After Actium: Two Caesars Are Not Enough
- Thread starter Velasco
- Start date
Cuāuhtemōc
Banned
Nice job with the map. Is there any particular software that you used to make it, Velasco? Or any tutorials you can point me at?
Thanks. I use Paint.net, which you can download for free (legally!). I read the map-making threads; this thread might be of some help for example.
Lycaon pictus, EdT, and Ares96 all gave me plenty of good advice on the side - unfortunately I'm variously incompetent/strapped for time so the results aren't as good (fault of my own).
To quote Ares' very very useful advice:
Chapter LXXX: A New Nabataea
The residual mirth of the Games of Caesar dissipated quickly with the sudden death of Queen Shaqilat I of Nabataea, the Emperor’s erstwhile paramour. Their eldest son, previously associated with his mother on the throne, now donned the diadem in his own right at the tender age of eleven. The Arabs called the boy by the name Ubaidah (Hellenized as Obodas), but he was better known as Herakles, the name given to him by his father. His Arab countrymen accordingly called him Herakles al-Qayser, "Herakles the Caesar".
He inherited a rich and secure realm from his mother. The first ruling Queen of the Nabataean Arabs had suceeded when her brother Ubaidah, better known as Obodas II, was assassinated on Caesarion’s orders on the road to Egypt (19BC). Disguised as an act of retribution for the treachery of the Arabs who had set fire to Cleopatra’s Red Sea navy following her defeat at Actium, it was most likely a calculated move to provide Caesarion a young Nabataean queen to bed and sire children from, as his subsequent romantic career readily confirmed. There is little doubting his intentions from the moment he summoned her husband-brother for a conference he knew would never take place. As Obodas’ breathed his dying breath, messengers galloped in the greatest haste to declare her queen and prevent any other from ascending the throne.
For the entirety of his reign, Caesarion actively pursued romantic affairs with prominent women whose fortunes or families advanced his political agenda. His marriage to his father’s widow Calpurnia had scandalized and impressed the Roman elite into acknowledging him; it marked his passage into adulthood and provided him with his first set of political supporters, the Calpurnii. His affair with the Thracian princess Gepaepyris won for him the friendship of her father and brothers, whose domains straddled the strategic Europe-Asia crossing. His marriage to Julia Caesaris, Octavian’s daughter, had marked his ascendance to supreme rule; his marriage to Livia Drusilla, Octavian’s widow, healed the wounds of civil war; his affair with his own sister Cleopatra Selene pacified the Alexandrians and presented him as a Pharaoh preoccupied in maintaining the traditions and bloodline of his illustrious house. Finally, his abduction of the Parthian queen Sayarsis publicized his complete and utter conquest of that once formidable foe. In such a light, Shaqilat was just another strategic addition to his ever-shifting harem, a political statement securing for him a greater hold on her rich desert kingdom and aligning burgeoning Nabataea’s policies with his own.
From the moment Caesarion met her, Shaqilat remained almost constantly at his side - their separations were few, far in-between, and always brief. She won his trust and was often empowered to speak and act on his behalf. She commanded greater respect from his inner circle and foreign potentates than his revolving door of wives, particularly in the East. Even his mother held her in high regard. Whether Caesarion was enamored with her from the first, or whether she grew in his affection after their relationship had long been consummated, is unclear - perhaps it did not matter.
Nabataea first appeared on the world stage when its king, Harithath (Aretas) III seized and occupied Coele-Syria in 84BC. With this one fell swoop the Nabataeans graduated from a nomadic desert tribe to players worth considering in the eastern theatre. Though he was soon displaced by Tigranes the Great and Pompey, Aretas had already guaranteed his place in the history books. In the preceding two centuries, the Nabataeans had absorbed surrounding tribes and pushed west- and north-ward into Syrian and Edomite territory. Increased dealings with the settled communities of the Near East lead to the development of their own towns and villages. Well organized lines of frontier posts were implemented to guard against desert marauders. Formerly barren desert areas were intensively cultivated and extensive irrigation systems, including reservoirs and dams, were constructed. Their territory came to straddle the main trade routes from the Orient to the Mediterrenean, the easily defendable capital of Petra being perfectly positioned for attack on rival caravans attempting to pass through. Thereafter their primary objective was to obtain control of Damascus (an important caravan center) in the north and the Negev (where caravan routes converged) in the south. The port of Gaza was the final destination of the Negev routes and the main emporium where the west came to acquire the luxury goods come from India and China. The Nabataeans achieved this complete stranglehold on East-West trade under Aretas circa 70BC, but were temporarily checked by the resurgent Jewish kingdom and the Roman conquest of Syria.
As Hellenism took root and the country was increasingly influenced by the outside world, changes took place in their architecture, artwork, government and religion. Assimilation to their neighbors was such that Aramaic came to be used in official records, coins and dedicatory inscriptions. The Nabataean pantheon expanded to welcome Syrian deities Hadad and Atargatis (Astarte-Anat), who were loosely identified with national deities Dushara and Allat. Whereas the traditional Nabataean pantheon reflected the people's harsh desert life, focusing on deities associated with weather and fertility, the new settled lifestyle encouraged more frivolous cults such as those of Serapis/Dionysus and Isis/Aphrodite. They adopted Hellenistic customs and trends, particularly from Ptolemaic Egypt, giving their children Greek and Egyptian names, deifying great leaders, undertaking massive construction projects in Alexandrian style, imitating Ptolemaic coinage; from clothing styles and burial methods to trade agreements to the practice of brother-sister marriage among the royal house.
It was therefore little surprising that the Nabataeans gleefully acclaimed the would-be union of their queen with a Ptolemaic Pharaoh, the patriarch of the last great Hellenistic dynasty. Caesarion was equally receptive to the their overtures, actively interfering in Nabataean affairs and always showing preference to their embassies. Starting in 16BC he appointed procurators to tend to his affairs in the kingdom. This procurator’s duties including supervising the actions of the chief minister Syllaeus (Syllaios) and acting as the physical representative, informant and spokesperson of Caesarion and Rome in the kingdom. He otherwise respected their native liberties and did not impose himself upon them.
Shaqilat's kingdom stretched even further north than shown in this map, to include Damascus
Caesarion enlarged the territory of Shaqilat’s realm significantly. Early on in their relationship he granted to her definitive ownership of the cosmopolitan city and caravan center of Damascus. During his eastern campaigns she retired there on occasion, presiding over her royal court and keeping a watchful eye on his troublesome sister Kleopatra Selene. This was followed by the grant of the tetrarchies of Abilene and Ituraea (to the north and west of Damascus), Trachonitis and Auranitis (south of Damascus) and Peraea, the Transjordanian possessions of King Herod of Judaea. Herod was compensated with Gaulanitis and Batanaea, Transjordanian territories north-east of his realm and sandwiched between Nabataean territories and the Decapolis (a league of ten Greek cities, primarily located east of the Jordan, autonomous but attached to the province of Syria). Caesarion further bestowed upon Shaqilat the suzerainty of Gaza, Raphia and Rinokoloura. Nabataean assistance during Caesarion’s south Arabian expedition (9-7BC) was rewarded by the creation of a Nabataean satellite kingdom there with one of Shaqilat’s infant sons as King.
Spliced between Herod and Shaqilat’s domains was the Decapolis, a league of ten free Greek cities. The men of the Decapolis roused Caesarion’s anger by their inattentive treatment of his representatives and tardy responses, both before his Arabian expedition and during the time of Antyllus' revolt. In 6BC the Council of Asia revoked their municipal freedom and distribute them between Shaqilat and Herod. Herod received Scythopolis (west of the Jordan), Gadara, Hippos, Dion, Bethsaida and other surrounding townships; his territory now encircling the Sea of Galilee completely. Shaqilat also received five cities: Raphana, Kathana, Dion, the major caravan center of Gerasa and most importantly Philadelphia, which lay on the road between Petra and Bosra. Local opposition was brutally put down.
As a result of Caesarion’s largesse Nabataean territory now ran as a solid block from the Mediterranean coast in the west to the Negev and Arabian core in the south to Shaqilat’s new acquisitions in Coele-Syria. The ancient King’s Highway which followed the edge of the Transjordan plateau from the Gulf of Aqaba toward Damascus was entirely under Nabataean control. The Judaean Kingdom was likewise encircled by Nabataea, to the great distress of King Herod.
Caesarion and Shaqilat were the first Nabataean monarchs to be deified and receive worship in their own lifetime[1]. He adopted the epithet ‘Orotalt’ (“the most high”) and she that of ‘Al-Uzza’ (“the mighty”). They were identified with the native divine couple, identified by the Greeks as Arab forms of Dionysus and Heavenly Aphrodite. Shaqilat established a dynastic cult in the Ptolemaic fashion, with yearly priests and priestesses from the highest-born families of the royal court. Previous Nabataean monarchs were ignored, but Julius Caesar and Cleopatra were also venerated. Dionysiac orgia were also introduced. As the bringers of wealth and order (exemplified by dynastic continuity) to Nabataea, both couples were further identified with the bountiful fertility gods Serapis and Isis-Aphrodite. Shaqilat took to styling herself 'Isis-Shaqilat Ourania, manifest goddess’[2][3] on newly minted coins. Statues of the couple were set up in the Great Temple in Petra and libations offered to their divine essence on the high place, an open-aired shrine, in that same city.
Apart from their joint worship as the chief divine couple in the new dynastic cult, Caesarion and Shaqilat were also worshipped individually as manifest gods in their own right. A temple of Caesar was built in Bosra, called the Caesareum; it was followed by a larger and more ornate imitation in Damascus. Caesarion ordered the erection of a temple to Shaqilat in Damascus, called the Ouraniaeum, and provided for a full priesthood to minister there. A Ouraniaeum was also commissioned in Petra. These temples were exclusively dedicated to the worship of Caesar and Shaqilat as the divine king and queen manifest among mankind. In 12 BC Caesarion’s first procurator, a Greek called Demas, was called back by the chief minister Syllaeus to serve as perpetual priest of Caesar in Damascus. Shaqilat's brother Rabbel - kept in honorable house arrest in Caesarea Maritima and Ptolemais since her ascension - was the first chosen to serve as priest of Shaqilat Ourania.
In addition to territories and temples, Caesarion also provided Shaqilat with the desired royal heirs. From the very first the marriage of these children was first and foremost in Caesarion’s mind. Given his and Shaqilat’s constant absences, he arranged for the betrothal of the infant Herakles to Huldu, only daughter of Syllaeus, the “king’s brother”, or chief minister of Nabataea. Syllaeus’ own ambitions were widely commented; such a marriage would bind Syllaeus’ ambitions to the interests of the present heir. It also reasserted Herakles’ ties to the native nobility and his mother’s people. Following the Arabian expedition of 9-7BC, Huldu was promised instead to the younger Aphroditos, now King of Saba, in a move calculated to tie the Nabataean elite with that new monarchy. These plans came to naught when Syllaeus was toppled from power and put to death in 7BC.
Following the Games of Caesar Caesarion proceeded to Paneas, to adjudicate on a number of issues between the Jews, Greeks and Arabs. There were a number of long standing border disputes between Herod and Shaqilat; bandits from Nabataea and Ituraea plundered adjacent domains freely further complicating matters. Herod had recently incurred Caesarion’s displeasure after undertaking a purge of perceived rivals within his own family[4]. Shaqilat accompanied Caesarion, eager to encroach yet further upon Herod’s domains. Their children were then with them, Caesarion being desirous of resolving the matter by some marriage alliance with the house of Herod. Alas, Shaqilat died of a sudden fever on the way to Paneas, leaving behind five young children (Herakles, Aphroditos, Antipater, Isis-Shaqilat and Phaeselis), the eldest of which was still to enter his teens and the youngest of which was still an infant.
Queen Shaqilat funerary relief
He inherited a rich and secure realm from his mother. The first ruling Queen of the Nabataean Arabs had suceeded when her brother Ubaidah, better known as Obodas II, was assassinated on Caesarion’s orders on the road to Egypt (19BC). Disguised as an act of retribution for the treachery of the Arabs who had set fire to Cleopatra’s Red Sea navy following her defeat at Actium, it was most likely a calculated move to provide Caesarion a young Nabataean queen to bed and sire children from, as his subsequent romantic career readily confirmed. There is little doubting his intentions from the moment he summoned her husband-brother for a conference he knew would never take place. As Obodas’ breathed his dying breath, messengers galloped in the greatest haste to declare her queen and prevent any other from ascending the throne.
For the entirety of his reign, Caesarion actively pursued romantic affairs with prominent women whose fortunes or families advanced his political agenda. His marriage to his father’s widow Calpurnia had scandalized and impressed the Roman elite into acknowledging him; it marked his passage into adulthood and provided him with his first set of political supporters, the Calpurnii. His affair with the Thracian princess Gepaepyris won for him the friendship of her father and brothers, whose domains straddled the strategic Europe-Asia crossing. His marriage to Julia Caesaris, Octavian’s daughter, had marked his ascendance to supreme rule; his marriage to Livia Drusilla, Octavian’s widow, healed the wounds of civil war; his affair with his own sister Cleopatra Selene pacified the Alexandrians and presented him as a Pharaoh preoccupied in maintaining the traditions and bloodline of his illustrious house. Finally, his abduction of the Parthian queen Sayarsis publicized his complete and utter conquest of that once formidable foe. In such a light, Shaqilat was just another strategic addition to his ever-shifting harem, a political statement securing for him a greater hold on her rich desert kingdom and aligning burgeoning Nabataea’s policies with his own.
From the moment Caesarion met her, Shaqilat remained almost constantly at his side - their separations were few, far in-between, and always brief. She won his trust and was often empowered to speak and act on his behalf. She commanded greater respect from his inner circle and foreign potentates than his revolving door of wives, particularly in the East. Even his mother held her in high regard. Whether Caesarion was enamored with her from the first, or whether she grew in his affection after their relationship had long been consummated, is unclear - perhaps it did not matter.
Nabataea first appeared on the world stage when its king, Harithath (Aretas) III seized and occupied Coele-Syria in 84BC. With this one fell swoop the Nabataeans graduated from a nomadic desert tribe to players worth considering in the eastern theatre. Though he was soon displaced by Tigranes the Great and Pompey, Aretas had already guaranteed his place in the history books. In the preceding two centuries, the Nabataeans had absorbed surrounding tribes and pushed west- and north-ward into Syrian and Edomite territory. Increased dealings with the settled communities of the Near East lead to the development of their own towns and villages. Well organized lines of frontier posts were implemented to guard against desert marauders. Formerly barren desert areas were intensively cultivated and extensive irrigation systems, including reservoirs and dams, were constructed. Their territory came to straddle the main trade routes from the Orient to the Mediterrenean, the easily defendable capital of Petra being perfectly positioned for attack on rival caravans attempting to pass through. Thereafter their primary objective was to obtain control of Damascus (an important caravan center) in the north and the Negev (where caravan routes converged) in the south. The port of Gaza was the final destination of the Negev routes and the main emporium where the west came to acquire the luxury goods come from India and China. The Nabataeans achieved this complete stranglehold on East-West trade under Aretas circa 70BC, but were temporarily checked by the resurgent Jewish kingdom and the Roman conquest of Syria.
As Hellenism took root and the country was increasingly influenced by the outside world, changes took place in their architecture, artwork, government and religion. Assimilation to their neighbors was such that Aramaic came to be used in official records, coins and dedicatory inscriptions. The Nabataean pantheon expanded to welcome Syrian deities Hadad and Atargatis (Astarte-Anat), who were loosely identified with national deities Dushara and Allat. Whereas the traditional Nabataean pantheon reflected the people's harsh desert life, focusing on deities associated with weather and fertility, the new settled lifestyle encouraged more frivolous cults such as those of Serapis/Dionysus and Isis/Aphrodite. They adopted Hellenistic customs and trends, particularly from Ptolemaic Egypt, giving their children Greek and Egyptian names, deifying great leaders, undertaking massive construction projects in Alexandrian style, imitating Ptolemaic coinage; from clothing styles and burial methods to trade agreements to the practice of brother-sister marriage among the royal house.
It was therefore little surprising that the Nabataeans gleefully acclaimed the would-be union of their queen with a Ptolemaic Pharaoh, the patriarch of the last great Hellenistic dynasty. Caesarion was equally receptive to the their overtures, actively interfering in Nabataean affairs and always showing preference to their embassies. Starting in 16BC he appointed procurators to tend to his affairs in the kingdom. This procurator’s duties including supervising the actions of the chief minister Syllaeus (Syllaios) and acting as the physical representative, informant and spokesperson of Caesarion and Rome in the kingdom. He otherwise respected their native liberties and did not impose himself upon them.
Shaqilat's kingdom stretched even further north than shown in this map, to include Damascus
Caesarion enlarged the territory of Shaqilat’s realm significantly. Early on in their relationship he granted to her definitive ownership of the cosmopolitan city and caravan center of Damascus. During his eastern campaigns she retired there on occasion, presiding over her royal court and keeping a watchful eye on his troublesome sister Kleopatra Selene. This was followed by the grant of the tetrarchies of Abilene and Ituraea (to the north and west of Damascus), Trachonitis and Auranitis (south of Damascus) and Peraea, the Transjordanian possessions of King Herod of Judaea. Herod was compensated with Gaulanitis and Batanaea, Transjordanian territories north-east of his realm and sandwiched between Nabataean territories and the Decapolis (a league of ten Greek cities, primarily located east of the Jordan, autonomous but attached to the province of Syria). Caesarion further bestowed upon Shaqilat the suzerainty of Gaza, Raphia and Rinokoloura. Nabataean assistance during Caesarion’s south Arabian expedition (9-7BC) was rewarded by the creation of a Nabataean satellite kingdom there with one of Shaqilat’s infant sons as King.
Spliced between Herod and Shaqilat’s domains was the Decapolis, a league of ten free Greek cities. The men of the Decapolis roused Caesarion’s anger by their inattentive treatment of his representatives and tardy responses, both before his Arabian expedition and during the time of Antyllus' revolt. In 6BC the Council of Asia revoked their municipal freedom and distribute them between Shaqilat and Herod. Herod received Scythopolis (west of the Jordan), Gadara, Hippos, Dion, Bethsaida and other surrounding townships; his territory now encircling the Sea of Galilee completely. Shaqilat also received five cities: Raphana, Kathana, Dion, the major caravan center of Gerasa and most importantly Philadelphia, which lay on the road between Petra and Bosra. Local opposition was brutally put down.
As a result of Caesarion’s largesse Nabataean territory now ran as a solid block from the Mediterranean coast in the west to the Negev and Arabian core in the south to Shaqilat’s new acquisitions in Coele-Syria. The ancient King’s Highway which followed the edge of the Transjordan plateau from the Gulf of Aqaba toward Damascus was entirely under Nabataean control. The Judaean Kingdom was likewise encircled by Nabataea, to the great distress of King Herod.
Caesarion and Shaqilat were the first Nabataean monarchs to be deified and receive worship in their own lifetime[1]. He adopted the epithet ‘Orotalt’ (“the most high”) and she that of ‘Al-Uzza’ (“the mighty”). They were identified with the native divine couple, identified by the Greeks as Arab forms of Dionysus and Heavenly Aphrodite. Shaqilat established a dynastic cult in the Ptolemaic fashion, with yearly priests and priestesses from the highest-born families of the royal court. Previous Nabataean monarchs were ignored, but Julius Caesar and Cleopatra were also venerated. Dionysiac orgia were also introduced. As the bringers of wealth and order (exemplified by dynastic continuity) to Nabataea, both couples were further identified with the bountiful fertility gods Serapis and Isis-Aphrodite. Shaqilat took to styling herself 'Isis-Shaqilat Ourania, manifest goddess’[2][3] on newly minted coins. Statues of the couple were set up in the Great Temple in Petra and libations offered to their divine essence on the high place, an open-aired shrine, in that same city.
Apart from their joint worship as the chief divine couple in the new dynastic cult, Caesarion and Shaqilat were also worshipped individually as manifest gods in their own right. A temple of Caesar was built in Bosra, called the Caesareum; it was followed by a larger and more ornate imitation in Damascus. Caesarion ordered the erection of a temple to Shaqilat in Damascus, called the Ouraniaeum, and provided for a full priesthood to minister there. A Ouraniaeum was also commissioned in Petra. These temples were exclusively dedicated to the worship of Caesar and Shaqilat as the divine king and queen manifest among mankind. In 12 BC Caesarion’s first procurator, a Greek called Demas, was called back by the chief minister Syllaeus to serve as perpetual priest of Caesar in Damascus. Shaqilat's brother Rabbel - kept in honorable house arrest in Caesarea Maritima and Ptolemais since her ascension - was the first chosen to serve as priest of Shaqilat Ourania.
In addition to territories and temples, Caesarion also provided Shaqilat with the desired royal heirs. From the very first the marriage of these children was first and foremost in Caesarion’s mind. Given his and Shaqilat’s constant absences, he arranged for the betrothal of the infant Herakles to Huldu, only daughter of Syllaeus, the “king’s brother”, or chief minister of Nabataea. Syllaeus’ own ambitions were widely commented; such a marriage would bind Syllaeus’ ambitions to the interests of the present heir. It also reasserted Herakles’ ties to the native nobility and his mother’s people. Following the Arabian expedition of 9-7BC, Huldu was promised instead to the younger Aphroditos, now King of Saba, in a move calculated to tie the Nabataean elite with that new monarchy. These plans came to naught when Syllaeus was toppled from power and put to death in 7BC.
Following the Games of Caesar Caesarion proceeded to Paneas, to adjudicate on a number of issues between the Jews, Greeks and Arabs. There were a number of long standing border disputes between Herod and Shaqilat; bandits from Nabataea and Ituraea plundered adjacent domains freely further complicating matters. Herod had recently incurred Caesarion’s displeasure after undertaking a purge of perceived rivals within his own family[4]. Shaqilat accompanied Caesarion, eager to encroach yet further upon Herod’s domains. Their children were then with them, Caesarion being desirous of resolving the matter by some marriage alliance with the house of Herod. Alas, Shaqilat died of a sudden fever on the way to Paneas, leaving behind five young children (Herakles, Aphroditos, Antipater, Isis-Shaqilat and Phaeselis), the eldest of which was still to enter his teens and the youngest of which was still an infant.
Queen Shaqilat funerary relief
Notes:
[1] OTL King Obodas III (30-9BC) was revered as Obodas the God and Zeus-Obodas, especially at his namesake city and burial place (Oboda/Abdah/Avdat). Culturally the Nabataeans were ready for a ruler cult in the Hellenistic style.
[2] This mirrors an OTL naos fragment which refers to the Ptolemaic queen Arsinoë II as “the King of Lower Egypt, heiress of the Two Lands, Isis Arsinoë Philadelphos”. The composite name reflects Arsinoë’s intimate association with the goddess Isis, while “Philadelphos” (the brother-loving) was a fitting cult title for both, given that both queen and goddess were famous for wedding their own brothers. The determiner/sobriquet/surname was Arsinoë’s most famous, deriving from her individual cultic position as the divine Philadelphos. In the same way Shaqilat is here intimately associated with Isis and uses a determiner (“Ourania” - ‘heavenly’) most fitting for the incarnate queen of heaven. Purposely reminiscent of the names of OTL first century queens Julia Ourania, queen consort of Mauretania, and Musa Ourania (“Heavenly muse”), a Roman slave girl who became queen consort and then co-ruler of Parthia.
[3] Thea Epifaneia - “Manifest goddess” or “divine manifest”. Popular Hellenic royal title previously used by Caesarion’s sister Kleopatra Selene and various other Ptolemaic and Seleucid monarchs.
[4] His eldest son Antipater was executed following his failed rebellion, 7BC. The death of Herod’s brother Phreroras the following year allowed him to rid himself of that man’s three sons - Phreroras, Jason and Joseph - hated for their mother’s Hasmonean blood.
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Cool update. So Queen Shaqilat, Caesarion's favorite Consort, is dead. It was very informative about Nabataea, I didn't realize how important that kingdom is. Reading this chapter, Caesarion takes after both his father and adopted brother, in that all his relationships with women are able benefit him in some way weather it be binging loyalty or getting aid or even sabotaging an enemy. Also little nit pick, there is no corresponding number for the first note in the update.
No problem, glad you like.
And yeah - I like to think of Cleopatra as a Classical queen Victoria, the "grandmother of Asia"
Before I started this timeline I had no idea either. Besides controlling all the caravan routes ending in Palestine and Syria, it turns out the Nabataeans were also a major sea-faring nation, trading all the way from Alexandria to India (perhaps even further).
I've fixed the first note now, connected it to Caesarion and Shaqilat's worship by the Nabataeans. Thanks for pointing it out
So I just watched Rome:Engineering an Empire and reading a new thread started by Archon of Thessaly about Caesar, and I have a few (more) questions. First, Augustus built many roman style cities throwout the empire, improved the road networks,and turning Roman into a city of marble, so does Caesarion have any plans to do this because the only "new" city built or,rather rebuilt, by Ceasarion was Babylon? Second, Caesar had several plans before he died, those included building a canal through the isthmus of Corinth, drain the marshes by Pometia and Setia, creating new land to cultivate, and link the Ostia to Rome, thus giving Rome a direct port. So will Caesarion continue (or start) any his father's plans?
http://www.livius.org/caa-can/caesar/caesar_t15.html is where I got Caesar's last plans from.
) questions. First, Augustus built many roman style cities throwout the empire, improved the road networks,and turning Roman into a city of marble, so does Caesarion have any plans to do this because the only "new" city built or,rather rebuilt, by Ceasarion was Babylon? Second, Caesar had several plans before he died, those included building a canal through the isthmus of Corinth, drain the marshes by Pometia and Setia, creating new land to cultivate, and link the Ostia to Rome, thus giving Rome a direct port. So will Caesarion continue (or start) any his father's plans?http://www.livius.org/caa-can/caesar/caesar_t15.html is where I got Caesar's last plans from.
So I just watched Rome:Engineering an Empire and reading a new thread started by Archon of Thessaly about Caesar, and I have a few (more
http://www.livius.org/caa-can/caesar/caesar_t15.html is where I got Caesar's last plans from.
Awesome
Thanks for the link.Well, a partial list of Caesarion's works:
In 18BC Caesarion set up a colonia at Tauromenion in Sicily.
In 14BC he set up colonia at Alexandria Charax (on the Persia Gulf) and Tylos (Bahrein). Troops were stationed throughout Mesopotamia and plans were made for better road network linking Babylon and Ctesiphon with Edessa and Palmyra.
In 13BC (quoting) "At Duras Europos Caesarion gave in to the requests of his men, bettering their pay and providing for the settlement of some 40,000 veterans on latifunda land-grants in the conquered territories. He raised the city of Tigranocerta in Armenia, together with Arbela in Assyria and Tabriz on the border with Media to coloniae for his veterans, alongside already constituted coloniae Alexandria Charax and the island of Tylos in the Gulf."
By 12BC Siscia was already a colonia, when Caesarion used it as a forward base.
In 7BC when Caesarion organized conquered Arabia into provinces plans were made for the settlement of veterans in the region.
Most recently he has set up/restored Calydon, Ambracia, Berenicia and Actium on the Achaean coast.
I think its fair to also assume settlements in line with what happened OTL in conquered Asturias, Dacia, Noricum etc. Plus the 30 or so legions Vipsanian will have disbanded following Actium and settled somewhere. One of the notable features of this TL (in my humble opinion
) is the lack of a proper Pax Augusta - Actium was followed by a few more rounds of civil war and then Caesarion who is always on the move - so the army is always on the go, marching here and there, not softening up like OTL.Caesarion has developed some interesting building projects besides providing for his military - see his various temples and restorations throughout the Empire. The restoration of the Canal of the Pharaohs connecting the Red Sea and Nile, and future canals which will be built in Europe (Rhine, Danube, etc) will be significant parts of his legacy. Roads are probably on level with OTL. Rome itself though has definitely suffered from the lack of an Octavian and Agrippa dynamic duo to rebuild it in marble and construct magnificent aqueducts etc. Caesar's plans are very interesting, but will be left to a better Roman: Caesarion is too focused on "the big picture" to consider such local reforms.
Awesome
Well, a partial list of Caesarion's works:
In 18BC Caesarion set up a colonia at Tauromenion in Sicily.
In 14BC he set up colonia at Alexandria Charax (on the Persia Gulf) and Tylos (Bahrein). Troops were stationed throughout Mesopotamia and plans were made for better road network linking Babylon and Ctesiphon with Edessa and Palmyra.
In 13BC (quoting) "At Duras Europos Caesarion gave in to the requests of his men, bettering their pay and providing for the settlement of some 40,000 veterans on latifunda land-grants in the conquered territories. He raised the city of Tigranocerta in Armenia, together with Arbela in Assyria and Tabriz on the border with Media to coloniae for his veterans, alongside already constituted coloniae Alexandria Charax and the island of Tylos in the Gulf."
By 12BC Siscia was already a colonia, when Caesarion used it as a forward base.
In 7BC when Caesarion organized conquered Arabia into provinces plans were made for the settlement of veterans in the region.
Most recently he has set up/restored Calydon, Ambracia, Berenicia and Actium on the Achaean coast.
I think its fair to also assume settlements in line with what happened OTL in conquered Asturias, Dacia, Noricum etc. Plus the 30 or so legions Vipsanian will have disbanded following Actium and settled somewhere. One of the notable features of this TL (in my humble opinion
Caesarion has developed some interesting building projects besides providing for his military - see his various temples and restorations throughout the Empire. The restoration of the Canal of the Pharaohs connecting the Red Sea and Nile, and future canals which will be built in Europe (Rhine, Danube, etc) will be significant parts of his legacy. Roads are probably on level with OTL. Rome itself though has definitely suffered from the lack of an Octavian and Agrippa dynamic duo to rebuild it in marble and construct magnificent aqueducts etc. Caesar's plans are very interesting, but will be left to a better Roman: Caesarion is too focused on "the big picture" to consider such local reforms.
OK
. I forgot about the colonies Caesarion set up. It kind of sucks for Rome itself but seems to be better (at least for now) for the Empire. Do U have any plans for the Seleucid Empire's original capital Seleucia on the Tigris? Ancient texts claim that the city had 600,000 inhabitants, and was ruled by a senate of 300 people, so it would be cool to see Caesarion do something with such a massive Hellenistic city. I'm not sure if the city was still intact or not, but it was mentioned as the Western Capital of Parthia so I assume it's still an important city. Also, I don't know if I should ask this on the thread or on the correct one, but hows the Alexander survives TL going? I haven't scene an update on it in a while and was wondering if it was abandoned?Wow, thanks for all the information on Nabataea! Very interesting.
I wonder who dear Herakles-Obodas-Ubaidah will marry. I'm so excited! Genealogies are my favorite part of history, and we're just entering on the period when the new generation is ready to be pawned off in political marriages! W00t!
Poor Shaqilat. I will miss her. She had such a cool name.
I wonder who dear Herakles-Obodas-Ubaidah will marry. I'm so excited! Genealogies are my favorite part of history, and we're just entering on the period when the new generation is ready to be pawned off in political marriages! W00t!
Poor Shaqilat. I will miss her. She had such a cool name.
Chapter LXXXI: A New Judaea
Fresco of the god Pan, patron of Paneas and Panion
Fresco of the god Pan, patron of Paneas and Panion
King Herod of Judaea and the bulk of his court were awaiting the Emperor's arrival in Paneas, the city of Pan. Herod's ill health (not least his putrifying penis) encouraged him to depart from Antioch immediately after the Games and attend to his own care. The Imperial party was accommodated in lavish style at his expense, the Jewish court joining them in their mourning of Queen Shaqilat. Caesarion imagined that Shaqilat had perished because of his and her failure to appropriately honor the god Pan - to whom the surrounding region pertained - for the victories he had conceded them (Pan being the god who strikes fear and panic into one’s enemy). Caesarion's recent appeasement of Nemesis had spared him, but Shaqilat was not similarly protected and promptly perished. Always ready to spring into action, Herod vowed to build a temple of white marble in her name, right beside the sacred precinct of Pan. He further offered to pay for her funeral and provided extra men to accompany Caesarion's Antiochene Guard which accompanied her body to Damascus for burial.
The mourning for the Queen concluded, Herod distracted Caesarion with a series of banquets and entertainments. All this despite his own ailing health. He renamed the place Caesarea Paneas in the Emperor's honor and made it the administrative capital of his Transjordanian possessions.
Herod and Caesarion feast
As in the days of Antony, Cleopatra's attempts at bringing accusations against Herod and obtaining his richest lands came to nothing. Caesarion was well disposed to Herod, allowing him to sit at his side in the hearing of cases and to eat with him every day. Caesarion also confirmed the Jewish people's ancient rights and privileges, both in Judaea and Alexandria as elsewhere. He also forgave Herod's recent indiscretions and resolved to adjudicate, once and for all, Herod's long-standing succession drama.
Herod was the son of converts, his father an Edomite[1], his mother a Nabataean noblewoman. His lack of both Jewish and royal blood were constant banes to him. The constant scheming of his siblings and children and his own paranoia made for a colorful family life. When he learnt of a popular Pharisaic prophecy that the throne would pass from him to one of the sons of his brother Phreroras he broke with him immediately and forbade him contact with the rest of the family; their deathbed reconciliation was insufficient to prevent Herod from putting Phreroras' sons all to death and seizing his tetrarchy for himself.
Of Herod's ten wives, only one - Mariamne I - was a royally-born princess of the Hasmonean house. The others came from a variety of backgrounds: Malthace was a Samaritan, while several others (including a niece and cousin) were his own countrywomen. Yet another came from Alexandria. These women provided him with a wealth of sons and daughters, but their low- and foreign-born mothers did little to endear them to their future subjects. Both the Jews and Romans expected that Herod should have for successor a suitably royal son.
Attention therefore focused on two chief candidates. The first, Aristobulus, was the exceedingly handsome eldest son of Mariamne I. Together with his two younger full brothers he was widely referred to as "Hasmonean", for the maternal family whose beauty and charisma he closely mimicked. Herod was, quite naturally, consumed with envy - his own aging carcass not made any younger by the hair dyes and other cosmetic treatments he so often employed. Aristobulus was married to his cousin, Berenice I, daughter of the disgraced Costobarus (executed by Herod for conspiring against him with Queen Cleopatra) and Salome I, an aunt who hated him with particular violence and often conspired against him. His main rival was his elder half-brother, Herod's eldest son Antipater. The son of one of Herod's countrywomen, he had married another Hasmonean princess - the daughter of King Antigonus II Mattathias (executed by Herod in 37BC). The low and foreign birth of both his parents discredited him to the Jews but by primogeniture he was the preferred choice.
Over the years Herod variously quarreled and reconciled with his wives, sons and siblings, most notably with these two, to whom the world looked as future kings. In past times Caesarion had intervened when Herod had accused Aristobulus of treason and forced Aristobulus' full brother, Alexander, to flee the country. A brief reconciliation had been effected, Caesarion providing for a four-way split of Herod's domains between Antipater, Aristobulus, Alexander, and another brother, Philip (sometimes surnamed Boethus)[2]. Around this time Caesarion had taken Aristobulus and Alexander into his entourage of companions, exciting great comment[3]. Herod later advanced Antipater as his heir, bringing back his mother Doris to court as his chief wife. Subsequently Herod had quarreled with Aristobulus once more, forcibly separating him from his wife and giving her to Theudion, the brother of Doris. Intrigue ran high when the King's sister Salome I accused Alexander’s wife, Glaphyra of Cappadocia, of having seduced the King after the latter princess had humiliated the Herodian women for their lowly origin, at the same time proudly proclaiming her double descent from the Macedonian and Persian kings. Alexander's distrust of both Glaphyra and Herod was worsened by Aristobulus' agreement with Glaphyra's derision of his wife's low birth. Alexander meanwhile perished before obtaining the Sabaean crown promised to him by Caesarion. Antipater, now undisputed crown prince, then attempted to seize the throne. He failed, was handed over to his father by Caesarion and promptly executed for his treachery.
At Paneas Caesarion presided over a trial in which Herod excused his past actions and brought charges against his sons. It was agreed that Herod would formulate a new will disposing of his possessions, with Caesarion in presence to grant the necessary Imperial approval there and then. As Shaqilat's death had also left it up to Caesarion to determine the succession to her own domains, there arose also the possibility of the long-standing disputes between Judaea and Nabataea.
By the Emperor's good graces Herod was reconciled with his two remaining "Hasmonean" sons, Aristobulus and Hyrcanus - the latter an unworldly man given to books and letters, for many years resident in Rome. At 31 and 26 Aristobulus and Hyrcanus were Herod's only remaining adult sons. Aristobulus received the title basileus and promised the throne upon his father's death. As his wife had been given away, he received the widow of his brother Antipater, the daughter of King Antigonus II. Hyrcanus was given the high priesthood in Jerusalem and the hand in marriage of his double cousin, Alexandra, the daughter of Phreroras; her mother was a Hasmonean princess like his own, the two being sisters. Hyrcanus and two other brothers, Philip Boethus and Archelaus, were promised their own tetrarchies under Aristobulus: Hyrcanus receiving the Phoenician coastline as far as Achzib, Gaulanitis and Batanea, Archelaus receiving his mother's native Samaria and Philip Boethus receiving Galilee. The bachelors Philip Boethus and Archelaus were promised the hands in marriage of young nieces, so as to bind them more definitively to the future government of Aristobulus.
At the same time Caesarion promised two of his children into Herod's house: his daughter Phasaelis of Nabataea was betrothed to Herod Berenicianus, eldest son of Aristobulus, and his son Malichus of Nabataea to Cypros III, a granddaughter of Herod's. It was the momentous Imperial alliance Herod had always dreamed of. For Phasaelis' dowry Caesarion gave Chalcis and Iturea, lands around Damascus inhabited by Arabs who frequently raided Herod's domains, and most of Perea, which had been the bulk of Herod's Transjordanian possessions before reverting to Arab rule. Aristobulus was charged with pacifying these lands and ruling them until Phasaelis was of age. It was also agreed that the balsam groves of Jericho, property of Cleopatra granted to Herod following Actium, would form part of the princess' dower portion. As future Queen of the Jews, Caesarion demanded for his daughter a portion of the temple revenues in Jerusalem and daily sacrifices from the Jewish priests on her behalf.
As for young Malichus, he was granted his own principality, comprising Ashkelon (detached for him from the Syrian province), Gaza (detached from Nabataea) and Idumea (detached from Judaea), the latter the dowry of Cypros III. This girl was the daughter of Antipater Costobarou, an Edomite prince (and nephew of Herod) and his wife Cypros II (daughter of Herod). The alliance made perfect sense allowing Jews and Nabataeans access to hotly contested Gaza through a proxy ruler friendly to both. As with Phaeselis' lands, Herod and Aristobulus were entrusted care of these lands until Malichus' came of age.
Even with the loss of Idumea, Caesarion left the Judaean throne stronger than ever before. Enlarged and empowered, Herod was now able to pursue those bandits who frequently poured out from the nooks and crannies to torment Herod's subject. As a sign of his goodwill he further made over three of his sons[4] and four of his grandsons to Caesarion and Cleopatra, so that they might be educated alongside the Emperor's own children and prepared for Imperial service.
The mourning for the Queen concluded, Herod distracted Caesarion with a series of banquets and entertainments. All this despite his own ailing health. He renamed the place Caesarea Paneas in the Emperor's honor and made it the administrative capital of his Transjordanian possessions.
Herod and Caesarion feast
As in the days of Antony, Cleopatra's attempts at bringing accusations against Herod and obtaining his richest lands came to nothing. Caesarion was well disposed to Herod, allowing him to sit at his side in the hearing of cases and to eat with him every day. Caesarion also confirmed the Jewish people's ancient rights and privileges, both in Judaea and Alexandria as elsewhere. He also forgave Herod's recent indiscretions and resolved to adjudicate, once and for all, Herod's long-standing succession drama.
Herod was the son of converts, his father an Edomite[1], his mother a Nabataean noblewoman. His lack of both Jewish and royal blood were constant banes to him. The constant scheming of his siblings and children and his own paranoia made for a colorful family life. When he learnt of a popular Pharisaic prophecy that the throne would pass from him to one of the sons of his brother Phreroras he broke with him immediately and forbade him contact with the rest of the family; their deathbed reconciliation was insufficient to prevent Herod from putting Phreroras' sons all to death and seizing his tetrarchy for himself.
Of Herod's ten wives, only one - Mariamne I - was a royally-born princess of the Hasmonean house. The others came from a variety of backgrounds: Malthace was a Samaritan, while several others (including a niece and cousin) were his own countrywomen. Yet another came from Alexandria. These women provided him with a wealth of sons and daughters, but their low- and foreign-born mothers did little to endear them to their future subjects. Both the Jews and Romans expected that Herod should have for successor a suitably royal son.
Attention therefore focused on two chief candidates. The first, Aristobulus, was the exceedingly handsome eldest son of Mariamne I. Together with his two younger full brothers he was widely referred to as "Hasmonean", for the maternal family whose beauty and charisma he closely mimicked. Herod was, quite naturally, consumed with envy - his own aging carcass not made any younger by the hair dyes and other cosmetic treatments he so often employed. Aristobulus was married to his cousin, Berenice I, daughter of the disgraced Costobarus (executed by Herod for conspiring against him with Queen Cleopatra) and Salome I, an aunt who hated him with particular violence and often conspired against him. His main rival was his elder half-brother, Herod's eldest son Antipater. The son of one of Herod's countrywomen, he had married another Hasmonean princess - the daughter of King Antigonus II Mattathias (executed by Herod in 37BC). The low and foreign birth of both his parents discredited him to the Jews but by primogeniture he was the preferred choice.
Over the years Herod variously quarreled and reconciled with his wives, sons and siblings, most notably with these two, to whom the world looked as future kings. In past times Caesarion had intervened when Herod had accused Aristobulus of treason and forced Aristobulus' full brother, Alexander, to flee the country. A brief reconciliation had been effected, Caesarion providing for a four-way split of Herod's domains between Antipater, Aristobulus, Alexander, and another brother, Philip (sometimes surnamed Boethus)[2]. Around this time Caesarion had taken Aristobulus and Alexander into his entourage of companions, exciting great comment[3]. Herod later advanced Antipater as his heir, bringing back his mother Doris to court as his chief wife. Subsequently Herod had quarreled with Aristobulus once more, forcibly separating him from his wife and giving her to Theudion, the brother of Doris. Intrigue ran high when the King's sister Salome I accused Alexander’s wife, Glaphyra of Cappadocia, of having seduced the King after the latter princess had humiliated the Herodian women for their lowly origin, at the same time proudly proclaiming her double descent from the Macedonian and Persian kings. Alexander's distrust of both Glaphyra and Herod was worsened by Aristobulus' agreement with Glaphyra's derision of his wife's low birth. Alexander meanwhile perished before obtaining the Sabaean crown promised to him by Caesarion. Antipater, now undisputed crown prince, then attempted to seize the throne. He failed, was handed over to his father by Caesarion and promptly executed for his treachery.
At Paneas Caesarion presided over a trial in which Herod excused his past actions and brought charges against his sons. It was agreed that Herod would formulate a new will disposing of his possessions, with Caesarion in presence to grant the necessary Imperial approval there and then. As Shaqilat's death had also left it up to Caesarion to determine the succession to her own domains, there arose also the possibility of the long-standing disputes between Judaea and Nabataea.
By the Emperor's good graces Herod was reconciled with his two remaining "Hasmonean" sons, Aristobulus and Hyrcanus - the latter an unworldly man given to books and letters, for many years resident in Rome. At 31 and 26 Aristobulus and Hyrcanus were Herod's only remaining adult sons. Aristobulus received the title basileus and promised the throne upon his father's death. As his wife had been given away, he received the widow of his brother Antipater, the daughter of King Antigonus II. Hyrcanus was given the high priesthood in Jerusalem and the hand in marriage of his double cousin, Alexandra, the daughter of Phreroras; her mother was a Hasmonean princess like his own, the two being sisters. Hyrcanus and two other brothers, Philip Boethus and Archelaus, were promised their own tetrarchies under Aristobulus: Hyrcanus receiving the Phoenician coastline as far as Achzib, Gaulanitis and Batanea, Archelaus receiving his mother's native Samaria and Philip Boethus receiving Galilee. The bachelors Philip Boethus and Archelaus were promised the hands in marriage of young nieces, so as to bind them more definitively to the future government of Aristobulus.
At the same time Caesarion promised two of his children into Herod's house: his daughter Phasaelis of Nabataea was betrothed to Herod Berenicianus, eldest son of Aristobulus, and his son Malichus of Nabataea to Cypros III, a granddaughter of Herod's. It was the momentous Imperial alliance Herod had always dreamed of. For Phasaelis' dowry Caesarion gave Chalcis and Iturea, lands around Damascus inhabited by Arabs who frequently raided Herod's domains, and most of Perea, which had been the bulk of Herod's Transjordanian possessions before reverting to Arab rule. Aristobulus was charged with pacifying these lands and ruling them until Phasaelis was of age. It was also agreed that the balsam groves of Jericho, property of Cleopatra granted to Herod following Actium, would form part of the princess' dower portion. As future Queen of the Jews, Caesarion demanded for his daughter a portion of the temple revenues in Jerusalem and daily sacrifices from the Jewish priests on her behalf.
As for young Malichus, he was granted his own principality, comprising Ashkelon (detached for him from the Syrian province), Gaza (detached from Nabataea) and Idumea (detached from Judaea), the latter the dowry of Cypros III. This girl was the daughter of Antipater Costobarou, an Edomite prince (and nephew of Herod) and his wife Cypros II (daughter of Herod). The alliance made perfect sense allowing Jews and Nabataeans access to hotly contested Gaza through a proxy ruler friendly to both. As with Phaeselis' lands, Herod and Aristobulus were entrusted care of these lands until Malichus' came of age.
Even with the loss of Idumea, Caesarion left the Judaean throne stronger than ever before. Enlarged and empowered, Herod was now able to pursue those bandits who frequently poured out from the nooks and crannies to torment Herod's subject. As a sign of his goodwill he further made over three of his sons[4] and four of his grandsons to Caesarion and Cleopatra, so that they might be educated alongside the Emperor's own children and prepared for Imperial service.
Notes:
[1] Herod's friend, the historian Nicholas of Damascus claimed a Babylonian Jewish background for Herod's grandfather, Antipater I. This is often overlooked as mere flattery but it is possible it might be true.
[2] His mother was Mariamne II, daughter of Simon Cantheras, an Alexandrian who Herod made high priest. Simon's father, Boethus, gave name to the Boethusian sect, closely connected to the Sadducees. He is sometimes called Herod Philip I but I'm going for "Philip Boethus" from now on, given that there's another brother also called Philip and several called Herod.
[3] In past times Mark Antony had greatly desired to make their uncle, another Aristobulus, his plaything. Herod had anxiously declined and made the boy high priest, preventing him from departing the country and winning Antony's affection.
[4] Antipas (16), Phasael (14), Philip (12), and grandsons: Aristobulus Minor, and the three sons of Herod's daughter Salampsio: Antipater, Herod Salampsianus and Alexander.
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Thanks
The oldest by Shaqilat is 11 but illegitimate in Roman eyes. Tiberius is an adult man (but adoptive) and Isidorus is the oldest and legitimate, at 16.OK
I think depending on how long-lasting Caesarion's conquests are these colonia could go a long way towards Romanizing those places and encouraging loyalty to the Emperor/resistance to any outsiders trying to gain power.
Seleucia is still an important city and, for now, the greatest city in the Babylonian client kingdom. Didn't know it's population was so high, or that it had a Senate...interesting
I wonder what the cultural/racial make-up would be at a time when the city forms part of a Roman puppet kingdom at the very extremity of the Roman world. A mixture of Greeks, Babylonians, Assyrians, Iranians, Arabs, Romans and assorted others? Hmm.It's not abandoned, I'm just strapped for time. I still have a number of ideas I want to develop on that TL before I wrap things up (it won't be anything as long as After Actium, but still). Thanks for the interest, it's greatly appreciated.
You're welcome!
A great nation, check out Nabataea.net for a lot of fantastic info on these awesome Arabs.Herakles is set to marry his full sister Isis-Shaqilat II, but she's only a child now, so an actual "marriage" is a long way off. As it turns out brother-sister marriage was customary among the Nabataeans just like the Ptolemies (although we have less detailed information on the royal family), so it all works out nicely.
I love genealogies too and love to consider all the possibilities in terms of inheritance, intermarriage, customs, cultures, politics, etc etc etc, Caesarion's unique family make possible.
Wow, cool update. So the Judean Drama is done for the time being. Although, with Herod on the throne, I have a feeling that the drama will start up again. It seems to me that much of the Roman East is governed by Client kings or by Caesarion's sons. Is this going to continue or will actual province begin to form?
Cheers
You have provinces in Asia Minor, Syria, Mesopotamia, Assyria and Arabia Felix. The client-king system is "what works", it's the traditional system going back all the way through the Seleucids to the Persian Shahs of long ago (and beyond that to the Assyrian and Babylonian empires). What Caesarion has done interestingly, and, as far as I know, quite innovative, is to keep these client-kings but deprive them of military independence by appointing Roman procurators to reside in their kingdom, representing Rome and overseeing key aspects of that kingdom's government - ie, foreign policy, military, etc. The number of kingdoms and provinces will flux over time but it's not a set-up which will fade completely any time soon.
Cheers
You have provinces in Asia Minor, Syria, Mesopotamia, Assyria and Arabia Felix. The client-king system is "what works", it's the traditional system going back all the way through the Seleucids to the Persian Shahs of long ago (and beyond that to the Assyrian and Babylonian empires). What Caesarion has done interestingly, and, as far as I know, quite innovative, is to keep these client-kings but deprive them of military independence by appointing Roman procurators to reside in their kingdom, representing Rome and overseeing key aspects of that kingdom's government - ie, foreign policy, military, etc. The number of kingdoms and provinces will flux over time but it's not a set-up which will fade completely any time soon.
OK, I forgot about Asia and didn't realize Assyria was a province, I thought it was a client state too. It really is a very cool system and Ceasarion makes it work. I will admit it's weird to think that the thrones of the Client-kings aren't really hereditary and can be switched whenever necessary or when a King angers Rome (though those two things are fairly similar) but it works, especially compared to the later feudalism, which is what I was afraid the East was going to turn into. The only person I can think of that did something similar to Caesarion would be Napoleon, of all people. He set up Client states and changed the Monarch when ever necessary, like with his brother Joseph. He as originally King of Naples but transferred to Spain.
It was somewhat hereditary, but the Emperor had to approve the succession. Herod had the right to name his own heir, for example, but Augustus withheld the royal title for the sons that did succeed (perhaps because they were the ones without royal blood), giving them a lower title of tetrarch. Sometimes they'd just pluck a prince out of one country and give him a kingdom elsewhere, or switch kings around. Cilicia Trachea especially seems to have been a test-king from where Kings could get upgraded to better kingdoms once they proved themselves. It's interesting to think that the fate of entire kingdoms was decided willy-nilly...Pompey didn't restore the Seleucids because the Antiochene citizens bribed him not to, Antony made Archelaus King of Cappadocia because he was screwing his mother, Polemon I was made King of Cilicia then Pontus then Pontus, Colchis and Bosporus, simply because his father was an orator friend of Antony's...later on the Emperor gave one of Polemon's sons the right to wear the royal toga even though he was just a private citizen.
Again, you deliver awesomeness! Great chapter!
Thanks, greatly appreciated!