roman republic

Some time before the Battle of Dyrrachium, Julius Caesar attempted to sail across the Adriatic so that he could bring reinforcements to Greece. But due to hostile weather, he failed, and only made it back alive through luck. What if Caesar had drowned in this attempt?

I've been working on a timeline focused around a Punic victory in the Punic Wars. So far, I've come up with ways that Carthage could win the Second Punic War, like Hannibal successfully capturing Rome or Rome's league falling apart. But with the 1st Punic War, I find it more difficult. What...

I've been thinking how republicanism and democratic ideals have burned brightly for millennia, and how of course many of us would die to keep that flame from being extinguished. However, what if the dictatorial and tyrannical rule of kings had restarted, reversing the glorious Roman Revolution...

The first two Servile Wars were slave revolts in Sicily. While these revolts enjoyed success for a time, they were ultimately put down. How plausible would it be for the slave revolts to have been more successful? I'm not necessarily talking about outright victory, I'm talking about the Romans...

So in 218 BC, the Second Punic War started after Rome allied with Saguntum, in violation of the treaty with Carthage that Rome was to remain north of the Ebro river, and Hannibal besieged and took the city. He continued, eventually crossing the Alps, where he lost much of his army and his...

In 317 BC, Cassander had finally defeated and killed Olympias at Pydna, and her brother Aeacides wad deposed for supporting Olympias against Cassander. Aeacides sent the young Pyrrhus of Epirus to Glaukias, king of the Taulantians, where he was raised and restored to the throne in 306 BC. What...

Was it ever possible for Rome to have expanded into, say, southern Germania and what would IOTL become Austria and the Czech Republic, moving in from the Alpine passes, while mostly ignoring Gaul for the time being? Obviously, that’d require their flanks to be secure (earlier pacification of...

Your challenge is to have the Samnites survive as a distinct people until at least the 1st century CE.

In 301 BC, the future king Pyrrhus of Epirus, was still an officer in the Antigonid army ar the battle of Ipsus. Afterward, he stuck with Demetrius a few years before being sent as a hostage to Egypt, where he would obtain the forces needed to take back his throne. Now what if Pyrrhus had been...

In 218 BC, after the Second Punic War had started, Hannibal had successfully besieged Saguntum and was about to cross the Alps into Italy, sparking an invasion which would change the face of the Mediterranean world and the fate of Rome. But while he was crossing the Alps, he suffered heavy...

What if the cunning Octavian, later known as Augustus, had succumbed to disease before he could begin exerting influence over Roman politics after his granduncle Caesar died? What would be the short and long term consequences of Rome’s first true emperor becoming a footnote? One immediate...

At the Battle of Carrhae, Marcus Licinius Crassus suffered a catastrophic defeat at the hands of the Parthian general known to history as Surena. Crassus lost most of his army, his son Publius, and his life. The survivors of the battle limped back to Roman Syria under the command of Gaius...

In 44 BCE, Julius Caesar was planning an invasion of the Parthian Empire. Of course, his planned invasion never happened, since he was assassinated before he could start it. What if he had survived to invade the Parthian Empire? How well could he have done?

Mark Antony's invasion of the Parthian Empire ended in disaster. But what if his campaign had succeeded? Would it have impacted the conflict between him and Octavian?

It's not hard to imagine Gaius Marius dying before becoming consul. One possible POD might be him getting killed at the Battle of the Muthul while coming to the aid of Metellus, though there are probably quite a few other potential PODs resulting in his death. What might happen if he died before...

Rome was subject to many civil wars and internal divisions throughout the first century BCE, with different generals and politicians carving out their own spheres of influence throughout the empire. During this time of internal strife, could it be possible that Rome could permanently fracture...

In 71 BCE, Spartacus cut a deal with some Cilician pirates, who promised to transport him and 2,000 of his forces to Sicily in exchange for some money. But they just took the money and left. What if the pirates had kept their word and taken Spartacus to Sicily?

As it says on the tin. Cleopatra's certainly the most famous of Ptolemy XII of Egypt's five children. His two sons, Ptolemies XIII (possibly Arsinoe IV's twin brother) and XIV are remembered as little more than Cleopatra's successive husbands. His other two daughters are likewise reduced to the...

Disclaimer: this is not an attempt to troll or propose ASB stuff. This part of a recent post from @Dante tiggered the Galactic Empire's fanboy that is inside me, unleashing parallelisms between Octavian and Palpatine. Of course, there are also a lot of differences not only between the two, but...

What if, while captured by pirates at a young age, Caesar was killed by the pirates? We wont focus completely on the "why" he was killed by the pirates, but rather the future of the Republic. Was an empire destined to come? Would Rome stay a republic? Who would lead Rome in the future? Would...