East Vs West

A what if a major Gnostic Christian sect survived outside of Roman influence.

143 AD Valentinus having failed to become Bishop of Rome withdrew to Cyprus and continued to draw converts to his beliefs.

With his sect growing in numbers Rome started to suppress this new upstart.

In 148 AD Valentinus has a dream, a divine intervention telling him to take his followers by ship through the Pillars of Hercules and God will deliver them to a land beyond the reach of Rome.
As only the faithful will be delivered a series of trials will test the belief of his followers to ensure they are worthy.

Over the next two years Valentinus and his followers pool all their possession to purchase a dozen ships and prepare to journey to the chosen land.

In 151 AD the fleet sails, for once the Romans leave them be as they are only more then happy to let this troublesome group fend for themselves on the outskirts of the empire.
The fleet next made port at Carthago Nova taking on all the supplies that they could carry.
On entering the Great Sea the fleets is hit by a series of tempests each worst then the last.
The fleet is blown far from known lands and only Valentinus and his iron faith in his vision keeps the faithful together.
The tempests eventually cease and the fleet comes across some islands that enables the fleet to re-provision.
The fleet is hit by more tempests the followers are becoming afraid that they are not worthy and several die from a mysterious malady unknown to the healers among the fleets.
After the last tempest even Valentinus is starting to doubt his faith when suddenly in the dead of night the tempest stops and the ships start to drift while their crews collapse into a dreamless sleep.

The next morning Valentinus awakes to a bright flashing light in his eyes.

During the night the ships have drifted into a sheltered bay and as Valentinus looks around the flashing light strikes his face again.
This time he notices its shape in the shape of the Holy Cross and he lets out a cry and begins to pray in thanks for deliverance.
the rest of his followers follow his example and offer a prayer of thanks and then they start to unload their ships to make a new life.
 
Ok this TL is not really about the discovery of the New world early it is about what happens down the track when the Gnostic Christians in the New World finally meet the Christians of the old world.

I think interesting times might be afoot.

So what do you all think?
 
The thing that I don't get is why would these people want to try such a risky unconventional endeavour, in wanting to establish this colony, when there are a couple of safer more conventional schemes avaliable instead.

Sorry I don't mean to shoot your balloon down with a Patriot missile, but sailing up the Nile, as far as they could venture, maybe even to the source or maybe as far as where the Nile splits into the White & Blue Niles, would, I'd imagine, be easier & safer. Hence they could establish their colony there. Otherwise they could march off east towards Persia somewheres.

But if you want this huge saga of a trek, well going across the Atlantic wouldn't be too healthly for the ships of the Roman period. I would imagine they'd all drown with the first big "tempest" that'd hit them. You could, though, still have your massive epic with the Gnostics keeping to the coastline of Africa. If so, well whenever a storm came their way, they could gain shelter in a bay or somewhere similar. They could even come ashore, occasionally, to get food & water. Then finally, at some remote point that seems favourable, they could set-up their colony. They may even reach Southern Africa... ;)
 
The thing that I don't get is why would these people want to try such a risky unconventional endeavour, in wanting to establish this colony, when there are a couple of safer more conventional schemes avaliable instead.

Sorry I don't mean to shoot your balloon down with a Patriot missile, but sailing up the Nile, as far as they could venture, maybe even to the source or maybe as far as where the Nile splits into the White & Blue Niles, would, I'd imagine, be easier & safer. Hence they could establish their colony there. Otherwise they could march off east towards Persia somewheres.

But if you want this huge saga of a trek, well going across the Atlantic wouldn't be too healthly for the ships of the Roman period. I would imagine they'd all drown with the first big "tempest" that'd hit them. You could, though, still have your massive epic with the Gnostics keeping to the coastline of Africa. If so, well whenever a storm came their way, they could gain shelter in a bay or somewhere similar. They could even come ashore, occasionally, to get food & water. Then finally, at some remote point that seems favourable, they could set-up their colony. They may even reach Southern Africa... ;)

I quite agree but I wanted somewhere where there was no Roman influence at all and a place where the faithful would have no contact with the old world for many centuries.

The choices were Australia and the Americas and I chose the latter as it was a shorter distance to travel.
I guess they could sail around Africa, Asia and then island hop to Australia.

What I am aiming at is having Gnostic Christians having a society which will clash with the Dogma of the established Christian churches.
 
I quite agree but I wanted somewhere where there was no Roman influence at all and a place where the faithful would have no contact with the old world for many centuries.

The choices were Australia and the Americas and I chose the latter as it was a shorter distance to travel.
I guess they could sail around Africa, Asia and then island hop to Australia.

What I am aiming at is having Gnostic Christians having a society which will clash with the Dogma of the established Christian churches.


Well there's zero Roman influence in the regions of the Congo or South Africa.
 
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