"Space Romans" as a (sub-)genre

[oshron]

hey, all. im honestly not sure if this is the right place to put this thread, as im not exactly sure what a sub-genre discussion would fall into given the selection of forums here. i figured post-1900 would be the best

i think one especially common cliche in amateurish alternate history, or perhaps simply lazy alternate history more for entertainment than for plausibility, is that an ancient civilization remains virtually the same for hundreds or thousands of years as a power through to the present day. for example, say, greece as a major european power with a national religion following the worship of zeus, as a classical greek democracy, and with ethnic spartans as an elite commando unit. or aztecs still practicing human sacrifice as an accepted part of global society. or vikings remaining and assailing the united kingdom with frigates and battleships and subs adorned with dragons. or a futuristic japan with legal samurai who are still allowed to lop peoples heads off if they talk back to them

okay, ill admit, i dont actually know of ANY ATLs that implement this, but i think itd be fun to discuss this little sub-genre of AH that i like to call "space romans"

[Timmy811]

This should belong in the before 1900 forum. THere have been civilizations that have culturally changed relatively little over long periods of time such as Pharonic Egypt. However I doubt that could be sustained during a period of great technological change such as the Industrial revolution, as that inevitibly leads to social change.

[Color-Copycat]

Yeah, Egypt is the most glaring example you can bring up. Especially when you look at their artistic style... even after thousands of years, they never figured out how to move beyond flat, two-dimensional depictions of people (in 2D art of course: sculptures is a totally different game), and even the way they draw the eyes is the same. Now that's dedication to tradition.

[Mikestone8]

Originally Posted by Timmy811

This should belong in the before 1900 forum. THere have been civilizations that have culturally changed relatively little over long periods of time such as Pharonic Egypt. However I doubt that could be sustained during a period of great technological change such as the Industrial revolution, as that inevitibly leads to social change.

Or does that mean that there would just never be an industrial revolution in such a society?

[oshron]

i think for this discussion we should assume that such a civilization progresses technological but the society itself remains virtually the same. so by 2010 we'd have egyptians worshipping a pharaoh while at the same time defending their borders from nubian raiders with assault rifles and APCs or romans who still entertain themselves by watching slaves and prisoners fight to the death in the coliseum


it occurs to me that there IS one example of this in literature: Turtledove's Occupation Duty