alternatehistory.com

The Greeks or the Romans couldn't have industrialised because they depended too much on slaves and the institution of slavery, they say. Manpower was abundant, and a labor was cheap so there was no incentive to develop any alternative.

But the Persians never practiced slavery in the scale the Greeks and the Romans did. What if they manage to survive? Maybe they conquer Greece completely, Philip and Alexander are butterflied away, and with the eastern Mediterranean thoroughly Persianized the philosopher's of the fledging Roman state end up admiring Darius's successors and their achievements?

Then, some sort of black plague analogur ends up decimating the Empire's population, and the sudden lack of manpower and overabundance of wealth create the perfect situation for industrialization? Plausible?
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