iron age

One scenario that fascinates me is what if the Romans never rose to power because the Etruscan League beat them during the Roman–Etruscan Wars, which have absolutely huge butterflies regarding world history. I ask here if had they beaten/absorbed Rome, would the Etruscan League have expanded...

What would happen if a civilization approximately at the level of Mediterranean civilizations developed in the Sahel during the Bronze/Iron Age? What effects would it have on African history? How would it affect the Bantu migrations and other events in African history? What interactions would it...

So I've been reading a bit about King Josiah and his instrumental role in basically forging the worship of Yahweh into what it is today, between finding the Book of the Law which is probably proto-Deuteronomy and destroying all the non-monotheistic elements of Yahwist worship and Judahite...

Weave Hangings for Asherah: An Iron Age Timeline A depiction of an Asherah pole, the Tree of Life CHAPTER ONE: I'M THE KING It was late into the third year of Lord Ba'l-mazzer’s reign over the land of Pūt [1] when a group of messengers arrived, reporting news from the south. Elisha, a...

How could a Germanic conquest of Britain in the years/decades/centuries before it became a Roman province be brought about? Which Germanic tribes would be the most likely candidates and what push/pull factors might be present to persuade them to make the attempt? Would the disparate British...

The Palace of the Red Land ‘’My lords, we have had our fill of the good things we have shared, and of the banquet’s boon companion, the harp. Let us go out of doors now and try our hands at various sports so that when our guest has reached his house he can tell his friends that at boxing...

During his brief reign, Caligula apparently embarked on a campaign in Britain that ended up aborted. What exactly happened and why is still debated to this day, but what is clear was that the conquest of Britain would have to wait until the reign of Claudius. But what if Caligula had invaded...

The Bronze Age collapse, was among the most devastating events in history in this time period. While some cultures and civilizations disappeared entirely, others were severely damaged, and general urbanization decreased rapidly. One of the civilizations that fell underneath the cascade of...

Despite having very impressive cities, advanced agricultural techniques, and engineering, the civilizations of the Americas were still hampered by the fact that they didn't have any beasts of burden, except for the Llama in the Andes, and only a few food animals, and the fact that they didn't...

Before the Second Punic War the eastern and southern coasts of what is now Spain were occupied by independent tribes referred to by Classical authors as the Iberians. Speakers of a non-Indo-European language (or languages), they had centuries of contact with Phoenician and Greek colonies. They...

The Annals (Assyria) apparently mention that the king of Kadmuhu was captured by Ashur Dan II (last king of the Middle Assyrians) in one of his expeditions north of Assyria. Do we know where exactly he campaigned and at what time?

Introduction to the topic As I have discussed somewhat on the forum regarding the idea of the steppe empire and its forming in response to sedentary empires from more traditionally state-friendly environs (namely river valleys); there should also be a discussion given into the curious example...

According to the predominant modern theory, OTL the early Jewish people were predominantly monolatrous in Iron Age I and did not become monotheistic until the Babylonian captivity. Monolatrism is the belief or recognition of many gods but the insistence on worshipping only one of them...

After seeing a thread about the lack of good Ancient Near East TLs on the forums, I revived a TL that I made last year about an alternate Iron Age. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- On an early morning in 874 BC a...

PROLOGUE How long has it been since this land of ours last tasted blood? Why does it thirst so? The blood of the noble has been shed here again and again as the wheels of chariots turn. But would it be once that our noble god would bless this land with waters once more rather than the blood of...

Jusf for fun - 1900 bc, Near Mehrgarh First-time iron deposit found by subhla named miner he went with his discovery in a court of Saisunga the Samrat of Meluha(Indus valley civilization), 1899 bc, first iron sword, spear are formed. 1898 bc, Samrat issued rite for the search of iron ore mine...

So I've been reading up on the bronze age, and Conan. And.... wow. There are a lot of slaves. Lots of slavery. But why? Is it because of the lack of machines, meaning everything is done via muscle power, meaning that humans are valuable? Is the lack of tech means that you have to...

Could the rise of Rome have occurred much earlier than OTL? If Rome became independent from the Etruscans earlier, and started waging campaigns of expansion 100, 200 years earlier, could they have obtained a sort of dominance over the Mediterranean Basin that they enjoyed under Emperor Augustus...

So, this thread reignited my interest in the concept of an Israelite polytheism, and I thought that this would be best served by a triumphant Israel, especially under the Omrides, and I found this battle between a coalition of kings and the Assyrian king Shalmaneser III, who incidentally was...

Some ancient empires had very advanced tactics (political, military, economic, etc.), almost to the point of seeming anachronistically ahead of their time. There were also just some plain bizarre tactics that were common in the ancient world. What do you think are interesting examples of these...