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Hey Alternate History! This is my second TL, as my first wasn't very good or well received, so I am having another shot. The POD is the battle of Issus in the Byzantine–Sassanid War of 602–628.

Rise, Aegyptus!

An alternate history timeline chronicling the ascendency and subsequent consequences of Coptic Egypt.

Prologue: The Roman Defeat at Issus



The Sassanid Empire midway (circa 620AD) through the aforementioned war. The light green areas are recently conquered areas of the Byzantine Empire​


-24th of July, 622. Somewhere near the town of Issus.

"What about over there, Alexios?" called Constans, pointing to a hilltop where a plume of smoke rose, "Looks like an ambush"
"Nonsense. That isn't enough smoke to justify an ambush" said Alexios authoritatively, waving Constans's statement away like a fly, "It is most likely a woodcutter clearing scrub"
Constans acknowledged Alexios's explanation with a shrug, and Aristarchos and Oulixeus nodded in agreement. Heraclius had driven them hard over the past few months, and the preparation for the recapture of Issus had been grueling. He wanted nothing more than to return to camp, but still, he queried further,
"Alexios. The Persian encampment at Issus is small" he said, "I have a feeling that their entire force is not present"
"What? Why don't you go down and ask the Persians?" sneered Oulixeus, "'Hey Shahrbaraz! Is this your entire army or are the rest hiding in the hills with the woodcutter?' sounds good?"
The rest of the scouts apart from Constans sniggered, and Alexios smiled in victory. Constans knew that if he really wanted, he could pressure Alexios to check out the hills surrounding the town of Issus, but he chose not to. He knew that if he were wrong, Oulixeus, Aristarchos, Alexios and probably the other scouts would give him endless shit about it. He could see it now: "Hey Constans! Where are the Persians?" would become a regular occurrence, and Constans wasn't well liked as it was. Weighing the likelihood, Constans realized that the Persians were probably not planning an ambush. The scouts had done their job, and going into the hills wasn't what Heraclius had prescribed. Thus, history was changed by a guy not wanting to look like an idiot. Not exactly a rare occurrence.

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When the army of Heraclius marched forth to retake Issus, it turned out that Constans the Scout was correct: the Persians had indeed planned a large-scale ambush[1]. When the Roman (Byzantine) army engaged the small Persian force guarding the town, the trap was sprung. Persians descended from the hills, raining death and steel. The Roman army was caught in confusion as it's right, left and back flank was engaged. With no escape, the Romans panicked and the battle was lost. While the bulk of the Romans were frightened like a bunch of spooked chickens, The Optimatoi fought to the death[2], but their nobility was in vain. The Persians destroyed the army, capturing 10,000 prisoners as well as the esteemed emperor of the Romans, Heraclius himself. Ironically, Constans perished, slain by an arrow to the eye. Oulixeus, Aristarchos and Alexios escaped, forever bearing the shame of their fatal mistake.

The battle was lost, and with it the Roman counter-offensive was ground to a halt[3]. Powered by their latest victory, the Persians proceeded to go on a rampage through Anatolia, capturing almost all of it, except for a few exclaves of Roman authority that held out, but the Persians made no effort to subdue these exclaves: they could be dealt with after the great city of Constantinople was captured. With no Emperor to lead them, and two ravenous enemies[4] on either side of the Bosporus, the Romans seemed doomed. As such, the Persians laid siege to Constantinople in late 622AD, aided by their Avar allies. However, the Romans still had the naval superiority, and being that the majority of Constantinople was on the European side of the Bosporus, the Persians could do little except for look on as their Avars allies threw man after man in vain at the mighty walls Constantinople. After two weeks of the siege, the Persians attempt to capture the Bosporus straits, so as to set up a line of communication and transport siege equipment to aid the Avars, and they sent in their navy to destroy the Roman naval superiority. However, it was not to be so, the Romans were well-schooled in naval warfare and were better equipped, and the Persian fleet was sunk. The siege dragged on for a couple of weeks longer, until the exhausted Avar army retreated from the arrows of the Romans. On the other side of Bosporus, the Persians we at a brick wall: they could not capture Constantinople without a fleet, and their armies were exhausted and overextended. After momentous pressure from the war-weary nobles and generals, the Persian king made peace with the Romans, gaining huge tracts of land, but not recreating the Achaemenid Empire as was originally intended. With that, Heraclius was free to leave the captivity of the Persians and deal with the Avars in the west, who felt that the weakened empire would be easy game. Head bowed in disgrace, Heraclius left the court of the Sassanids in early 623AD.


The purple is the Roman Empire, the green is the Avar-controlled portions of the Roman Empire and the turquoise is the Sassanid Empire. This is after the peace treaty that concludes the Byzantine-Sassanid War of 602-622. Apologies for the bad map.​

Heraclius left the Persians and returned to Constantinople. Under fire from his subjects as a result of the drastic loss of the war, Heraclius made a dramatic announcement to the court of the Romans: that by his death, Heraclius would reclaim the lost territories from the Sassanids or God help the Romans. It was a promise made of smoke and mirrors, but a good propaganda tool, at least. However, the Romans had a greater issue to deal with, that of the marauding Avars. Raising a large army of 35,000 to meet the Khagan of the Avars, Heraclius marched forth and met the Khagan at Heraclea. Although the Khagan had arranged to negotiate with the Emperor of the Romans, Heraclius, feeling the need to prove himself to his people, had planned to surprise the Khagan with a nasty treat. In a strange twist of fate, the Khagan had also arranged to ambush Heraclius. Ambush met ambush outside of Heraclea[5] in a moment of confusion, and the battle commenced. However, it was the Romans who had the advantage this time, for the Avars had rushed ahead, and sent a brigade of fast cavalrymen (designed to quickly capture Heraclius) straight into the marching Roman army. The Romans quickly destroyed the cavalrymen, and proceeded to march upon the Avar's main camp. The main body of the Avars were startled (they did not know that their's was the only ambush) and the Romans swept into them. The Romans fought tooth-and-nail, knowing if they lost, that the road to Constantinople. Eventually, the bravery of the Romans prevailed, and the Khagan agreed to peace, and promised not to assault the walls of Constantinople within his lifetime.

The year 623AD concluded with an air of shame about the Romans, and an air of glee among the Persians. However, for the next twenty years, the eye of the Near East would be turned on the previous breadbasket of the Romans, the now-Persian province of Aegyptus!

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Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it!

Now that I have set up the crux of the narrative, in the next installment I shall move onto the focal point: the Egyptians.

Any thoughts/feedback?

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Footnotes:

[1]: In the OTL battle of Issus, the emperor Heraclius discovered the ambush that the Sassanids had set up and pretended to flee upon entering the battlefield. The Persians in ambush then broke their cover to give chase, and the Roman army turned around and smashed them.

[2]: The Optimatoi were the elite Roman troops of the army, and in OTL they did most of the proverbial "smashing" that was aforementioned.

[3]:In OTL, the Battle of Issus was the first and most important stage in the Roman counter-offensive, as it saved Anatolia from the Sassanid Persians and opened the path for further Roman advances.

[4]: The Avars had began to invade the Romans in the beginning of the 7th century AD. However, they made a major push during the Byzantine-Sassanid War of 602-628 while the Romans were occupied with the Persians.

[5]: In OTL, the Khagan put horsemen en route to Heraclea to ambush and capture Heraclius, so they could hold him for ransom. Heraclius (without his army ITTL) was fortunately warned in time and managed to escape, and was subsequently chased by the Avars all the way to Constantinople.

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Index to Rise, Aegyptus!

Chapter I: The Triumph of Pope Benjamin I of Alexandria, Part One
Chapter I: The Triumph of Pope Benjamin I of Alexandria, Part Two
Chapter I: The Triumph of Pope Benjamin I of Alexandria, Part Three
Chapter II: The Rebirth and Rise of the Phoenix, Part One
Chapter II: The Rebirth and Rise of the Phoenix, Part Two
Chapter II: The Rebirth and Rise of the Phoenix, Part Three
Chapter III: The Peace of Antioch, Part One
Chapter III: The Peace of Antioch, Part Two
Chapter III: The Peace of Antioch, Part Three
Chapter IV: Two Destroyed Empires, One Rising Power and the Guys Caught up in the Middle, Part One

Rulers of Aegyptus so far... (if Romanized, it is in Italics)

Kyrillos I Eikosidekas (Cyril I), Erro and Basileus of Aegyptus, 623AD-
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