WI/AHC: Sites for a Western Roman Empire’s Version of Constantinople

No. It's faaarrrr too west, and I doubt much trade is coming in from the atlantic or out of the meddeteranian for a gibraltar based capital to enjoy.

My vote is definitely carthage, or barring that, messina.
 
It was among the largest cities in the Western Roman Empire (and at times possibly the largest in the WRE outside of Rome itself), bigger than anything in Sicily. Plus nearby coastal cities North Africa were also pretty sizable in terms of populace. Africa Proconsularis alone is at least as economically productive and populous as Sicilia, not considering the fact that control of Carthage would likely enable a state to effectively control Sicily and much of Numidia and Mauretania. If we assume a Christian Roman Empire, then Carthage is also one of the most important centers of Christianity outside of Rome.

This sounds a lot like Alexandria, which wasn't the capital either...
 
No. It's faaarrrr too west, and I doubt much trade is coming in from the atlantic or out of the meddeteranian for a gibraltar based capital to enjoy.

My vote is definitely carthage, or barring that, messina.
But Roman capitals weren't chosen for economics, they were chosen on the basis of their military position - close enough to the frontier to easily attack but deep enough to defend.
 
But Roman capitals weren't chosen for economics, they were chosen on the basis of their military position - close enough to the frontier to easily attack but deep enough to defend.

Of course, the reason Carthage is chosen as capital could be that Italia itself has been lost.
 
But Roman capitals weren't chosen for economics, they were chosen on the basis of their military position - close enough to the frontier to easily attack but deep enough to defend.
True enough.

I doubt rome could rule the east from the pillars of hercules, however. Communication takes significanly longer, as does supply from the major food producing areas of the empire (eygpt, for example).

No matter how defensible the capital is, it won't mean much if rome loses control of the empire because it's capital is too far from the vast majority of the rest of it's territories, including the frontier.
 
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