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Interlude V: Geopolitics and Philosophy of History
Francia
The cultural entity of Francia had come to dominate most of western Europe. The core areas are those which have been part of the empire of Charlemagne, while neighbouring areas, such as British Isles, Scandinavian, Intermarium, Sicily and Hispania are gradually accepting Francian institutions and civilization.
Francia was created upon the interaction of Latinate and Germanic peoples, and these two language families dominate the heartland of Francia. The unity of this civilizational space is manifested in the fact that the area is the original canonical jurisdiction of Rome, under the authority of the Roman Papacy. However, real political authority does not reside in the Eternal City.
The legacy of the Roman Empire is also vivid in the survival of Latin as a written language long after its demise as a vernacular. The Francian civilization has for the most part adopted the manorial or feudal system, with the nobles in power and the Church maintaining its position as an influential institution, but after all, it’s the nobles who have the sword.
Rhomania
The Rhomaic Empire has come to dominate the basin of the Eastern Mediterranean in its entirety. Its claim to imperial continuity with the S.P.Q.R. appears to be most valid, as it has maintained most of the Roman institutions and legacy. The Hellenic tongues had mostly replaced Latin within Rhomania, yet asking any of its citizens, they would not identify with being “Hellenes” – those were the polytheists long ago, but rather with being Rhomans.
Unlike Francia, the Rhoman (Greek) language remains vernacular and vibrant, to such an extent that it goes on to assimilate many regional languages in the core territory. The Greek concept of the Oecumene remains very much present, with the core under Rhomaic rule, and other smaller realms expected to acknowledge the dominance of the Emperor. Indeed, Rhomaic satellites would be stablished in the Caucasus
The identity of the Rhomaic Empire stood on a combination of Roman political system, Athenian philosophy and Jerusalemite religion. The geopolitical position of the capital, Constantinople, would be expressed in the double headed eagle, with one head looking westwards and the other eastwards, reflecting the transcontinental reality. It would also express the caesaropapist relation between the Emperor and the Church; that is the Emperor seen as the uttermost arbiter in case of dispute (not that infrequent). In canonical terms the Rhomaic civilization includes the entirety of the jurisdiction of the Patriarchates of Constantinople, and portions of Antioch, Jerusalem and to a lesser extent Alexandria. Ideally, this ought to be presented in the harmonic functioning and cohabitiation of the Five Sees of the Pentarchy:
1. Rome
2. Constantinople
3. Alexandria
4. Antioch
5. Jerusalem.
However, Rome was outside of Rhomania, yet both remain part of the Chalcedonian Communion. Due to the arrangement with Kemet, the Alexandrian Patriarchate has no jurisdiction over Egypt itself and Jerusalem, well is a regional matter altogether. This leaves Constantinople and Antioch (Although the latter is disputed as well).
Perhaps it is due to Greek philosophy that religious disputes arose more often than in the more legalistic west, but the Rhomanians appear to have been the world recordsmen for the rise of heresies.
The Rhomaic civilization would spread further into the areas considered to be Rhomaic peripheries: the Caucasus and Rus. These lands would look to Constantinople as the gravitational centre of civilization, and seek to imitate its society.
Kemet
As a distinct cultural entity, Kemet or Coptic Egypt continues to prevail. Its legacy can very well be traced down to the time of the Pharaoh, while taking on a Christian shape. The major charactersitics of the Egyptian society appear to remain unchanged: an agricultural rural civilization based on the valley of the Nile River, with few outside threats. The ancient Egyptian preoccupation with religion and a bureaucratic centralized state apparatus found its depiction in hierocratic system, based upon a fusion of Church and State, while a separation of the army from civilian administration.
Neither Egypt nor its cultural sphere would put great importance in a local levy. Military duty was unheard of – and the countries would rely either on professional soldiers, or in case of lack thereof, on foreign mercenaries.
The Kemetic cultural sphere would thus include Egypt proper, and then spread Nile upstream, into the kingdoms of Nubia: Makouria and Alodia, which would seek to imitate the model lower downstream.
Ethiopia and Himyar
The realms of southern Arabia and the Ethiopian Highlands appear to have risen independently, and Yemen used to have hosted half a dozen of different realms. The southern tip of Arabia even used to have been the cradle of a unique monotheistic faith – called Rahmanism. However, contact with the Mediterranean and Eranshahr resulted in integration of this cultural sphere into the global network of cultures.
While very mercantile in nature (due to its position at the Bab-el Mandeb), the society of Himyar still remains rather strict in its interpretation of the Christian scripture – to such a way that Rhomaic authors sometimes compare it to the righteousness of the Pharisees.
Eranshahr
Comparable yet rival to the Mediterranean civilization was the civilization of Eranshahr. Its earliest origins date back to the ancient civilization of Mesopotamia, which was later taken over by the Achaemenid Empire of Persia.
The universality of the empire of Eranshahr is expressed in the concept of the Shahanshah, meaning king of kings. The claims to Persian universality are nourished by the legacy of the Achaemenid, and later also the Sassanid Empire.
The sense of continuity in the Iranian plateau would be expressed by the preservation of the Zoroastrian religion, which is however challenge in the peripheral parts of this civilizational entity by the growing influence of Nestorianism, Manicheism and Mazdakism. These peripheral parts: Mesopotamia, Sogdia and Mazoun, are nevertheless viewed as integral parts of Eranshahr, despite some cultural differences, notably in language and religion; however the memory and mentality remains of course common.
India
The disunited Subcontinent has been already introduced a number of times. India has never been united sice the Mauryan Empire; yet the notion of togetherness in the Subcontinent does exist, which materialises itself in the notion of cakravartin .
In terms of societal organization, the Indian civilization is notorious for the existence of the caste system. Religions associated with the Indian civilization are Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism, with the latter two more connected to the urban north, while the former to the rural south.
Indeed the Indo-Gangetic plain can be considered the very core of India, feeding the Deccan plateau to the south by events and effects.
India has frequent contact with Indochina to its east. Furthermore, India has also affected Central Asia along the Silk Road to a significant degree, mostly due to the transmission of Buddhism
China
Of course, in the Far East, we have China, considering itself to be the Middle Kingdom, and being the centre of civilizational gravity in East Asia. Chinese universalism is expressed in the term “Celestial Mandate”; and the Emperors themselves would not view their neighbours as equals, but rather as tributary states.
In such a way, Chinese influence would extend into Vietnam, Tibet, Mongolian Steppe and Korea and Japan. Rulers of these countries would try to portray their own realms after the Chinese example of course.
Compared to other civilizations, China is unique in quite a few aspects. Firstly, religion has been replaced to a great degree by philosophy as the great social glue. This manifests itself mainly in Confucianism and Taoism.
Secondly, we have the hard-to-learn Chinese script. Unlike the writing systems of the rest of Eurasia, Chinese is not an alphabet nor an abjad, and the number of characters is just… too great. Therefore, there appear to be few prospects of the average Chinese to learn to read and write; the mastery of this art is in the hands of bureaucrats, who run the Empire.
View attachment 477532
Sogdian Crossroad
While included in the Eranshahr, the region of Sogdia and adjacent areas cannot be clearly included into any of the civilizational areas. Due to its geographic location it has absorbed influences from all directions, be it Persia, China, India or the Steppe (although that vector appears to have the people moving south and the ideas moving northwards, mostly. Anyhow, this may explain the multiculturalism present in the mosaic of religions in Sogdia, and also the popularity of its most widespread religion, Manicheism (syncretizing elements of Christianity, Zoroastrianism and Buddhism)… lacking a Chinese element I guess.
The cultural entity of Francia had come to dominate most of western Europe. The core areas are those which have been part of the empire of Charlemagne, while neighbouring areas, such as British Isles, Scandinavian, Intermarium, Sicily and Hispania are gradually accepting Francian institutions and civilization.
Francia was created upon the interaction of Latinate and Germanic peoples, and these two language families dominate the heartland of Francia. The unity of this civilizational space is manifested in the fact that the area is the original canonical jurisdiction of Rome, under the authority of the Roman Papacy. However, real political authority does not reside in the Eternal City.
The legacy of the Roman Empire is also vivid in the survival of Latin as a written language long after its demise as a vernacular. The Francian civilization has for the most part adopted the manorial or feudal system, with the nobles in power and the Church maintaining its position as an influential institution, but after all, it’s the nobles who have the sword.
Rhomania
The Rhomaic Empire has come to dominate the basin of the Eastern Mediterranean in its entirety. Its claim to imperial continuity with the S.P.Q.R. appears to be most valid, as it has maintained most of the Roman institutions and legacy. The Hellenic tongues had mostly replaced Latin within Rhomania, yet asking any of its citizens, they would not identify with being “Hellenes” – those were the polytheists long ago, but rather with being Rhomans.
Unlike Francia, the Rhoman (Greek) language remains vernacular and vibrant, to such an extent that it goes on to assimilate many regional languages in the core territory. The Greek concept of the Oecumene remains very much present, with the core under Rhomaic rule, and other smaller realms expected to acknowledge the dominance of the Emperor. Indeed, Rhomaic satellites would be stablished in the Caucasus
The identity of the Rhomaic Empire stood on a combination of Roman political system, Athenian philosophy and Jerusalemite religion. The geopolitical position of the capital, Constantinople, would be expressed in the double headed eagle, with one head looking westwards and the other eastwards, reflecting the transcontinental reality. It would also express the caesaropapist relation between the Emperor and the Church; that is the Emperor seen as the uttermost arbiter in case of dispute (not that infrequent). In canonical terms the Rhomaic civilization includes the entirety of the jurisdiction of the Patriarchates of Constantinople, and portions of Antioch, Jerusalem and to a lesser extent Alexandria. Ideally, this ought to be presented in the harmonic functioning and cohabitiation of the Five Sees of the Pentarchy:
1. Rome
2. Constantinople
3. Alexandria
4. Antioch
5. Jerusalem.
However, Rome was outside of Rhomania, yet both remain part of the Chalcedonian Communion. Due to the arrangement with Kemet, the Alexandrian Patriarchate has no jurisdiction over Egypt itself and Jerusalem, well is a regional matter altogether. This leaves Constantinople and Antioch (Although the latter is disputed as well).
Perhaps it is due to Greek philosophy that religious disputes arose more often than in the more legalistic west, but the Rhomanians appear to have been the world recordsmen for the rise of heresies.
The Rhomaic civilization would spread further into the areas considered to be Rhomaic peripheries: the Caucasus and Rus. These lands would look to Constantinople as the gravitational centre of civilization, and seek to imitate its society.
Kemet
As a distinct cultural entity, Kemet or Coptic Egypt continues to prevail. Its legacy can very well be traced down to the time of the Pharaoh, while taking on a Christian shape. The major charactersitics of the Egyptian society appear to remain unchanged: an agricultural rural civilization based on the valley of the Nile River, with few outside threats. The ancient Egyptian preoccupation with religion and a bureaucratic centralized state apparatus found its depiction in hierocratic system, based upon a fusion of Church and State, while a separation of the army from civilian administration.
Neither Egypt nor its cultural sphere would put great importance in a local levy. Military duty was unheard of – and the countries would rely either on professional soldiers, or in case of lack thereof, on foreign mercenaries.
The Kemetic cultural sphere would thus include Egypt proper, and then spread Nile upstream, into the kingdoms of Nubia: Makouria and Alodia, which would seek to imitate the model lower downstream.
Ethiopia and Himyar
The realms of southern Arabia and the Ethiopian Highlands appear to have risen independently, and Yemen used to have hosted half a dozen of different realms. The southern tip of Arabia even used to have been the cradle of a unique monotheistic faith – called Rahmanism. However, contact with the Mediterranean and Eranshahr resulted in integration of this cultural sphere into the global network of cultures.
While very mercantile in nature (due to its position at the Bab-el Mandeb), the society of Himyar still remains rather strict in its interpretation of the Christian scripture – to such a way that Rhomaic authors sometimes compare it to the righteousness of the Pharisees.
Eranshahr
Comparable yet rival to the Mediterranean civilization was the civilization of Eranshahr. Its earliest origins date back to the ancient civilization of Mesopotamia, which was later taken over by the Achaemenid Empire of Persia.
The universality of the empire of Eranshahr is expressed in the concept of the Shahanshah, meaning king of kings. The claims to Persian universality are nourished by the legacy of the Achaemenid, and later also the Sassanid Empire.
The sense of continuity in the Iranian plateau would be expressed by the preservation of the Zoroastrian religion, which is however challenge in the peripheral parts of this civilizational entity by the growing influence of Nestorianism, Manicheism and Mazdakism. These peripheral parts: Mesopotamia, Sogdia and Mazoun, are nevertheless viewed as integral parts of Eranshahr, despite some cultural differences, notably in language and religion; however the memory and mentality remains of course common.
India
The disunited Subcontinent has been already introduced a number of times. India has never been united sice the Mauryan Empire; yet the notion of togetherness in the Subcontinent does exist, which materialises itself in the notion of cakravartin .
In terms of societal organization, the Indian civilization is notorious for the existence of the caste system. Religions associated with the Indian civilization are Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism, with the latter two more connected to the urban north, while the former to the rural south.
Indeed the Indo-Gangetic plain can be considered the very core of India, feeding the Deccan plateau to the south by events and effects.
India has frequent contact with Indochina to its east. Furthermore, India has also affected Central Asia along the Silk Road to a significant degree, mostly due to the transmission of Buddhism
China
Of course, in the Far East, we have China, considering itself to be the Middle Kingdom, and being the centre of civilizational gravity in East Asia. Chinese universalism is expressed in the term “Celestial Mandate”; and the Emperors themselves would not view their neighbours as equals, but rather as tributary states.
In such a way, Chinese influence would extend into Vietnam, Tibet, Mongolian Steppe and Korea and Japan. Rulers of these countries would try to portray their own realms after the Chinese example of course.
Compared to other civilizations, China is unique in quite a few aspects. Firstly, religion has been replaced to a great degree by philosophy as the great social glue. This manifests itself mainly in Confucianism and Taoism.
Secondly, we have the hard-to-learn Chinese script. Unlike the writing systems of the rest of Eurasia, Chinese is not an alphabet nor an abjad, and the number of characters is just… too great. Therefore, there appear to be few prospects of the average Chinese to learn to read and write; the mastery of this art is in the hands of bureaucrats, who run the Empire.
View attachment 477532
Sogdian Crossroad
While included in the Eranshahr, the region of Sogdia and adjacent areas cannot be clearly included into any of the civilizational areas. Due to its geographic location it has absorbed influences from all directions, be it Persia, China, India or the Steppe (although that vector appears to have the people moving south and the ideas moving northwards, mostly. Anyhow, this may explain the multiculturalism present in the mosaic of religions in Sogdia, and also the popularity of its most widespread religion, Manicheism (syncretizing elements of Christianity, Zoroastrianism and Buddhism)… lacking a Chinese element I guess.
- Tomislav Addai
- Word Count: 1.4k