AHC: Surviving Hellenistic State with Least Historical Impact

[Falecius]

I think having a Greek colony in modern-day Bahrain or Qatar, perhaps a Macedonian settler colony that increases in population could be a good bet. And if you make them too difficult to conquer directly but too profitable to leave alone, they might be able to survive for centuries as a tributary of whoever dominates the region, most likely Gerrha or the Parthians.

Tylos (Akkadian Dilmun, modern Bahrayn) was indeed part of the broader Hellenistic world IOTL and had some very superficial Hellenic presence, as a part of a very theoretical (IIRC) vassalage to the Seleukids.
Not sure how you deepen Hellenic presence in the area; the main local written languages seem to have been Aramaic and Hasaitic (the language of official, mostly funerary, inscriptions of the kingdom of Gerrha, possibly to be identified with the "Qatarian" language mentioned by a couple Syriac writers in later times; we don't know very much about it, but scholars tentatively think it may be closely related to Aramaic).

 

[sarahz]

What would be the best candidate for a Hellenistic state—for the purposes of this thread, a nation beyond Greece proper, separate from whichever nation controls Greece proper, that could be considered Greek in culture—to survive past the Hellenistic era, or come into existence after its conclusion, with the minimal impact on the rest of the world? Bonus points if it is also outside of Anatolia—for much of history I’d consider it “Eastern Greece.”

In other words, a surviving “Greek” state somewhere outside of Greece, likely a very small one. One candidate I can picture is an independent Greek count, or even a unified nation, in Southern Italy or Sicily after the Roman collapse. A more off the wall idea is a Syrian Greek city-state of some kind.

Anyone else have any ideas?

hmm the Crimera?

 

[Fehérvári]

What about a greek-colonised Canary Islands?

 

[M79]

What about a greek-colonised Canary Islands?

How about a Greek-colonized Madagascar? There is reason to believe they knew about it and some of its description merged with Taprobane/Sri Lanka later on (I have a thread elsewhere with Ptolemy's map showing this and how he may have unintentionally depicted African circumnavigation). It fades in Hellenicity as the Polynesians arrive and could become a very polyethnic state with time, but being so isolated it eventually just becomes another target for colonization with a unique history/cuisine and paler inhabitants.

 

[ImperialxWarlord]

A surviving Bactria would be interesting.

 

[Byzantion]

Afghanistan and Punjab are good candidates and apart from that, Syria and Egypt would be considered so without the Islamic conquest.

A surviving Bactria would indeed make a difference concerning historical impact. The grave of Empires is known to be a Hellenized country.

 

[Tyrann Philip II]

Have some minor Greek city state in the Aegean stay a permanent socii et amicus of Rome and never be formally annexed.

 

[Grey Wolf]

Tom B wrote something amazing

 

[Byzantion]

What would be the best candidate for a Hellenistic state—for the purposes of this thread, a nation beyond Greece proper, separate from whichever nation controls Greece proper, that could be considered Greek in culture—to survive past the Hellenistic era, or come into existence after its conclusion, with the minimal impact on the rest of the world? Bonus points if it is also outside of Anatolia—for much of history I’d consider it “Eastern Greece.”

In other words, a surviving “Greek” state somewhere outside of Greece, likely a very small one. One candidate I can picture is an independent Greek count, or even a unified nation, in Southern Italy or Sicily after the Roman collapse. A more off the wall idea is a Syrian Greek city-state of some kind.

Anyone else have any ideas?

How about a tiny Italian Greek minority state ?

 

[SunKing105]

How about Alexander the Great lives a little longer and campaigns in Arabia, but he dies during the campaign and only takes Gerrha. The Wars of the Diadochi still happen, and some local satrap is able to quietly assume independence while the bigger Diadochi are tearing each other apart. With the trade revenue from controlling Gerrha and Tylos, this satrap is able to survive, until Seleucus or whoever else comes knocking, and the satrap-king negotiates to become a tributary, until breaking away again after Seleucus or [insert other Diadochi king/general who got successful] dies. I don’t know how plausible this is, and it sounds incredibly ASB, but this is my idea.

 

[Sceonn]

Madagascar is best. Interesting too since it'll be a pagan classical Hellenic society.

 

[TheHandsomeBrute]

The last independent Hellenic kingdom was in India... But Bactria could also be another option.

 

[Mr.Wigglemunch]

Like others have said islands are preferable in the sense of isolation. The problem is you want an island that is big enough to sustain a population for Greek culture to survive and not be replaced - and you don't want it to be strategically important islands like Sicily.

I'd say Sardinia - seeing as the language there linguistically remained much more reminiscent to Latin than other dialects despite passing ownership multiple times. If you can get major Greek colonisation prior to the rise of Rome, Roman ownership later is actually beneficial in being largely hellenophile which gives us in the region of a thousand years of Greek culture if we say Sardinia is heavily settled in approx 500BC. Another five to seven hundred years of autonomy under German invaders such as the Ostrogoths and others like Moors or Normans before being passed pillar to post between the Spanish and Italians.

Something like this would be my best bet. It ain't going to be purely Greek, but a Greek culture with a good dose of Latin and Spanish influence would be intriguing.

Edit: So I ignored by accident the real point - if Sardinia goes much the same way in the early modern period as a duchy or minor Kingdom it may possibly escape Italian unification and end up like OTL Cyprus, either whole or partly independent.