01. A new life.
Brief prelude 260 BC.
Rome has risen as the Hegemon of Italy and is now in war with the dominant power of west Mediterranean sea, the mighty Carthage. In the east the Hellenistic kingdoms are struggling for the Hegemony of the former empire of Alexander the great. Meanwhile a new wave of Celtic tribes settled in Gaul,balkans and Asia minor.
So welcome to my new ATL! I will focus mostly in the Gauls but as usual i will explore various "what if" around the globe. Sorry in advance for my bad english...
So lets start!
Chapter 01. A new life
260 BC South Gaul
In the autumn of 260 B.C., Massalia was celebrating a great wedding. For the wealthy trader and noble Euaristos(1), marriage was nothing new, as he had already lived with at least three “wives” of varying rank, but surprisingly he had never been formal married with a proper Greek wife. On the verge of middle age, Euaristos had fallen in love with Helene, a girl from a noble Massalian family, and had decided to marry her, perhaps because she was found to be bearing his child, perhaps, too, because her relations were powerful in the oligarchy council.His other wives had watched the affair with indifference, except his first one and lady of the house till now. Abartica could not dismiss it as another triviality among the many of the past. As mother of Xenon(2), Euaristos only son, and although a Gaul woman,she had deserved her recognition as lady of the house for the past twenty years.
But Helene was a noble Greek, and an affair of the heart; children from a Greek girl, not a foreign Gaul woman, could upset Abarticas plans for her own son’s succession, and as soon as the two wives’ families had met for the wedding banquet, that very suggestion had been voiced by Helene’s uncle Drakon a esteemed member of the oligarchy council of Massalia. A brawl had begun, and Xenon had drawn his sword on his father Euaristos; he and Abartica had fled Massalia, and gone to her native Ogosus a small village near Tolosa. Shocked by the obscurity of the place Xenon left his mother off with their relatives, and continued to Tolosa, the capital of the Volcae tectosages, together with his trusted friend Apollodoros. There he sought refuge with the local king and was treated as a guest. Few days later the king of the Tectosages, Ampitix, invited the young Greek to a banquet where his daughter, Muirne, was to choose a spouse among a number of possible suitors. To the surprise of everyone she deserted the favoured Gauls and presented the ceremonial cup to Xenon. As a wedding gift, the king gave the newlyweds land north of Tolosa to settle. Xenon, not fond of a farmers life, was disappointed that the wedding gift didn’t include some gold or silver, but he was pleased nevertheless with this turn of events.
The next day while he was getting ready to travel north to inspect his new holding he was informed about the holy lakes close to his land. “into this lakes the people let down heavy masses of silver and of gold to honour the gods!”Not a superstitious man, Xenon quickly realised that this was a great opportunity to amass a fortune. Indeed after a few days when he reached the lakes, together with his trusted friend,they were able to gather easily more than 30 talents worth of gold and silver, with much more still available in the holy lakes. Not wanting to raise suspicion, Xenon organised a plan to steal even more gold and silver. First he went to his mother village where he hired few trusted relatives as mercenaries. Then he went to Emporion to buy some slaves and supplies. After several days enjoying the comforts of the Greek town he started the trip back to his new land holdings. By the end of the year a small settlement was founded by Xenon, mostly as a cover up base for his shady visits to the holy lakes.
(1) Euaristos, a wealthy merchant and Noble of Massalia, traded at Magna graecia, becoming wealthy and achieving great prestige among the Massaliotes. At young age Euaristos and his uncle Polemios set off on a distant trading voyage to Ptolemaic Egypt-Alexandria. Searching for better profits, they continued their journey to Seleucid empire in Asia, where they stayed for about a year.
(2) In his early years, Xenon was raised by his mother and a Gaul slave nurse . Later in his childhood, Xenon was tutored by the strict Leonidas, a relative of his father, and by Lysimachus of Taranto. Xenon was Gaul in physique(tall, with blond hair, light eyes) but was nevertheless raised in the manner of noble Greek youths, learning to write and read, play the lyre, ride, fight, and hunt.When Xenon reached the age of 13, Euaristos began to search for a tutor, and finally chose Diodotos a nephew of the famous Pytheas.
Diodotos taught Xenon about medicine, philosophy, morals, religion, logic, and art. Under Diodotos tutelage, Xenon developed a passion for the works of Pytheas and in particular the ocean Periplus. Diodotos gave him an annotated copy, which would be the first book of Xenon library in the future.
At age 16, Xenon's education under Diodotos ended and he joined the family business thus made his first trip to Rome and Syracuse. In his 3 month stay at Syracuse he meet Hieronymus of Rhodes. Xenon was 18 years old In 262 BC when Massalia unofficially helped Rome against Carthage. During the siege of Agrigentum, 6 massalian warships(including a trireme of Euaristos, with him and Xenon on board) were supporting the Roman supply base at Erbessus. The garrison of Agrigentum managed to call for reinforcements and a Carthaginian relief force commanded by Hanno came to the rescue and destroyed the Roman supply base at Erbessus. Eusevios trireme was the only Massalian ship that managed to escape. Nevertheless, after a few skirmishes, the battle of Agrigentum was won by Rome, and the city fall.
Writer notes:
A) South Gaul during the last centuries was a melting pot. Besides the Greeks who where dominating the coasts, there were lots of iberians, ligourians and some Gauls. From the start of the 3rd century BC another big wave of mostly Volcae Celts(Gauls) settled in the area. Pretty soon the Volcae dominated large parts of the area.
B) About the gold of Tolosa: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gold_of_Tolosa
C) At syracuse Xenon stayed at the house of Aristos. Aristos was a wealthy trader and the proxenos of Massalia and Rhodes at Syracuse during that time. He was also famous for his private library,one of the biggest in Syracuse. It was there that Xenon read in detail the stories of Alexander the great and other famous Greek generals.
News/Events around the world
By place
Sicily
Rome has risen as the Hegemon of Italy and is now in war with the dominant power of west Mediterranean sea, the mighty Carthage. In the east the Hellenistic kingdoms are struggling for the Hegemony of the former empire of Alexander the great. Meanwhile a new wave of Celtic tribes settled in Gaul,balkans and Asia minor.
So welcome to my new ATL! I will focus mostly in the Gauls but as usual i will explore various "what if" around the globe. Sorry in advance for my bad english...
So lets start!
Chapter 01. A new life
260 BC South Gaul
In the autumn of 260 B.C., Massalia was celebrating a great wedding. For the wealthy trader and noble Euaristos(1), marriage was nothing new, as he had already lived with at least three “wives” of varying rank, but surprisingly he had never been formal married with a proper Greek wife. On the verge of middle age, Euaristos had fallen in love with Helene, a girl from a noble Massalian family, and had decided to marry her, perhaps because she was found to be bearing his child, perhaps, too, because her relations were powerful in the oligarchy council.His other wives had watched the affair with indifference, except his first one and lady of the house till now. Abartica could not dismiss it as another triviality among the many of the past. As mother of Xenon(2), Euaristos only son, and although a Gaul woman,she had deserved her recognition as lady of the house for the past twenty years.
But Helene was a noble Greek, and an affair of the heart; children from a Greek girl, not a foreign Gaul woman, could upset Abarticas plans for her own son’s succession, and as soon as the two wives’ families had met for the wedding banquet, that very suggestion had been voiced by Helene’s uncle Drakon a esteemed member of the oligarchy council of Massalia. A brawl had begun, and Xenon had drawn his sword on his father Euaristos; he and Abartica had fled Massalia, and gone to her native Ogosus a small village near Tolosa. Shocked by the obscurity of the place Xenon left his mother off with their relatives, and continued to Tolosa, the capital of the Volcae tectosages, together with his trusted friend Apollodoros. There he sought refuge with the local king and was treated as a guest. Few days later the king of the Tectosages, Ampitix, invited the young Greek to a banquet where his daughter, Muirne, was to choose a spouse among a number of possible suitors. To the surprise of everyone she deserted the favoured Gauls and presented the ceremonial cup to Xenon. As a wedding gift, the king gave the newlyweds land north of Tolosa to settle. Xenon, not fond of a farmers life, was disappointed that the wedding gift didn’t include some gold or silver, but he was pleased nevertheless with this turn of events.
The next day while he was getting ready to travel north to inspect his new holding he was informed about the holy lakes close to his land. “into this lakes the people let down heavy masses of silver and of gold to honour the gods!”Not a superstitious man, Xenon quickly realised that this was a great opportunity to amass a fortune. Indeed after a few days when he reached the lakes, together with his trusted friend,they were able to gather easily more than 30 talents worth of gold and silver, with much more still available in the holy lakes. Not wanting to raise suspicion, Xenon organised a plan to steal even more gold and silver. First he went to his mother village where he hired few trusted relatives as mercenaries. Then he went to Emporion to buy some slaves and supplies. After several days enjoying the comforts of the Greek town he started the trip back to his new land holdings. By the end of the year a small settlement was founded by Xenon, mostly as a cover up base for his shady visits to the holy lakes.
(1) Euaristos, a wealthy merchant and Noble of Massalia, traded at Magna graecia, becoming wealthy and achieving great prestige among the Massaliotes. At young age Euaristos and his uncle Polemios set off on a distant trading voyage to Ptolemaic Egypt-Alexandria. Searching for better profits, they continued their journey to Seleucid empire in Asia, where they stayed for about a year.
(2) In his early years, Xenon was raised by his mother and a Gaul slave nurse . Later in his childhood, Xenon was tutored by the strict Leonidas, a relative of his father, and by Lysimachus of Taranto. Xenon was Gaul in physique(tall, with blond hair, light eyes) but was nevertheless raised in the manner of noble Greek youths, learning to write and read, play the lyre, ride, fight, and hunt.When Xenon reached the age of 13, Euaristos began to search for a tutor, and finally chose Diodotos a nephew of the famous Pytheas.
Diodotos taught Xenon about medicine, philosophy, morals, religion, logic, and art. Under Diodotos tutelage, Xenon developed a passion for the works of Pytheas and in particular the ocean Periplus. Diodotos gave him an annotated copy, which would be the first book of Xenon library in the future.
At age 16, Xenon's education under Diodotos ended and he joined the family business thus made his first trip to Rome and Syracuse. In his 3 month stay at Syracuse he meet Hieronymus of Rhodes. Xenon was 18 years old In 262 BC when Massalia unofficially helped Rome against Carthage. During the siege of Agrigentum, 6 massalian warships(including a trireme of Euaristos, with him and Xenon on board) were supporting the Roman supply base at Erbessus. The garrison of Agrigentum managed to call for reinforcements and a Carthaginian relief force commanded by Hanno came to the rescue and destroyed the Roman supply base at Erbessus. Eusevios trireme was the only Massalian ship that managed to escape. Nevertheless, after a few skirmishes, the battle of Agrigentum was won by Rome, and the city fall.
Writer notes:
A) South Gaul during the last centuries was a melting pot. Besides the Greeks who where dominating the coasts, there were lots of iberians, ligourians and some Gauls. From the start of the 3rd century BC another big wave of mostly Volcae Celts(Gauls) settled in the area. Pretty soon the Volcae dominated large parts of the area.
B) About the gold of Tolosa: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gold_of_Tolosa
C) At syracuse Xenon stayed at the house of Aristos. Aristos was a wealthy trader and the proxenos of Massalia and Rhodes at Syracuse during that time. He was also famous for his private library,one of the biggest in Syracuse. It was there that Xenon read in detail the stories of Alexander the great and other famous Greek generals.
News/Events around the world
By place
Sicily
- The Roman advance continues westward from Agrigentum with their forces relieving the besieged cities of Segesta and Macella. These cities have sided with the Roman cause, and have come under Carthaginian attack for doing so.
- Hannibal Gisco returns to fight in Sicily as the admiral in charge of the Carthaginian fleet in the Strait of Messina. With the Romans about to launch their first ever navy, Carthage is determined that this innovation be thwarted. Gisco defeats part of the Roman fleet and captures the Roman consul Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Asina in an encounter near Lipari; the consul's nickname Asina (which means donkey) is earned in this encounter. However, this Carthaginian victory is of limited practical value as the bulk of the Roman fleet continues to manoeuvre in the surrounding waters.
- Confident in Carthage's superiority at sea, Hannibal Gisco deploys his ships for the Battle of Mylae in the traditional long line arrangement. Although inexperienced in sea battles, the Romans, led by consul Gaius Duilius Nepos, heavily defeat the Carthaginian fleet, mainly due to the innovative use of land tactics in naval warfare (including the use of the grappling irons and the corvus boarding bridge).
- Having lost the confidence of his peers, Hannibal Gisco is subsequently executed for incompetence shortly afterwards, together with other defeated Punic generals.
- In the north of Sicily, the Romans, with their northern sea flank secured by their naval victory in the Battle of Mylae, advance toward Thermae. They are defeated there by the Carthaginians under Hamilcar
- Callimachus of Cyrene, learned poet and grammarian, becomes chief librarian at the Library of Alexandria.
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I loved your Massalia TL so i am really eager to see the next updates.
