AHC: Syracuse survives as a kingdom

What if the Greek Kingdom of Syracuse survived much longer than it did? Perhaps as late as 100 ad, and make a lasting impact on history? What PoD would allow this?
 
Well, does it definitely have to be the Kingdom of Syrakuse? If so, it precludes a POD before about 400 BCE when it was still a democracy. The way I see it, Syrakuse is a major target for any expansionistic Italian power; Sicily is fertile and Syrakuse is a major trading nexus for the Western mediterranean. Also, there are few other powers who would seek to protect it, as the Carthaginians are certainly not friendly with the Sicilian Greeks.

So, if you want to avoid Syrakuse becoming incorporated directly into an Empire, one of two things seem likely to cause it; no power successfully unites the Italian peninsula until Syrakuse is powerful enough to resist successfully (or perhaps Syrakuse is involved in the unification of Italy), or a power that can compete directly with an Italy-based Empire that would be friendly to Syrakuse exists.
 
I think it'd be reasonably easy to have it survive as a Roman client state for several centuries more, though obviously it causes big butterflies. Just have Syracuse stay as a loyal, reliable, and safely subservient ally of the Republic...
 
I think it'd be reasonably easy to have it survive as a Roman client state for several centuries more, though obviously it causes big butterflies. Just have Syracuse stay as a loyal, reliable, and safely subservient ally of the Republic...

It is the only reasonable POD (unless one goes for all the marbles, in a "Rome fails" timeline), and it might theoretically work (say Hyeronimus does not betrays Rome in the 2nd Punic war). The only criticism is based on the consideration that "client states" make sense (to the imperial power) when they are useful to protect an exposed border or they are poor and not worth the effort to annex: neither of these reasons works for Syracuse. My take is that a semi-independent Syracuse might survive another couple of centuries, but would be quite likely to be "re-organised" either during the civil wars period or when Augustus re-organise the provinces.
 
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