Imperium Aeternum - Chronology : 40 BC
Several stations of the Epistula Equinus are completed along the Appian Way. Octavian proposes a bill to the Senate to expand the Appian Way throughout the rest of Italy and Europe so that the empire will have a central road with which to place the Epistula Equinus and to aid the movement of the army. The lex Via Appia is passed in Feb. The Senate moves into the completed section of the Curia Senatus in May. Marcellus dies, leaving Octavian's sister, Octavia Minor, widowed. Her daughter, the future wife of Ptolemy Caesar, Claudia Marcella, is born.
In March, the Dacian king Comosicus sends Duritista back to the Roman camp for the third time to secure a peace agreement with the empire. Caesar has Duritista executed by crusifixion and his corpse raised along the Roman side of the Danube. Caesar now puts into action Antony's plan to conquer Dacia. The conquest of Dacia highlights the use of what modern military historians and strategists refer to as The Antonian Method, which basically involves tricking the enemy into believing your army is larger than it actually is while taking a larger army at a different location to catch an opponent from behind. He sends Antony with the 10,000 men to northwestern Moesia near Viminiacium across the border from Dacia to build a bridge across the Danube as fast as possible (just like Caesar did years ago when trying to intimidate the Germans during his Gaullic campaign). Caesar moves along the newly constructed roads to the northeast of Moesia and begins building a bridge almost simultaneously. Within 10 days both bridges are built to the astonishment of the Dacian king, Comosicus. Comosicus mistakenly believes that Antony's force is larger because Antony lights more camp fires than he needed for his men during the construction time of the bridge. The Dacians put the majority of their now 30,000 men (about 22,000) near Antony's bridge. The rest of their army was further south but not along the border with Moesia where Caesar is at this point. Comosicus believes that Caesar is further south because two days before he could see the Roman camp fires, which were simply the product of Antony's idea to leave a small group of soldiers behind to light camp fires every night while Caesar quickly marched his army to the northeast so that he could build a bridge unknown to Comosicus. Antony crosses his bridge into Dacian lands and is immediately met by the large Dacian army. A largely inconclusive battle, the Battle of the Danube occurs in the forest and Antony withdraws to the bridge and starts evacuating his forces to lure the Dacians to the river. Antony's archers in the forts along the Danube prepare for a Dacian assault. Antony evacuates his forces and the Dacians who are very confident by now, rush the bridge as Antony's archers, ballistas and catepults begin hurling flaming arrows and stones onto the bridge. Some of the initial attackers break through but are badly mauled by Antony's forces. Many die on the bridge as it burns and then falls. The Roman artillery continues to harrass the Dacians from across the river. All of these events occur in a five day span. The romans loose about 1,900 men, the Dacians about 5,000. By the end of the battle, Caesar has already invaded from the northeast 3 days earlier. Within two weeks he engages the army of 8,000 Dacians who thought he was across the river still. He badly defeats them, killing or capturing all 8,000 men in the Battle of Drobeta, which also results in the capture of the town by the same name. The Dacians to the north finally hear of the defeat a week later while still watching Antony's forces across the Danube. They leave for the south to meet Caesar's army, which has moved east to take several Dacian towns. In July, Antony rebuilds his bridge and crosses mostly unopposed, advancing quickly toward the Dacian capital. After several smaller battles with Caesar in OTL modern Ukraine, Comosicus retreats north to the Dacian capital, Sarmizegetus, which Caesar and Antony approach from opposite sides in mid-October. The Romans rest and prepare for the winter until next Spring.
Marcus Aemilius Lepidus begins his campaigns in northern Spain to finish the Roman conquest of Iberian Peninsula. In Athens, Athenodorus, a philosopher, supposedly encounters a ghost. This legend is seen as the first historically recorded poltergeist story.
King Orodes II of Parthia, seeing Rome distracted with wars of expansion, decides to support Antigonus' proposed invasion of Judae. The Parthians invade Judae and the Roman supported ruler of Judae, Herod the Great, flees to Rome to seek Roman support in ousting his rival Antigonus and defeating the Parthians. Antigonus is crowned king of Judae.