, cutting a swathe all the way to the Rhine both times. These raids did little, though they did endow the young Emperor with a love of martial affairs.

The Emperor accompanied the regent on these expeditions, after he reached the age of thirteen, proving to be a capable commander, as he defended the armies rearguard very ably after a German ambush just north of the Agri Decumates, as well as leading many other minor raids north of the border. These never involved enough troops to be quantified as a campaign, nor were they minor enough to not go down in the records, as they involved both possessors of Imperial Power.

Didius Julianus, however, proved weak in comparison to the senatorial forces that wanted to give the Emperor independence, in the hopes that he would prove susceptible to Senatorial prodding, rather than by the Regent. The Senators feared the development of new powerful Emperors not sympathetic to their cause, unlike Pertinax, and so attempted to free the Emperor from his regent.

At the earliest possible occurrence, when the Emperor was sixteen, the Regent was slain while touring the Forum, in a large-scale senatorial conspiracy. It is said that over twenty participated, each sinking a dagger into the Regent in an orderly manner.

Brash with youth, Publius Helvius Pertinax, who took the cognomen “Getis,” after his victories over many tribes of that area, had twenty senators arrested, and their estates confiscated after their death. This had the effect of placing the Emperor between camps pro-Regency, and pro-Senatorial dominance, as he attempted to consolidate his own personal power. However, afterwards, he placated the Senate with much conciliatory speechmaking, and announced his intention to lead an attack upon Parthia, in which he promised much glory would be had for all involved, in an attempt to secure his reign.

Before he left for his new campaign, Getis replaced the Praetorians finally, though he attempted to create a system to guard the Emperor with personal friends, as well as prevent the single united front the Praetorians had controlled before. Taking inspiration from Alexander the Great, whom he idolized, though he also acknowledged his shortcomings, Getis created a system where ten “Companions,” selected by each Emperor, commanded individual cohorts of the guards. Though this system was relatively short lived, it provided a durable Imperial bodyguard for a major period of Roman history, and one that did not have a tendency to play kingmaker.

In May of 200, Getis set out with a force of five legions, plus the ten cohorts of 500 that formed his bodyguard, towards Armenia, claiming that the king, long a Roman client, had betrayed the Romans for Parthian dominance. Regardless of the veracity of this statement, soon the Romans had occupied Armenia and the surrounding territory, all the way to the Caspian Sea, reaching what was effectively the edge of the Roman world.

By June, the campaigning season had largely ended, as only minor skirmishes continued along the border with Parthia. These began to escalate, until, in mid September, Getis marched into Parthian soil, apparently emulating Trajan, as he followed the course of the Tigris down to Ctesiphon, where, after a month long siege, was sacked in October, after the gates were betrayed. The city was almost depopulated, as the entire fit population, male and female, was marched away in chains, leaving only elderly and children.

The Romans knew they could not hold on to Mesopotamia, however, and so, by November sued for peace. Parthia, knowing they were not in a position to fight, due to harassment on borders both in Central Asia and in the Near East ceded all attempts to control Armenia, and gave some minor Mesopotamian territorial concessions. Leaving two of his legions in the region, Getis returned to Rome by mid December, where he celebrated a triumph against the Armenians and Parthians, taking the Parthian king’s throne and dragging it along the back of two chariots, before melting it down and donating it to the urban poor. (Actually, the throne itself provided little of the gold, with most of it coming from the remnants of the estates of the executed senators)

Soon, Getis would embark on yet more military campaigns, but for now, the Emperor contented himself with ruling his newly expanded Empire from his palace, and reveling in the power that his Empire, the greatest the world had ever seen, possessed.

[eliphas8]

Interesting, dont really know enough about Roman history to say how plausible this is but its atleast an okay read.

[CandyDragon]

Here's a map of what the Empire looks like. Sorry I couldn't create anything better, but my skills are rudimentary.

[eliphas8]

Originally Posted by CandyDragon

Here's a map of what the Empire looks like. Sorry I couldn't create anything better, but my skills are rudimentary.

That has some pretty massive implications for Roman political and economic history, having access to the Ural Sea means they essentially have opened up full contact with the Chinese empire.

[CandyDragon]

I actually had a bit of this chapter prepared even as I wrote the second one, so here it is, pretty damn quickly.


As a method of power consolidation, warfare was common for the Romans, dating all the way back to Emperor Claudius, who invaded Britain and added it to the Empire, largely for the prestige, and because it would cement his rule against the Senate. This pattern had continued, both because it brought much needed gold and slaves to the Empire for a comparatively low price (If all went well) and it always promised the idea of attempting expansion. However, for centuries, little new land had been added to the Empire. Armenia had been added, lost again, and added once more, as well as Dacia, which was a relatively solidly Roman province, conquered during the reign of Trajan.

The Emperor Getis, successor to Pertinax, having reconquered Armenia in 200, soon faced Equestrian dissent. After the end of Equestrian governed provinces under Pertinax, the Equestrians disliked their decrease in power, and began to plot against the Emperor, intending to replace him from one of their number, or so Getis claimed. Soon there was a silent war between Senators and Equestrians, and paid assassins and hired bodyguards made bloody war in the forums and mansions of Rome, violating the security between classes that had existed since the reforms of the early Republic.

Equestrians and Senators died in the dozens, a cost that Emperor Getis was too high, and demanded that it stop, offering the position of Companion, senior centurion of one of the ten cohorts that provided the bodyguard to the Emperors, to the Equestrians if the mayhem would stop. Having lost both Equestrian Provinces, and the idea of the Praetorian Prefect, soon the Equestrians came to a silent deal, and the ten Companions were appointed. The rank of a Companion was, according to court protocol, equal to that of the former Equestrian governors, and offered more profit under more successful Emperors, an incentive for the Companions to make thing secure for the Emperor.

(Lucius Septimius Bassianus)

After a short time, messages came saying that the governor of Armenia, Lucius Septimius Bassianus [1] had heard news that the Emperor had been killed, and went to stake claim to the throne, taking the two legions stationed in Armenia, as well as troops stationed in Pontus and Oriens. Angered by such hasty betrayal, Getis took the forces stationed in Gaul, Thrace, Greece and Dalmatia, and marched towards the source of the rebellion. However, two days before the armies were to meet, Bassianus was killed by his own troops. The Emperor placed Bassianus’s brother, Publius Septimius Geta, onto the governorship of Armenia, after redistributing the legions in the province in an attempt to lessen the likelihood of future rebellion.

Then, just weeks after the death of Bassianus, Getis sent his marshaled forces, originally gathered to combat the usurper, to face the Picts in northern Britannia, which had lately been a nuisance. In the mid summer of 201, Getis crossed the English Channel with four legions, the XIV Gemina, the IV Flavia Felix, the XI Claudia, the III Italica, and there took the II Augusta and the VI Victrix, and marched over Hadrian’s Wall, reoccupying the Antonine Wall, without any resistance, and refurbishing and reinforcing it over the course of the next month and a half with the intent of using it to base further expeditions northwards. However, by late October, the desired repairs and expansions were still not complete, and so Getis, impatient and worried about the security of his throne, left the British legions there, and returned across the channel.

Over the course of the next five years, Getis spent significant amounts of time supervising building projects within the city, developing the forums, and building a theater, dedicated to the deified Pertinax. The Theater of Pertinax also soon proved to be a popular destination for Senators looking to petition the Emperor for governmental positions. Roughly once a week, Emperor Getis would visit the theater and listen to petitions; though this was not unusual, this was the first location specifically used by Senators and Senators alone; this is generally assumed to be the complete end of Equestrian importance, as the Senators soon became the only ones who could hope to gain the Empire and Equestrians lost all important positions but that of Companion.



However, the social mobility that had often pervaded Rome still maintained itself, as Emperor Getis began to take positive views toward trade, almost unique amongst the Emperors to date. In an attempt to boost trade with other nations, Getis ordered a port build into the Caspian Sea, in the province of Armenia, which was completed in 208, and proved to be the basis of the Roman Silk Road that emerged later. A result of this end to demonization of wealth gained by entrepreneurism was the expansion of the arms factories in Spain, and a general overall wealth increase for the Empire as taxable trade became a popular outlet for many to attempt to become wealthier.

Ports were expanded throughout the Empire, during this period, in an attempt to link the Empire better, as well as provide the foundation for emergency troop transfer in the event of an emergency. Ships also underwent a revolution in this era, with sails becoming larger and more dominant upon trade ships, leading to a general increase in the speed of ships, as well as their capacity, as they required less crew.

During this period of increased trade, the trade with India greatly expanded. Whereas trade beforehand with India had resulted in the increase of the price of spices and other goods one hundredfold, soon they were going for only fifty times the price that they had cost in India. While this seemingly would deter traders, this only boosted trade with India, as ships became cheaper and more capacitive, links between Rome and India expanded.

In 209, Getis embarked upon the last major offensive of his reign, capturing Chersenesos, which had slipped from Roman rule after the reign of Trajan, and subjugating the northern Caucasus, creating a number of client kingdoms in that area. The conquests of Getis largely proved stable, with the Antonine Wall becoming the northernmost boundary of the empire for a long period of time, and the provinces of Bospora and Armenia proving stable for many years to come.


By 210, Getis, realizing he needed to provide an heir, adopted Titus Flavius Claudius Suspinianus Cassius, who may or may not have been actually descended from the famous murderer of Caesar. Reportedly, Getis was a virile man of considerable beauty, which lead those who wondered about his lack of a natural heir to have anything to do with a preference for boys over women, though these accusations lead nowhere.

During this period of time, Parthia, never happy with the results of her earlier war against Getis in which she was effectively defeated without any major victories, declared war in response to a raid that apparently came from the direction of Armenia. Whether this raid existed or not is, once again, a question best not worth asking, but it seemingly proved cause enough. The Parthian King, Vologases IV, who had just emerged from a brief civil war against an attempted usurper, tried to attack in an attempt to wrest away control of Armenia.

Parthian forces besieged the city of Ieravanum [2] in 212, where forces under the governor attempted to combat the Parthian siege, being driven into the city. Many attempts were made to mine under the walls, as the Caesar, Titus Flavius, struggled to arrive in time to save the province. Rather than cross the Bosphorus, this time the Roman troops were sent by ships, as the Imperial Navy proved useful in conveying Roman troops quickly to the coast of Armenia, after which a quick forced march brought them to the city, where Parthian forces were decisively defeated in a brief battle.

This marked the end of hostilities in the reign of Getis, as the German border was silent, as well as the Antonine Wall. Throughout the Empire, the Pax Romani was restored, and commerce boomed as the Empire looked brilliantly to its future. This continued for several years, during which little of event happened.

In 215, however, Getis fell ill of a violent fever, and for weeks hovered on the brink of death as the senators throughout Rome prayed for the revival of the Emperor that had restored so much of their powerful. The Emperor, however, awakened only once more, to clutch the wrist of Titus Flavius, and wheeze out his final words: “Duce” (Lead) before breathing his last. And so Publius Helvius Pertinax Getis Augustus ended his days, at the age of 34, deified upon his death, ruler of the known world.

[1]Yes, Caracalla revolted. This is a little easter egg I put in, just like Publius Helvius Pertinax’s supplementary cognomen being Getis, the reason being that he was executed by Caracalla in OTL for saying that in addition to his many cognomens signifying his victories over the Arabians, Parthians, etc., he should add Getis, which could be taken as a reference for Caracalla’s murder of his brother Geta. Caracalla was not amused, and had Publius Helvius Pertinax executed. In TTL, it just means that he defeated the Getae, a people who lived in northern Thrace/Dacia.

[2] My made up Latinization of Yerevan… during this period little is known of it, and indeed, until Sassanid dominance of Armenia, it appears little in the historical record.

[King of Rome]

I am liking this. Pertinax doesnt always get alot of love- all he wanted was some order.

[CandyDragon]

I always forget to attach the accursed maps to the post.


Rome after the campaigns of Getis:

[AlexG]

I love this era of roman history ! Well written and I can tell it will be very entertaining

[CandyDragon]

Originally Posted by King of Rome

I am liking this. Pertinax doesnt always get alot of love- all he wanted was some order.

Indeed! All Pertinax needed was some slack to make the magic happen...

Originally Posted by AlexG

I love this era of roman history ! Well written and I can tell it will be very entertaining

Thank you!! I'll do my best to deliver.

[Shogun]

Will there be conquests of Germania beyond the Rhine-Danube frontier in this TL?

[CandyDragon]

Originally Posted by Shogun

Will there be conquests of Germania beyond the Rhine-Danube frontier in this TL?

There may be, but nothing implausible, and probably not anything long term.

[eliphas8]

Originally Posted by Shogun

Will there be conquests of Germania beyond the Rhine-Danube frontier in this TL?

Why would they want it? Rome doesnt need more European land that it will have trouble defending Germania is untamable and near impossible to expand into without huge investment of troops and manpower.

[Silver]

Interesting timeline you have here. Please write more soon. Also, will the next Roman Emperor revive the Germanian provinces of Marcomania and Sarmatia, which were established during the reign of Emperor Aurelius, but which were abandoned by his son Commodus? Also, will the next Roman Emperor expand the Roman Empire to cover all of Caledonia (Scotland) and Hibernia (Ireland), and if not just lay waste to those aforementioned lands and depopulate these two areas through raids, massacres, and selling most of the populace of those lands to slavery - i.e. make a desert and call it peace so to speak? Please let me know. Thank you.

[CandyDragon]

Originally Posted by Silver

Interesting timeline you have here. Please write more soon. Also, will the next Roman Emperor revive the Germanian provinces of Marcomania and Sarmatia, which were established during the reign of Emperor Aurelius, but which were abandoned by his son Commodus? Also, will the next Roman Emperor expand the Roman Empire to cover all of Caledonia (Scotland) and Hibernia (Ireland), and if not just lay waste to those aforementioned lands and depopulate these two areas through raids, massacres, and selling most of the populace of those lands to slavery - i.e. make a desert and call it peace so to speak? Please let me know. Thank you.

Hibernia is a stretch, but Caledonia might be possible, if they take it slowly enough, and the Romans are ruthless enough to depopulate all of Caledonia if need be. Eastern Europe is going to be an area definitely within the sights of Rome in this TL, as they have the potential power to do so, if that answers your questions.

[Silver]

Thanks for letting me know. I really appreciated it. Also, will the Roman Empire later expand into Nubia (Sudan) and Axum (Ethiopia) via the Roman province of Egypt - with the governor of Egypt being a supporter of expansion into those areas with perhaps Nubia being made a part of the Roman province of Aegyptus (Egypt), and Axum either turned into another Roman province or a Roman client state? Please let me know. Thanks again.

[Some Bloke]

Much as I liked MacDougall's books I'd always wondered what this PoD would look like as serious AH, keep it up.

[CandyDragon]

Originally Posted by Silver

Thanks for letting me know. I really appreciated it. Also, will the Roman Empire later expand into Nubia (Sudan) and Axum (Ethiopia) via the Roman province of Egypt - with the governor of Egypt being a supporter of expansion into those areas with perhaps Nubia being made a part of the Roman province of Aegyptus (Egypt), and Axum either turned into another Roman province or a Roman client state? Please let me know. Thanks again.

Southwards along the Nile is another place I think is a place that a strong Emperor is going to try and conquer, perhaps once they realize how futile trying to capture Mesopotamia is.

Originally Posted by Some Bloke

Much as I liked MacDougall's books I'd always wondered what this PoD would look like as serious AH, keep it up.

Thank you, I'll do my best.

[Silver]

Thanks for letting me know about what will happen to Nubia and Axum. Also, you mentioned earlier that the Roman Empire expanding to cover all of Hibernia is a bit of a stretch. If so, is it possible for the Roman Empire to conquer and colonize a part of Hibernia (Ireland) - preferably the region that consists all of the OTL Pale (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Pale), especially to permanently solve the problem of Scoti (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scoti) raiders into Roman Britain, and thus put Roman military settlements there while turning the rest of Hibernia into a Roman client state by having Roman military governors in the island play kingmaker to the local Hibernian chieftains, and setting the various Hibernian tribes/kingdoms against one another? Will this be more plausible for a Roman presence in Hibernia? Please let me know. Thanks again.

[CandyDragon]

Originally Posted by Silver

Thanks for letting me know about what will happen to Nubia and Axum. Also, you mentioned earlier that the Roman Empire expanding to cover all of Hibernia is a bit of a stretch. If so, is it possible for the Roman Empire to conquer and colonize a part of Hibernia (Ireland) - preferably the region that consists all of the OTL Pale (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Pale), especially to permanently solve the problem of Scoti (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scoti) raiders into Roman Britain, and thus put Roman military settlements there while turning the rest of Hibernia into a Roman client state by having Roman military governors in the island play kingmaker to the local Hibernian chieftains, and setting the various Hibernian tribes/kingdoms against one another? Will this be more plausible for a Roman presence in Hibernia? Please let me know. Thanks again.

I don't want to say to much, but there will be definite changes to Rome's presence in the British Isles fairly soon, in the next update or two.

[CandyDragon]

Chapter Three:



Titus Flavius ascended to the throne in mid July of 215, at a time of unprecedented stability and security for the Empire. Caesar Titus Flavius Claudius Suspianus Cassius Augustus, raised to the purple by Emperor Getis himself, soon found his reign directionless; having defeated all enemies of the Empire in his reign, Getis left Titus Flavius a dangerously secure Empire, and comforted by the security of his Empire, Titus Flavius let himself slip into degeneracy, purchasing exotic slaves for obscene, un-roman purposes, and throwing massive, elaborate orgies in his palaces.

These admittedly did not destroy the Empire, but they did lower the formerly overflowing treasuries coffers, and this was a risk that the Empire could not afford, as unable to easily pay troop upkeep, several legions on the Rhine and Danube were dissolved. This coincided with a period of increased Germanic activity on the other side of the river. Raids from the barbarians soon devastated the northern provinces of the Empire. Resolving to end the Germans once and for all, Titus Flavius raised three legions with money the Empire did not possess, and marched over the Rhine in the summer of 218.

Titus Flavius was, if anything, an able military commander, and so, after numerous battles with Germanic tribesmen, Rome soon had occupation of land beyond the Rhine, and the Agri Decumates was extended north to cover this gap. However, soon after Titus Flavius returned to Rome in 220, after two years of strenuous campaigning, the Germans rose up in revolt once more, annihilating the Legio VI Hispania in an ambush near the Elbe, leaving only one legion to fight to entire German force, lead by King Clovis, a Germanic chieftain who recently had established a minor kingdom across the Rhine.

Pursued by Frankish forces, the remaining legion, the Legio XIV Gemina, fled over the Rhine, taking massive casualties as they made their way home. The governor of the province, Marcus Valerius Laevinus, defeated the Germanic forces after they crossed the Rhine with the aid of two other legions that had come to his aid, but returned to Rome and committed suicide before Titus Flavius could have him executed in 221. However, it was not his fault that the Roman possession of the province failed, but largely the removal of one legion with Titus Flavius, and the destruction of the other shortly afterwards. Had he been given more troops, it is likely that Rome would have held Germania to the Elbe once more, for the first time since the reign of the deified Augustus.

Later that year in 221, there was a major rebellion against the Parthian Empire, by the governor of Persia, Shapur. largely due to Parthian weakness when it came to attacks upon it, from both central Asia, and Rome. Eager to gain power from this, Titus Flavius immediately dispatched a large army, which by modern estimations consisted of five or six legions, into Armenia, from which they marched down the Euphrates River and took Ctesiphon after a siege only a week long, due to the lack of troops within the city.

However, Titus Flavius promised support to the Parthian king if he would recognize Roman control of Mesopotamia permanently, and promised that he would attack if he didn’t. Unwillingly, Artabanus IV, king of Parthia, agreed, and the Emperor sent large sums of money, ironically paid from the sack of Ctesiphon, as Titus Flavius had consumed much of the Empire’s funds in his parties in Rome. This influx of money for the Parthians had the unintended effect of prolonging the war, splitting the nation for a long period of time as Parthia waged war against Shapur, and thus a long period of rest for Rome.

With Parthia out of the picture, the stage was soon free for Roman consolidation. In 225, Emperor Titus Flavius declared that full citizenship could be bought with a significant donation to the state, even in recently conquered territories, such as Armenia, Mesopotamia, Caledonia Inferior, and even Bospora, which while frequently under Roman possession, had developed a significantly different culture. This declaration, called the Edict of Titus Flavius[1], had a major role in Roman control of Mesopotamia; leading citizens soon wished to defend what was then Roman territory, leading to a significant filtering effect, causing much development of a “Roman” national conscience. While this wouldn’t be the final stop in creating Roman identity in Mesopotamia, it was a significant development.

Additionally, Titus Flavius declared that the old taxation method, that of tax farming, and progressive taxes would be implemented once more; tax collectors would bid upon the amount of taxes they were going to collect from a community (taxes were collected by community after large Roman expansion) and then have to provide that amount. Though this system lead to wide-spread collection, it did lead to increasing money in Imperial coffers also, as taxation upon a community depended upon the primary composition of it, (citizens, freedmen, etc.) and their primary professions, (merchant, farmer, etc.) This system additionally created the issues of determining rates to tax citizens to noncitizens, and by profession.

At the time, Titus Flavius, eager to fund both the Parthian civil war and his own private debaucheries, simply taxed by wealth, while leaving taxes relatively low for farmers. This was changed later on, but long after the reign of Titus Flavius.

Meanwhile, the situation across the Rhine River worsened for the Romans, as the king who had united several tribes into one powerful coalition, Clovis, died. Normally this would be accounted a good thing, as most German coalitions collapsed after the death of their leader, but that one did not, as Clovis’s son, Childeric, easily took the throne. Soon Childeric began raiding deeper into Roman territory, at a time when the Rhine River guards were slackened, leading to a general loss of control of the region for the Romans in the years to come.

During that period, raiding by the Picts over the Antonine Wall become quite a nuisance also, as they tended to go around the wall in order to raid by boat the Roman villas and farms that existed beyond the wall., like the Scotti who came from Hibernia. The Picts, however, showed little danger of uniting like some of the Germans did, as they continued to fight one another over anyone else.

During this period, trade with the Far East reached a new level, as Roman access to the ports of the Persian Gulf allowed for considerable trade with India as never had before, with Roman merchants even setting up permanent “guild houses” within Indian cities in order to trade more effectively, and dictate prices for various goods. The trade between one Indian city, Kerala, and Rome, even lead to a brief Roman mission to the Cheras, controller of the city, though it produced no useful diplomatic contact, and the loose ties soon weakened.

[Indian coin, excavated in Londinium]

At the age of 42, in 231, Titus Flavius produced an heir, Horatius, who was immediately raised to the rank of Caesar, despite his youth. With this measure of security enacted, Titus Flavius felt it safe to return to his partying and orgies, with the result that his health was near ruined, and the Emperor remained in Rome, rather than go deal with emerging problems in Britannia and Germania.

These problems were largely that the Franks had begun to settle upon Roman territory, just inside the Rhine boundary. However, action by three legions killed and forced the remaining Franks to leave the province, however at much expense to the State. From this point on, annual subsidies to the Franks were raised, in order to keep them somewhat contented and peaceful, though Rome still only had a tenuous grasp on much of her territory there.

The general who had pushed out the Franks, Lucius Tiberius Claudius Pompeianus. however, soon realized the weakness of Titus Flavius’s reign, as well as the instability of his reign. Resolving to strengthen the power of the Empire, he was acclaimed Emperor by his troops in mid September, and marched upon Rome, in October, where he was met at Mediolanum by the forces of Titus Flavius. The battle was long and bloody, with an estimated 30,000 Roman casualties altogether, which would imply that roughly half of both armies died before Titus Flavius surrendered and committed suicide.

[Rome at the end of the reign of Titus Flavius. Light blue is legitimate Parthian Kingdom, dark blue are the Franks, orange are the Sassanid-equivalents.[2]]

Lucius soon took Rome, whereupon he was met with cries of joy from the populace, happy to finally be free of Titus Flavius. After entering the city, Lucius then went to the palace, where he scooped the infant Horatius into his arms, and proclaimed him his son to the public, and “reraised” him to the purple, naming him his heir. Whether this was simply a political move, or whether Lucius wished to legitimize his reign with Horatius, or if it was because Lucius may have been sterile (he had no children with his wife of many years,) is unknown.


[Emperor Lucius]

Shortly afterwards, Lucius took a three year tour of the Empire, going from the Antonine Wall south through Spain, into Africa, examining Corsica, Sardinia, and Sicily, then moving towards Illyria, Macedonia, Greece, Crete, and Cyrene, then going to Egypt, where he sailed down the Nile, all the way to Nubia, then into the provinces of the “Orient:” Arabia, Judea, Syria, then into the Anatolian provinces, where he took a boat to Bospora, and then to Armenia, finally concluding his three year tour and inspection of the Empire in Mesopotamia in 235

When it comes to analyzing the character of Lucius Tiberius Claudius Pompeianus, it is important to note the choices he made in his early reign; namely that of adopting Horatius, and touring the Empire. These show that he was extremely conscious of public opinion of his reign, and this continued on, with great building projects across the Empire later on. However, it is also to be noted that he was inherently expansionist in his ideals, especially in his attitude towards the lands south of the province of Aegyptus, sending exploratory raids down the Nile during his early reign, despite the slowly weakening situation in Northern Europe.

Another critical thing to notice about Lucius was his public popularity, as the people adored him throughout his reign for his charm, his monuments, and especially the gladiatorial games he funded. Despite not having the passion for the games that Nero, and Commodus had ever enjoyed, he visited many games to be seen by the people, a demagogical move that had rarely been seen since the days of the Republic.

Thus, he was solidified in his reign, and Emperor Lucius proved one of the Great Emperors.






[1]A parallel to the similar OTL Edict of Caracalla, though this is far less expansive in its changes.
[2]I'm going to try to use UCS for this, but after a time, butterflies may be too great.