I will keep this short. In our timeline, the Romans built a new capital, Constantinople, on the Bosphorus. Strategically located on the crossroads between Europe and Asia and easily defendable due to the Golden Horn, the site was a great place for a city. However, are there any other sites in Europe that were easily defendable and could have a huge classical city built on them? It'd be ideal for this new capital to be slightly more West than Constantinople, but probably not as far West as Rome itself. Any ideas where else they could have built a new capital?
What other strategic sites could the Romans build a new capital in?
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Move it to Athens, maybe? Alexandria in Egypt if you wanted to take a more African-focused route (EDIT: The OP specified Europe, oops). Still, I think Constantinople/Istanbul is too good a location to pass up.
Ravenna ended up the capital of Italy under the late Western Empire, the Ostrogoths, and Byzantine-held times. Defendable, more west than Constantinople, even in Italy itself if the Empire's still united or at least Latin-dominated in terms of culture and linguistics.
- Salona (right next to Split). The fortress of Klis would make for a great landward defence and there are plenty of trees fit for building ships in Dalmatia in order to safeguard the seaward approaches.
- Vesontio/Besancon: enclosed by a river on three sides and a mountain on the fourth, it could end up becoming the closest thing to Constantinople north of the Alps. Close to the upper Rhine and Danube if those limes need be reinforced.
- Durocortorum/Reims: Not as defensible as the prior two, but at the nexus of many roads and not as close to the border as Trier, so there is less odds of being blitzed, while well situated to coordinate the defence along the Rhine and in Britannia.
- Singidunum/Belgrade: in a TL where Rome takes everything up to the Carpathians, the geographical position and defensibility of this city would be very apparent.
- Vesontio/Besancon: enclosed by a river on three sides and a mountain on the fourth, it could end up becoming the closest thing to Constantinople north of the Alps. Close to the upper Rhine and Danube if those limes need be reinforced.
- Durocortorum/Reims: Not as defensible as the prior two, but at the nexus of many roads and not as close to the border as Trier, so there is less odds of being blitzed, while well situated to coordinate the defence along the Rhine and in Britannia.
- Singidunum/Belgrade: in a TL where Rome takes everything up to the Carpathians, the geographical position and defensibility of this city would be very apparent.
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Syracuse. The island is a breadbasket, and no one without ships can threaten it.
In what way? Londonium is completely removed from the rest of the Roman Empire.
Gytheion, port of Sparta has great potential. It would have-
1. Commanding location in the Mediterranean, better positioned than Constantinople with regards to the West and Africa
2. Very defensible from attacks from the hilly North, and Peloponnese could be effectively rendered an island if you seal off a narrow corridor.
3. Immediate surrounding land very fertile
1. Commanding location in the Mediterranean, better positioned than Constantinople with regards to the West and Africa
2. Very defensible from attacks from the hilly North, and Peloponnese could be effectively rendered an island if you seal off a narrow corridor.
3. Immediate surrounding land very fertile
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If I was a West Roman Emperor near the end of the Empire, I would have moved the capital to Carthage.
- Bread basket
- Safe from barbarian invasion
- Good port in a central location
- Close to the Italian mainland and Hispania (Gaul should be abandoned)
- Bread basket
- Safe from barbarian invasion
- Good port in a central location
- Close to the Italian mainland and Hispania (Gaul should be abandoned)
Good choice as well.
That said, I’ve been playing around in the back of my head with a scenario in which a 5th century Emperor sets up base in Britannia - perhaps to have a secure base from which to harry the various tribes invading Northern Gaul - and the island ends up as the rump WRE.
A map I saw with a surviving (though reduced) Western Empire had them moving the capital to Carthage.
Said map noted that they were feeling a certain amount of cognitive dissonance over this
As sustainable as any state ruling over Britain. Their pretensions to being rulers of the whole of the Roman Empire might be laughable, but I see no reason why such a state would be any less sustainable than the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms.
Londinium wouldn't be a horrible choice for a global maritime Roman empire, but Oporto or Cadiz would be better.
A regional capital in the Don basin of the Ukraine, to act as support base for the FerroViaria Serica.....