alternatehistory.com

This is is a follow-up on an idea first developped in an earlier post.

The starting point is the observation that there are many similarities between Rome and Jerusalem in the late 6th century (520-500 BC) :
  • Both are small "temple states"
  • Ruled by a priestly class
    • The levites in case of Jerusalem
    • The Senatorial class in Rome, which initially had a monopoly on all priestly functions
  • Apex political body is a council of elders:
    • Sanhedrin in Jerusalem
    • Senate in Rome
  • Monarchy has been recently abolished
    • 509 BC republican coup in Rome
    • Babylonian Exile and return under Persian rule (ca 520 BC) in Jerusalem.
  • A monotheistic / henotheistic religious reform has taken place in the 2nd half of the 6th century BC
    • The assumption here is that "monotheistic" Judaism became truly dominant only after the Babylonian exile and that the corresponding reforms were retrospectively attributed to ancient kings (Josiah / Hezekiah) to lend them respectability. This hypothesis is viewed as credible by many scholars.
    • In Rome, there is both textual and archaeological evidence that the establishment of the republic coincided with a religious reform during which many previous cults were suppressed and temples/shrines destroyed.
  • During that period, a large temple dedicated to a "heavenly father" type of God was built on top of a hill:
    • 2nd Temple of Jerusalem
    • Temple of Jupiter OM on the Capitoline Hill in Rome (Jupiter = "Dyaus - Pater" = Heavenly Father).
  • It is right in the middle of the "Axial age" so there is every reason to imagine all sorts of divergent time-paths.
Now with the Alternate TL :

POD: IOTL, Darius I became emperor of the Persian Achaemenid Empire after successfully quelling a series of revolts and possibly seizing the throne illegitimately. In this TL, Darius fails to to this and is killed. As a result, the Persian Empire (only about 30 years old by that time) crumbles. The persian power retreats to the Iranian Plateau, allowing the resurgence of a number of regional powers : Babylonia, Assyria, Lydia, Egypt ...

Main milestones:

A: In the East.
  • 5th / 4th century BC : not being tributaries to the Persians, Phoenician city-states develop more vigorously than IOTL. In particular, they spawn many more colonies on the coasts of Asia Minor, Northern Africa, Southern Italy, even the Aegean. They develop a "classical culture" destined to play an equivalent role to the Greek culture of OTL. By contrast, Greek cities, suffering from increased Phoenician competition and Lydian overlordship, play second fiddle. Egypt, Assyria, Persia Babylonia stagnate.
  • 3rd century: a boy-wonder prince from a Phoenician colony in Asia Minor (equivalent to OTL Alexander the Great) conquers Lydia then Assyria, Babylonia and Iran (all of them decadent and therefore easy pickings). He dies young and his generals fight over the spoils and divide his empire.
  • 5th to 3rd century. Jerusalem grows slowly, first uniting the towns of Judea then seizing a sizeable coastal town (say Gaza). In so doing it waters down its monotheism and absorbs certain deities from the assimilated cities (like Rome did with Veii, for example, by inducting Juno in its Pantheon). What remains of the original "monotheism" is an emphasis on piety and proper ritual practice, cleanliness etc (all traits present in Roman religion). It calls itself the "the most righteous of cities", like the romans liked to call themselves "the most religious of people". By the end of the 3rd century, Jerusalem has unified most of the Syria/Palestine seaboard as well as some of the interior (Trans-Jordan, Golan, Lebabon mountains, ...)
  • 2nd-1st Century BC. The Phoenician "diadochi" states are in decline and Jerusalem starts to play arbiter between them. It then annexes them one after the other. At some point, it also annexes Egypt. The culture of the Jerusalem Empire becomes a mix between its original YAWH religion/culture and Phoenician imperial culture (~ OTL Hellenistic culture).
B: In the West:
  • 5th - 4th Century BC: with less competition from Greek city states and colonies, Etruscan cities spawn colonies all over Italy, along the balkan coast of the Adriatic, in Corsica / Sardinia and in Southern Gaul. Rome remains a vassal of the Etruscans although it switches to a republican government as in OTL.
  • 3rd-2nd Century BC : Etruscans clash with Carthaginians over Sicily and Sardinia. After a protracted series of War, Carthage is destroyed and most cities in Africa, Sicily and Spain become Etruscanized. Although more tightly associated as a result of these wars, Etruria remains a confederation of cities sharing a common military structure through a set of common religious / political institutions.
  • 1st century AD: Jerusalem (by then the only eastern superpower) and the Etruscan confederation clash over influence in Greece. Etruria is no match for the centralized Jerusalemite political and military machine. They lose a series of land and sea engagements and are absorbed into the Jerusalem Empire by 50 AD.
Results by 0 AD:
  • A Jerusalem Empire stretching from Gibraltar to the Shatt Al-Arab. No Gaul or Britain and a thinner presence in Spain or North Africa than Roman Empire OTL but much more territory in the East.
  • Rome remained a little known Etruscanized city which developed a mostly isolationist culture rooted in an inward-looking monotheistic Jupiter religion.
Aspects in need of more fleshing out : civil wars in Jerusalem, transition from Sanhedrin to Principate, specifics of Roman religion / history, anti-Jerusalemite agitation in Rome, repression of same by Jerusalemite troops/governors, etc.

Possible developments : A Roman Christ.
Top