This is a restart of my timeline in which Julius Caesar is not assassinated. It will mostly be in the style of historical prose, but there will be a few bits in a historical fiction form. I will use BC-AD dates since Christianity still emerges, but it will be somewhat different than in the OTL.
Historians have often asked how history would have been different if Marcus Junius Brutus had joined the conspiracy to assassinate Caesar rather than tipping him off to the plot. it is believed that he had already assigned his grand-nephew Octavian as his legal heir, and Marc Antony would almost certainly have inhierited control of Caesar's legions had the later been killed. But in any case, there was no assassination. Caesar, continuing being concerned about not being seen as a tyrant and a wannabe king, pardoned the conspirators, but warned them that if they caused any trouble while he was in the East they would be dealt with harshly when he returned, and Decimus Brutus was stripped of his command in command in Italian Gaul, which was given to Marcus Brutus. The foiled plot also lead to Caesar stop going out in public without bodyguards[1].
Caesar's legions set foot in Antioch with soaring morale, fueled by the desire to take back the aquillae, the eagle-topped legion standards, taken by the Parthians at Carrhae, and to avenge the hideous defeat the Parthians inflicted upon Crassus and his legions. Rather than crossing the open expanse of the Syrian Desert that made Crassus easy pickings for the Parthian's horse archers, Caesar hugged the foothills of the Anatolian Plateau until he reached the Tigris, and then traveled south with such speed that they surprised a large Parthian force of horse archers, cataphracts, and auxiliary infantry encamped along the Tigris near Asshur. The result was a massacre, about three quarters of the Parthian force was slain and the survivors fled.
The crushing defeat triggered panic in Ctesiphon. Much of the royal family and court evacuated to Susa, and Parthian king Pacorus decided to lead a counter-attack against Rome himself, another massive defeat and the empire would start to splinter, and he himself might lose his head to a usurper.
The forces of Caesar and Pacorus, about equally matched in strength, met about a day's march north of Ctesiphon. The Parthian forces pushed the Romans back and were coming close to breaking. One exception was the legion under the command of the young military tribune Gaius Octavius, Octavian, whose troops refused to budge against a massive cataphract charge. It could have been Pacorus' day, but it was not to be, as a well-aimed lead shot from an auxiliary slinger[2] crushed his skull and killed him. As news of the king of king's death spread the Parthian forces went into a messy retreat, which then a swift Roman advance turned into a rout. Both sides suffered huge losses, but the Parthians were now in no position to repel the Roman advance.
Parthia suffered several months of chaos as different members of the royal family claimed the throne, with Pacorus' younger brother finally coming out on top becoming Phraates IV[3], who sued for peace with Caesar, who was now in control of Mesopotamia and had started advancing on Susa. The peace was humiliating for the Parthians, who lost all of Mesopotamia and had to return the aquillae captured at Carrhae to Rome. It would no being peace, however, as the Parthian Empire was about to descend into civil war.
Caesar spent a year in Mesopotamia, organizing it into a Roman province. Then he traveled to Alexandria, almost certainly to see Cleopatra and his son by her, Caesarion. While in Alexandria, Caesar received word that Antony has drunk himself to death during a party and in the intervening weeks that fighting between pro-Caesar and anti-Caesar mobs was dragging the city of Rome into chaos. Cicero, old but still the geat orator, lamented on the Senate floor that "rule by Caesar, awful that it is, is preferable to the anarchy of the mob".
As news of Caesar returning to Rome reached the leaders of the anti-Caesar faction, led by Gaius Cassius and Decimus Brutus, fled Rome to Sardinia, but had trouble raising troops, their small forces were easily crushed by Caesar's veteran forces. The anti-Caesar leaders, backed in a corner, followed Cato the Younger before them, and committed suicide.
Caesar returned to Rome in Triumph. using the massive booty from the Parthian War, he settled thousands of his veterans in Italian Gaul and Gaul Narbonnensis. He commissioned the construction of something he had dreamed of for a long time, a public library in Rome. He publically made Octavian his heir. Then, he began his reformation of the Roman government.
The provinces were re-organized, and divided up into districts. Instead of pro-consuls and pro-praetors governing provinces, a Gubernator, "governor", would govern a province and an Prefectus Civitatis "prefect", would govern a district. garrison forces would be commanded by the district prefect while field forces would be commanded by the provincial governor. This system, Caesar hoped, would prevent there from being a commander powerful enough to threaten the authority of the Dictator.[4]
Caesar was a monarch in all but name.
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[1] In the OTL Caesar refused to use bodyguards in the weeks leading up to his assassination.
[2] These slingers are mostly Judean, I believe.
[3] In the OTL Phraates succeeded Pacorus after Pacorus was killed by a Roman army in 37 BC lead by a subordinate of Marc Antony.
[4]This division of command will cause the empire much trouble in the future.
Part 1: The Caesarian Age
Chapter 1: Caesar in Parthia & Aftermath
44 BC - 39 BC
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Chapter 1: Caesar in Parthia & Aftermath
44 BC - 39 BC
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Historians have often asked how history would have been different if Marcus Junius Brutus had joined the conspiracy to assassinate Caesar rather than tipping him off to the plot. it is believed that he had already assigned his grand-nephew Octavian as his legal heir, and Marc Antony would almost certainly have inhierited control of Caesar's legions had the later been killed. But in any case, there was no assassination. Caesar, continuing being concerned about not being seen as a tyrant and a wannabe king, pardoned the conspirators, but warned them that if they caused any trouble while he was in the East they would be dealt with harshly when he returned, and Decimus Brutus was stripped of his command in command in Italian Gaul, which was given to Marcus Brutus. The foiled plot also lead to Caesar stop going out in public without bodyguards[1].
Caesar's legions set foot in Antioch with soaring morale, fueled by the desire to take back the aquillae, the eagle-topped legion standards, taken by the Parthians at Carrhae, and to avenge the hideous defeat the Parthians inflicted upon Crassus and his legions. Rather than crossing the open expanse of the Syrian Desert that made Crassus easy pickings for the Parthian's horse archers, Caesar hugged the foothills of the Anatolian Plateau until he reached the Tigris, and then traveled south with such speed that they surprised a large Parthian force of horse archers, cataphracts, and auxiliary infantry encamped along the Tigris near Asshur. The result was a massacre, about three quarters of the Parthian force was slain and the survivors fled.
The crushing defeat triggered panic in Ctesiphon. Much of the royal family and court evacuated to Susa, and Parthian king Pacorus decided to lead a counter-attack against Rome himself, another massive defeat and the empire would start to splinter, and he himself might lose his head to a usurper.
The forces of Caesar and Pacorus, about equally matched in strength, met about a day's march north of Ctesiphon. The Parthian forces pushed the Romans back and were coming close to breaking. One exception was the legion under the command of the young military tribune Gaius Octavius, Octavian, whose troops refused to budge against a massive cataphract charge. It could have been Pacorus' day, but it was not to be, as a well-aimed lead shot from an auxiliary slinger[2] crushed his skull and killed him. As news of the king of king's death spread the Parthian forces went into a messy retreat, which then a swift Roman advance turned into a rout. Both sides suffered huge losses, but the Parthians were now in no position to repel the Roman advance.
Parthia suffered several months of chaos as different members of the royal family claimed the throne, with Pacorus' younger brother finally coming out on top becoming Phraates IV[3], who sued for peace with Caesar, who was now in control of Mesopotamia and had started advancing on Susa. The peace was humiliating for the Parthians, who lost all of Mesopotamia and had to return the aquillae captured at Carrhae to Rome. It would no being peace, however, as the Parthian Empire was about to descend into civil war.
Caesar spent a year in Mesopotamia, organizing it into a Roman province. Then he traveled to Alexandria, almost certainly to see Cleopatra and his son by her, Caesarion. While in Alexandria, Caesar received word that Antony has drunk himself to death during a party and in the intervening weeks that fighting between pro-Caesar and anti-Caesar mobs was dragging the city of Rome into chaos. Cicero, old but still the geat orator, lamented on the Senate floor that "rule by Caesar, awful that it is, is preferable to the anarchy of the mob".
As news of Caesar returning to Rome reached the leaders of the anti-Caesar faction, led by Gaius Cassius and Decimus Brutus, fled Rome to Sardinia, but had trouble raising troops, their small forces were easily crushed by Caesar's veteran forces. The anti-Caesar leaders, backed in a corner, followed Cato the Younger before them, and committed suicide.
Caesar returned to Rome in Triumph. using the massive booty from the Parthian War, he settled thousands of his veterans in Italian Gaul and Gaul Narbonnensis. He commissioned the construction of something he had dreamed of for a long time, a public library in Rome. He publically made Octavian his heir. Then, he began his reformation of the Roman government.
The provinces were re-organized, and divided up into districts. Instead of pro-consuls and pro-praetors governing provinces, a Gubernator, "governor", would govern a province and an Prefectus Civitatis "prefect", would govern a district. garrison forces would be commanded by the district prefect while field forces would be commanded by the provincial governor. This system, Caesar hoped, would prevent there from being a commander powerful enough to threaten the authority of the Dictator.[4]
Caesar was a monarch in all but name.
------------------------
[1] In the OTL Caesar refused to use bodyguards in the weeks leading up to his assassination.
[2] These slingers are mostly Judean, I believe.
[3] In the OTL Phraates succeeded Pacorus after Pacorus was killed by a Roman army in 37 BC lead by a subordinate of Marc Antony.
[4]This division of command will cause the empire much trouble in the future.
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