The ripples start reaching China in the late 2nd century BCE- in OTL this is when the Han first started sending out feelers into western Central Asia to see who was ending up with their goods. Instead of finding Parthia, and the recently Saka-conquered Bactria, they find the eastern edge of the Imerian Empire. The forms of contact that ensue are different to OTL. This only impacts China slowly, until we get to the point that steppe nomad dynamics are highly affected by earlier changes, so the really big changes only start from about the 1st century AD onwards, but oh boy.
Μηδίζω! The World of Achaemenid Hellas
- Thread starter Daeres
- Start date
The ripples start reaching China in the late 2nd century BCE- in OTL this is when the Han first started sending out feelers into western Central Asia to see who was ending up with their goods. Instead of finding Parthia, and the recently Saka-conquered Bactria, they find the eastern edge of the Imerian Empire. The forms of contact that ensue are different to OTL. This only impacts China slowly, until we get to the point that steppe nomad dynamics are highly affected by earlier changes, so the really big changes only start from about the 1st century AD onwards, but oh boy.
Well then, I look forward to finding out, though I expect it will take a while for us to see much detail on that era, seeing as we still have barely seen the rise of the Agnimitrid Empire, let alone its fall and replacement with the Imerian Empire, about whom we know nothing bar that they come from what is now Georgia. We still haven't even seen much of the Amavadatid kingdom, even, nor the Rasna Empire. I expect it will be a long while before we venture past the Taklamakan again, however I doubt any will mind. You do write so excellently, and craft such a fascinating puzzle of a tale. You have my thanks for doing so.
Years of Rice and Roast Ox
Μηδίζω! THE WORLD OF ACHAEMENID HELLAS
CHAPTER 5: SPOROS or CIHYA
PERSEPOLIS ARCHIVAL TABLET (c.430 BCE)
50 bar of rice set aside for seed. At Liduma. 4th Year.
ANCIENT AGRICULTURE BY C. PERICLES TANTINU (1384 CE)
RICE
CHAPTER 5: SPOROS or CIHYA
PERSEPOLIS ARCHIVAL TABLET (c.430 BCE)
50 bar of rice set aside for seed. At Liduma. 4th Year.
ANCIENT AGRICULTURE BY C. PERICLES TANTINU (1384 CE)
RICE
In the time of King Mithradates a royal assessment of Hellas’ agriculture was conducted; as the Amavadatids were principally confined to the bounds and resources contained within Hellas, they wanted to maximise their utility. Within this assessment is contained the first clear reference to the growing of rice in Hellas, though the report suggests that the cultivation of rice had been going on for some time. Its introduction to Hellas is by lai-source associated with King Vivana, which would account for the industry’s already-mature status as of the time of King Mithradates. The report locates the entirety of Hellas’ rice production within Makedon, and in particular the lowlands immediately around the Gulf of Therma. Aloros, Berroia, Ikhnai, Mieza, Sindos, and Therma are all named as rice producing poleis. In total the report estimates that rice fields took up 210,500 plethron in space, and produced 360,000 artaba of rice each year. Despite the Amavadatids being known as the Garden Kings in our time it is clear they had not entirely adapted to rice cultivation in Hellas, given the low tunnage-per-akra this would indicate. As for the matter of Makedon, it is not coincidental that this land begins to appear more frequently in the writings of Hellenes at this time; the production of rice required substantial agricultural infrastructure, pushing Makedon’s residents towards cities and settled industry, increasing the wealth and potency of Hellas’ ancient twin along with reducing the Hellenic notion of Makedon being a land of barbarians.
EXTRACT FROM MELANAS' PERSIKA (144 BCE)
APPROACH TO AMIDA
It was then that Melanas first saw it, the Shaded Road. As the Royal Road descended to the flat lands of Inner Asia, he saw banyans from afar all along the Road’s progress, like a forest that only grew on pavement, interrupted only by cities along the Road’s route, and only if the Road passed through the city in question. It seemingly stretched for the entirety of the Royal Road as it passed through Kordyene into Assyria, and beyond. Nothing like it had even been attempted anywhere else in the world. As he grew closer, Melanas saw how this marvellous achievement had been wrought; artificial platforms, of a kind similar to columns, had been erected alongside the road, and the banyans induced to grow from these vantage points, spreading over centuries to create the Shaded Road. The shelter from the heat of midday was extremely welcome. He progressed to the farsang of Zukni, the last before the city of Amide, where he was welcomed at the rest station. His hosts could not agree as to who had first planted the Banyans- some said Dareios, the Akhaimenid, had created the Shaded Road, others said that it was Agnimitre the Conqueror, and others still said that it was the work of King Admirani, father of the current Great King Gela. Regardless of their disagreements, all of those stationed at Zukni were deeply proud and reverential towards the Shaded Road, and showed Melanas a shrine that they kept for the Ilanim, the daimones of the Shaded Road. Melanas spoke to them of the dryades and they approved most heartily. They provisioned him with generous quantities of kande, and it was with a glad heart that Melanas took to the Road again, this time destined to enter the city of Amide.
THE MAKETHONIKA (c.980 CE)
NIKOTHARMA DECLARES WAR
King Nikotharma sailed to Krete, whereupon he meditated underneath the Banyan for ten days and ten nights, eating only rice bread and drinking only water. Through his piety and wisdom he received knowledge of what should be done, and sailed back to Makethonia immediately, avoiding all Hellenic attempts to capture his vessel. He found his people eager for his judgement, and so he gave it to them in the city of Nirvane, the capital of the realm.
“A terrible ignorance and malignancy has come over the Hellenarkh, all sense of justice has fled, all proper forethought deserted him, and a false notion of piety instead inflames egregious and warmongering against Makedon, and against those of us who understand the wisdom of the Bodda’s teachings. It is our task, our duty to preserve peace, to promote the lifting of ignorance, and this cannot be accomplished if we do not defend ourselves against this unprovoked, aggressive action aimed at ending the teachings of the Bodda in Hellas, perhaps even the end of Makethon itself. We must defend ourselves against those that we have loyally served, lest far greater harm come over the Hellenes by our inaction. We must test our faith in battle against the Hellenarkh, people of Makedon.”
And King Nikotharma assembled twenty thousand cavalry, and sixty thousand infantry, and went to war against the Hellenarkh.
“A terrible ignorance and malignancy has come over the Hellenarkh, all sense of justice has fled, all proper forethought deserted him, and a false notion of piety instead inflames egregious and warmongering against Makedon, and against those of us who understand the wisdom of the Bodda’s teachings. It is our task, our duty to preserve peace, to promote the lifting of ignorance, and this cannot be accomplished if we do not defend ourselves against this unprovoked, aggressive action aimed at ending the teachings of the Bodda in Hellas, perhaps even the end of Makethon itself. We must defend ourselves against those that we have loyally served, lest far greater harm come over the Hellenes by our inaction. We must test our faith in battle against the Hellenarkh, people of Makedon.”
And King Nikotharma assembled twenty thousand cavalry, and sixty thousand infantry, and went to war against the Hellenarkh.
EXTRACT FROM ALARIC LARSUN’S GERMANIKA (1690 CE)
THE GOTI OF THE EAST
The Eastern Goti, having passed through harsh mountains and deserts beyond count, now found themselves in lands beyond compare. Rich soils, vast green forests, luscious fruits (many of which the Goti had never encountered before), and that was only the natural wealth of the landscape. They found themselves in a country of ancient cities, its treasures bloated from tax revenue. From the descriptions of the lands we should conclude that the Goti were now in the lands of Gandara. Foremost, we have the mention of the Baktrigs, who I am confident in identifying as Baktrians. Second, we have the mention of the city of Oabarg, which would seem to be ancient Baktres, described as it is as being an oasis city with high circuit walls, surrounded by rich farmland and an additional outer wall protecting against the desert, this description matching not only that of ancient Baktres but the modern city that has overgrown it. Thirdly, the saga of the Goti mentions the amre fruit growing in these lands, and Gandara is the northernmost that amre will grow without extensive intervention, though the amre was illustrated in the art of many surrounding civilizations..
The Eastern Goti found themselves arriving in Gandara at an extremely opportune time. Baguma Ric, as the the Goti called him, was the King of Gandara that time, and things were still recovering from the collapse of Imerian authority over the region. The Tokharian basin had been lost. Numerous military settlers in the basin and nearby had been driven off, or had rebelled, or had simply departed the area. Despite the saga’s repeated compliments towards the Baktrigisk cavalry, who by all accounts were renowned across Asia for their skill, it was clear that Gandara was facing a dangerous time. It had been the movement of the Hon which had pushed the Skythians to invade Inner Asia, and the Sarmatians into Juropa, and now the Hon were on the threshold of invading Gandara. The arrival of several thousand warriors, foreign and uncivilized though they must have seemed, was an extremely welcome development. The Goti thought they rather got the better of the resulting deal, where they were given farmsteads, and in turn served the King of Gandara, given that war was something that came naturally to them. However, I rather think that Baguma Ric would have thought that he had gotten the better part of the deal- an opportunity to demonstrate his ability to control the situation, by turning a possible set of raiders into valuable soldiers, along with shoring up his military assets, in return for the thing that he had no shortage of- fertile land in need of population.
The saga is principally concerned, from here until its end, with the various adventures of the Goti under the command of Baguma Ric, and the intricate politics of the Goti as they settled in Gandara. But the surviving portions of the saga only narrate the next generation’s worth of history of the Eastern Goti before the record then breaks. To further track the history of the Eastern Goti we must now turn back to Uropa, and in particular to Sindunbarg, and wait some forty years. Contact between West and East was re-established sometime in the reign of Basileus Wilhilm I, who we have met earlier. We begin to find references in the burgeoning literature of Gothika to a land inhabited by Goti called Amraland. These not only suggest that the Eastern Goti had continued to survive, but were now actively seeking contact with their homeland, having not exactly left much indication of their eventual whereabouts in their anabasis across Skythia and northern Asia. We also see in these references the first indication of the role the Eastern Goti now had, that of escorting caravans on the Silk Road. This is confirmed by the corroborating reports of other nations on the Silk Road, in the following decades. Thus the Eastern Goti, in the end, also joined in the settled affairs of Asia, much as their western brethren had, but at opposite sides of the world, and with vastly different aims. The Western Goti, we saw, strove to create an ambitious and expansionist Empire the equal of the now-collapsed Hellenic Koinon, whereas the Eastern Goti made themselves indispensable to the ever-strengthening links between Uropa, Asia, and Han. We await with great anticipation the identification of their sites of settlement, for through Eastern Goti eyes we would be witnesses to one of the most intense periods of human history ever recorded.
EXTRACT FROM CULINARY ARTS BY ANSHAR-APLA (98 BCE)
A FEAST OF KING GELA
The following was sent before King Gela and his guests: ice-chilled wine from Carthage, Parsa; spiced wine from Sur, Armina; raisin wine from Sidon; saffron and honey cordial; fried trevally with dried lime; fried angelfish with black peppercorn batter; roasted bream with rose, cumin, black peppercorns; roasted goose with honey-roasted carrot; roasted chicken with yoghurt and cumin; turned pork with sour cherry; roasted ox stuffed with nuts, capers, and whole limes; roasted beef with mango; boiled pork with apple; roasted pork with milk; roasted ox; roasted chicken with Indian spice; fried beef with cinnamon; turned pork with star anise; turned duck with black peppercorns and roasted figs; lamb and cucumber pie with cinnamon; fried cabbage with pomegranate; rice with saffron and turmeric; rice with ghee; cucumber and mint yoghurt; sesame and garlic dip; baked cucumbers with onion, ghee, and black peppercorns; salted lentil porridge; barley soup; aromatic rice; syrup soaked lentil sweets; cake in ghee with almond paste; cinnamon cake with honey and apricot; pistachio cake with cardamom; sour cherry cake; rose pie; candied lime; candied capers; candied figs; roast figs with honey and sweet cream; confection marvels (including a replica of the palace of Amida in edible candy); honey candies; fruits of all nations.
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Sounds like it - the clue would probably be that he calls Macedon Makethonia. so d = th is pretty clear. Nikotharma is also an awesome name.
This post had a lot of wild revelations. Goths in India! Buddhist Macedonia! Rice cultivation and tree shaping!
Limes!
Sounds like it - the clue would probably be that he calls Macedon Makethonia. so d = th is pretty clear. Nikotharma is also an awesome name.
Well, "dh" is different from "d".
Though, wasn't the short a usually Grecified as "o"? So, it should really be "thormos" unless there's been further word evolution.
You're probably right.
Personally, I'm just amazed that limes have made it to the Mediterranean world so quickly. Unless these limes are actually lemons, from the Persian word "limun."
Personally, I'm just amazed that limes have made it to the Mediterranean world so quickly. Unless these limes are actually lemons, from the Persian word "limun."
i wonder what kind of ethnic mixups will happen in india, what is the current state Buddhism in India without ashoka?Sounds like it - the clue would probably be that he calls Macedon Makethonia. so d = th is pretty clear. Nikotharma is also an awesome name.
This post had a lot of wild revelations. Goths in India! Buddhist Macedonia! Rice cultivation and tree shaping!
Limes!
Diyarbakir, Amid/Amida was its ancient name.
Nikotharma and Makethonia are both *10th century CE versions of the names in question, in *Macedonian Greek of the author's era.
Also, I love that limes proved to be an exciting revelation on par with Goths in Bactria! I'm enjoying the choice to show historical change via the lens of fruits/plants, though not all the installments are themed on literal 'seeds' (for example the previous chapter, Greeks in China and all, was using the concept a bit more metaphorically). It's not the only major culinary item that's made an earlier appearance in the Near East by the way, cf: the mention of candied fruits and confectionary in the feast of King Gela.
As for Buddhism in India, that will be dealt with in more detail when we come to the topic of the lotus flower.
This is the first time that something solid involving German speakers has turned up, now I think about it. I'm not actually sure which one you'll find more unusual, in the end, the Eastern Goths in India, or the Western Gothic kingdom based out of Moesia...
What has me so excited is that these sorts of things are so rarely well done in timelines - the spread of alternate foods and whatnot is something often overlooked or done hastily, and yet you provide an excellent insight into culture using it.
Shortening of 'arkhos', meaning ruler/leader. We've only run into the position a couple of times but the Hellenarkhs are the oligarchic council forming part of the Koinon Hellenon, a centralised Hellenic state whose origins and eventual decline I've only broadly indicated. It originates in the collapse of the Imerian Empire, and comes into existence *c.30-50 CE. The Hellenarkhs are advisors and devolved administrators for the Panhellen, the titular ruler of the Koinon Hellenon.
Spice
Μηδίζω! THE WORLD OF ACHAEMENID HELLAS
CHAPTER 5: SPOROS or CIHYA
EXTRACT FROM DATIS OF SINOPE’S HISTORIA (96 BCE)
THE HELLENES AND KROKOS
CHAPTER 5: SPOROS or CIHYA
EXTRACT FROM DATIS OF SINOPE’S HISTORIA (96 BCE)
THE HELLENES AND KROKOS
And so in the period of greatest division between Western and Eastern Hellenes we find that the use of krokos became a strong marker of affiliation. Krokos, to the old Hellenic mind, was a kind of aphrodisiac and a perfume associated with courtesans, and were invariably suspicious of krokos as used to dye fabrics, to flavour food, and indeed in almost any use whatsoever. This was considered one of the most bizarre prejudices of the Hellenes by the rest of Asia, and indeed it seems bizarre, both in its own right and compared to the far more civilized mindset of the Hellenes of our own time. The Persians, along with the rest of Asia, by contrast, were happy to enjoy the luxury and benefits of the krokos. Those Hellenes who became accustomed to, or indeed welcomed, the coming of the Great King would often signal their wealth and status with high quality krokos robes, and would emulate the Persians by consuming krokos-flavoured rice. By contrast the city of Dikaia made the use of such krokos a crime punishable by the loss of political power among their society, and banned the import of high quality krokos from Kolkhis. Kimon, famed anti-Persian, frequently accused the wives of the Great King of bathing in krokos water in order to seduce as many men as they could, counted as one of his many slurs against the Great King and the Persians. But in Hellas, as well as being considered an enjoyable addition to food and a vibrant pigment, krokos came to be considered a sign of healing and of medicine. The cultists of Asklepios, in particular those following the philosophy of Hippokrates, began to wear robes of krokos-yellow. Their reputation was too strong, their skill too great, for this to be censured in Italia and among the rest of the Western Hellenes. Sure enough we find that the acceptance of krokos also comes with the earliest reconciliation of the Hellenes, and it is thus fitting that the Italiote emissaries that aligned with Amavadata chose to wear krokos robes, signalling respect to their new ally and an end to their unfounded, barbarian prejudices.
EXTRACT FROM THE SECRET HISTORY BY ALITHAGUR OF ISH (c.650 CE)
THE TRUTH BEHIND THE AKHAMANIDI INVASION OF HILLAS
THE TRUTH BEHIND THE AKHAMANIDI INVASION OF HILLAS
The received, rote-learned, tired old ‘wisdom’ on the Parsian conquest of Hillas is of course that the Athinians and Spartans earned the wrath of Dareeus the Great by their treatment of his ambassadors, and partaking in the revolt of Yunia. There is, of course, no reason why someone of such powers and majesty as the King of Asia would have needed to pay attention to anyone as lowly as the Hillenes of that time and place, and let alone would invest over a million men in its taking at the time of Xirxes, particularly when the lands of Hillas had so little to offer to the great and the good. Instead, the truth behind the Parsian invasion was clearly because the country, at that time, in its primitive purity, was uncorrupted by spice. No spice is known to have been used in those times in Hillas, as everyone was too poor to have been able to afford it. As ones under the heady sway of spice Dareeus, and his son Xirxes, saw an opportunity, saw a chance to introduce the temptation of spice to new lands, indeed a new continent. This was the true power that the Akhaminidis sought after and recognised, the subordination of humans to pepper, to cinnamon, to cloves. It is from this time that the flow of cinnamon, master of befuddlement and licentious vice, became a torrent, with Hillas now directly connected to the heart of the vice lying in Hindush. It is said that a thousand tonnes was imported into Hillas every year, and that the closer to Parsian power you got in Hillas, the redder the food became. It is perhaps a temptation to be grateful, thus, to the vice of spice, for then we can perhaps recognise the bringing of the Parsians to Hillas, and the boon of this to civilization, but we question the very notion of civilization so founded upon vice. The body as temple is violated by these substances that promote the worst instincts of a working, thinking, active mind. And from the Akhaminidis’ end even worse was to come, with the coming of sugar, and star anise. One scarcely marvels at the caked, vice-ridden horror that the world arises to in the present age, from the time of the Parsians the rise of spice in the lands of the west has been inexorable, and along with it the encouragement of almost all vices capable of corrupting body and soul, even those most deadly.
OIKOMAKHIA BY KOIRANOS OF ISSA (394 BCE)
DEFENCE OF KINNAMOMON
DEFENCE OF KINNAMOMON
To all those who would quote the well-respected Hipppokrates of Kos in the matter of kinnamomon. In the considered opinion of Koiranos, Hippokrates of Kos was a fuddy-duddy, insufficiently travelled, and a killjoy. For those of us who experience cruel winters we cannot talk of an excess of heat, in the depths of snows and bitter winds there is no such things. With this in mind, kinnamomon over-consumption must be entirely re-reckoned for those who dwell in Illyria, the colder parts of Italia, or in Sindika to the east, that is to say if one agrees with the distinguished practioner of Kos that kinnamomon consumption is that dangerous to the general health of the public at large. Perhaps, in the heart of the Akhaimenid domain, where reams of every luxury litter the landscape the way trees do elsewhere, perhaps there overconsumption is possible, but we are not the sensuous luxury-devourers of Persia and its royal court, we are Hellenes in wish of warm food to come home to, and to enjoy with our close comrades. Permit us, please, to inject a little pleasure in life, to generously coat a lovely leg of lamb in kinnamomon, to stir it into our strengthening stews in broths, to inject excellence into our cakes. Is this so much to ask?
Speaking of the matter of cakes, Koiranos recommends that you take water and flour, mix into a dough, and then fry the mixture until it is golden in all quarters. Coat the cake in honey, then sprinkle kinnamomon and a little thyme. Some prefer to just add the thyme rather than the kinnamomon. This is a cake of Issa, best eaten with friends near to a warm fire.
HOW TO EAT LIKE A GOTHIK BASILEUS (401 CE)
THE KLOROPEMA
THE KLOROPEMA
Take first milk and wheat flour. The cakes can be made with water rather than milk, but milk will create a better mixture. As with all things, the finer the flour the better the result. Mix into a dough, folding in sugar throughout the process. Now take the mixture and shape it into several bullets of dough, it is a great temptation to make bigger sizes but this will inevitably lead to an uneven finish, and probably a raw centre to the cake. Place the bullets in hot oil, and fry them until they achieve a rich colour on all sides. Warm an apricot and honey sauce with the freshest apricots you can get your hands on, rendering the apricots down and creating a consistency that is able to be dribbled but not entirely liquid. Coat the cooked cakes in the sauce on all sides, there are many who only coat the upper half but it creates an inferior product. Crush and pound together thyme, cinnamon, and cardamom. Roll the cakes in this fragrant mixture. Serve with hot spiced wine for best effect.
SETTLED AFFAIRS BY ANSHADAT (731 CE)
ARIBYLI CAKE
ARIBYLI CAKE
There is no cake that I see so commonly misprepared as the Aribyli, and as Mihr is my witness I have seen many prepared better by common street vendors than those in the high courts. Follow this recipe, demonstrate your virtue by putting high quality food into people’s mouths, and you will earn the respect of proper society. You will be as expensive as lapis dust. The most important note is that the earliest preparation should be done the day before the cakes are needed. Make most preparations the day before they are needed! Take water, sugar, fine white flour, eggs, a little salt, and cinnamon. Mix this all together, and then add butter. Create an elastic dough. Place the dough in a metal container, cover the container in a linen cloth, and then leave to rise until the dough has now doubled in size. Now take the cloth off, and place the container and dough in a cool location. Do not immediately use the dough for cooking! Be patient! The next day, cut the dough into equal sizes, this should be sufficient to create twenty portions. Do not try to reduce the number to create larger cakes! Roll the pieces of dough so that they are round and smooth! Do not be lazy! Heat oil, any oil can be used so long as it is good quality oil, ghee can be used also but the cakes will go a different colour, and you may find it difficult to judge if they are cooked. Now begin to place the uncooked cakes in the oil, when it has become hot. Do not pierce the cakes! This will create ugly, deflated cakes! Only place as many cakes in the oil as the size of the pan will allow! Do not be over-eager and greedy to cook too many at once! Once one side has become golden and nicely fried, immediately turn over the cake and allow the other side to fry in the same manner. Immediately! Now take out the cakes, and allow them to dry, do not allow people to eat greasy Aribyli cakes. Now when you are learning to make Aribyli cakes, it is best to start with the traditional coating. Take honey of a liquid consistency and coat the Aribyli cakes on the top, preferably when still warm. Do not coat the entire cake! This will make it impossible to adequately handle whilst eating! Take cinnamon, thyme, sugar, a little salt, and roll the cake in the mixture. For best presentation it is good to place a nice rose flower on top of the cake. This will produce for you, and those who consume your food, perfect Aribyli cakes every time you make them. When you have become proficient at doing so, you can consider different toppings, or the addition of rose cream, but these are trivial accoutrements compared to the core recipe. Practice!
IDONIA BY ADBAL BEN ASHREAMEN (1740 CE)
What other land could entice the seabound Canaanite
Half as well as you, Idonia,
With your tall, strong trees in their great green forests,
Your pungent spices, your milky white ivory,
Your waters like rippling agate,
Your golden beaches guarded by strong, fierce warriors,
You drew them from their safe harbours in lands far away
For none could resist your pull, your allure,
Not when they had caught your scent or gazed upon you,
Idonia.
Half as well as you, Idonia,
With your tall, strong trees in their great green forests,
Your pungent spices, your milky white ivory,
Your waters like rippling agate,
Your golden beaches guarded by strong, fierce warriors,
You drew them from their safe harbours in lands far away
For none could resist your pull, your allure,
Not when they had caught your scent or gazed upon you,
Idonia.
A POPULAR HISTORY OF MORIKA BY GELO SYRAKOSEUS (1659 CE)
THE WESTERN SPICE TRADE
THE WESTERN SPICE TRADE
Imagine it. In the space of a century these seas, which had been travelled, lived in, and home to some small amount of local trade, but had otherwise seen nothing remarkable, were suddenly transformed into a single great avenue of precious things. Tin from Pride could reasonably expect to end up at the mouth of the Orin river, and Idonian pepper in the halls of warlords across Pride. Indeed, the only great rival to Isipania’s great rush of silver in terms of profits was the spice of Idonia, and many of these are the familiar spices of Morikan cuisine down to this day; Idonian pepper, kwa pepper, Idonian mosca, smooth pepper. Here we find the origin of Poit Cuisine (with, of course, the exception of mustard). These trading missions were the first time that any people originating from the Mediterranean had encountered what we would now recognise as a rainforest, and the fruit of Idonia was the source of many a fabulous report. Whilst spice was the most valued thing to come from Idonia, its colourful and intense fruit were what caught the imagination. A new connective artery between maritime Europa and the tropical south had now been firmly established. A king of Morika who could not afford kwa pepper with his salmon was considered a king of very low status indeed. This westernmost of trade routes soon intensified further; the appeal of tropical fruit gained a great hold across these societies now hearing tales of their great variety and piquancy. However, there was no way to bring many of these fruits to the people who were so interested in them, salt not being an ideal preservative for such things. This changed with the spread of sugar cultivation into the Mediterranean, and the associated spread of candying processes. This became the method by which the sour apple and lotus apple were first distributed into maritime Europa. The destruction of the African outposts in Pride did not, in fact, deter this trade route, so profitable as it was. The natives of Pride now directly connected with Morika Celtica, and in general the peoples of Morika were beginning to take more of a direct hand in this previously African affair. This also led the Idonian peoples of the coast to take a more active interest in controlling their own trade and their own waters, and they had already dealt with the expansion of Mazica traders across the desert between Africa and Idonia, they knew that peoples and cultures existed to their far north, and they became anxious as to what these peoples would do if the Idonians remained passive onlookers to these (to them) foreigners increasing congress and travails around their coast. Starting from the *5th century CE, Idonians began to enter into the ancient world centered around the Mediterranean as active participants. One can now talk of a single trade ecosystem spreading between Idonia and Thina.
Another excellent piece. I do particularly enjoy the parts about the cakes, and the subtle implications about the writers' cultures. Anshadat is a particular favourite, his grouchiness is as endearing as Hesiod's. I also look forward to reading more lunacy by Alithagur of Issh. A question, though, is Idonia India? Or the East Indes? Or Ceylon? Or, I suppose, it might even be America. Pride is clearly Britain, and upon careful rereading it seems Idonia might be sub-Saharan Africa. I am still unsure as to where Morika is. Amorica perhaps? Nonetheless, a most enjoyable read.