The POD is that Alexander lives longer, but only for long enough to conquer Arabia and to conquer Carthage, as well as impose some status of vassalage or tributary status on the Greek cities of Magna Graecia, and to keep the Italian tribes quiet, but that he suffers a fatal wound that kills him in a few days, dying in 316 BC. And to ensure that the Wars of the Diadochi or some equivalent happens, all of Alexander's heirs and wives, except for Roxana and a posthumous son, get hit by a disease or suffer accidents, and the offloading of Susa wives still occurs, and there aren't many children from those marriages, and that they get discarded and put by the wayside. Keeping this in mind, what would a diadochi state in Carthage look like? I've already discussed what would happen to Arabia here. Would it be a direct satrapy, and would whoever gains control coopt the offices of the shophets and the council of 104, or would Carthaginian government be disbanded in favor of a monarchy? Would there be a rump state in Iberia posing a persistent problem? What would the dealings of a state in North Africa with newly freed Punic free cities such as Utica and others, Carthaginian remnants, and Numidian and Libyan tribes be? Would it have sway over Magna Graecia and Sicily? Would it cultivate a Greek settler base of professional troops, and shift from mercenaries to a professional army? I imagine defeating an ancient enemy of the Hellenes, on par with the Achaemenids, would attract a lot of adventurers and settlers. It would also be outside the model and continuum established by the Achaemenids in the east, where Alexander could insert himself in the local power structure and usurp the collection of satrapies and tributaries, but in Carthage or the Western Mediterranean the dynamic is quite different, Alexander or his successors wouldn't be able to cultivate themselves as god-kings, merely as the men with the biggest armies, especially since the Hellenistic royal model is not as viable in the Western Mediterranean, and forms of government such as oligarchy, democracy, and tyranny are much stronger. It would be a unique state, totally different to how the Seleucids or Ptolemies worked. They might not even use phalangites in favor of an emphasis manipular formations of the Italians or the light cavalry of the Numidians. How would such a state look like, what would it's impact be, and how viable is it in the long-term?
WI: Carthaginian Diadochi State?
- Thread starter SunKing105
- Start date
I'm pretty sure there was a TL by @SlyDessertFox that featured something like this, although I'm not sure which one exactly.
I think it's likely that Alexander will at least try to impose some kind of direct satrapy over the African heartland of Carthage, especially since Carthage has been conquered instead of vassalized. Whether it will be viable or not in the long term depends entirely on who ends up satrap of the region.
I think it's likely that Alexander will at least try to impose some kind of direct satrapy over the African heartland of Carthage, especially since Carthage has been conquered instead of vassalized. Whether it will be viable or not in the long term depends entirely on who ends up satrap of the region.
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I think the TL here was this. Anyway, I was thinking about if Alexander had only managed to take Carthage itself, and hasn't secured the surrounding hinterland yet, and I also think whoever ends up satrap will need to reach some sort of accomodation with the nobles and governmental institutions of the city, appearing as a satrap to the Macedonians on the outside. There are still remnants waiting for the opportunity to retake the city.