Caeser goes deeper into Africa for further conquest.
Perhaps and earlier Mali-like empire arises, trading with Rome and other Barbary Coast kingdoms. Caesar, or his successors, decide to cash in on the gold and salt trade, and sweep south to secure the region for Rome, and establish an SPQR monopoly on the resources there. Might take a century to complete, but it is a possibility.Out of curiosity, where does he go?
The Sahara is impenetrable for any armed expedition. A probe down the nile is theoretically possible, as is an advance down the moroccoan coast. Both lead to the inevitable question: why?
I think that Roman Empire will expand further even if Caesar is alive longer.
To where exactly?![]()
He failed to capture Britain twice! Germania doesn't really have anything Rome wants right now and Parthia was on the cards but was too far away to really hold onto...
Pannonia, Thrace, Dacia, Cappadocia, Britain (again)?
None of these war part of the empire at the death of Caesar...
But did they have something the Romans really wanted at the time?![]()
Mind you, Thrace would give a connection with Roman Anatolia... but it was already a client state of Rome at the time, as was Cappadocia.![]()
(Oh, and it was the Roman Republic not Empire...)
Out of curiosity, where does he go?
The Sahara is inpenetrable for any armed expedition. A probe down the nile is theoretically possible, as is an advance down the moroccoan coast. Both lead to the inevitable question: why?
Rome already held the good bits of North Africa (the Med Coast and along the Nile), so it didn't really need any more...
What about Ethiopia?
Ethiopia didn't exist as a state back then. The kingdom of Meroe was briefly on the menu under Augustus, but IIRC Petronius got himself a bloody nose trying to push across the Dodekaschoenos and later was invited to kill himself over his ambitions. That pretty much ended the African story until the Blemmyes showed up.
Mind you, Thrace would give a connection with Roman Anatolia... but it was already a client state of Rome at the time, as was Cappadocia.![]()
Was there anything the Romans really wanted at the time in Gaul? Aside from providing glory for Caesar, and lots of slaves, the country was hardly rich or beautiful was it?