Sæculum Novum

For the last six years, I've been tackling the classic alternate history scenario of a Roman Republic (in its Principate form) that holds onto its territories long past the Crisis of the Third Century. For this purpose, I have taken a point of divergence in the reign of Marcus Aurelius, on the assumption that the political decline of Rome hinged heavily on the reign of Commodus and could have been prevented had someone more competent been in power. Since full-blown realism is impossible for such a distant PoD, I have striven for verisimilitude and possible outcomes; imo plausibility has little meaning in light of the lack of historical information and the sheer complexity of historical events (as in any alternate history but more so with an ancient PoD).

This project has been undertaken on the first alternate history site that I had found back in the day but I've decided that criticism from an informed audience has been insufficient there (not non-existent but not enough for me). For this reason, I plan on posting my alternate history in a linear format piece-by-piece on this thread. This thread is my first post on the forums here and I'm really looking forward to hearing what this community thinks of my work. Constructive criticism and commentary are MOST WELCOME!

I've got a buffer from the 2nd to the 11th century CE but I want to post slowly to modify the timeline from the ground upward with feedback (I hope!). Whatever pace I set should also work to reformat my writing (right now at >250,000 words) to make the text more concise and less dry. Anyway, I hope that people enjoy the read!

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Sæculum Novum
The New Millennium of Rome: How Rome did not Fall



Prologue
The final years of the reign of Marcus Aurelius


Between campaigns on the Danubian frontier, Caesar Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus toured the eastern provinces of the Republic with his wife, leaving 12-year old Commodus with his tutors and caretakers in Rome. In Athens, a young orphan caught the attention of the emperor, demonstrating a keen memory by parroting back some phrases that he must have heard in the Stoa Poikile. The boy reminded Marcus of him the son he had lost three years earlier, being of an age with the Annius Verus he remembered and even resembling him to a degree [1]. After a conversation left the further impression of the curiosity and memory of this orphan [2], who called himself Sulla, Marcus chose to adopt the boy before leaving Athens.

Over the next five years, Marcus Aurelius grew closer with his adopted son; Commodus was not neglected but his acts of jealousy toward his brother alienated the teenage prince from his father. Sulla accompanied Marcus Aurelius on campaign and, after the death of Faustina, the two were inducted into the Eleusinian Mysteries before a tour of the far eastern provinces. When Marcus Aurelius recognized Sulla as a Caesar alongside Commodus [3], history loses sight of events; Commodus died a year later of unknown causes while the emperor and Sulla were back on the frontier [4]. The death of Commodus saddened Marcus Aurelius but left Sulla as his only male heir.

Returning to Rome a year later in June [5], Marcus Aurelius died on July 2nd in the Domvs Avgvstana surrounded by his four surviving daughters and his son, Sulla. A later encomium by the historian Cassius Dio had this to say of his reign and death:

...[Marcus] did not meet with the good fortune that he deserved, for he was not strong in body and was involved in a multitude of troubles throughout practically his entire reign. But for my part, I admire him all the more for this very reason, that amid unusual and extraordinary difficulties he both survived himself and preserved the empire. Perhaps only one thing kept him going through many of these hard times, namely that after rearing and educating [Sulla's] person in the best possible way he was greatly pleased with him. This matter must be our next topic; for our history continues to go from a kingdom of silver to one of gold, as we see of our affairs today.

- Historia Romana, book 74, Lucius Cassius Dio

When Sulla was acclaimed as princeps civitatis and pontifex maximvs under the name Caesar Gaivs Aurelivs Antoninvs Svlla Augustus. Since the Germanic and Sarmatian Wars were unfinished, Sulla did as was expected by the Senate and submitted an order for the generals on the frontier to continue to press the enemy, adding that they were to construct 420 km of fortifications along the Montes Carpates to prevent the return of the Quadi and Marcomanni tribes in the wake of their recent defeat by praetorian prefect Tarutenius Paternus. From here the legions could focus on routing the Iazyges to the west of Dacia. The wars were nearing their end but a few years of work remained to be accomplished before Romans could celebrate the defeat of their enemies.


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[1] A resemblance to Annius Verus may be assumed as one of the parts of the PoD in the birth of Sulla. Consider Sulla as the son of a baker descended from Italian immigrants in Athens.
[2] A keen intellect and curiosity for this boy may be assumed as the other parts of the PoD.
[3] The year of this proclamation is 178 CE and Sulla would be only 13 years old. By this time, Sulla would have spent five years in the camps with Marcus Aurelius and is well-known to the other Roman generals.
[4] My canonical explanation of his death is that a servant girl, Polonia, poisoned him after learning of Commodus' plans to kill Sulla once he had an opportunity. Polonia is the eventual wife of Sulla and two were very close at this point in their lives. The presence of this girl in Sulla's early life and her willingness to kill may also be considered part of the PoD.
[5] The prologue is an experiment in not using Anno Domini or Foundation numbering of years but it is getting a bit cumbersome. Future posts will likely mention years to frame their events.

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I've started it off with a short prologue to set the stage. There isn't much here now but I promise a long post after I have taken some time to prepare the next part for posting here.
 
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I'm will certainly be following your new project, Janus, nice work so far. However, I've noticed striking similarities between what you've posted as of now and the AH Wiki's timeline of Superpowers . Regardless, I hope the best for what has yet to come.
 
I'm will certainly be following your new project, Janus, nice work so far. However, I've noticed striking similarities between what you've posted as of now and the AH Wiki's timeline of Superpowers . Regardless, I hope the best for what has yet to come.

I will also be following this, it seems very interesting. That timeline looks quite similar, though.
 
Like I said, I have been working on this timeline for six years in another alternate history community. I'll mention in my user page on that wiki that I'm posting the timeline elsewhere to avoid any misunderstanding :) I was hoping to have fresh eyes and to hear the opinions of readers that did not know what followed in the timeline but I am happy with just the possibility of real time feedback that this forum offers.

http://althistory.wikia.com/wiki/User:Red_VS_Blue
 
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Like I said, I have been working on this timeline for six years in another alternate history community. I'll mention in my user page on that wiki that I'm posting the timeline elsewhere to avoid any misunderstanding :) I was hoping to have fresh eyes and to hear the opinions of readers that did not know what followed in the timeline but I am happy with just the possibility of real time feedback that this forum offers.

http://althistory.wikia.com/wiki/User:Red_VS_Blue

Hot damn, you actually are Red VS Blue. We were considering that option, but I didn't think it was the real truth. Either way, I'm glad you're putting the best timeline from the wiki onto this forum! :D

P.S.: I have 4300 edits on the wiki and am a constable there, so I know who you are ;)
 
I would LOVE to help you flesh out all the worldbuilding and culture and art throughout this planned timeline! How can I help you esteemed Janus?
 
Looking good! I don't really know enough about this period to help you flesh out things, but I certainly will be following this.
 
Superpowers is quite interesting, but it's a clear case of space filling empires.

Fair point! I am striving to only include justifiable territorial expansions but my knowledge is more extensive in the areas of technology and philosophy than in geopolitics or political intrigue. I'll gladly take input from someone with knowledge in those areas where I have little. I'll add that over the last year I have removed many cases of space-filling from the timeline (up to the 11th century) but I know there is a lot of room for improvement. If you're already familiar with my articles on the other wiki, did you have any suggestions from what you'd seen there? :) If you don't mind me asking.

Grouchio said:
I would LOVE to help you flesh out all the worldbuilding and culture and art throughout this planned timeline! How can I help you esteemed Janus?

That will be of tremendous help! I have been struggling with how aspects of culture and art would evolve in a surviving Rome (e.g. fashion, architecture, painting). More so than geopolitics and economics, my weakest points are definitely in the history of art and culture (other than of the ideologies of cultures, where I can apply history of philosophy!). A friend of mine has already offered her help on the history of fashion but I would greatly appreciate help in other areas of art and culture!

My first post after the prologue (I'm aiming for today, fingers crossed) will start with the end of the Marcomannic Wars and some financial decisions but if you have any prior suggestions about art and culture OTL around the time then I can make sure to account for them as I post here :)
 
That will be of tremendous help! I have been struggling with how aspects of culture and art would evolve in a surviving Rome (e.g. fashion, architecture, painting). More so than geopolitics and economics, my weakest points are definitely in the history of art and culture (other than of the ideologies of cultures, where I can apply history of philosophy!). A friend of mine has already offered her help on the history of fashion but I would greatly appreciate help in other areas of art and culture!

My first post after the prologue (I'm aiming for today, fingers crossed) will start with the end of the Marcomannic Wars and some financial decisions but if you have any prior suggestions about art and culture OTL around the time then I can make sure to account for them as I post here :)
First off, I would recommend reading Cambridge Ancient History volumes XI-XII that cover everything about the empire in-between 100 CE and 300 CE. There used to be online pdf links to these files until last month, so I would recommend other means of accessing them. I'll see what I can dig up myself in the meantime about high Roman economics, trade, society and culture.
 
Fair point! I am striving to only include justifiable territorial expansions but my knowledge is more extensive in the areas of technology and philosophy than in geopolitics or political intrigue. I'll gladly take input from someone with knowledge in those areas where I have little. I'll add that over the last year I have removed many cases of space-filling from the timeline (up to the 11th century) but I know there is a lot of room for improvement. If you're already familiar with my articles on the other wiki, did you have any suggestions from what you'd seen there? :) If you don't mind me asking.



That will be of tremendous help! I have been struggling with how aspects of culture and art would evolve in a surviving Rome (e.g. fashion, architecture, painting). More so than geopolitics and economics, my weakest points are definitely in the history of art and culture (other than of the ideologies of cultures, where I can apply history of philosophy!). A friend of mine has already offered her help on the history of fashion but I would greatly appreciate help in other areas of art and culture!

My first post after the prologue (I'm aiming for today, fingers crossed) will start with the end of the Marcomannic Wars and some financial decisions but if you have any prior suggestions about art and culture OTL around the time then I can make sure to account for them as I post here :)
I'd also be able to help, if you need.
 
Also I think it would be very interesting to see some other cult or religion take up Christianity's OTL role as the centuries roll down. Like Sol Invictus.
 
I can be of help geopolitically speaking if you need it. One thing I've had hammered into me on this board about a Marcus Aurelius era POD: There are still going to be massive problems for Rome, at least economically, particularly in the agriculture department, in part due to climate change during the third century and partially due to the continued consolidation over the centuries of farms in the provinces into massive latifundia and of course the serious drop in population from the Antonine Plague.

Though the worst will be avoided-namely most of the currency devaluation should be avoided here and the worst excesses of the Severan dynasty and the rise of soldier emperors largely as a result of them could probably be largely avoided here. As will of course the massive corruption that characterized Commodus' reign.
 
Grouchio said:
First off, I would recommend reading Cambridge Ancient History volumes XI-XII that cover everything about the empire in-between 100 CE and 300 CE. There used to be online pdf links to these files until last month, so I would recommend other means of accessing them. I'll see what I can dig up myself in the meantime about high Roman economics, trade, society and culture.

Thank you! I have found some poor quality copies of the first of those volumes and will be on the look-out for the rest :) They look like a helpful resource.

Upvoteanthology said:
I'd also be able to help, if you need.

I'm looking forward to your input :)

Grouchio said:
Also I think it would be very interesting to see some other cult or religion take up Christianity's OTL role as the centuries roll down. Like Sol Invictus.

I'm sorry to disappoint but my evaluation of the situation has been that Christianity will become dominant in the Roman Empire, as GW has just mentioned. However, I am working on way in which Christianity becomes Romanized almost as much as Romanity becomes Christianized; ideas in that direction are greatly appreciated. I'll just mention that among these differences are female priests (as in the Roman religion), no infant baptism, and the moderation of Christian morals in the direction of the mos maiorum (such as on morality of homosexual acts, which the Romans allowed for men under certain conditions). I am also most willing to discuss reasons for and against the Christianization of Rome.

slydessertfox said:
I can be of help geopolitically speaking if you need it. One thing I've had hammered into me on this board about a Marcus Aurelius era POD: There are still going to be massive problems for Rome, at least economically, particularly in the agriculture department, in part due to climate change during the third century and partially due to the continued consolidation over the centuries of farms in the provinces into massive latifundia and of course the serious drop in population from the Antonine Plague.

I'm glad to hear you mention two of those points, as I have made attempts to account for those factors in the timeline, and I am even happier to hear you mention the climate change. I have not known how to account for the effects of climate change except insofar as it leads to a population crisis and pushes more Germanic tribes southward into Rome. I hope to improve upon that with people's assistance.
 
Alright, here is the first major post on here for my timeline! After some unfortunate delays (I was busier than anticipated and my first write-up got deleted when my computer would not come out of sleep mode T-T), I'm happy to present something that will give a better indication of where the timeline is going (for those who have not read the original wiki version on the other alternate history wiki). I'm excited to hear people's comments and criticisms :)

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A Young Emperor​
The beginning of the reign of Sulla


Only a young man of 16 when he became princeps, Caesar Gaius Aurelius Sulla Antoninus Augustus had only the recommendation of his adoptive father and the weight behind his official status, to bolster his position in the eyes of the Senate and legions. His brother-in-law Tiberius Claudius Pompeianus, a senator and former consul, was his voice in the Senate and effective regent for the first five years of his reign. During this more uncertain stage, Sulla spent most of his days seeing the clients of the imperial family, hearing appeals in the public courts, and presiding over the usual rituals as pontifex maximvs.

For his just rulings and devotion to the judiciary, the young emperor found many supporters among advocates and jurists, a number of whom were senators. This reliance on the status quo of his position was prudent course of action given his age but was made all the more necessary when a prediction went out from the harvspices that his reign would be short and bloody. The omen that threatened this disastrous future was a brief but portentous reddening of the sky above Rome - as well as most of the world - around the first year of his reign [1].

In an effort to dispel this harmful idea, Sulla used the imperial purse to fund a renovation of the Panthevm, lavishly decorating its walls with gold and repainting the many statues of the Roman gods, and the construction of a temple to Marcus Aurelius, whose deification by the Senate had been accelerated by Pompeianus. The cloud of this prophecy would continue to hang over Sulla even as time made the omen less salient for the priesthood and the people, but its effects on his reputation should not be exaggerated, especially as he became known for ethical conduct in law and for his pious works.

The fortunes of Sulla turned in 184 CE when news reached the Senate of the defeat of the Iazyges, with the last Iazygean king having accepted the role of foederatvs under Rome. This victory signaled an end to the Germanic and Sarmatian Wars that had soured the reign of Marcus Aurelius and had been a constant source of worry for the Senate and people of Rome. When the Senate convened to praise the generals, Sulla - who had until recently avoided direct involvement in the affairs of the Senate - proposed a motion to honor the generals Gaius Pescennius Niger, Marcus Valerius Maximianus, Decimus Clodius Septimius Albinus, Tarutenius Paternus, and Publius Helvius Pertinax with a full Trivmphvs on their return from the frontier.

The surprise of senators at this proposal only delayed the unanimous vote in its favor. As legati acting under the auspices of the emperor, the five generals were ineligible for a Triumph regardless of the significance of their military victory but since Sulla had presented the motion and the success was accomplished in suis auspiciis, the debate that it initiated was brief and the constitutionality of the motion was swiftly agreed upon by the Senate [2]. With this agreement, the generals' return to Rome was met with a grand Triumph [3].

Toward the end of the triumphal parade, the five generals hailed Sulla as Sarmaticvs and Germanicvs, the titles of his father, and affirmed their loyalty to him as their Imperator. After the Triumph, Sulla joined the public in the raising of a victory column honoring the efforts of Marcus Aurelius in the war, with the five generals alongside Pompeianus - who was denied a role in the Triumph due to his return to Rome in 180 - receiving distinguished places in its friezes. The column was situated in front of the Temple of Minerva in the Forvm Nervae, as a nod to the military genius of Marcus Aurelius and to his ancestry stretching back to Caesar Nerva Augustus.

With clear support from the legions, Sulla rose dramatically in reputation in the wake of the Triumph. His focus for the next year was the coordination of military efforts to maintain Roman control of the Marcomanni and the other tribes that were not forced into direct alliances with Rome. Pertinax was given command on the Rhine frontier with Clodius Albinus nearby, Tarutenius Paternus was promoted to legate of an enlarged Moesia Inferior, and the rest returned to careers in the Senate with promises of future consulships from the emperor. As a signal of the coming peace, Sulla raised the silver purity of the denarius from 79% to 88% and gave away the first batch of the new coins during a ceremony for closing the Gates of Janus - itself depicted on one side of these coins opposite a portrait of Marcus Aurelius.

Both dreams of Marcus Aurelius to enlarge the territory of Rome were realized by these efforts. Around Pannonia, a provincia augustum of Marcomannia was established to govern the Marcomanni and Quadi while the land between Dacia and the Flvvivs Tisia was administered in cooperation with Iazygean client kings and the land immediately beyond the limes alvtanvs was put under the control of Roxolans as part of the province of Moesia Inferior. Meanwhile, Sulla upheld the policies of his father of rejecting Germanic settlers in Roman provinces whenever this decision could be enforced. This able coordination of military forces provided even more fodder for Sulla's growing number of supporters. One mark of support that Sulla had encouraged by this time was the mention of the reflections of Marcus Aurelius; Sulla had the Stoic school in Athens publish his father's reflections to himself as an example for the men of the Senate [4]. The distribution of the deified emperor's personal reflections would mark a breaking point for the dissemination of Stoic ideals within the Roman elite, eventually bringing an already fashionable philosophy up to a level of respect comparable to the way of the ancestors [5].




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[1] There is some debate over the eruption of Lake Taupo on its timing and the extent of its plume but references to written reports of the sky turning red above Rome and China around 180 CE are enough to justify its inclusion.
[2] The motion was unconstitutional but it would have been an extremely risky move to oppose a bill requested by the emperor and celebrating the five generals with most of the military power in Europe.
[3] At the expense of the imperial purse.
[4] Publish is a loosely employed word here. His request would have been for handwritten copies that he could provide to senators who expressed interest - something that many would do to emphasize their allegiance.
[5] In time. A few more decades of rule by a Stoic emperor are needed to solidify a shift of this kind.
 
I'm sorry to disappoint but my evaluation of the situation has been that Christianity will become dominant in the Roman Empire, as GW has just mentioned. However, I am working on way in which Christianity becomes Romanized almost as much as Romanity becomes Christianized; ideas in that direction are greatly appreciated. I'll just mention that among these differences are female priests (as in the Roman religion), no infant baptism, and the moderation of Christian morals in the direction of the mos maiorum (such as on morality of homosexual acts, which the Romans allowed for men under certain conditions). I am also most willing to discuss reasons for and against the Christianization of Rome.
If we're talking about a third century crisis POD, then you would be more correct imo. But Christianity was much much much larger and more prominent in the time of Constantine than it was in the time of Aurelius. From what I understand, the turmoil and impoverishment and general shittiness of the third century did a lot to destroy faith and support for the traditional Roman pantheon. Christianity was one of many "cult" religions that benefited from that, Sol Invictus being the other major benefactor, getting a jumpstart from Elagabalus and then having the patronage of the emperors from Aurelian until Constantine.

If anything, until Constantine, a Sol Invictus led polytheistic religion is probably the most likely in my opinion (though with a POD during Aurelius, you can really have your pick of religions imo, since Sol Invictus's main gains, as I said, really started with Elagabalus.) Really, all you need is for the cult to be favored by a series of emperors.

On another note: A large part of Christianity's rapid expansion after Constantine has to do with the fact that Constantine and his sons favored Christians for promotions and posts etc. So if you were an aspiring young bureaucrat and you wanted to get an edge...you converted to Christianity. Hence its quick spread among the bureaucracy.

An interesting combination would be pairing Sol Invictus with Isis as a consort...

I'm glad to hear you mention two of those points, as I have made attempts to account for those factors in the timeline, and I am even happier to hear you mention the climate change. I have not known how to account for the effects of climate change except insofar as it leads to a population crisis and pushes more Germanic tribes southward into Rome. I hope to improve upon that with people's assistance.
Plague as well, though that probably falls under population crisis.
 
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Oh dear, how extravagant is Sulla in comparison to Commodus IOTL?
And I'm with Slyfox on jumping on the Sol Invictus bandwagon. Including the survival and spread of other cults throughout Europa, and the spread of Persian religions throughout Western Asia.
Hell, the Dacians and Sarmatians in the empire could reform their worship of Zalmoxis into a proper monotheistic religion too.
And we'll all need to do some research on Sarmatian culture and beliefs ourselves now that they make up a new province.
 
slydessertfox said:
An interesting combination would be pairing Sol Invictus with Isis as a consort...

Hmm, I do like the novelty of a Sol Invictus led Roman religion (for anyone who has read my timeline on the other wiki, I should mention that the timeline I'm writing here and now will diverge according to feedback so it won't necessarily resemble the timeline there and, as far as this topic is concerned, a Sol Invictus-focused polytheism is possible for Rome if it is well-justified). On this note, a Sol Invictus or Zalmoxis religion would probably require that religion to become monotheistic (or at least henotheistic). Imo the growing influence of Stoic and Neoplatonist ideologies on the common beliefs of Roman citizens made mono/henotheism even on the level of the average Gaius inevitable. A Western culture after Plato (and arguably Parmenides) will eventually drift toward a conception of the divine as stemming from one source on which other gods and the universe itself depend. This change is obviously not connected to philosophical progress in general but Graeco-Roman philosophy, at least, was stuck on this route ever since Parmenides and the solidification of similar monistic views by Plato.

This is not to say that the movement toward mono/henotheism cannot happen more slowly or more quickly or that the inevitable result is an Abrahamic monotheism, but I am arguing that some form of mono/henotheism will happen at some point in the history of a society whose culture is strongly influenced by Greek philosophy.

slydessertfox said:
On another note: A large part of Christianity's rapid expansion after Constantine has to do with the fact that Constantine and his sons favored Christians for promotions and posts etc. So if you were an aspiring young bureaucrat and you wanted to get an edge...you converted to Christianity. Hence its quick spread among the bureaucracy.

That's a helpful note :) Regardless of which religion I make dominant, I will keep this process in mind! Your other comments on how the turmoil of the 3rd century accelerated people's displeasure with the prevailing religion is also an interesting point (although if this process did occur there then it would seem to be the exception rather than the rule when considering (a) other shitty periods in the history of civilizations and (b) other major demographic shifts in the religious beliefs of civilizations).

slydessertfox said:
Plague as well, though that probably falls under population crisis.

Ah, the plague will actually be an important topic in the next post. I'm planning on discussing a series of events where Galen has a more substantial influence on Roman medicine through support from the emperor. In effect, he is getting his own medical academy and his research will benefit from autopsies and vivisections(!).

Grouchio said:
Oh dear, how extravagant is Sulla in comparison to Commodus IOTL?

Far less extravagant ;)Or at least, he will be seeking to glorify himself through the army rather than through vanity projects and the simple panem et circenses.

Edit: His many superfluous expenses in the early part of his reign (temple building, a congiarium for the new coinage) are I think reasonable extravagances for someone attempting to garner support for himself and, in the latter case, more strongly associate his name with the onset of pax Romana.

Grouchio said:
And we'll all need to do some research on Sarmatian culture and beliefs ourselves now that they make up a new province.

You're absolutely right! I have tried that myself over the last few years but it is slow-going and I am no expert! The most I had gotten were place/person names, typical physical features, and vocabulary. I recall a few notes about a mountain god in the Sarmatian religion but little else. In particular, I want to work out what features of Dacian/Sarmatian culture would be assimilated during the usual process of Romanization, since those features would be the most widely influential in Roman history.
 
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