persian empire

  1. WI: Arabs Accepted Sassanid Offer For Tigris River Border

    During the siege of Bahurasīr, a Sassanid emissary relayed a message from Shahanshah Yazdegerd III to the Arabs, proposing a new border along the Tigris River, with the lands to the west designated as Arab territory and those to the east as Sassanid. IOTL, this offer was rejected, and the Arabs...
  2. Dyl7atalthist

    What if the Persian Empire never existed?

    I wonder what would happen if Cyrus the Great was never born and the Persian Empire never existed?
  3. Oba Cahokia

    WI Persia reclaimed it's Western domains from Rome before Jesus' Birth?

    Original Map by u/--Faris-- on Reddit How would this Effect Religion in Rome and Persia? How different would the Gospels be ITTL? How does effect religion and cultures in Armenia and Ethiopia, the oldest states to adopt Christianity? How different would Christianity be?
  4. AHC: Provide foreign aid to the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857

    I am studying more about the Rebellion in India against the British East India company starting in 1857. As well as other wars involving the British Empire around that time in such as the First Anglo Afghan War, the First and Second Anglo-Sikh wars, Crimean war, Anglo-Persian War, 2nd Opium war...
  5. A Persian victory at Gaugamela?

    The move that secured the Macedonian victory at Gaugamela - a massive charge straight into the Persian center, where Darius III was - was an immensely risky gamble for Alexander. Case in point, his manouver created a gap in his army's line, one which was exploited by a detachment of Persian and...
  6. Khosrow II doesn't flee to Syria?

    Khosrow II, the last of the "great" Sassanid shahs (the quotes are because he was actually pretty terrible), began his reign under very inauspicious circumstances: his father, the destructively paranoid Hormizd IV, had been murdered, the empire was locked in a long, bloody and fruitless war with...
  7. TheWitheredStriker

    WI: Heraclius moves the ERE's capital to Carthage?

    According to Runciman (1977), Heraclius I, Eastern Roman Emperor from 610 to 641, originally considered abandoning Constantinople in the war with Sassanid Persia. Constantinople had been suffering throughout the campaign against the Persians as grain was the primary source of food for the city...
  8. Plausibility check: Manichean Sassanids?

    The activites of Mani, founder of Manichaeism, were initially tolerated by the Sasanian authorities until the reign of Bahram I, during which he was imprisoned and was either executed or died beforehand. How plausible could it be for one of the early Sassanid shahs to not only tolerate...
  9. AltoRegnant

    DBWI: This "Persian" Empire Existed?

    OTL, the Farsi Plateu has been host to a wide array of powerful civilizations, but few of them ever spread beyond its borders. But, doing some browsing, i found this weird alternate history map of a "Persian Empire," supposedly founded in the collapse of the Medians. The map is supposedly around...
  10. Cyrus the Younger becomes king of Persia?

    What if Cyrus the Younger survived the Battle of Cunaxa and overthrew his older brother Artaxerxes II? He had administrative experience thanks to his stint as satrap of Lydia, and, most famously, had ten thousand Greek mercenaries in his army, one of whom was Xenophon. What would he be like as...
  11. WI Alexander the Great is killed at the Persian Gate?

    The Battle of the Persian Gate was the Achaemenid Empire's last act of resistance against Alexander the Great. After an ambush that caused heavy casualties among the Macedonians, the Persians held the pass for a month before the invaders found an alternate path through the terrain (the battle...
  12. WI: The Karens take over Persia

    The House of Karen was one of the Seven Great Houses of Iran during the Parthian and Sasanian Empires. What if they had formed a Persian Empire of their own at some point?
  13. SunKing105

    WI: Cyrus the Great drowns in the Tigris river in 539 BC?

    In October 539 BC, when Cyrus the Great conquered the Neo-Babylonian empire, he faced surprisingly little resistance, for which various explanations have been found, suggesting the unpopularity the favoritism the previous Babylonian monarch Nabonidus had for the god Sin over Babylon's...
  14. SunKing105

    WI: Rashidun stop at Mesopotamia?

    While looking from a broad macro-historical perspective the conquests were quick and inevitable after the devastation of the war of 602-628 and the various internal crises both the Byzantines and Sassanids had to deal with afterward, Umar(RA), after defeating the Byzantines and Sassanids at...
  15. SunKing105

    WI; Bahram Chobin overthrows the Sassanids?

    Bahram Chobin was a general from the Mihranid clan that attempted to revolt against Hormizd IV and restore the Arsacid Empire. Around 590, after achieving a victory against the Hephthalites, he revolted and seized the throne for a year, before being deposed by Vistahm and Vinduyih, who had...
  16. SunKing105

    WI: Kavad executed?

    In 496 AD, the nobles of the Sassanid realm met and agreed to imprison Shahanshah Kavad I, due to several reasons, most prominent being his execution of Sukhra, and his actions regarding the emerging Mazdakist sect. Gushnaspdad proposed that he be killed, but that proposal was rejected, and he...
  17. Horus Triumphant - an Alternate Antiquity timeline
    Threadmarks: Intro

    Horus Triumphant - an Alternate Antiquity timeline - Over the years I've had several ideas for some timelines but never really had the time to do...
  18. SunKing105

    WI: Artaxerxes III not poisoned by Bagoas

    In 338 BC, Artaxerxes III, one of the most successful King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire in its later years, was poisoned by his vizier, a eunuch named Bagoas, along with much of his family. Bagoas subsequently raised Artaxerxes IV, one of the youngest sons of Artaxerxes III, on the throne...
  19. SunKing105

    WI: Darius III not killed by Bessus

    In 330 BC, after the disastrous defeat at Gaugamela, Darius III fled into the mountainous regions of Media, entrusting the defence of Parsa to the satrap Ariobarzanes, who failed to stop Alexander the Great despite putting up valiant resistance. A group of conspirators led by Bessus, satrap of...
  20. SunKing105

    AHQ: How would the collapse of the Achaemenid Empire play out without Alexander?

    So let’s say that Alexander either never exists or never conquers the Achaemenid Empire. Maybe he dies at the Granicus River, or gets hit by a stray sling bullet at Gaza. Either way, the Achaemenid Empire survives intact. However, the Achaemenids had to deal with jealous satraps, disloyal...
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