Map Contest III: Round IV

[Shadow Knight]

Reminder use this thread for all discussions, questions, etc. After this post the only thing that should appear are maps that adhere to this contest. Rules for the contest can also be found in that thread.

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Now for the challenge (brought to you by AE, computing things for over a century): Alexander (which in TL is not so Great) dies at the Battle of Gaugamela and the Greeks loose. What does the world look like by 100AD?

You have one week.

Remember ask any questions in the linked rules/discussion thread above.

Chief Judge SK

 

[Shadow Knight]

Just bumping it up to the top.

 

[Imperator]

An old Roman map made by a cartographer known only as "Commander" (). Description to follow in next post.

http://imajr.com/alexander2-843024

 

[Imperator]

After Alexander's defeat, the Macedonian forces, now led by a junta of the late king's top generals, retreat to Macedon with the Persian army in hot pursuit. The situation appears hopeless, but Darius's arrogance and assurance of victory leads him to lead the Persians straight into a trap set by the desperate Macedonian command. In the rugged terrain of Asia Minor the superior Persian soldiers suffer a crushing loss, and Darius himself dies on the battlefield. After such an unexpected battle the two sides make peace and history is left to unfold in a very different way.

Though the Persians manage to regain all of the territory they lost to Alexander, the war with Macedon has planted the seeds for their empire's destruction. Darius's successors will attempt to rule a Persia more unstable than ever, with disloyal satraps waiting for a chance to rebel and a gradually eroding central authority. After several generations of stagnation, the Persian Empire implodes around 200 BC, and several subject nations take the chance to break away.

In Greece the power vacuum created by defeat at Gaugamela gives the old city-states new impetus to rebel. After several anarchic civil wars, the countries of Greece, exhausted and surrounded by enemies, reconstitute themselves as a new Hellenic League.

Further to the West Alexander's loss also brings changes. With the Pyrrhic Wars butterflied away, Roman expansion and rise is considerably slower. By the time the Romans secure Italy, Carthage has grown too powerful to destroy. The two increasingly bitter rivals nevertheless fight several bloody and inconclusive wars as both expand into barbarian lands.

By 100 AD the world looks set to change. Persia has risen from the ashes, and reabsorbed several former defectors, pushing back into the Fertile Crescent and India. Rome, which has remained a republic, has, by virtue of new territories in Gaul and Britain, began to outpace the Carthaginians, who along with the Greeks grow increasingly wary. Whether in the Hellenized West or in the East, a mighty shift in the status quo is on the cusp of unfolding.

 

[Dutchie]

Submission: Recenlty unearthed and claimed to be the legendary Shiled of Nexandros (to be verified) this image shows the Adriat general's war shield with its depiction of the 'known world and it's civilizations' (descirbed by Tinous the Historian in his epic work Greeks in the West)


Explanation:
With the defeat and death of Alexander of Macedon at Gaugamela after his foolish battle with Darius of Persia, the shambling Eastern empire swallows up Near Asia and the Greek/Macedon homeland. The best of the Greeks flee to their Western Colonies and establish what will be know as the Adriat Greek city-states.

400 years later the Adriats have established themselves in the lower half of Latinia and in Dalmatia.

The Gallau have crossed the Alpes into the Ponian plain in northern Latinia.

The Cartegos have grown from their original Phoenician trading post into a merchant empire spanning the western Mesogeios Sea. The Aegyps control the eastern Mesogeios - the Persians never having made a serious attempt at being a naval power.

The final cultures of significance at the time and depicted are the Pannina and Armaena to the north of the Adriat Greeks and Persians respectively. These secondary powers of the time belie their future importance to history.

For those without Imageshack access:

 

[ChucK Y]

To: Director, Timescoop Project
From: Research Dept.
Re: TL 863464

Despite Alexander's death, Persia was unable to push the Macedonians out of all its previous territory; the Macedonians wre able to retain Eqypt and part of Asia Minor. The Persian Empire continued to stagnate, and was ultimately conquered from the East by the Maurya Empire. Rome defeated Carthage, and supported the client states of Macedonia and Egypt against the ambitions of the Maurya Empire.

Attached is a map from a historical text showing the area of interest some 400 years after Alexander's time.

 

[VT45]

A map from a history book, dated around 1900 AD. It shows the results of the Perso-Roman war, with Rome giving up Illyria.

 

[Shadow Knight]

Round IV is now closed.

 

[Shadow Knight]

The judges have finished their voting for Round IV of Map Contest III. While participation in this round was much less than previous rounds there were still some really quality maps out there so a big round of applause to all the contestees.

Now for the moment you've all been waiting for, drum roll please...


:A mime beats away on his 'drum':
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...and the winner is Imperator!!!

And the runners-up goes to Chuck Y!

A big congrats to Imperator and Chuck Y for their maps this round.

I'll be posting Round V on Monday and that round will be given two weeks to finish.