Expansion of Meroe

Hello,

I had an interesting idea of which I thought to post it here concerning Meroe, an Egyptian themed kingdom in antiquity.

What if:

In the 1st century Meroe converted to Christianity, changed their numerous temples into churches and justified the ruler then by being chosen by God. And they then would make an expansion against the Blemmyes and then join the Red Sea trade and magnify their economic power. And then they would wait a century and then conquer Axum in a bursting attack and consolidated their trading might by the former Axumite coast.
And followingly they waited another century for consolidation and after that the ruler commanded to annex the region from southern Meroe to the place of the Nok culture and to meanwhile build a large road, from Wad Ban Naqa to the West African coast. Meroe would not annex the whole savanne, only a very little part for a road to be built, however they would annex the whole rainforest by the Nok culture. Afterwards, cities would be built in the rain forest to consolidate the power of Meroe there and the precious goods of the rainforest as well as Nok statues would be exported through the road to Wad Ban Naqa and then would be sent up the Nile. The Roman empire and other countries would be very impressed by the exotic goods, they never saw before and Meroe’s trade would really flourish. But Meroe would need the money to control such a vast region and it wouldn’t expand farther.

So Meroe would then look:
Meroe_fictional_v4.png
http://dc589.2shared.com/download/pxh50WAm/Meroe_fictional_v4.png?tsid=20131010-101714-28c81799

Do you think, that could work?

And how long do you think, that Meroe would have lasted then?
 
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Or, instead of building an implausible, impossible road all the way to Nigeria, they instead consolidate Nubia and Ethiopia into a trading empire, gaining access to the Red Sea and what not.
 

Flubber

Banned
Do you think, that could work?


In a 4X-style video game perhaps.

It's all just too perfect. A nationwide religious conversion with no problems then or later. Territorial expansion in manageable gulps complete with long consolidation periods. Trade penetration without existing trading nations pushing back. Massive road building projects not to link currently important regions but to link regions that will become important. Even cities in the rainforest.

It would work in Civilization because, along with game be far more simpler than real life, there's an immortal guiding intelligence in control.

Reality is much more messy and operates under different rules, however.
 
I guess the conversion might be really a bit too expensive and hard, but could they reintroduce a polytheistic religion in a Christian country, in Axum?
 
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