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I'm thinking of doing a TL in which the Sassanids win the Sassanid/Byzantine war of 602-626. The POD will be the Battle of Issus, (a Byzantine Victory in 622 which turned the tide of the war-before that the Sassanids had been extremely successful, seizing Egypt, Syria, and Anatolia). In this TL, the Sassanids win the battle and kill Emperor Heraclius on the battlefield. The Byzantine exarchates in North Africa and Italy break away, and the remnants of the empire are divided between the Avars and the Sassanids.

The Sassanids then defeat the Islamic advance into the Middle East and take Mecca. After this, they recruit Arab settlers to repopulate the Middle East (devestated by the war) and Arab cavalry to serve against the Goturks and their other enemies. The Sassanid Empire enters a golden age that lasts for about 400 years and sees significant advances in science, math, astronomy, and philosophy. Eventually, the Empire breaks up into successor states, which are edestroyed by the Turks around 1000.

Thoughts? Ideas? I'm wondering exactly how well Zorastrianism would do in this TL, how the mideast would do under Sassanid rule, and the exact effects on western European politics.

I probably won't do this for several months (I have a couple other TLs I need to work on), but I wanted to get my ideas sorted out before I start writing.
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