alternatehistory.com
203 BC/ Massaliot league colonies update.
203 BC
Although Iberia was once again under Massaliot league control, several rebel groups were still active.To deal with the small guerrilla Iberian rebel groups, the League formed a new unit the Peripolia. Peripolia was a group of 50 stirrup/war saddle-charge/archer horsemen's that were part of a unit of 6 Peripolia, the Peripolos. The Peripolos were stationed in a fort/military colony. This 300 cavalry troops together with 200 garrison troops where responsible for patrolling large areas in Central Iberia. 3 peripolia where always in the move and the other 3 where stand by. The patrol lasted ten days and then was replace from the stand by unit. The League formed a total of 4 Peripolos in the area of Celtiberi tribes and 2 in the area of Carpetani. This new approach had really good results for the League and quickly stabilise the rebel areas in Iberia.
Kassiteia was the main trade city in the North for the League, a link between the mainlands, north Gaul, north Britannike and the Scandinavia colonies. The trade of tin was flourishing and a new trade good, the coal( thanks to hypocast invention)was starting to flourish also(especially in the north Gaul and scandinavia). The city was constantly receiving new colonist from the mainland and reached fifteen thousands pop in 203 BC. Under local governor Dimitrios( a dynatoi party member) the city founded 4 new trade hubs colonies in England and Ireland and build several water mills to boost the local agriculture production. Dimitrios also received 30 new venemeres from the league council to control the north seas and lead an expedition to deal with the Hibernian Pirates. He also expanded the control of the league north-east in the lands of the aggressive tribe of Durotriges. With the help of the Belgae allies he enslaved couple of thousands and burned several villages. 3 forts/military colonies were build in the area to stabilise the control of the area.
During the Roman/Punic war Kassiteia wasn't affected so much. Like all the rest of the Europe-Atlantic colonies of the League, kassitieia was far away from the theatres of the war. Never the less around 600 soldiers left from kassitieia to join the ranks of the league army during the war. Together with them, the league ally King Imanuentius together with his troops, sailed from there for the war.
Trinovantes Kingdom
The trinovantes king Imanuentius and his troops, during the war gained quite a reputation for their fight skills. After the war he was officially invited from the League council to take part in the celebrations of the victory. After a couple of months in Masallia, Imanuentius returned to his kingdom with a big amount of war spoils. Heavily influenced from the Hellenistic culture Imanuentius converted to dodekatheism and upon his arrival in his capital he ordered in a Greek sculptor to build a Nike sculpture dedicated to the victory and a temple dedicated to Athena. He also ordered to greek architects to build a quite big building to be used as an army arsenal and kind of an "academy" to educate the children's of the nobility. At the start he had trouble to find Greek scholars to settle in his capital but after some months he managed to invited 3-4 of Greek/Gaul scholars to come for some years by paying them really big salaries. Also around 100 Greek speaking Roman woman slaves where now working in the houses of the local nobility. This changes didn't fit well with some elders of the nobility but with they majority of the Warriors/nobles stand by his side Imanuentius easily eliminated the few opposed. Trinovantes capital, Braughing, was growing fast and had now more than 7000 population with several Greek type buildings poping up all over. Hypocaust and baths was a huge trend to the locals. Trade with Kassitieia and the League in general was flourishing. Trinovantes loved Massaliot wine/oil and their exports to the league was mostly coal and wool. Imanuentius also managed to aggressively expand his kingdom considerably, with several successful expeditions against neighborhood tribes of Catuvellauni and Iceni where his veteran and far better equipped/ tech advanced army was no match for them.
Scandia
Scandia/Sweden
The trade colony Ypervoreia in Sweden was in good relations with the locals and the major trade hub in Scandia The city had now more than 3000 pop( a mix of Greeks and hellinised Gauls). The city had among others, a Wooden wall, a gymnasium, a small theatre,a temple of Athena and a public bath. The hypocaust invention had spread up in the area the last couple of years and was used a lot by now. Ypervoreia even founded 3 trade colonies by herself also. Neavoreia(600 pop) to the north , Aktio(700 pop) to the south and Argio(900 pop) in Jutland peninsula . During the Punic/Latin war Ypervoreia wasn't really affected. Around 50 man left to join the ranks of the League army and the ratio of new colonist from the motherland dropped a little bit.
The Suiones kingdom
The local tribes in the north/east were friendly with the League and in fact they were really affected by the presence of the League. By trading and interacting with the League the Suiones tribe under their chief Habra, evolved from a loose tribe confederacy to a small kingdom. Their city/ capital Suona was basically the first city in all of Scandinavia that was build by locals. They started using stone for their buildings,agriculture technics,hot tubs and leagues drachma coins also. With the help of 30 league mercenaries they organised their army and bought new better weapons and armour from the Greek/Gauls. With their new army they expanded their rule to their neighbours tribes in the north. The kingdom of Suiones was now a strong local power with a capital city of 3000 pop and hundreds of villages under control. Last but not least a epicurean Druid settled in their area and started to spread the druidic Epicureanism .
Meanwhile in the north of Neavoreia the local tribe of Sitones were more aggressive against the League. They made couple of raids to Neavoreia but they where no match against the Greekgauls superior tactics and equipment. To deal with the situation Ypervoreia organised together with their allies, the Suiones kingdom, a couple of expeditions in the north, where they burned several villages and took more than 2000 slaves.
Abalus was now basically a island city with a population of 2700. The trade of Amber was flourishing and the city was a trade link between kassitieia,north Germany,north Gaul and the Scandinavian colonies.
Baltic Sea
Chalkis was making really good profit from the trade of Amber but had serious problems with the local Baltic tribes. The city although wealthy was not the first choice for the colonists and the population was growing slowly. Chalkis had in 203 BC around two thousands pop and had just finished her new stone wall (with 6 towers with siege engines)to deal with the countless raids from local tribes. Repeated calls to the Leagues council didn't do much cause besides 300 troops that arrived several years ago not any other official help arrived to deal with the problem. Nevertheless the city was in close contact with the colonies in present day Sweden/Denmark and that helped them a lot dealing with the local tribes.
Belgae region
Kallikrateia was trading mostly with the local Frisii tribe and served as a supply port for the trade between Scandinavia with the rest of the League. The population was nearly 3000. Kallikrateia founded a new colony, Potami south/west where Rhone river meets the sea.
Potami colony was flourishing by basically dominating the trade in north Germany via Rhone river. The local Germanic tribes, after the initial aggressiveness of a couple of years, they were heavily trading with Potami. Although influenced by the Greek culture the local Germanic tribes were still loose confederations of tribes with not much difference with their culture status before the contact with the Greeks. Most notably change was the start of use of League drachma in their trade deals with the League merchants. They ideal position of Potami made to become the main colony in the area with more than 5000 pop.
Ligeia was trading mostly with the local Morini and Menapi tribes and served as a supply port for the trade between Scandinavia with the rest of the League. The population was nearly 1500.
West Africa
The colony of Safi(1000 pop) during the Punic-Latin war was raided by a small group of Carthaginian forces but the garrison of the small fortress colony managed to repel them. Besides that, Safi was mostly a quiet supply port between the northern colonies and the rest of the League.
The colony of Akrai was a small supply port of 200 people, that was mostly used from ships coming from the north to avoid the currents.To expand their influence in the west Africa(since all colonies where under Palaioi and Dynatoi companies control) the Neoi company send 1000 colonist from Syracuse in a attempt to make there their own base in the Atlantic.
Neagathe had reach four thousands pop and was Under Dynatoi control. Gum and slave trade was highly profitable for the city. Besides that, Neoagathe served also as a link between Southern colonies and the rest of the League. During the Punic-Latin war Neoagathe and the southern colonies in Africa were not affected heavily. The trade suffered when Lixus was conquered for a year by Carthage but even then, the Atlantic Ocean type, league trade ships didn't have a problem to take a more wide sea route. Other than that, during the war, there was a decrease in the arrival of new colonists.
Ypernoteia was growing rapidly. The city was ideally placed on the delta of Senegal river making her the biggest trade port in west Africa.The trade with the proto- Soninke tribes was highly profitable. Slaves,gold and salt was exchanged with league’s wine,pottery and jewellery in ridiculous profitable prices for the League. Ypenoteia’s wealth attracted lots of new colonist. The league brought the new agricultural techs in west Africa and new massive farms with water mills builded around the area near Ypernoteia. Thousands of local tribesman started working as serfs in the new massive farms( in a similar model of Ptolemaic Egypt.) The massive numbers of slaves and serfs helped for large scale building projects. The last years under governor Anastasios( Palaioi company) a new big port and several other buildings was builded and three new trade hub colonies where builded. In less than 40 years the city reached 8000 pop( not counting another 10000 slaves and 8000 local serfs living in the close area) A professional mercenary force of 1000 was permanent stand by,guarding and controlling the area, mostly repelling small aggressive local tribesman group from the south.
The three new colonies where: Messopotamos on Senegal river to strength the trade with the photo-Soninke and Posidoneia and Astypylaia during an expedition South of Ypernoteia.
Mesopotamos was basically a small fortress/trade hub of 400people, deep in Senegal river were most of the trade with inland tribes occurred.
Agapio’s expedition south of Ypernoteia.
During the expedition they made a new trade colony Posidoneia in modern day Cote d ivore and then they reached Niger river were they founded a new trade hub colony Astypylaia. Then they sailed inland through Niger river with three small ships. There they made contact with the Nok civilisation/petty kingdom. The Nok people( as in OTL) were an iron age society with refined art and organised worship, metal smelting, and sufficient population to support these activities. They were the earliest producers of life-sized terracotta in the Sub-Sahara. They had horses and used iron spears and small knives,metal tools,pottery, bracelets, etc. The area was rich in Ivory,Palm oil,peanuts,limestone,iron and tin.
The capital city Taruga had more than 5000 population with a big factory area of more than 15 big furnaces.The beehive and cylindrical furnaces of Taruga was quite different in form from those of North Africa and Mesopotamia.The iron workers at Taruga certainly seem to have developed the innovation of pre-heating the air entering the furnace so as to obtain higher temperatures. After establish formal relations with the local chief/king argiros sailed back.
By place:
Ptolemaic Empire
The native Egyptian rebellion is finally crashed by Ptolemy III.
Sri lanka
Agathocleous troops repelled a small attack by Chola troops from the north of the island. A new wooden wall was builded in Eschatia. In raids deep in the island the greeks took 3000 locacs as slaves.
***Story only thread here: Story thread***
Although Iberia was once again under Massaliot league control, several rebel groups were still active.To deal with the small guerrilla Iberian rebel groups, the League formed a new unit the Peripolia. Peripolia was a group of 50 stirrup/war saddle-charge/archer horsemen's that were part of a unit of 6 Peripolia, the Peripolos. The Peripolos were stationed in a fort/military colony. This 300 cavalry troops together with 200 garrison troops where responsible for patrolling large areas in Central Iberia. 3 peripolia where always in the move and the other 3 where stand by. The patrol lasted ten days and then was replace from the stand by unit. The League formed a total of 4 Peripolos in the area of Celtiberi tribes and 2 in the area of Carpetani. This new approach had really good results for the League and quickly stabilise the rebel areas in Iberia.
- With two major (Massalia and Syracuse) and hundreds of small private libraries the demand of papyrus was big and Egypt skyrocket the prices. A trader/inventor Nearchos attached to the Museum of Massalia created a sheet of paper using mulberry and other bast fibres along with fishnets, old rags, and hemp waste.
Kassiteia was the main trade city in the North for the League, a link between the mainlands, north Gaul, north Britannike and the Scandinavia colonies. The trade of tin was flourishing and a new trade good, the coal( thanks to hypocast invention)was starting to flourish also(especially in the north Gaul and scandinavia). The city was constantly receiving new colonist from the mainland and reached fifteen thousands pop in 203 BC. Under local governor Dimitrios( a dynatoi party member) the city founded 4 new trade hubs colonies in England and Ireland and build several water mills to boost the local agriculture production. Dimitrios also received 30 new venemeres from the league council to control the north seas and lead an expedition to deal with the Hibernian Pirates. He also expanded the control of the league north-east in the lands of the aggressive tribe of Durotriges. With the help of the Belgae allies he enslaved couple of thousands and burned several villages. 3 forts/military colonies were build in the area to stabilise the control of the area.
During the Roman/Punic war Kassiteia wasn't affected so much. Like all the rest of the Europe-Atlantic colonies of the League, kassitieia was far away from the theatres of the war. Never the less around 600 soldiers left from kassitieia to join the ranks of the league army during the war. Together with them, the league ally King Imanuentius together with his troops, sailed from there for the war.
Trinovantes Kingdom
The trinovantes king Imanuentius and his troops, during the war gained quite a reputation for their fight skills. After the war he was officially invited from the League council to take part in the celebrations of the victory. After a couple of months in Masallia, Imanuentius returned to his kingdom with a big amount of war spoils. Heavily influenced from the Hellenistic culture Imanuentius converted to dodekatheism and upon his arrival in his capital he ordered in a Greek sculptor to build a Nike sculpture dedicated to the victory and a temple dedicated to Athena. He also ordered to greek architects to build a quite big building to be used as an army arsenal and kind of an "academy" to educate the children's of the nobility. At the start he had trouble to find Greek scholars to settle in his capital but after some months he managed to invited 3-4 of Greek/Gaul scholars to come for some years by paying them really big salaries. Also around 100 Greek speaking Roman woman slaves where now working in the houses of the local nobility. This changes didn't fit well with some elders of the nobility but with they majority of the Warriors/nobles stand by his side Imanuentius easily eliminated the few opposed. Trinovantes capital, Braughing, was growing fast and had now more than 7000 population with several Greek type buildings poping up all over. Hypocaust and baths was a huge trend to the locals. Trade with Kassitieia and the League in general was flourishing. Trinovantes loved Massaliot wine/oil and their exports to the league was mostly coal and wool. Imanuentius also managed to aggressively expand his kingdom considerably, with several successful expeditions against neighborhood tribes of Catuvellauni and Iceni where his veteran and far better equipped/ tech advanced army was no match for them.
Scandia
Scandia/Sweden
The trade colony Ypervoreia in Sweden was in good relations with the locals and the major trade hub in Scandia The city had now more than 3000 pop( a mix of Greeks and hellinised Gauls). The city had among others, a Wooden wall, a gymnasium, a small theatre,a temple of Athena and a public bath. The hypocaust invention had spread up in the area the last couple of years and was used a lot by now. Ypervoreia even founded 3 trade colonies by herself also. Neavoreia(600 pop) to the north , Aktio(700 pop) to the south and Argio(900 pop) in Jutland peninsula . During the Punic/Latin war Ypervoreia wasn't really affected. Around 50 man left to join the ranks of the League army and the ratio of new colonist from the motherland dropped a little bit.
The Suiones kingdom
The local tribes in the north/east were friendly with the League and in fact they were really affected by the presence of the League. By trading and interacting with the League the Suiones tribe under their chief Habra, evolved from a loose tribe confederacy to a small kingdom. Their city/ capital Suona was basically the first city in all of Scandinavia that was build by locals. They started using stone for their buildings,agriculture technics,hot tubs and leagues drachma coins also. With the help of 30 league mercenaries they organised their army and bought new better weapons and armour from the Greek/Gauls. With their new army they expanded their rule to their neighbours tribes in the north. The kingdom of Suiones was now a strong local power with a capital city of 3000 pop and hundreds of villages under control. Last but not least a epicurean Druid settled in their area and started to spread the druidic Epicureanism .
Meanwhile in the north of Neavoreia the local tribe of Sitones were more aggressive against the League. They made couple of raids to Neavoreia but they where no match against the Greekgauls superior tactics and equipment. To deal with the situation Ypervoreia organised together with their allies, the Suiones kingdom, a couple of expeditions in the north, where they burned several villages and took more than 2000 slaves.
Abalus was now basically a island city with a population of 2700. The trade of Amber was flourishing and the city was a trade link between kassitieia,north Germany,north Gaul and the Scandinavian colonies.
Baltic Sea
Chalkis was making really good profit from the trade of Amber but had serious problems with the local Baltic tribes. The city although wealthy was not the first choice for the colonists and the population was growing slowly. Chalkis had in 203 BC around two thousands pop and had just finished her new stone wall (with 6 towers with siege engines)to deal with the countless raids from local tribes. Repeated calls to the Leagues council didn't do much cause besides 300 troops that arrived several years ago not any other official help arrived to deal with the problem. Nevertheless the city was in close contact with the colonies in present day Sweden/Denmark and that helped them a lot dealing with the local tribes.
Belgae region
Kallikrateia was trading mostly with the local Frisii tribe and served as a supply port for the trade between Scandinavia with the rest of the League. The population was nearly 3000. Kallikrateia founded a new colony, Potami south/west where Rhone river meets the sea.
Potami colony was flourishing by basically dominating the trade in north Germany via Rhone river. The local Germanic tribes, after the initial aggressiveness of a couple of years, they were heavily trading with Potami. Although influenced by the Greek culture the local Germanic tribes were still loose confederations of tribes with not much difference with their culture status before the contact with the Greeks. Most notably change was the start of use of League drachma in their trade deals with the League merchants. They ideal position of Potami made to become the main colony in the area with more than 5000 pop.
Ligeia was trading mostly with the local Morini and Menapi tribes and served as a supply port for the trade between Scandinavia with the rest of the League. The population was nearly 1500.
West Africa
The colony of Safi(1000 pop) during the Punic-Latin war was raided by a small group of Carthaginian forces but the garrison of the small fortress colony managed to repel them. Besides that, Safi was mostly a quiet supply port between the northern colonies and the rest of the League.
The colony of Akrai was a small supply port of 200 people, that was mostly used from ships coming from the north to avoid the currents.To expand their influence in the west Africa(since all colonies where under Palaioi and Dynatoi companies control) the Neoi company send 1000 colonist from Syracuse in a attempt to make there their own base in the Atlantic.
Neagathe had reach four thousands pop and was Under Dynatoi control. Gum and slave trade was highly profitable for the city. Besides that, Neoagathe served also as a link between Southern colonies and the rest of the League. During the Punic-Latin war Neoagathe and the southern colonies in Africa were not affected heavily. The trade suffered when Lixus was conquered for a year by Carthage but even then, the Atlantic Ocean type, league trade ships didn't have a problem to take a more wide sea route. Other than that, during the war, there was a decrease in the arrival of new colonists.
Ypernoteia was growing rapidly. The city was ideally placed on the delta of Senegal river making her the biggest trade port in west Africa.The trade with the proto- Soninke tribes was highly profitable. Slaves,gold and salt was exchanged with league’s wine,pottery and jewellery in ridiculous profitable prices for the League. Ypenoteia’s wealth attracted lots of new colonist. The league brought the new agricultural techs in west Africa and new massive farms with water mills builded around the area near Ypernoteia. Thousands of local tribesman started working as serfs in the new massive farms( in a similar model of Ptolemaic Egypt.) The massive numbers of slaves and serfs helped for large scale building projects. The last years under governor Anastasios( Palaioi company) a new big port and several other buildings was builded and three new trade hub colonies where builded. In less than 40 years the city reached 8000 pop( not counting another 10000 slaves and 8000 local serfs living in the close area) A professional mercenary force of 1000 was permanent stand by,guarding and controlling the area, mostly repelling small aggressive local tribesman group from the south.
The three new colonies where: Messopotamos on Senegal river to strength the trade with the photo-Soninke and Posidoneia and Astypylaia during an expedition South of Ypernoteia.
Mesopotamos was basically a small fortress/trade hub of 400people, deep in Senegal river were most of the trade with inland tribes occurred.
Agapio’s expedition south of Ypernoteia.
During the expedition they made a new trade colony Posidoneia in modern day Cote d ivore and then they reached Niger river were they founded a new trade hub colony Astypylaia. Then they sailed inland through Niger river with three small ships. There they made contact with the Nok civilisation/petty kingdom. The Nok people( as in OTL) were an iron age society with refined art and organised worship, metal smelting, and sufficient population to support these activities. They were the earliest producers of life-sized terracotta in the Sub-Sahara. They had horses and used iron spears and small knives,metal tools,pottery, bracelets, etc. The area was rich in Ivory,Palm oil,peanuts,limestone,iron and tin.
The capital city Taruga had more than 5000 population with a big factory area of more than 15 big furnaces.The beehive and cylindrical furnaces of Taruga was quite different in form from those of North Africa and Mesopotamia.The iron workers at Taruga certainly seem to have developed the innovation of pre-heating the air entering the furnace so as to obtain higher temperatures. After establish formal relations with the local chief/king argiros sailed back.
By place:
Ptolemaic Empire
The native Egyptian rebellion is finally crashed by Ptolemy III.
Sri lanka
Agathocleous troops repelled a small attack by Chola troops from the north of the island. A new wooden wall was builded in Eschatia. In raids deep in the island the greeks took 3000 locacs as slaves.
***Story only thread here: Story thread***
- Sersor
- Word Count: 2.2k