DBWI: the Romans won the Latin War

Lately in history class we've been studying about the Latin War between Carthage and some barbarian city-state called Rome. Anyway what do you think would happen if Rome won instead?
 
Italiote studies isn't a very popular field in the Classics, which is really a great pity given the misconceptions still current. Rome wasn't of consequence in the greater scheme of things, of course, but it was hardly the barbarian pseudo-Sparta it tends to ber portrayed as today. THe Romans managed to unite all of Italy under their rule when they faced Carthage and proved a more dangerous enemy that the Syracusans had ever been because, unlike other conquerors, they had succeeded in turning their subjects into allies, binding them into a resilient and flexible political structure we are only beginniong to understand. The political legacy of ancient Italy could have radiated past its borders had it been allowed to continue. We could see some interesting developments here - maybe even an early urbanisation of the Celtic peoples and less religious influence. You realise that the Romans appear to have had hereditary political influence, but elective priesthoods? Talk about opposite day...
 
I dread to think what the Italian Barbarians would have commited on my ancestors had they not been stopped. The evidence of their exploits in Gaul makes for a rather chilling view of an alternate history of a brutally regimented land, devoid of local beliefs and culture. Granted, Gaul could have been "Romanised" (possibly could have been similar to Hellenisation) centuries before it was in our OTL, but they would have forced all the way to the Emerald hills of Éireann in order to maintain control over a region which could have made them almost impregnable to enemy invasion. Remember, this was believed to be the furthest point to the West as it was 1700 years before the Chinese discovered the Great Eastern Continent so invasions could only come from the East or from North Africa.

On a more objective note, Rome and their Italian dominions could have conquered the entire mediterrean had they defeated Cathage. Cathage ruled the seas, and had they been beaten then Rome would have filled the power vacuum and strangled many of the other factions. Also Africa may be less advanced than it is now as Cathaginian influence caused the rise of the city state in Sub Saharan Africa, creating some of the greatest nations on Earth over the following thousand years, even dwarfing the achievements of China.
 
Disaster!

The world would be cold, dark and dead.

The Romans considered the Carthiginian sacrifice of infants to somehow have been immoral. Undoubtedly they would have stopped the practice. If they had ever reached the Eastern continent they would have also stopped the Aztec sacrifices too.

And if the gods had not been appeased by these sacrifices, their vengeance and wrath would be mighty indeed. The fire of the sun would die, the fields and crops die, and the people starve.

In short, thank the gods that we dfeated those ignorant Romans, and saved the world!
 
The world would be cold, dark and dead.

The Romans considered the Carthiginian sacrifice of infants to somehow have been immoral. Undoubtedly they would have stopped the practice. If they had ever reached the Eastern continent they would have also stopped the Aztec sacrifices too.

And if the gods had not been appeased by these sacrifices, their vengeance and wrath would be mighty indeed. The fire of the sun would die, the fields and crops die, and the people starve.

In short, thank the gods that we dfeated those ignorant Romans, and saved the world!

........scary
 
The world would be cold, dark and dead.

The Romans considered the Carthiginian sacrifice of infants to somehow have been immoral. Undoubtedly they would have stopped the practice. If they had ever reached the Eastern continent they would have also stopped the Aztec sacrifices too.

And if the gods had not been appeased by these sacrifices, their vengeance and wrath would be mighty indeed. The fire of the sun would die, the fields and crops die, and the people starve.

In short, thank the gods that we dfeated those ignorant Romans, and saved the world!

Oh, great, a Fundie. Look, if you think infant sacrifice is so great, why don't you go campaign for a reinstatement of the lottery? Do you have any idea what the families went through in the old days? Sheesh, you'd think two thousand years of philosophy and scholarship would hae had an effect by now...
 
Oh, great, a Fundie. Look, if you think infant sacrifice is so great, why don't you go campaign for a reinstatement of the lottery? Do you have any idea what the families went through in the old days? Sheesh, you'd think two thousand years of philosophy and scholarship would hae had an effect by now...

If you don't want to sacrifice infants that's your choice. Some of us however do wish to sacrifice our slaves' children because we believe it necessary.

We have the choice to participate or not in religious activities.

That is called freedom of religion!

And that is my point, if the Romans had won the Latin war, there would be no such freedom of religion!

Now wouldn't that be awful! Imagine being forced to worship some ghastly semi-Hellenic abomination like Zeus-Jupiter! And being required to sacrifice bulls instead of infants! (And that's even assuming their religion could have sustained the world and appeased the gods)
 
I rember reading a book called Roma about this topic it involved a Rome that eventually collapsed after a victorious Latin War it said there would be Roman architecture all over the world.
 
I rember reading a book called Roma about this topic it involved a Rome that eventually collapsed after a victorious Latin War it said there would be Roman architecture all over the world.

lol come on this is serious
I doubt that a place like Rome could ever build an empire just because they won. They would prabably become a major power for a few years but will eventuly collaspe.
 
Its a scary thought if Rome had one. I mean the Carthraginian Empire pretty much conquered all of Europe and Northern Africa. The influence of their cultures was found all the way into eastern India! Besides we should be thankful that they invented a toilet with running water, think about if they didn't invent that, we would be diggin holes and using outhouses.
 
The Carthaginians were never able to conquer the Central Slavs. That's a significant chunk of Europe there. Not to mention that their control over the Norse was minimal...
 
Guys, we'd do well to recall this is real history, not a game of Oikoumene 3. The Carthaginians did nor emulate Alexander for the good reason that they didn't have to. Even their 'control' of the Celts, Lusitanians and Iberians did not extend much beyond a system of alliances, one-sided though they were. Yes, Carthaginian angeloi laid down the law as far as the Rhine and Elbe, but the Shophetim never claimed more than control over the landholdings in the Mediterranean. Even the Latin League was allowed a degree of independence. Why? Because it was the most effective way of doing these things.

Now, I personally don't think that a Roman victory would have presented the disaster some of you seem to envision. First, because the Romans were a lot like the Carthaginians. Yes, modern historians like to retcon the maritime Empires of our day to the past, but for all their naval tradition, the power of Carthage lay on the land of North Africa as much as that of Rome lay on that of Italy. The main difference lay in the far more primitive nature of the Roman concept of subject status, and even there, I think it wasn't significantly worse to be a Roman 'ally' than a Carthaginian. Of course it is doubtful the Romans would have been able to civilise the Celts, but then again, look at the rate with which Italy eventually Hellenised. They certainly weren't slow learners.

As to the question of infant sacrifices, I'm sorry but there is simply no excuse for that kind of behaviour in our day and age. We no longer live in the era of Hanno the Great. If you're not willing to change your views, you can at least spare others the pain. You know there is zygote sacrifice - yes, I know, you don't get the rush of hearing an actual living child sob with fear and scream in pain, in case that's what you're after, but Great Heavens, at least you're not hurting innocents! And please don't tell me the sky will fall - the Hellenes and Thinai have been doing without infant acrifice for over two millennia, and in case it has escaped your notice, they (not us) are the ruling powers of this world, culturally, militarily and technologically.
 
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