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I was checking out the Map Thread and I found this unsourced map:



Evidently it's supposed to feature some empire from the eighth century. But I can't figure out what kind of POD would lead to borders like this. I mean, an empire stretching from Hispania to Transoxiana to literally Arabia Felix, yet with no Italy or Greece? Surely it can't be a Persian empire; why would they pass by Anatolia?

Any ideas? Closest I can figure is that it's some kind of Egyptian empire... but that still doesn't make much sense. The only other possible geopolitical centre would be somewhere in Arabia, but even that makes no sense; OTL they're variously tributaries of Rome and Persia during the eighth century, and the tribes are too culturally and religiously divided (Pagans, Christian sects, even Zoroastrians) to form a unified empire.
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