AHC: Make Caesarion the Roman Emperor

Skallagrim

Banned
If Caesar lives another two decades how he is seen in the years before his death will be wildly different then his OTL death.

Generally if he doesn’t go for the crown nor end up dead and acts like a powerful Republican leader how he is viewed at the end would be entirely different. Same for if he did take the crown after say conquering the Middle East.

Thanks, but I'm quite capable of thinking ahead. I'm also capable of reading the OP, which doesn't include Caesar living longer. That's something you brought up, and it's a fine idea, but it's not the subject of this thread. The discussion here is about Marcus Antonius and Caesarion winning the final stage of the civil war of the Roman Republic. My comments must be seen in that context.
 
With Anthony it’s a whole different story. He doesn’t really have the political competence nor the military competence even if he wins the civil war to alter the trajectory of the Roman world. He would probably end up another Sulla just less competent.

Julius if he lived really had the political and military skill to shape the trajectory of Rome and the competence to do it with time. Octavian had the same political competence. Caesarian is an unknown.
 
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In place of the "continuation myth," could Caesarion use his father's legacy and purported descent from Venus to sway the Roman people into believing that he is most fit to lead Rome?

There are three factions he would have to look at winning over and manage at least two of them. The public, the aristocracy, and the army.

Generally spending years with them and making connections is key here. How naturally good he is a politician he was we just don’t know. There are arguments he could have made that would have in time trumped xenophobia yes. But, only if he is a great politician.

A major issue is that Caesar himself was a controversial figure, who had gone against tradition repeatedly, and was suspected of wanting to commit the biggest no-no any Roman could imagine: making himself king. As such, relying on being the son of Caeesar cannot possibly be enough to get the sort of legitimacy you'd need.

The relgious angle might work better. The army was always a bit of a hotbed of cultism, and Marcus Antonius had cred there. If Caesarion can endear himself to the army, and get a religious mystique going that he is a godly-descended saviour figure, this can create something powerful: an army that is both organised and religiously motivated. Historically, that has been a successful combo. The religious approach isn't even that strange: times of trouble often cause religious intensity (and creative cultism). Caesarion could easily use the message that the recent period of chaos has been cause due to Rome's corruption and decadence (the big complaints of the late republic), and that he is there to restore Rome to its virtuous roots. He can cloak his foreign ancestry in the guise of something useful, to which a lot of Romans in the period were open: esoteric eastern knowledge, which will help in restoring the ancient and mythic stature of Rome. (Augustus using the Aeneis 'orgin story', which traced Rome's ancestry to the mythic east, as a way of legitimising his own rule and traditional cred worked in much the same way, really.)

In any event, the initial support base will have to be the army. They're most likely to be receptive, and least likely to outright reject him just because he's part-foreigner. Whether he then broadens his base to the common man or to the elite must depend entirely on which of those groups is more open to supporting him. Considering Caesar's more populist politics, I somewhat expect the 'comman man' to be more eager to flock to his banner. On the other hand, new-fangled cults were more popular with the elite, whereas the lower classes were more 'religiously conservative', so to speak.

With Anthony it’s a whole different story. He doesn’t really have the political competence nor the military competence even if he wins the civil war to alter the trajectory of the Roman world. He would probably end up another Sulla just less competent.

Julius if he lived really had the political and military skill to shape the trajectory of Rome and the competence to do it with time. Octavian had the same political competence. Caesarian is an unknown.

Well I think who in a scenario in which Mark Antony win the war against Octavian and Caesarion choose to renounce to Egypt for taking his father’s Roman inheritance (so his name will be something like Caius Iulius Caesar Ptolemy) he will have good chances to become powerful if he has inhereited his parents’ military talent and political mind...
Caesar was very popular with both soldiers and population and if Caesarion can transfer this love to himself (like Octavian has already done) and make also himself popular (like distinguishing himself during Mark Antony’s next Parthian campaign, who likely will happen soon and will be victorious as Octavian this time can not do any sabotage) and demonstrate to everyone who he want to be a proper Roman (and that will include marrying a proper Roman girl, likely Julia for reclaiming also properties and clients of Caesar) he will be in a good position for taking power at Rome after Antony.
Julia is the most logical choice as wife because a wedding to her will help Caesarion to claim the leadership of the Julian clan (forcing Octavian, if still alive, to adopt him likely will not be enough alone) and also because the most logical alternatives would be either of Octavia’s daughters by Marcellus as her daughters by Antony are already taken (Antonia Major is already engaged to her OTL husband, son of one of Anton’s most important supporters and officers, while Antonia Minor’s OTL match with Livia’s younger son is more logical)
 
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