OK, here's a short TL with an ancient POD. Let me know what you think.
POD: 31 BC Octavian's fleet is destroyed by a storm just before the Battle of Actium.
31-26 BC: The Third Civil War continues. In OTL, Marc Antony's army suffered huge desertions after the crushing defeat at Actium. In TTL, no such things happen, and Antony has some military successes in the East against Octavian, while Octavian was master of the west. In OTL the Republic had been roughly split in just this way for the two men to administer, after Lepidus was expelled from the Triumvirate. Antony's alliance with Cleopatra put Egypt's forces and resources at his command.
26 BC: The Senate demands and end to the war, largely because the people of the Republic (read: the mob) demand it. Having suffered through three civil wars (Ceasar vs. Pompey, the Second Triumvirate vs. the Conspirators and now Octavian vs. Antony) Rome is weary of war. Octavian agrees becuase he cannot hope to raise more armies without the senate's backing, and Antony agrees becuase he sees that in the long term he will probably lose.
The Roman Republic is divided into the Eastern and Western halves. The West is ruled by Octavian, now a Princeps (meaning First Citizen, but Dictator in Perpetuus in practice) in conjunction with the Senate. It is still a Republic.
The East is ruled by Antony, who takes the name Imperator (Commander) due to the negative connotations of "Rex". The Eastern Roman Republic is a staunch ally of Cleopatra's Egypt due to the romantic relationship between the Egyptian queen and Antony, and is a nominal ally of the West. Its capital is the startegic city of Byzantium. (Note: It may seem odd that the East would not simply annex Egypt. However, Cleopatra's main political goal was to keep the Ptolemeic dynasty in control of a sovereign Egypt, and therefore she prevented any attempts by Antony to unite the two states. She knew that any such event would put Egypt in a weaker position as a province of the Eastern Empire.)
18 BC-10 BC: Princeps Octavian and Imperator Antony both engage in wars of conquest to boost their reputations and fill their treasuries. octavian conquers Illyria and parts of northern Spain and the Alps, while Antony expands deeper into Anatolia, north into Thrace, and aids Egypt in conquering the rebellious province of Judea.
8 BC- Marc Antony dies. The alliance between Egypt and Eastern Rome continues but is weakened significantly. Antony's son, Marcus Antonius Antyllus, takes the throne and with his Egyptian half-brother Ceasarion, who has been running the day-to-day affairs of Egypt in his mother's name for a long time, leads a joint Roman-Egyptian army to do battle with their common enemy Parthia.
3 AD- Octavian makes Princeps a hereditary position and effectively establishes the Western Roman Empire by naming his stepson Tiberius Claudius as heir. The Senate bestows Octavian the title of Augustus, "the Wise".
6 AD- A greatly battered Romano-Egyptian army emerges out of the desert of arabia after failing to conquer any part of Parthia. Parthian tactics and the use of both horse-archers and heavily-armored cataphracts infilicted a crushing defeat on the allies, who had appearantly not learned the lessons of the Battle of Carrhae. Thus, the Parthian menace remained in the east, which was enough to unite the Eastern Romans and Ptolemies in alliance for years to come, despite any disputes the two states might have.
14 AD- Augustus dies and Tiberius takes the throne of the Western Roman Empire. In TTL he now rules only about half of what he did in OTL, and has two powerful rivals in the East. Mediterranean history is foreve altered.
That's it so far. Comments?
POD: 31 BC Octavian's fleet is destroyed by a storm just before the Battle of Actium.
31-26 BC: The Third Civil War continues. In OTL, Marc Antony's army suffered huge desertions after the crushing defeat at Actium. In TTL, no such things happen, and Antony has some military successes in the East against Octavian, while Octavian was master of the west. In OTL the Republic had been roughly split in just this way for the two men to administer, after Lepidus was expelled from the Triumvirate. Antony's alliance with Cleopatra put Egypt's forces and resources at his command.
26 BC: The Senate demands and end to the war, largely because the people of the Republic (read: the mob) demand it. Having suffered through three civil wars (Ceasar vs. Pompey, the Second Triumvirate vs. the Conspirators and now Octavian vs. Antony) Rome is weary of war. Octavian agrees becuase he cannot hope to raise more armies without the senate's backing, and Antony agrees becuase he sees that in the long term he will probably lose.
The Roman Republic is divided into the Eastern and Western halves. The West is ruled by Octavian, now a Princeps (meaning First Citizen, but Dictator in Perpetuus in practice) in conjunction with the Senate. It is still a Republic.
The East is ruled by Antony, who takes the name Imperator (Commander) due to the negative connotations of "Rex". The Eastern Roman Republic is a staunch ally of Cleopatra's Egypt due to the romantic relationship between the Egyptian queen and Antony, and is a nominal ally of the West. Its capital is the startegic city of Byzantium. (Note: It may seem odd that the East would not simply annex Egypt. However, Cleopatra's main political goal was to keep the Ptolemeic dynasty in control of a sovereign Egypt, and therefore she prevented any attempts by Antony to unite the two states. She knew that any such event would put Egypt in a weaker position as a province of the Eastern Empire.)
18 BC-10 BC: Princeps Octavian and Imperator Antony both engage in wars of conquest to boost their reputations and fill their treasuries. octavian conquers Illyria and parts of northern Spain and the Alps, while Antony expands deeper into Anatolia, north into Thrace, and aids Egypt in conquering the rebellious province of Judea.
8 BC- Marc Antony dies. The alliance between Egypt and Eastern Rome continues but is weakened significantly. Antony's son, Marcus Antonius Antyllus, takes the throne and with his Egyptian half-brother Ceasarion, who has been running the day-to-day affairs of Egypt in his mother's name for a long time, leads a joint Roman-Egyptian army to do battle with their common enemy Parthia.
3 AD- Octavian makes Princeps a hereditary position and effectively establishes the Western Roman Empire by naming his stepson Tiberius Claudius as heir. The Senate bestows Octavian the title of Augustus, "the Wise".
6 AD- A greatly battered Romano-Egyptian army emerges out of the desert of arabia after failing to conquer any part of Parthia. Parthian tactics and the use of both horse-archers and heavily-armored cataphracts infilicted a crushing defeat on the allies, who had appearantly not learned the lessons of the Battle of Carrhae. Thus, the Parthian menace remained in the east, which was enough to unite the Eastern Romans and Ptolemies in alliance for years to come, despite any disputes the two states might have.
14 AD- Augustus dies and Tiberius takes the throne of the Western Roman Empire. In TTL he now rules only about half of what he did in OTL, and has two powerful rivals in the East. Mediterranean history is foreve altered.
That's it so far. Comments?