Romania (Terra Cognita)

Romania is a unitary constitutional diarchic directorial republic and democracy. It is a founding member of the League of Peace, GOLA, and other international organizations. It is a highly developed country, with one of the world's largest economies. Romania is considered to be one of the world's most culturally and economically advanced countries with a very high life expectancy

Romania ranks very high in measures of socio-economic performance, including average wage, median income, median wealth, human development, per capita GDP, and worker productivity. Romania is a member of the GGPC (Global Great Power Council), one of 23 nations considered a Great Power. Romania is one of 9 nations considered a World Power. It is one of the foremost military powers in the world, considered the strongest land-based military, and makes up a third of global military spending, and is a leading political, cultural, and scientific force internationally.

The country has greatly influenced and contributed to diverse fields, notably the arts, music, literature, philosophy, science and technology, fashion, cinema, cuisine, sports, as well as jurisprudence, banking and business. As a reflection of its cultural wealth, Romania is home to the world's largest number of World Heritage Sites and is the one of the most visited countries in the world.

Romania has historically been home to myriad peoples and cultures including the Italic peoples, Phoenicians and Carthaginians, Greeks, Etruscans, Celts, Vasconics, and Germanic peoples. An Italic tribe known as the Latins formed the Roman Kingdom which eventually became a republic with a government of the Senate and the People. The Roman Republic initially conquered and assimilated its neighbours on the Italian peninsula, eventually expanding and conquering parts of Europe, North Libia and Asia. The Roman Empire emerged as the dominant power in the Mediterranean Basin and became a leading cultural, political and religious centre, inaugurating the Pax Romana, a period of more than 200 years during which Romania's law, technology, economy, art, and literature developed.

Romans broadly indicate six founding dates for Romania from the Roman Kingdom in AUC 1 to the current Republic in AUC 2576. The generally accepted founding date of Romania, however, is AUC 254, the date establishing the First Roman Republic.

-

Etymology
Romania derives its name from the ancient city Rome. According to the founding myth of the city by the Ancient Romans themselves, the long-held tradition of the origin of the name Roma is believed to have come from the city's founder and first king, Romulus. However, it is a possibility that the name Romulus was actually derived from Rome itself. As early as the 11th century, there have been alternative theories proposed on the origin of the name Roma. Several hypotheses have been advanced focusing on its linguistic roots which, however, remain uncertain: from Rumon or Rumen, archaic name of the Tiber, which in turn has the same root as the Greek verb ῥέω (rhéō) and the Latin verb ruo, which both mean "flow"; from the Etruscan word 𐌓𐌖𐌌𐌀 (ruma), whose root is rum- "teat", with possible reference either to the totem wolf that adopted and suckled the cognately named twins Romulus and Remus, or to the shape of the Palatine and Aventine Hills; from the Greek word ῥώμη (rhṓmē), which means strength.

Romania in turn means “Land of the Romans” and evolved from early Romanian (Late Vulgar Latin) Romaniae.

Exonyms for Romania vary by language with some originating from the Roman self-designation:

Cambrian: Romania

Andalusian: Romania

Scandian, alternate: Romænien

Latin: Romaniae

Greek: Ῥωμανία (Romania)

Persian: Rumistan

Arabian: رُومَانِيَا‎ (Rūmāniyā)

Vasconian: Erromania

Sicilian: Romanìa

Tsalagian: ᎶᎹᏂᏯ (lomaniya)

Francian: Romenië

Frisian: Romeenje

Kurdish: Romanya

In some languages, particularly in Central and Eastern Europe, the word for Romance peoples was borrowed from the Goths (walhs) into Proto-Venetic. From the Venetics the term passed to other peoples, such as the Hungarians and was used for all Latinic people of the Balkans. Exonyms based on Gothic ‘walhs’ include:

Gepidian: Ƕaland

Lombard: Wälschland

Scandian: Valland

Vinlandic: Valland

Meshican: Gale

Hellulandic: ᐆᐃᓪ (uuil)

Wendish: Włoska

Hungarian: Olaszország

The term Daqin (Chinese: 大秦; pinyin: Dà qín, Middle Chinese: /dɑiH d͡ziɪn/), meaning "Great Qin," is derived from the dynasty founded by Qin Shi Huang, ruler of the State of Qin and China's first emperor who unified China's Warring States by AUC 533. The prefix "da" (大) or "great" signified that the Roman Empire was on par with the might of the Qin Empire and was viewed as a utopian land located to the northwest of the Parthian (Persian) Empire. The title "Daqin" does not seem to have any phonetic derivation from Latin Roma or Greek Romaikē.

Sinaean: 大秦 (Dàqín)

Japanese: だいしん (Daishin)

First Era - Early Civilization
Thousands of Palaeolithic-era artifacts have been recovered and dated to around 850,000 years before the present, making them the oldest evidence of first hominins habitation in the Italian peninsula. Excavations throughout Romania have revealed a Neanderthal presence dating back to the Palaeolithic period some 200,000 years ago, while modern Humans appeared about 40,000 years ago.

The Ancient peoples of pre-Roman Romania – such as the Umbrians, the Latins (from which the Romans emerged), Volsci, Oscans, Samnites, Sabines, the Celts, the Ligures, the Veneti, the Celtiberians, the various Germanic tribes, and many others – were Indo-European peoples, many of them specifically of the Italic group. It is possible that the Italic group and Celtic group furthermore share a common past and are branches of one another. The main historic peoples of possible non-Indo-European or pre-Indo-European heritage include the Etruscans, the Vasconics, the Iberians, and the prehistoric Sardinians, who gave birth to the Nuragic civilisation. Other ancient populations being of undetermined language families and of possible non-Indo-European origin include the Rhaetian people and Cammuni, known for their rock carvings in Valcamonica, the largest collections of prehistoric petroglyphs in the world. A well-preserved natural mummy known as The Iceman, determined to be 5,000 years old was discovered in the Similaun glacier of Alpine Romania in 2744.

The first foreign colonizers were the Phoenicians, who initially established colonies and founded various emporiums on the coasts of Sardinia. Some of these soon became small urban centres and were developed parallel to the Greek colonies; among the main centres there were the cities of Nora, Sulci, and Tharros in Sardinia.

The Founding of Rome
Little is certain about the history of the Roman Kingdom, as nearly no written records from that time survive, and the histories about it that were written during the Republic and Empire are largely based on legends. However, the history of the Roman Kingdom began with the city's founding, traditionally dated to AUC 1 with settlements around the Palatine Hill along the river Tiber in Central Italia, and ended with the overthrow of the kings and the establishment of the Republic in about AUC 245.

The traditional account of Roman history, which has come down to us through Livy, Plutarch, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, and others, is that in Rome's first centuries it was ruled by a succession of seven kings. The traditional chronology, as codified by Varro, allots 243 years for their reigns, an average of almost 35 years. The Gauls destroyed much of Rome's historical records when they sacked the city after the Battle of the Allia in AUC 364 and what was left was eventually lost to time or theft. With no contemporary records of the kingdom existing, all accounts of the kings must be carefully questioned.

According to the founding myth of Rome, the city was founded on 21 April AUC 1 by twin brothers Romulus and Remus, who descended from the Trojan prince Aeneas and who were grandsons of the Latin King, Numitor of Alba Longa.

The First Roman Republic
According to tradition and later writers such as Livy, the Roman Republic was established around AUC 245, when the last of the seven kings of Rome, Tarquin the Proud, was deposed by Lucius Junius Brutus, and a system based on annually elected magistrates and various representative assemblies was established. A constitution set a series of checks and balances, and a separation of powers. The most important magistrates were the two consuls, who together exercised executive authority as imperium, or military command. The consuls had to work with the senate, which was initially an advisory council of the ranking nobility, or patricians, but grew in size and power.

In the 4th century AUC the Republic came under attack by the Gauls, who initially prevailed and sacked Rome. The Romans then took up arms and drove the Gauls back, led by Camillus. The Romans gradually subdued the other peoples on the Italian peninsula, including the Etruscans. The last threat to Roman hegemony in Italia came when Tarentum, a major Greek colony, enlisted the aid of Pyrrhus of Epirus in AUC 473, but this effort failed as well.

In the 5th century AUC Rome had to face a new and formidable opponent: the powerful Phoenician city-state of Carthage. In the three Punic Wars, Carthage was eventually destroyed and Rome gained control over Hispania, Sicilia and North Libia. After defeating the Macedonian and Seleucid Empires in the 6th century AUC, the Romans became the dominant people of the Mediterranean Sea. The conquest of the Grecian kingdoms provoked a fusion between Roman and Greek cultures and the Roman elite, once rural and rugged, became a luxurious and cosmopolitan one. By this time Rome was a consolidated empire – in the military view – and had no major enemies.

Roman armies occupied Hispania in the mid 6th century AUC but encountered stiff resistance from that time down to the age of Augustus. The Celtiberian stronghold of Numantia became the centre of Hispanian resistance to Rome in the AUC 610s and 630s. Numantia fell and was completely razed to the ground in AUC 622. The conquest of Hispania was completed in AUC 735—but at heavy cost and severe losses.

Towards the mid 7th century AUC, a huge migration of Germanic tribes took place, led by the Cimbri and the Teutones. These tribes overwhelmed the peoples with whom they came into contact and posed a real threat to Rome itself. At the Battle of Aquae Sextiae and the Battle of Vercellae the Germans were virtually annihilated, which ended the threat. In these two battles the Teutones and Ambrones are said to have lost 290,000 men (200,000 killed and 90,000 captured); and the Cimbri 220,000 men (160,000 killed, and 60,000 captured).

Antonius' Civil War
In the 8th century AUC the Republic faced a period of political crisis and social unrest. Into this turbulent scenario emerged the figure of Julius Caesar. Caesar reconciled the two more powerful men in Rome: Marcus Licinius Crassus, his sponsor, and Crassus' rival, Pompey. The First Triumvirate had satisfied the interests of these three men: Crassus, the richest man in Rome, became richer; Pompey exerted more influence in the Senate; and Caesar held consulship and military command in Gaul.

In AUC 701, the Triumvirate disintegrated at Crassus' death. Crassus had acted as mediator between Caesar and Pompey, and, without him, the two generals began to fight for power. After being victorious in the Gallic Wars and earning respect and praise from the legions, Caesar was a clear menace to Pompey, that tried to legally remove Caesar's legions. To avoid this, Caesar crossed the Rubicon River and invaded Rome in AUC 705, rapidly defeating Pompey. With his sole preeminence over Rome, Caesar gradually accumulated many offices, eventually being granted a dictatorship for perpetuity. He was murdered in AUC 710, in the Ides of March by the Liberatores.

Caesar's assassination caused political and social turmoil in Rome; without the dictator's leadership, the city was ruled by his friend and colleague, Marcus Antonius. Octavius (Caesar's adopted son), along with general Marcus Antonius and Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, Caesar's best friend, established the Second Triumvirate. Lepidus was forced to retire in AUC 718 after betraying Octavian in Sicilia. Antonius settled in Egypt with his lover, Pharaoh, or Queen, Cleopatra VII Philopator of Egypt. Marcus Antonius' affair with Cleopatra was seen as an act of treason, since she was queen of a foreign power and Antonius was adopting an extravagant and Hellenistic lifestyle that was considered inappropriate for a Roman statesman.

Following Antonius' Donations of Alexandria, which gave to Cleopatra the title of "Queen of Kings", and to their children the regal titles to the newly conquered Eastern territories, the war between Octavian and Marcus Antonius broke out. Octavian annihilated Egyptian forces in the Battle of Actium in AUC 723. Marcus Antonius and Cleopatra committed suicide, leaving Octavianus the sole ruler of the Republic.

After the Battle of Actium, the period of major naval battles was over and the Romans possessed unchallenged naval supremacy in the Germanic Sea, Atlantic coasts, Mediterranean, Red Sea, and the Black Sea until the emergence of new naval threats in the form of the Franks and the Saxons in the Germanic Sea, and in the form of Borani, Herules and Goths in the Black Sea.

The First Roman Empire
In AUC 727, Octavian was the sole Roman leader. His leadership brought the zenith of the Roman civilization, that lasted for four decades. In that year, he took the name Augustus. That event is usually taken by historians as the beginning of Roman Empire. Officially, the government was republican, but Augustus assumed absolute powers. The Senate granted Octavian a unique grade of Proconsular imperium, which gave him authority over all Proconsuls.

The unruly provinces at the borders, where the vast majority of the legions were stationed, were under the control of Augustus. These provinces were classified as imperial provinces. The peaceful senatorial provinces were under the control of the Senate. The Roman legions, which had reached an unprecedented number (around 50) because of the civil wars, were reduced to 28.

Under Augustus' rule, Roman literature grew steadily in the Golden Age of Latin Literature. Poets like Vergil, Horace, Ovid and Rufus developed a rich literature, and were close friends of Augustus. Along with Maecenas, he stimulated patriotic poems, as Vergil's epic Aeneid and also historiographical works, like those of Livy. Augustus' enlightened rule resulted in a 200 years long peaceful and thriving era for the Empire, known as Pax Romana.

Despite its military strength, the Empire made few efforts to expand its already vast extent; the most notable being the conquest of Britannia, begun by emperor Claudius, and emperor Trajan's conquest of Dacia (AUC 854 to 859).Roman legions were also employed in intermittent warfare with the Germanic tribes to the north and the Parthian, or Persian, Empire to the east. Meanwhile, armed insurrections (e.g. the Hebraic insurrection in Judea) and brief civil wars (e.g. in AUC 821 the Year of the Four Emperors) demanded the legions' attention on several occasions.

Julio-Claudian Dynasty
From AUC 767 to 821 Romania was under the Julio-Claudian dynasty, descending from the first Emperor, Augustus. These were Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero. Gaius, better known as "Caligula" ("little boots") was a son of Germanicus and Agrippina the Elder. Caligula started out well, by putting an end to the persecutions and burning his uncle's records. Unfortunately, he quickly lapsed into illness. The Caligula that emerged in late AUC 790 demonstrated features of mental instability that led modern commentators to diagnose him with such illnesses as encephalitis, which can cause mental derangement, hyperthyroidism, or even a nervous breakdown (perhaps brought on by the stress of his position). Whatever the cause, there was an obvious shift in his reign from this point on, leading his biographers to label him as insane.

Most of what history remembers of Caligula comes from Suetonius, in his book Lives of the Twelve Caesars. According to Suetonius, Caligula once planned to appoint his favourite horse Incitatus to the Roman Senate. He ordered his soldiers to invade Britannia to fight the Sea God Neptune, but changed his mind at the last minute and had them pick sea shells on the northern end of Gallia instead. It is believed he carried on incestuous relations with his three sisters: Julia Livilla, Drusilla and Agrippina the Younger. He ordered a statue of himself to be erected in Herod's Temple at Jerusalem, which would have undoubtedly led to revolt had he not been dissuaded from this plan by his friend king Agrippa I. He ordered people to be secretly killed, and then called them to his palace. When they did not appear, he would jokingly remark that they must have committed suicide.

In AUC 794, Caligula was assassinated by the commander of the guard Cassius Chaerea. Also killed were his fourth wife Caesonia and their daughter Julia Drusilla. For two days following his assassination, the senate debated the merits of restoring the Republic.

Claudius followed Caligula as emperor. He was a younger brother of Germanicus, and had long been considered a weakling and a fool by the rest of his family. The Praetorian Guard, however, acclaimed him as emperor. Claudius was neither paranoid like his uncle Tiberius, nor insane like his nephew Caligula, and was therefore able to administer the Empire with reasonable ability. He improved the bureaucracy and streamlined the citizenship and senatorial rolls. He ordered the construction of a winter port at Ostia Antica for Rome, thereby providing a place for grain from other parts of the Empire to be brought in inclement weather.

Claudius ordered the suspension of further attacks across the Rhine, setting what was to become the permanent limit of the Empire's expansion in that direction. In 796, he resumed the Roman conquest of Britannia that Julius Caesar had begun and incorporated more Eastern provinces into the empire.

In his own family life, Claudius was less successful. His wife Messalina cuckolded him; when he found out, he had her executed and married his niece, Agrippina the Younger. She, along with several of his freedmen, held an inordinate amount of power over him, and although there are conflicting accounts about his death, she may very well have poisoned him in 807. Claudius was deified later that year. The death of Claudius paved the way for Agrippina's own son, the 17-year-old Lucius Domitius Nero. Nero ruled from 807 to 821. During his rule, Nero focused much of his attention on diplomacy, trade, and increasing the cultural capital of the empire. He ordered the building of theatres and promoted athletic games. His reign included the Roman–Parthian War (a successful war and negotiated peace with the Parthian Empire (811–816) ), the suppression of a revolt led by Boudica in Britannia (813–814) and the improvement of cultural ties with Grecia. However, he was egotistical and had severe troubles with his mother, who he felt was controlling and over-bearing. After several attempts to kill her, he finally had her stabbed to death. He believed himself a god and decided to build an opulent palace for himself. The so-called Domus Aurea was constructed atop the burnt remains of Rome after the Great Fire of Rome (AUC 817). Because of the convenience of this many believe that Nero was ultimately responsible for the fire, spawning the legend of him fiddling while Rome burned which is almost certainly untrue. The Domus Aurea was a colossal feat of construction that covered a huge space and demanded new methods of construction in order to hold up the gold, jewel encrusted ceilings. By this time Nero was hugely unpopular despite his attempts to blame the Christians for most of his regime's problems.

A military coup drove Nero into hiding. Facing execution at the hands of the Roman Senate, he reportedly committed suicide in AUC 821. According to Cassius Dio, Nero's last words were "Jupiter, what an artist perishes in me!"

Year of the Four Emperors
Since he had no heir, Nero's suicide was followed by a brief period of civil war, known as the Year of the Four Emperors. Between June 821 and December 822, Romania witnessed the successive rise and fall of Galba, Otho and Vitellius until the final accession of Vespasian, first ruler of the Flavian dynasty. The military and political anarchy created by this civil war had serious implications, such as the outbreak of the Batavian rebellion. These events showed that a military power alone could create an emperor. Augustus had established a standing army, where individual soldiers served under the same military governors over an extended period of time. The consequence was that the soldiers in the provinces developed a degree of loyalty to their commanders, which they did not have for the emperor. Thus the Empire was, in a sense, a union of inchoate principalities, which could have disintegrated at any time.

Through his sound fiscal policy, the emperor Vespasian was able to build up a surplus in the treasury, and began construction on the Colosseum. Titus, Vespasian's successor, quickly proved his merit, although his short reign was marked by disaster, including the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in Pompeii. He held the opening ceremonies in the still unfinished Colosseum, but died in AUC 834. His brother Domitian succeeded him. Having exceedingly poor relations with the Senate, Domitian was murdered in September 849.

The Flavian Dynasty, although a relatively short-lived dynasty, helped restore stability to an empire on its knees. Although all three Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian) have been criticised, especially based on their more centralised style of rule, they issued reforms that created a stable enough empire to last. However, their background as a military dynasty led to further marginalisation of the senate, and a conclusive move away from princeps, or first citizen, and toward imperator, or emperor.

The Five Good Emperors
The next century came to be known as the period of the Five Good Emperors, in which the succession was peaceful and the Empire prosperous. The emperors of this period were Nerva (849–850), Trajan (851–870), Hadrian (870–891), Antoninus Pius (891–914) and Marcus Aurelius (914–933), each one adopted by his predecessor as his successor during the former's lifetime. While their respective choices of successor were based upon the merits of the individual men they selected rather than dynastic, it has been argued that the real reason for the lasting success of the adoptive scheme of succession lay more with the fact that none but the last had a natural heir.

Upon his accession to the throne, Trajan prepared and launched a carefully planned military campaign in Dacia. In AUC 854, Trajan personally crossed the Danube and defeated the armies of the Dacian king Decebalus at Tapae. The emperor decided not to press on towards a final conquest as his armies needed reorganisation, but he did impose very hard peace conditions on the Dacians. At Rome, Trajan was received as a hero and he took the name of Dacicus. Decebalus complied with the terms for a time, but before long he began inciting revolt. In 858 Trajan once again invaded and after a yearlong campaign ultimately defeated the Dacians by conquering their capital, Sarmizegetusa Regia. King Decebalus, cornered by the Roman cavalry, eventually committed suicide rather than being captured and humiliated in Rome. The conquest of Dacia was a major accomplishment for Trajan, who ordered 123 days of celebration throughout the empire. He also constructed Trajan's column in Rome to glorify the victory.

In AUC 865, Trajan was provoked by the decision of Osroes I of Parthia (or Persia) to put his own nephew Axidares on the throne of the Kingdom of Armenia. The Arsacid Dynasty of Armenia was a branch of the Parthian royal family, established in AUC 807. Since then, the two great empires had shared hegemony of Armenia. The encroachment on the traditional Roman sphere of influence by Osroes ended the peace which had lasted for some 50 years.

Trajan marched first on Armenia. He deposed the king and annexed it to the Roman Empire. Then he turned south into Persia itself, taking the cities of Babylon, Seleucia and finally the capital of Ctesiphon in 869, while suppressing a Jewish uprising across the region. He continued southward to the Persian Gulf, whence he declared Mesopotamia a new province of the empire and lamented that he was too old to follow in the steps of Alexander the Great and continue his march eastward.

In AUC 869, he captured the great city of Susa. He deposed the Osroes I and put his own puppet ruler Parthamaspates on the throne. During his rule, the Roman Empire reached its greatest extent it had known up to that point.

Hadrian would succeed Trajan. Despite his own excellence as a military administrator, Hadrian's reign was marked more by the defense of the empire's vast territories, rather than major military conflicts. He surrendered Trajan's conquests in Mesopotamia, considering them to be indefensible. There was almost a war with Vologases III of Parthia around 874, but the threat was averted when Hadrian succeeded in negotiating a peace. Hadrian's army crushed the Bar Kokhba revolt, a massive Jewish uprising in Judea.

Hadrian was the first emperor to extensively tour the provinces, donating money for local construction projects as he went. In Britannia, he ordered the construction of a wall, the famous Hadrian's Wall as well as various other such defences in Germania and Northern Libia. His domestic policy was one of relative peace and prosperity.

The Philosopher Emperor

After Hadrian and Antonius Pius the empire would come under the reign of Marcus Aurelius. During his reign Germanic tribes and other people launched many raids along the long north European border, particularly into Gaul and across the Danube—Germans, in turn, may have been under attack from more warlike tribes farther east, driving them into the empire. His campaigns against them are commemorated on the Column of Marcus Aurelius.

In Asia, a revitalised Parthian Empire renewed its assault. Marcus Aurelius sent his co-emperor Lucius Verus to command the legions in the East. Lucius was authoritative enough to command the full loyalty of the troops, but already powerful enough that he had little incentive to overthrow Marcus. The plan succeeded — Verus remained loyal until his death, while on campaign, in 922.

In AUC 928, while on campaign in the northern Germania in the Marcomannic Wars, Marcus was forced to contend with a rebellion by Avidius Cassius, a general who had been an officer during the wars against Persia. Cassius proclaimed himself Roman Emperor and took the provinces of Egypt and Syria as his part of the empire. It is said that Cassius had revolted as he had heard word that Marcus was dead. After three months Cassius was assassinated and Marcus restored the eastern part of the empire.

In the last years of his life Marcus, a philosopher as well as an emperor, wrote his book of Stoic philosophy known as the Meditations. The book has since been hailed as Marcus' great contribution to philosophy.

When Marcus died in 933 the throne passed to his son Commodus, who had been elevated to the rank of co-emperor in 930. This ended the succession plan of the previous four emperors where the emperor would adopt his successor, although Marcus was the first emperor since Vespasian to have a natural son that could succeed him, which probably was the reason he allowed the throne to pass to Commodus and not adopt a successor from outside his family.

Roman-Sinaean Trade

A Roman embassy from "Daqin" arrived in Eastern Han China in AUC 919 via a Roman maritime route into the South Sinaean Sea, landing at Jiaozhou and bearing gifts for the Emperor Huan of Han (r. 899–921), was sent by Marcus Aurelius, or his predecessor Antoninus Pius (the confusion stems from the transliteration of their names as "Andun", Sinaean: 安敦). Other Roman embassies of the century visited Sina by sailing along the same maritime route. These were preceded by the appearance of Roman glasswares in Sinaean tombs, the earliest piece found at Guangzhou. However, Roman golden medallions from the reign of Antoninus Pius, and possibly his successor Marcus Aurelius, have been discovered at Óc Eo (in southern Vietdai), which was then part of the Kingdom of Funan near Sinaean-controlled Jiaozhi (northern Vietdai) and the region where Sinaean historical texts say the Romans first landed before venturing further into Sina to conduct diplomacy. Furthermore, in his Geography (c. AUC 903), Ptolemy described the location of the Golden Chersonese, now known as the Malay Peninsula, and beyond this a trading port called Kattigara. Roman and Mediterranean artifacts found at Óc Eo suggest this location.

Commodus and the Year of the Five Emperors
The period of the Five Good Emperors was brought to an end by the reign of Commodus from 933 to 945. Commodus was the son of Marcus Aurelius, making him the first direct successor in a century, breaking the scheme of adoptive successors that had worked so well. When he became sole emperor upon the death of his father it was at first seen as a hopeful sign by the people of the Romania. Nevertheless, as generous and magnanimous as his father was, Commodus was just the opposite. In The Decline and Resurgence of the Roman Empire by Cambrian historian Edard Jelbart, it is noted that Commodus at first ruled the empire well. However, after an assassination attempt, involving a conspiracy by certain members of his family, Commodus became paranoid and slipped into insanity. The Pax Romana ended with the reign of Commodus. When Commodus' behaviour became increasingly erratic throughout the early 190s, Pertinax is thought to have been implicated in the conspiracy that led to Commodus' assassination on 31 December 945. The plot was carried out by the Praetorian prefect Quintus Aemilius Laetus, Commodus' mistress Marcia, and his chamberlain Eclectus.

Disdaining the more philosophic inclinations of his father, Commodus was extremely proud of his physical prowess. The historian Herodian, a contemporary, described Commodus as an extremely handsome man. He ordered many statues to be made showing himself dressed as Hercules with a lion's hide and a club. He thought of himself as the reincarnation of Hercules, frequently emulating the legendary hero's feats by appearing in the arena to fight a variety of wild animals. He was left-handed and very proud of the fact. Cassius Dio and the writers of the Augustan History say that Commodus was a skilled archer, who could shoot the heads off ostriches in full gallop, and kill a panther as it attacked a victim in the arena.

Cassius Dio, a first-hand witness, describes him as "not naturally wicked but, on the contrary, as guileless as any man that ever lived. His great simplicity, however, together with his cowardice, made him the slave of his companions, and it was through them that he at first, out of ignorance, missed the better life and then was led on into lustful and cruel habits, which soon became second nature."

His recorded actions do tend to show a rejection of his father's policies, his father's advisers, and especially his father's austere lifestyle, and an alienation from the surviving members of his family. It seems likely that he was brought up in an atmosphere of Stoic asceticism, which he rejected entirely upon his accession to sole rule.

After repeated attempts on Commodus' life, Roman citizens were often killed for making him angry. One such notable event was the attempted extermination of the house of the Quinctilii. Condianus and Maximus were executed on the pretext that, while they were not implicated in any plots, their wealth and talent would make them unhappy with the current state of affairs. Another event—as recorded by the historian Aelius Lampridius—took place at the Roman baths at Terme Taurine, where the emperor had an attendant thrown into an oven after he found his bathwater to be lukewarm.

Severan Dynasty
After Commodus and his quick successors, Pertinax and Didius Julianus, came the Severan dynasty. Lucius Septimius Severus was born to a family of Phoenician equestrian rank in the Roman province of Africa proconsularis. He rose through military service to consular rank under the later Antonines. Proclaimed emperor in 946 by his legionaries in Noricum during the political unrest that followed the death of Commodus, he secured sole rule over the empire in AUC 950 after defeating his last rival, Clodius Albinus, at the Battle of Lugdunum. In securing his position as emperor, he founded the Severan dynasty.

Severus fought a successful war against the Parthians and campaigned with success against barbarian incursions in Roman Britain, rebuilding Hadrian's Wall. In Rome, his relations with the Senate were poor, but he was popular with the commoners, as with his soldiers, whose salary he raised. Starting in 950, the influence of his Praetorian prefect Gaius Fulvius Plautianus was a negative influence; the latter was executed in 958. One of Plautianus's successors was the jurist Aemilius Papinianus. Severus continued official persecution of Christians and Jews, as they were the only two groups who would not assimilate their beliefs to the official syncretistic creed. Severus died while campaigning in Britannia. He was succeeded by his sons Caracalla and Geta, who reigned under the influence of their mother, Julia Domna.

The eldest son of Severus, Caracalla was born Lucius Septimius Bassianus in Lugdunum, Gaul. "Caracalla" was a nickname referring to the Gallic hooded tunic he habitually wore even when he slept. Upon his father's death, Caracalla was proclaimed co-emperor with his brother Geta. Conflict between the two culminated in the assassination of the latter.

Reigning alone, Caracalla was noted for lavish bribes to the legionaries and unprecedented cruelty, authorizing numerous assassinations of perceived enemies and rivals. He campaigned with indifferent success against the Alamanni. The Baths of Caracalla in Rome are the most enduring monument of his rule. His reign was also notable for the Antonine Constitution, also known as the Edict of Caracalla, which granted Roman citizenship to nearly all freemen throughout Romania.

He was assassinated while en route to a campaign against the Parthians by the Praetorian Guard.

The Imperial Crisis
After the chaos of Caracalla and Geta came Macrinus, Elagabalus, and Alexander Severus to finish out the Severan dynasty. The situation of the Roman Empire became dire in AUC 988, when the emperor Alexander Severus was murdered by his own troops. Many Roman legions had been defeated during a campaign against Germanic peoples raiding across the borders, while the emperor was focused primarily on the dangers from the Sassanid Persian Empire. Leading his troops personally, Alexander Severus resorted to diplomacy and the paying of tribute in an attempt to pacify the Germanic chieftains quickly. According to Herodian this cost him the respect of his troops, who may have felt they should be punishing the tribes who were intruding on Rome's territory.

In the years following the emperor's death, generals of the Roman army fought each other for control of the Empire and neglected their duties in preventing invasions. Provincials became victims of frequent raids by foreign tribes, such as the Carpians, Goths, Vandals, and Alamanni, along the Rhine and Danube Rivers in the western part of the Empire, as well as attacks from Persians in the eastern part of the Empire. Additionally, in 1004, the Plague of Cyprian (possibly smallpox) broke out, causing large-scale mortality which may have seriously affected the ability of the Empire to defend itself.

By 1011, the Roman Empire broke up into three competing states. The Roman provinces of Gallia, Britannia and Hispania broke off to form the Gallic Empire and, two years later in 1013, the eastern provinces of Syria, Palestinia and Aegyptus became independent as the Palmyrene Empire, leaving the remaining Italian-centered Roman Empire-proper in the middle, often referred to as the Romanian Empire by non-contemporary historians.

An invasion by a vast host of Goths was beaten back at the Battle of Naissus in 1022. This victory was significant as the turning point of the crisis, when a series of tough, energetic soldier-emperors took power. Victories by the emperor Claudius II Gothicus over the next two years drove back the Alamanni and recovered Hispania from the Gallic Empire. When Claudius died in 1023 of the plague, Aurelian, who had commanded the cavalry at Naissus, succeeded him as the emperor and continued the restoration of the Empire.

Aurelian reigned (1023–1028) through the worst of the crisis, defeating the Vandals, the Visigoths, the Palmyrenes, the Persians, and then the remainder of the Gallic Empire. By late 1027, the Roman Empire was reunited into a single entity, and the frontier troops were back in place. However, dozens of formerly thriving cities, especially in the Western Empire, had been ruined, their populations dispersed and depleted and, with the breakdown of the economic system, could not be rebuilt. Major cities and towns, even Rome itself, had not needed fortifications for many centuries; many then surrounded themselves with thick walls. A process of migration from Italia began to shore up the depleted lands of Romania.

Finally, although Aurelian had played a significant role in restoring the Empire's borders from external threat, more fundamental problems remained. In particular, the right of succession had never been clearly defined in the Roman Empire, leading to continuous civil wars as competing factions in the military, Senate and other parties put forward their favored candidate for emperor. Another issue was the sheer size of the Empire, which made it difficult for a single autocratic ruler to effectively manage multiple threats at the same time. These continuing problems would be radically addressed by Diocletian, allowing the Empire to continue to survive in the West for over a century and in the East for over a millennium.

The Tetrarchy
The transition from a single united empire to the later divided Western and Eastern empires was a gradual transformation. In July 1039, Diocletian defeated rival Emperor Carinus and briefly became sole emperor of the Roman Empire. Diocletian's reign stabilized the empire and marked the end of the Imperial Crisis.

Diocletian secured the empire's borders and purged it of all threats to his power. He defeated the Sarmatians and Carpi during several campaigns between 1038 and 1052, the Alamanni in 1041, and usurpers in Egypt between 1050 and 1051. Galerius, aided by Diocletian, campaigned successfully against Sassanid Persia, the empire's traditional enemy. In AUC 1052 he sacked their capital, Ctesiphon. Diocletian led the subsequent negotiations and achieved a lasting and favorable peace. Diocletian separated and enlarged the empire's civil and military services and reorganized the empire's provincial divisions, establishing the largest and most bureaucratic government in the history of the empire. He established new administrative centers in Nicomedia, Mediolanum, Antioch, and Augusta Treverorum, closer to the empire's frontiers than the traditional capital at Rome had been. Building on trends towards absolutism, he styled himself an autocrat, elevating himself above the empire's masses with imposing forms of court ceremonies and architecture. Bureaucratic and military growth, constant campaigning, and construction projects increased the state's expenditures and necessitated a comprehensive tax reform. From at least 1050 on, imperial taxation was standardized, made more equitable, and levied at generally higher rates.

Diocletian saw that the vast Roman Empire was ungovernable by a single emperor in the face of internal pressures and military threats on two fronts. He therefore split the Empire in half along a northwest axis just east of Italia, and created two equal Emperors to rule under the title of Augustus. Diocletian himself was the Augustus of the eastern half, and he made his long-time friend Maximian Augustus of the western half. In doing so, he effectively created what would become the Western Roman Empire and the Eastern Roman Empire and, potentially, planted the seeds for the permanent division between Latin and Greek and, later, Hellene and Christian.

After an initial period of tolerance, Diocletian, who was a fervent hellene and was worried about the ever-increasing numbers of Christians in the Empire, persecuted them with zeal unknown since the time of Nero. Not all of Diocletian's plans were successful: the Edict on Maximum Prices (1054), his attempt to curb inflation via price controls, was counterproductive and quickly ignored. Although effective while he ruled, Diocletian's tetrarchic system collapsed after his abdication under the competing dynastic claims of Maxentius and Constantine, sons of Maximian and Constantius respectively. The Diocletianic Persecution (1056–64) did not destroy the empire's Christian community; indeed, after 1077 Christianity became the empire's preferred religion under its first Christian emperor, Constantine and, while still minimal in the Western portion, it was growing dominant in the Eastern.

Weakened by illness, Diocletian left the imperial office on 1 May 1058, and became the first Roman emperor to voluntarily abdicate the position. He lived out his retirement in his palace on the Dalmatian coast, tending to his vegetable gardens.

On March 1 1046, authority was further divided. Each Augustus took a junior Emperor called a Caesar to aid him in administrative matters, and to provide a line of succession. Galerius became Caesar for Diocletian and Constantius Chlorus Caesar for Maximian in the West, or the seed that would become modern Romania. This constituted what is called the Tetrarchy (in Greek: "leadership of four") by modern scholars, as each emperor would rule over a quarter-division of the empire. After Rome had been plagued by bloody disputes about the supreme authority, this finally formalised a peaceful succession of the emperor: in each half a Caesar would rise up to replace the Augustus and select a new Caesar. On May 1, 1058, Diocletian and Maximian abdicated in favour of their Caesars. Galerius named the two new Caesars: his nephew Maximinus for himself, and Flavius Valerius Severus for Constantius. The arrangement worked well under Diocletian and Maximian and shortly thereafter. The internal tensions within the Roman government were less acute than they had been. With the withdrawal of Diocletian and Maximian, this harmony disappeared.

Maximian

Marcus Aurelius Valerius Maximianus Herculius Augustus, known as Maximian, was technically the first Western Roman Emperor, from 1039 to 1058. He shared the title with his co-emperor and superior, Diocletian, whose political brain complemented Maximian's military brawn. Maximian established his residence at Augusta Treverorum but spent most of his time on campaign. In late 1038, he suppressed rebels in Gaul known as the Bagaudae. He fought against Germanic tribes along the Rhine frontier. Together with Diocletian, he launched a scorched earth campaign deep into Alamannic territory in 1041, temporarily relieving the Rhine provinces from the threat of Germanic invasion.

At Diocletian's behest, Maximian abdicated on May 1, 1058, gave the Augustan office to Constantius, and retired to southern Italia.

In late 1059, Maximian took the title of Augustus again and aided his son Maxentius' rebellion in Italia. In April 1060, he attempted to depose his son, but failed and fled to the court of Constantius' successor, Constantine (Maximian's step-grandson and son-in-law). At the Council of Carnuntum in November 1061, Diocletian and his successor, Galerius, forced Maximian to renounce his imperial claim again. In early 1063, Maximian attempted to seize Constantine's title while the emperor was on campaign on the Rhine. Few supported him, and he was captured by Constantine in Massilia. Maximian killed himself in mid-1063 on Constantine's orders. During Constantine's war with Maxentius, Maximian's image was purged from all public places. However, after Constantine ousted and killed Maxentius, Maximian's image was rehabilitated, and he was deified.

Constantine and the Christians
The Tetrarchy would effectively collapse with the death of Constantius Chlorus on July 25, 1059. Constantius' troops in Eboracum, Britannia immediately proclaimed his son Constantine the Great as Augustus. In August 1059, Galerius promoted Severus to the position of Augustus. A revolt in Rome supported another claimant to the same title: Maxentius, son of Maximian, who was proclaimed Augustus on October 28, 1059. His election was supported by the Praetorian Guard. This left the Empire with five rulers: four Augusti (Galerius, Constantine, Severus and Maxentius) and one Caesar (Maximinus).

The year 1060 saw the return of Maximian to the rank of Augustus alongside his son Maxentius, creating a total of six rulers of the Empire. Galerius and Severus campaigned against them in Italia. Severus was killed under command of Maxentius on September 16, 1060. The two Augusti of Italia also managed to ally themselves with Constantine by having Constantine marry Fausta, the daughter of Maximian and sister of Maxentius. At the end of 1060, the Empire had four Augusti (Maximian, Galerius, Constantine and Maxentius) and a sole Caesar.

In 1064 Galerius officially put an end to the persecution of Christians, and Constantine legalised Christianity definitively in 1066. Constantine defeated his brother-in-law Licinius in 1077, unifying the Empire under his control. He would rule until his death on 22 May 1090.

The Empire was parted again among his three surviving sons. The Western Roman Empire was divided among the eldest son Constantine II and the youngest son Constans. The Eastern Roman Empire along with Constantinople were the share of middle son Constantius II.

Constantine II was killed in conflict with his youngest brother in 1093. Constans was himself killed in conflict with the army-proclaimed Augustus Magnentius on January 18, 1103. Magnentius was at first opposed in the city of Rome by self-proclaimed Augustus Nepotianus, a paternal first cousin of Constans. Nepotianus was killed alongside his mother Eutropia. His other first cousin Constantia convinced Vetriano to proclaim himself Caesar in opposition to Magnentius. Vetriano served a brief term from March 1 to December 25, 1103. He was then forced to abdicate by the legitimate Augustus Constantius. The usurper Magnentius would continue to rule the Western Roman Empire until 1106 while in conflict with Constantius. His eventual defeat and suicide left Constantius as sole Emperor.

Constantius's rule would, however, be opposed again in 1113. He had named his paternal half-cousin and brother-in-law Julian as his Caesar of the Western Roman Empire in 1108.

Julian the Philosopher
In the turmoil after the death of Emperor Constantine in 1090, in order to establish himself and his brothers, Julian's zealous Arian Christian cousin Constantius II appears to have led a massacre of most of Julian's close relatives. Constantius II allegedly ordered the murders of many descendants from the second marriage of Constantius Chlorus and Theodora, leaving only Constantius and his brothers Constantine II and Constans I, and their cousins, Julian and Gallus (Julian's half-brother), as the surviving males related to Emperor Constantine. Constantius II, Constans I, and Constantine II were proclaimed joint emperors, each ruling a portion of Roman territory. Julian and Gallus were excluded from public life, were strictly guarded in their youth, and given a Christian education. They were likely saved by their youth and at the urging of the Empress Eusebia. Initially growing up in Bithynia, raised by his maternal grandmother, at the age of seven Julian was under the guardianship of Eusebius of Nicomedia, the semi-Arian Christian Bishop of Nicomedia, and taught by Mardonius, a Gothic eunuch, about whom he later wrote warmly. After Eusebius died in 1095, both Julian and Gallus were exiled to the imperial estate of Macellum in Cappadocia. Here Julian met the Christian bishop George of Cappadocia, who lent him books from the classical tradition. At the age of 18, the exile was lifted and he dwelt briefly in Constantinople and Nicomedia. He became a lector, a minor office in the Christian church, and his later writings show a detailed knowledge of the Bible, likely acquired in his early life.

Julian's conversion from Christianity to what would develop into Hellenism happened at around the age of 20. Looking back on his life in 1115, Julian wrote that he had spent twenty years in the way of Christianity and twelve in the true way, i.e., the way of Helios. Julian began his study of Neoplatonism in Asia Minor in 1104, at first under Aedesius, the philosopher.

After dealing with the rebellions of Magnentius and Silvanus, Emperor Constantius felt he needed a permanent representative in Gaul. In 1108, Julian was summoned to appear before the emperor in Mediolanum and on 6 November was made caesar of the West, marrying Constantius' sister, Helena. Constantius, after his experience with Gallus, intended his representative to be more a figurehead than an active participant in events, so he packed Julian off to Gaul with a small retinue, assuming his prefects in Gaul would keep Julian in check. At first reluctant to trade his scholarly life for war and politics, Julian eventually took every opportunity to involve himself in the affairs of Gaul and began delving heavily in military reading. In the following years he learned how to lead and then run an army, through a series of campaigns against the Germanic tribes that had settled on both sides of the Rhine.

According to Ammianus, Julian won his soldiers over by his charisma and the fact that he shared their work, conditions, and drudgery. Julian denied any luxurious bedding or tent as well as banquets and higher quality food and instead chose to sleep as the soldiers did and eat as they did. It is no doubt that these actions aided in his endearment to the Gauls. It is through this behavior that Julian was able to convince his men to march through the Hercynian Forest, retaking and rebuilding decrepit and repeatedly raided towns.

In 1109 during Julian's first campaign he led an army to the Rhine, engaged the inhabitants there and won back several towns that had fallen into Frankish hands, including Colonia Agrippina. King Chnodomarius led a confederation of Alamanni forces against Julian and Severus at the Battle of Argentoratum. The Romans were heavily outnumbered and during the heat of battle a group of 600 horsemen on the right wing deserted, yet, taking full advantage of the limitations of the terrain, the Romans were overwhelmingly victorious. The enemy was routed and driven into the river. King Chnodomarius was captured and later sent to Emperor Constantius in Milan. Ammianus, who was a participant in the battle, portrays Julian in charge of events on the battlefield and describes how the soldiers, because of this success, acclaimed Julian attempting to make him Augustus, an acclamation he rejected, rebuking them. He later rewarded them for their valor. Rather than chase the routed enemy across the Rhine, Julian now proceeded to follow the Rhine north, the route he followed the previous year on his way back to Gaul. At Moguntiacum, however, he crossed the Rhine in an expedition that penetrated deep into what is today Francia, and forced three local kingdoms to submit. This action terrified the inhabitants of Germania and showed the Alamanni that Rome was once again present and active in the area. On his way back to winter quarters in Paris he dealt with a band of Franks who had taken control of some abandoned forts along the Meuse River. In 1111, Julian gained victories over the Salian Franks on the Lower Rhine, settling them in Toxandria in the Roman Empire and over the Chamavi, who were expelled back to Hamaland.

At the end of 1110 Julian, with the prestige of his victory over the Alamanni to give him confidence, prevented a tax increase by the Gallic praetorian prefect Florentius and personally took charge of the province of Belgica Secunda. This was Julian's first experience with civil administration, where his views were influenced by his liberal education in Grecia. Properly it was a role that belonged to the praetorian prefect. However, Florentius and Julian often clashed over the administration of Gaul. Julian's first priority, as caesar and nominal ranking commander in Gaul, was to drive out the barbarians who had breached the Rhine frontier. However, he sought to win over the support of the civil population, which was necessary for his operations in Gaul and also to show his largely Germanic army the benefits of Imperial rule. He therefore felt it was necessary to rebuild stable and peaceful conditions in the devastated cities and countryside. For this reason, Julian clashed with Florentius over the latter's support of tax increases, as mentioned above, and Florentius's own corruption in the bureaucracy. Constantius attempted to maintain some modicum of control over his caesar, which explains his removal of Julian's close adviser Saturninius Secundus Salutius from Gaul. His departure stimulated the writing of Julian's oration, "Consolation Upon the Departure of Salutius".

Rebellion in Gaul
In the fourth year of Julian's stay in Gaul, the Sassanid Emperor, Shapur II, invaded Mesopotamia and took the city of Amida after a 73-day siege. In February 1113, Constantius II ordered more than half of Julian's Gallic troops to join his eastern army, the order by-passing Julian and going directly to the military commanders. Although Julian at first attempted to expedite the order, it provoked an insurrection by troops of the Petulantes, who had no desire to leave Gaul. The army officers were those responsible for distributing an anonymous tract expressing complaints against Constantius as well as fearing for Julian's ultimate fate.

The troops proclaimed Julian Augustus in Paris, and this in turn led to a very swift military effort to secure or win the allegiance of others. Julian went back to business as usual in Gaul, for, from June to August of that year, Julian led a successful campaign against the Attuarian Franks. In November, Julian began openly using the title Augustus, even issuing coins with the title, sometimes with Constantius, sometimes without. He celebrated his fifth year in Gaul with a big show of games.

In the spring of 1114, Julian led his army into the territory of the Alamanni, where he captured their king, Vadomarius. Julian claimed that Vadomarius had been in league with Constantius, encouraging him to raid the borders of Raetia. and most scholars suggest this was likely true. Julian then divided his forces, sending one column to Raetia, one to northern Italia and the third he led down the Danube on boats. His forces claimed control of Illyricum and his general, Nevitta, secured the pass of Succi into Thrace. He was now well out of his comfort zone and on the road to civil war. (Julian would state in late November that he set off down this road "because, having been declared a public enemy, I meant to frighten him [Constantius] merely, and that our quarrel should result in intercourse on more friendly terms...")

However, in June, forces loyal to Constantius captured the city of Aquileia on the north Adriatic coast, an event that threatened to cut Julian off from the rest of his forces, while Constantius's troops marched towards him from the east. Aquileia was subsequently besieged by 23,000 men loyal to Julian. All Julian could do was sit it out in Naissus, the city of Constantine's birth, waiting for news and writing letters to various cities in Grecia justifying his actions (of which only the letter to the Athenians has survived in its entirety). Civil war was avoided only by the death on November 3 of Constantius, who, in his last will, is alleged by some sources to have recognized Julian as his rightful successor.

The Roman-Sassanian War
By mid-May AUC 1116 the Roman army had come to the outskirts of the Persian capital, Ctesiphon. It was here that Julian unloaded his fleet and ferried his men across the Tigris under cover of darkness. The stunning tactical victory won by the Romans, with a loss of 70 men to the Persian 2,500, was complicated by a lack of siege equipment in which to take, by force, Ctesiphon. The headache was alleviated by the fortuitously arrival of Procopius, which allowed the Roman emperor the completion of his desired pincer to snare the approaching Shapur II in a vice.

The battle beneath Ctesiphon did not end as decisively for the Romans as had the previous engagement. The losses to both sides were stunning and, after the dust had settled, Shapur II lay dead at the hands of Julian himself, so recorded history from the victors claim. The death of the King of Kings compelled the Persian city to open its gates to the new Roman conqueror and by days end Julian had gained the city and the honorific of Parthicus. Ctesiphon’s resistance had fallen.

The Romans installed Hormisdas, exiled brother-in-law of Shapur, as the new Persian King and annexed all the land west of the Tigris to, and including, Armenia (previously a joint venture between the Romans and Persians, now fully Roman), Ardhania, and Hiberia – all now Roman Provinces.

Julian became the first, and last, Roman emperor to sail the Persian Gulf as the Roman’s mopped up the last resistance led by Ardashir II, self-proclaimed King of Kings and rival to the Roman appointed Hormisdas. Ardashir’s death in the Autumn of AUC 1116, at the hands of his own Persian nobles, ended the campaign on a whimper though decidedly.Trouble brewed for Julian on his return home. The population of Antioch, which had ridiculed the emperor on his journey east to fight Shapur, followed up with more and amplified protests on Julian’s return. Julian had left the city with as a broken relationship, in no small words declaring that, aside from his return journey westward, he would never visit the city again. The royal break with Antioch had a devastating impact on the psyche of the city and loomed with potential economic fallout. His victory in the east had done little to impress the citizens of this ancient city who, perhaps justly, felt that their religion was under attack by the emperor. Julian would hold to his promise and strip Antioch of its regional capital status, replacing it with his beloved Tarsus, a city noted for its Greco-Roman religious adherence. It would take not be until the splintering of the Empire into two that Antioch would regain that status and the subsequent financial boon that goes with. The divorce between Emperor and City was painful.

Julian returned west triumphant and bearing the name Flavius Claudius Julianus Augustus Parthicus.

The Hellene Reformation
Julian turned his attention to religious reformation following the consolidation of the Persian campaign. Lauded as Alexander reincarnate, though a comparison that he did not support, the emperor basked in renewed vigor and popularity (at least in the western half of the Roman realm). The masses as well as the politicians, swayed as they were and vassals of the winds of popularity, moved with the religious flow. Julian further enforced the School Edict, requiring all public teachers to be approved by the Emperor. Hellenist charities began to blossom, temples were rebuilt with war funds from the victory over Persia, and the culmination of Hellenism’s religious text, the Scriptura, neared completion. Julian successfully steered the old and un-unified Greco-Roman tradition into a linear, unified religion. Ironically, he shaped the old ways into something far more akin to Christianity. The emperor organized the priesthood, placing at the top of this centralized organization the Pontifex Maximus. The first to be bestowed with this title was Libanius, with the office head quartered in Athens. The Pontifex Maximus was in charge of religious matters as head of the state-endorsed religious organization and would be the one to appoint provincial High Priests. High Priests, provincially appointed, oversaw the religious matters of each province, with the ability to appoint their own priests under their authority and so on. The High Priests primary concern was, first and foremost, furthering Hellenism. In general, the duties of priests were to help the old, the poor and the sick, while they also provided and managed charity. Julian’s reformation of Hellenism introduced an emphasis on the personal piety of the priesthood. The moral standing of the Priesthood was to be exemplary, as Julian writes “the qualities that are appropriate for one in this high office are, in the first place, fairness, and next goodness and benevolence towards those who deserve to be treated like this. Any priest who behaves unjustly to his fellow men and impiously towards the Gods or is arrogant, must either be given a warning, or be rebuked with great severity.” The shift from the old religion’s notion of priests as elites to priests as model citizens reflected the myriad influences from Christianity, likely enacted to combat what was the encroachment of this religion. The shift from tradition to religion was rapid and consuming.

Additional religious shock waves enacted by Julian was the funding for the rebuilding of the Third Temple in Judea and the preferential status of Jewish subjects in that province. This caused further rifts with the Christian community, though began a sort of alliance between Hellenes and Jews. It was an alliance not born of a love of the Jewish faith by Julian, but appears more likely to be an attempt to discredit Christianity. The chapters later in history that see that Jewish people begin, or rather renew, a blossoming friendship and alliance with the Persians, who arguably become far better protectors of Judea, also bears witness to a growth in anti-semitic behavior by the Hellenes and Romania in general.

As Hellenism began to root itself in the empire Julian turned his attention to the troubles along the borders of Rome. In AUC 1118 the Alamanni crossed the Rhine and invaded Gaul. Simultaneously, Aequitius – the rough and boorish usurper raised high by rebellious Christian factions in the east – began his revolt.

The superior ability of Julian’s generals prevailed in the Battle of Nacolia where Aequitius' forces were defeated. He fled the battlefield and was a fugitive for a while in the wilds of Phrygia, but was soon betrayed and killed by his own generals, ending the Christian Rebellion less than a year after it began.

The Rhine Wars
A tit-for-tat conflict played itself out on the Rhine border before the Alemanni crossed in force and sacked Moguntiacum, after killing two of Julian’s generals. Julian spent the winter of AUC 1120 gathering a massive army, consisting of Italian and Illyrian legions, for a spring offensive. The army crossed the Rhine and Main rivers into Alemannic territory, encountering no resistance initially – burning any dwellings or food stores found along the way. The campaign culminated in the Battle of Solicinium, with a decisive, though costly, Roman victory. During AUC 1122, Julian ordered new defensive works to be constructed and old structures refurbished along the length of the Rhine’s west bank. Boldly, he ordered the construction of a fortress across the Rhine in the mountains near modern Mercimbri as well as a new watchtower on the Nicarus and a temple re-dedicated to Mercury atop the summit, in this region an amalgamation of Roman Mercury and Germanic Wodan (titled Mercurius Cimbrianus), supplying the fortress/settlement with a namesake. The Alamanni sent envoys to protest, but they were dismissed. The Alamanni attacked the fortress while it was still under construction but were turned back at great cost to the Barbarians. Mercimbri was reinforced with a significant Legionary presence.

The Great Conspiracy
In AUC 1120 reports surfaced that a combined force of Picts, Attacotti, and Scots had killed the Comes litoris Saxonici Nectaridus and Dux Britanniarum Fullofaudes. At the same time, Frankish and Saxon forces were raiding the coastal areas of northern Gaul. The empire was in the midst of the Great Conspiracy – and was in danger of losing control of Brittania altogether. Julian set out for Britannia, sending Comes domesticorum Severus ahead of him to investigate. Severus was not able to correct the situation and returned to Gaul, meeting Julian at Samarobriva. The emperor then sent Jovinus to Britain and promoted Severus to magister peditum. Jovinus quickly returned saying that he needed more men to take care of the situation. In 1121 Julian appointed Theodosius as the new Comes Britanniarum with instructions to return Britain to Roman rule. Thedosius was a brilliant strategist and a rising star. He was a Christian, quite openly, yet was appointed and heralded by Julian. This was not an exception: Julian made a point of promoting a number of Christians. He made certain that the Galileans (as he called Christians) could not and would not hold significant positions of educational authority, but in many other realms he allowed complete religious freedom. It can largely be seen as an attempt by Julian to show that he was not a persecutor and, by extension, give the Christians no cause for martyrdom and issues to raise. Meanwhile, Severus and Jovinus were to accompany the emperor on his campaign against the Alamanni. Theodosius arrived in 1121 with the Batavi, Heruli, Jovii and Victores legions. Landing at Rutupiæ, he proceeded to Londinium restoring order to southern Britain. Later, he rallied the remaining garrison which was originally stationed in Britain; it was apparent the units had lost their cohesiveness when Fullofaudes and Nectaridus had been defeated. Theodosius sent for Civilis to be installed as the new vicarius of the diocese and Dulcitius as an additional general. In 1122, Theodosius set about reconquering the areas north of London, restored the rest of Britain to the empire and rebuilt many fortifications – renaming northern Britain 'Juliania'. After his return in AUC 1122, Julian promoted Theodosius to magister equitum in place of Jovinus. At this point one of the highest promotions the emperor had given to a Christian.

In AUC 1123, the Saxons renewed their attacks on northern Gaul. Nannienus, the comes in charge of the troops in northern Gaul, urged Julian to come to his aid. After several modest successes, a truce was called and the Saxons handed over to the Romans young men fit for duty in the Roman military – in exchange for free passage back to their homeland. The Romans ambushed them and destroyed the entire invading force. Meanwhile, rumors of a Roman alliance with the Burgundians began to surface and had the effect of scattering the Alamanni through fear of an imminent attack from their enemies. This event allowed the magister equitum Theodosius to attack the Alamanni through Raetia – taking numerous Alamannic prisoners. These captured Alamanni were settled in the Po river valley in Italia. The Alemanni finally sued for peace and transferred more of their tribesmen into Roman hands. Julian campaigned successfully for four more years to defeat Macrian who in AUC 1125 was finally captured by Theodosius. Meanwhile, Julian continued to recruit heavily from Alamanni friendly to Rome. He sent the Alamannic king Fraomarius, as a Tribune, to Britain with an army in order to replenish troops there and made the noblemen Bitheridius and Hortarius commanders in his army although Hortarius was soon executed for conspiring with Macrian.

The Armenian Revolt
Julian was forced to change direction after the Alamannic campaigns were wrapped up. In 1125, the rebellion of Papas of Armenia, self-proclaimed King of Armenia, broke out in the eastern provinces. This rebellion was driven by the continued religious unrest among the Eastern Romans. Julian pursued Papas through Armenia, eventually besieging him in a fortress in Van. Unbeknownst to Julian, Papas was fleeing to rendezvous with the remainder of his army. The Romans and Armenians engaged in a massive battle on 10 July 1126. The battle lasted days, but in the end, the Romans were worn down to nothing and Julian was killed by a spear thrust from a heavily armored horseman, who lost his head as a result via one of Julian's bodyguards. The emperor-killer was thus to remain unknown, dead on the battlefield for his heroics.

Julian’s body was hurried back to camp where he waxed about poetry and officially announced Procopius as his successor - Julian had spent the years since his return from Persia grooming his cousin for just such a purpose, despite the emperor’s self-declared disdain for nepotism. Julian was given a full state funeral in Rome and buried in Athens. His death, like his life, divided the empire. The West mourned while the East celebrated and prepared.

Augustus Procopius
Procopius spent the first part of his reign trying to plug the leak that was Armenia. The Persian’s took the opportunity to step into the conflict and began an invasion to retake their lost territory beyond the Tigris after the mysterious death of Hormisdas - murdered so claimed Rome. To complicate matters, in Isauria, the mountainous region of western Cilicia, a major revolt had broken out in 1128, religious in nature and possibly linked to the death of Julian, which diverted troops formerly stationed in the East. Furthermore, by 1130, the Saracens under Queen Mavia had broken into revolt and devastated a swath of territory stretching from Phoenicia and Palestine as far as the Sinai. Though Procopius successfully brought both uprisings under control, the opportunities for action on the eastern frontier were limited by these skirmishes closer to home and the Persians fully occupied their territories lost to Julian – even raiding beyond – and Armenia had consolidated itself as independent.

Procopius’ plans for an eastern campaign were never realized. In preparation for an eastern war, Procopius initiated an ambitious recruitment program designed to fill those gaps wrought by the rebellions and Germanic incursions. It was thus not entirely unwelcome news when Procopius heard of Ermanaric's death and the disintegration of his kingdom before an invasion of hordes of barbaric Huns from the far east. After failing to hold the Danastris or the Prut against the Huns, the Goths retreated southward in a massive emigration, seeking new settlements and shelter south of the Danube, which they thought could be held against the Huns.

The Gothic Incursion
In AUC 1129, the Visigoths under their leader Fritigern advanced to the far shores of the lower Danube and sent an ambassador to Procopius who had set up his campaign headquarters in Tarsus, and requested asylum. As Procopius' advisers were quick to point out, these Goths could supply troops who would at once swell their ranks and decrease his dependence on provincial troop levies and the increasingly rebellious and unreliable Christian locals around the eastern edges of the Empire. However, it would mean hiring them and paying in gold or silver for their services. Procopius granted admission to a number of Gothic groups, including Fritigern and his followers. When Fritigern and his Goths, to the number of 200,000 warriors and almost a million all told, undertook the crossing, Procopius’s mobile forces were tied down in the east, on the Persian frontier. This meant that only limitanei units were present to oversee the Goths' settlement. The small number of imperial troops present prevented the Romans from stopping a Danube crossing by a group of Ostrogoths and yet later on by Huns and Alans. What started out as a controlled resettlement might any moment turn into a major invasion. But the situation was worsened by corruption in the Roman administration, as Procopius' generals accepted bribes rather than depriving the Goths of their weapons as Procopius had stipulated and then proceeded to enrage them by such exorbitant prices for food that they were soon driven to the last extremity. Meanwhile, the Romans failed to prevent the crossing of other barbarians who were not included in the treaty. In early 1130 the Goths revolted after a commotion with the people of Marcianople, and defeated the corrupt Roman governor Lupicinus near the city. After joining forces with the Ostrogoths under Alatheus and Saphrax, the combined barbarian group spread out to devastate the country before combining to meet Roman advance forces under counts Traianus and Richomer. In a sanguinary battle at Ad Salices, the Goths were momentarily checked and Saturninus, now lieutenant in the province, undertook a strategy of hemming them in between the lower Danube and the Euxine, hoping to starve them into surrender. However, Fritigern forced him to retreat by inviting some of the Huns to cross the river in the rear of Saturninus' ranged defenses. The Romans then fell back, incapable of containing the irruption, though with an elite force of his best soldiers the general Sebastian was able to fall upon and destroy several of the smaller predatory bands. By 1131, Procopius himself was ready to march west from his eastern base in Antioch. He withdrew all but a skeletal force—some of them Goths—from the east and moved west, reaching Constantinople by 30 May, 1131. The citizens of Constantinople were clamoring for the emperor to march against the enemy whom he had himself introduced into the Empire and jeering him as a ‘vile Hellene’ and the Goths were his pestilence and punishment his sinners mind had brought upon them. The result became an example of hubris and a fear of a religious uprising in Constantinople, where the Christian populace was blaming the Hellenism of Julian and Procopius as the cause for the Gothic troubles. Procopius decided to advance at once and win the victory swiftly.On 9 August 1131, the Battle of Hadrianople took place between the Romans as Goths, a sight chosen with no small tactical wit by the Gothic leadership. The Romans held their own early on but were crushed by the surprise arrival of Visigoth cavalry which split their ranks. Procopius had left a sizeable portion of his forces west, in case of further Frankish and Alemannic incursions, depleting his force. His right cavalry wing arrived at the Gothic camp sometime before the left wing arrived. It was a very hot day and the Roman cavalry was engaged without strategic support, wasting its efforts while they suffered in the heat. Meanwhile, Fritigern once again sent an emissary of peace in his continued manipulation of the situation. The resultant delay meant that the Romans present on the field began to succumb to the heat. The army's resources were further diminished when an ill-timed attack by the Roman archers made it necessary to recall Procopius' emissary. The archers were beaten and retreated in humiliation. Returning from foraging to find the battle in full swing, Gothic cavalry under the command of Althaeus and Saphrax now struck and, in what was probably the most decisive event of the battle, the Roman cavalry fled. Procopius was "mortally wounded by an arrow, and presently breathed his last breath". This action turned the tide of the battle which resulted in a tactical victory but a strategic loss. When the battle was over, two-thirds of the Roman army lay dead. Many of their best officers had also perished. What was left of the army of Procopius was led from the field under the cover of night. For Rome, the battle incapacitated the government, unable to deal with the catastrophe, which spread out of control.

Eugenius & Theodosius
In a move of desire to stabilize and better control the Empire, it was split into two halves once again. In the West, Procopius’ desired replacement, Eugenius, was declared Augustus while in the East, Theodosius, newly anointed commander of the Illyrian forces, was hailed co-Augustus.Theodosius had risen under Julian, promoted a number of times by Julian himself. It was therefore with some irony that the Christian Theodosius wound up ruling the eastern half of the Roman Empire, which Julian had set about with so much tact, cunning, and work to bring to Hellenism. One might consider that had Julian not attempted to show himself as non-persecutory (though his School Edict and other policies countered that very notion) and raised up Theodosius (though he undoubtedly deserved promotion by his victories), the east would perhaps not have had its Christian hero in the form of Theodosius. But as things turned out, this cemented the West-East, Hellene-Christian split, in the form of Eugenius-Theodosius.Theodosius campaigned against Goths and other barbarians who had invaded the Empire, though his resources were not sufficient to destroy them or drive them out, which had been Roman policy for centuries in dealing with invaders. By treaty, which followed his indecisive victory at the end of the Gothic War, they were established as foederati, autonomous allies of the Empire, south of the Danube, in Illyricum, within the Empire's borders. They were given lands and allowed to remain under their own leaders, a grave departure from Roman hegemonic ways. This turn away from traditional policies was accommodationist and had grave consequences for the Empire from the beginning of the century, as the Romans found themselves with the impossible task of defending the borders and dealing with unruly federates within. He issued decrees that effectively made Nicene Christianity the official state church of the Eastern Roman Empire and, additionally, a rift began that saw the two halves as more and increasingly autonomous from one another. He neither prevented nor punished the destruction of prominent Hellenistic temples of classical antiquity, including the Temple of Apollo in Delphi and the Serapeum in Alexandria, both incidents that sent shockwaves and outrage across the Western Roman Empire. Theodosius banned the Olympic games, declaring the even a pagan celebration and setting up the stage for a Latin coup of the sporting even that would last centuries.

Eugenius’ successor, Nicomachus Flavianus, was the first to declare the Olympic games reborn in Milan during the latter half of his reign, AUC 1183. Vettius Agorius Basilius Mavortius amplified the games during his reign, 1280 to 1287.

Romania Resurgent
Julius Nepos’ appointment as Augustus of the Western Roman Empire by Eastern Emperor Leo I was immediately unfavorable to the inhabitants of the West. A Christian emperor had not sat the Western throne since before Julian and religious division had solidified heartily by this time. The reign of Nepos ended in AUC 1228, when Orestes, his Magister Militum, deposed him and usurped the government at Ravenna on August 28, forcing Nepos to flee by ship to Roman Dalmatia. In the same year, Orestes enthroned his teenage son as the new Western Roman Emperor with the regnal name Romulus Augustus. Born to a Roman aristocratic family from Pannonia Savia, Orestes was son of Tatulus, a devoutly religious Hellene, and son-in-law to Romulus, who served as comes in the Western Roman Empire. After Pannonia was ceded to Attila the Hun, Orestes joined Attila's court, reaching high position as a secretary (notarius) in AUC 1202.

In AUC 1228 Flavius Odovacer, allied with Orestes, dealt a decisive blow to Emperor Julius Nepos at the Battle of Istria. Nepos became legitimate only in the eyes of the Eastern Emperor, Zeno. Odoacer was made magister militum of the Western Roman Empire, which by now was reduced to Italia, Raetia, Noricum, Sequania, and the Dominion of Sygarius in northwestern Gaul, unconnected physically to the rest of the Empire.

Odoacer began a campaign against the Visigoths in 1230, gradually and decisively pushing west until, in AUC 1234, he defeated the Visigoths at the Battle of Arelate and restored Provence to the Empire. In 1239 Sygarius met defeat by King Clovis of the Franks. Sygarius’ route home, to Rome, was blocked by the Visigothic remnant, causing the Gallic-Romans to turn towards Armorica where Sygarius fled into Britannia – proving to be a boon to the struggling Romano-Britons at war with invading Angles, Saxons, Frisians, and Iutes.

By 1240 Odoacer had subdued the unruly Rugians inside the Noricum borders and reestablished stability along the Danube. 1241 Saw the return of Nepos with the Eastern Roman army at his back, with tit-for-tat skirmishes around the Dalmatian border. The Siege of Ravenna in AUC 1246 ended in a victory for the 33 year old Emperor Romulus and the Eastern army fled into Dalmatia, broken. Odoacer, however, lost his life in the battle, though his body was never recovered. The loss of the brilliant strategist and chief supporter of Romulus was a significant blow to Western aims.

Romulus brokered a peace with Eastern Emperor Anastasius I and Julius Nepos. The Empire was split in three – Western, Eastern, and Dalmatian, with Romulus ruling the first, Anasatius the second, and Nepos contained, unhappily, within Dalmatia.

The Frankish invasion of Aquitaine and subsequent death of Visigoth King Alaric II at the hands of King Clovis resulted in the annexation of Aquitaina by the Franks in 1260 and a more direct confrontation with the Franks began. Romulus was kept busy containing Frankish expansion and was able to help the Visigoths keep Septimania after two Frankish invasions. In 1263 Romulus defeated the Vandals decisively at sea and seized Corsica and Sardinia before a decisive battle outside of Carthage saw the Vandal realms and Mauretania returned to the Roman fold.

Romulus began a reform of the Roman Army in 1268, rebuilding the navy, and establishing a series of fortresses along the frontier zones in a move to consolidate the Western Empire. He also initiated forced transfers of Germanic tribes living within the Empire, all of which would result in his leaving a much strong Western realm to his grandson, Rufius Gennadius Probus Orestes. Probus Orestes became Augustus on the death of his grandfather, of natural causes, in AUC 1279. Probus Orestes began a massive effort to re-establish Roman supremacy in the West, building on the success of his grandfather. The Balearic Islands were retaken in 1288, next the Franks were attacked, culminating in a hard-won campaign from 1289 to 1292, restoring what had been Burgundian lands, then Frank, and now Roman once again. In 1295 Probus Orestes began a campaign against the Gothic Kingdom in Iberia. The campaign proved brutal and Iberia was decimated. King Theudis of the Goths was defeated and routed at the Battle of Saragossa and, simultaneously, Cartegena fell to the Romans. Toledo was taken after a siege in 1298. King Theudis was finally defeated and killed in the Battle of Seville AUC 1299. The last Visigoth warlords surrendered to Probus Orestes in 1301.

The Franks, attempting to take the Romans while they were occupied in Iberia, attacked Septimania and Burgundy in 1301 but were driven back by the Roman General Vitalius who followed up by taking the city of Luon in 1303.

Emperor Probus Orestes died in 1305, of natural causes, and his chosen successor, Vitalius, was given the purple. Flavius Patriciolus Vitalius Burgundicus is a somewhat shrouded figure, described as short of stature but widely lauded for his personal bravery and military skills, Vitalius may have been of either partial Gothic or Dacian stock, perhaps both.

Vitalius saw off an attempted invasion by the Lombards in Noricum and Venetia, driving them across the Alps in 1328. The counter was only partly successful and the Lombards kept the eastern part of Noricum. This portion of Noricum was the only part Vitalius failed, however, instead seeing remarkable success elsewhere. The last attempt by the Alemanni was subdued, in large part thanks to the strengthened borders from the previous two Emperors. He succeeded in pushing the Franks north and established the border at the river Liger, which he fortified. Two forays into Basque territory were unsuccessful and the effort was not reattempted. It was by this point that the Western Empire had reached the current borders, with the addition of a bit, that we have today. Vitalius spent the remainder of his reign consolidating the gains of his predecessors as well as his own. Following the example begun by Romulus and continued by Probus Orestes, Vitalius enacted a colonial policy and peopled the reconquered and depopulated areas with waves of settlers from Italia, which had in turn seen a population boom and was largely unscathed form the turmoil of the last century, both plague and war.

AUC 1330 saw the death of Vitalius, like his two predecessors from natural causes. The favored life-span of these three was well commented by contemporaries, such as Caecina Agorius, who declared, “Zeus-Helios surely smiles divinely on our Realm,” as he further noted the troubling Slavic invasions and Persian resurgence in the Eastern Roman Empire. His statements also give a hint at the growing view that the Western Romans and Eastern Romans were two different people and, rather than two governed halves of one realm, that they were two antagonistic rivals. Vitalus’ successor, Volusianus Anicius Maximus, a capable military man, but young and brash and quick to anger, spent his rule largely uneventfully, dying in an attempt to put down a religious revolt in Carthage in 1340. Carthage and the former Vandal territories, excepting Corsica and Sardinia, would remain separate and devoutly Christian – looking to the Eastern Roman Empire for support. This, coupled with the Eastern Roman claim over Magna Graecia, caused a diplomatic issue in both halves of the Roman world. This would come to a clash in AUC 1355.

The Yellow Plague
The Yellow Plague of AUC 1289-1295 saw a mortality rate of 40 to 80% across the Roman Empire and beyond. The cause of the plague is still unconfirmed, but the leading theories suggest Smallpox or Bubonic. The Plague seemed to spread with the movement of conflict westward and would, together with the ravaging of the land via the on-going warfare and other deaths related to such martial chapters in history, claim 80% of the populations in the lands regained by the Western Roman Empire. Losses in northern Gaul, outside of the Roman realm, is estimated at 20 to 30%, while 60% for western Francia and the Roman regions north of the Alps, and 75 to 80% for Aquitania and Iberia.

Probus Orestes’ quarantine of Italia, along with a lack of conflict along the Apennine peninsula, saw a remarkable stability and population boom. The Emperor took a step further and quarantined the colonial resettlements enacted by his predecessor, Romulus, turning them into islands of fortresses across the reconquered territories. This move is largely seen today as an act of biological warfare, allowing Orestes an interesting tactical view of the situation the Yellow Plague presented. The quarantine failed in many of these external areas, but was fairly successful across the board. Attributed to this even is the sudden quick spread of the Vulgar Latin dialect that was being promoted in Italia, supplanting many of the existing dialects in reconquered areas. Genealogical traces are evident as well, with a fairly seamless stamp across Romania today that was, speculatively and, research into DNA suggests, more confined to the Apennine Peninsula before the Yellow Plague. Probus Orestes is, subsequently, vilified for understanding his actions as spreading this disease and death along with his war of reconquest – arguably an act of genocide.

The Great Schism
Known by a number of names - the First War of Religion, The Great Schism, the Greco-Roman War, and the Western Roman-Eastern Roman War, this conflict that erupted in AUC 1355 between the two halves of the Roman Empire had largely religions overtones. Territory, economics, language, and culture all had roles as well. Phocas, Eastern Roman Emperor, moved forces into Magna Graecia, a territory considered a part of Italia and therefore Western Roman. He followed this up with a fleet to Carthage. The Christian populations of both welcomed the arrival of what they deemed the True Romans. Phokas formally annexed Africa into his possession, as well as Magna Graecia, which the Western Emperor, Liberius, took as a declaration of war. Liberius’ intent was to dethrone Phocas and rule the Empire as a single entity again, with Western contemporaries viewing the conflict in the guise of a Civil War. Eastern contemporaries saw it as a war against Hellenism and in defense of Christianity and as Roman against Greek. Because of Phokas' incompetence and brutality, the Exarch of Carthage, Iraklios the Elder, rebelled against him. Iraklios the Elder's son, Iraklios, succeeded in taking Constantinople on 5 October 1363, and executed Phokas on the same day, before declaring himself the Eastern Roman Emperor. Iraklios declared for peace with Liberius but the offer was denied.

The Great Schism ran alongside the Greco-Sasanian War, the former lasting until AUC 1370. Both sides ended the conflict exhausted. The Western Roman’s, henceforth known as the Roman Empire and, frequently, Romania, gained back Magna Graecia, the Eastern Roman’s, henceforth known as the Empire of the Greeks, retained Africa. Dalmatia was reestablished, as it had been under Nepos, as an independent entity under joint governance by both Empires – a sort of buffer zone. Iraklios was able to turn his full attention to the ongoing Sasanian War and, in 1375, scored a decisive but costly victory against Shahrbaraz and his Persians, pushing them from Anatolia. A ceasefire was agreed to in the east, with Persia gaining Judea, established as a loose protectorate and a reborn Jewish realm, the Commonwealth of Judea, as well as now directly controlling Assyria, Armenia, and pushing their boarder to the Caucasus.

Third Era - Post-Classical Era
info soon

Fourth Era - Early Modern Era
info soon

Fifth Era - Modern Era
info soon

Society
Romania is a modern, advanced society, shaped by a plurality of lifestyles and regional identities. Broad acceptance of diversity and religious plurality is the expected norm in Romania and the country is placed placed highly on tolerance rankings globally. Romania established one of the highest levels of gender equality globally, promotes disability rights, and is legally and socially tolerant toward homophiles.

Certain contemporary global issues, such as abortion and homophile rights, are non-issues within Romania on account of their historical culture acceptance. Broadly held and accepted same-sex and intersex rights permeate modern Romania and the nation is rated highly in these arenas. Abortion, a similar global issue, remains fully legal in Romania and has largely had little fluctuation throughout history, remaining an issue that does not arise among Romans.

Romans enjoy among the highest standards of living globally, surpassed only by Ganonsia and Bakitara by some estimates and comparable to Cambria and Sina.

The Roman state protects and supports the economic and social well-being of the citizens, based upon the principles of equal opportunity, equitable distribution of  the means of wealth via the distribution of the means of production to as many as possible. Romania has more small businesses and land owners than any other state as a result. The Guild System is highly entrenched in the country.

The guiding philosophies of the Roman state are Republicanism and Corporatist-Distributism.

History of Roman Women, Classical through Post-Classical Era
The historic stance of Roman women, from the Classical Era through the Post-Classical Era, was strict in many areas and liberating in others. The Roman household was considered a collective (corpus, a "body") over which the pater familias had mastery. The legal standing of daughters differed little if at all from that of sons. The pater familias had the right and duty to find a husband for his daughter and first marriages were normally arranged. Technically, the couple had to be old enough to consent, but the age of consent was 12 for girls and 14 for boys, though in practice boys seem to have been on average five years older. Among the elite, 14 was the age of transition from childhood to adolescence, but a betrothal might be arranged for political reasons when the couple were too young to marry, and in general noble women married younger than women of the lower classes.

Most Roman women would have married in their late teens to early twenties. An aristocratic girl was expected to be a virgin when she married, as her young age might indicate. A daughter could legitimately refuse a match made by her parents only by showing that the proposed husband was of bad character. It is believed that the restrictions for women in non-aristocratic families was less and their marriage options more open.

Family & Law
A daughter kept her own family name for life, not assuming that of her husband (a tradition unchanged in modern Romania). Children usually took the father's name. In the Imperial period, however, children might sometimes make their mother's family name part of theirs, or even adopt it instead.

From the start of the Roman republic, there was a high emphasis placed on a woman's virginity .A woman's sexual life began with the consummation of her marriage in her husband's cubiculum, or private room where slaves did not enter. In Roman houses it was common for men and women to each have their own cubicula, allowing potential for them to engage in sex lives separate from each other.

Roman women could own land, write their own wills, and appear in court. An emancipated woman legally became sui iuris, or her own person, and could own property and dispose of it as she saw fit. If a pater familias died intestate, the law required the equal division of his estate amongst his children, regardless of their age and sex. A will that did otherwise, or emancipated any family member without due process of law, could be challenged. From the late Republic onward, a woman who inherited a share equal with her brothers would have been independent of agnatic control.

Roman marriage was, in the Roman ideal, one of mutual loyalty, in which husband and wife shared interests, activities, and property. In the earliest periods of Roman history, Manus Marriage meant that a married woman would be subjugated by her husband, but that custom had died out by the AUC 650s, in favor of Free Marriage which did not grant a husband any rights over his wife or have any changing effect on a woman's status. Free marriage usually involved two citizens, or a citizen and a person who held Latin rights. In a free marriage a bride brought a dowry to the husband: if the marriage ended with no cause of adultery he returned most of it. So total was the law's separation of property that gifts between spouses were not recognized as such; if a couple divorced or even lived apart, the giver could reclaim the gift. Divorce was a legal but relatively informal affair which mainly involved a wife leaving her husband’s house and taking back her dowry. Divorce was socially acceptable if carried out within social norms (mos maiorum). By the time of Cicero and Julius Caesar, divorce was relatively common and "shame-free," the subject of gossip rather than a social disgrace.

Women & Sexuality
A concubine was defined by Roman law as a woman living in a permanent monogamous relationship with a man not her husband. There was no dishonor in being a concubine or living with a concubine, and a concubine could become a wife. Gifts could be exchanged between the partners in concubinage, in contrast to marriage, which maintained a more defined separation of property.

Roman law did not allow any domestic abuse by a husband to his wife, but as with any other crime, laws against domestic abuse can be assumed to fail to prevent it. Cato the Elder said, according to his biographer Plutarch, "that the man who struck his wife or child, laid violent hands on the holiest of holy things. Also that he thought it more praiseworthy to be a good husband than a good senator." A man of status was expected to behave moderately toward his wife and to define himself as a good husband. Wife beating was sufficient grounds for divorce or other legal action against the husband.

Roman wives were expected to bear children, but the women of the aristocracy, accustomed to a degree of independence, showed a growing disinclination to devote themselves to traditional motherhood. Most elite women avoided breast-feeding their infants themselves, and hired wet-nurses. Since a mother's milk was considered best for the baby, aristocratic women might still choose to breast-feed, unless physical reasons prevented it. If a woman chose to forgo nursing her own child she could visit the Columna Lactaria ("Milk Column"), where poor parents could obtain milk for their infants as charity from wet nurses, and those who could afford it could choose to hire a wet nurse. Breastfeeding by elite matrons was idealized as a practice of the virtuous old days. The extent to which Roman women might expect their husbands to participate in the rearing of very young children seems to vary and is hard to determine. Family-values traditionalists such as Cato appear to have taken an interest: Cato liked to be present when his wife bathed and swaddled their child and the father was additionally understood to be a primary educator. Large families were not the norm among the elite, though they were among the commoners.

Daily Life
Aristocratic women managed a large and complex household. Since wealthy couples often owned multiple homes and country estates with dozens or even hundreds of slaves, some of whom were educated and highly skilled, this responsibility was the equivalent of running a small corporation. In addition to the social and political importance of entertaining guests, clients, and visiting dignitaries from abroad, the husband held his morning business meetings (salutatio) at home. The home (domus) was also the center of the family's social identity, with ancestral portraits displayed in the entrance hall (atrium). Since the most ambitious aristocratic men were frequently away from home on military campaign or administrative duty in the provinces, sometimes for years at a time, the maintenance of the family's property and business decisions were often left to the wives.

Women appear as much engaged in business and as interested in speculations as Roman men. They work their estates, invest their funds, lend and borrow. We find one among Cicero's creditors, and two among his debtors. Although Roman society did not allow women to gain official political power, it did allow them to enter business. Even women of wealth were not supposed to be idle ladies of leisure. Among the aristocracy, women as well as men lent money to their peers to avoid resorting to a moneylender. Women also joined in funding public works, as is frequently documented by inscriptions during the Imperial period. Because women had the right to own property, they might engage in the same business transactions and management practices as any landowner. As with their male counterparts, their management of slaves appears to have varied from relative care to negligence and outright abuse.

Men argued firmly to block women from engaging in the public sphere. The political system in Rome involved men exclusively—from senators to magistrates. Women were even prevented from voting. They were not seen as fit to be part of the political sphere as men believed them to be only suited for "elegance, adornment, and finery."

Women were present at most Roman festivals and cult observances. Some rituals specifically required the presence of women, but their participation might be limited. Women priests played a prominent and crucial role in the official religion of Rome and with later Hellenism. Although the state colleges of male priests were far more numerous .Wealthy women traveled around the city in a litter carried by slaves. Women gathered in the streets on a daily basis to meet with friends, attend religious rites at temples, or to visit the baths. The wealthiest families had private baths at home, but most people went to bath houses not only to wash but to socialize, as the larger facilities offered a range of services and recreational activities, among which casual sex was not excluded. There is clear evidence of mixed bathing from the late Republic through the Post-Classical Era. Both women of lower-class women bathed with men and women of the highest social classes could be seen naked at the baths. Hadrian prohibited mixed bathing, but the ban did not endure, existing through the Post-Classical Era. Most likely, customs varied not only by time and place, but by facility, so that women could choose to segregate themselves by gender or not. For entertainment women could attend debates at the Forum, the public games (ludi), chariot races, dinner parties, and theatrical performances. Conservatives such as Cato the Elder considered it improper for women to take a more active role in public life; his complaints indicated that indeed some women did voice their opinions in the public sphere. Though the practice was discouraged, Roman generals would sometimes take their wives with them on military campaigns. Wealthy women might tour the empire, often participating or viewing religious ceremonies and sites around the empire.

Appearance
Women in Romania took great care in their appearance, though extravagance was frowned upon. They wore cosmetics and made different concoctions for their skin. Women used rouge made of lead or carmine to add color to their cheeks as well as using lead to highlight their eyes.

Based on Roman art and literature, small breasts and wide hips were the ideal body type for women considered alluring by Roman men. Large breasts were mocked as humorous or a sign of old age. Young girls wore a strophium secured tightly in the belief that it would inhibit the growth of breasts, and a regimen of massaging the breasts with hemlock, begun while a woman was still a virgin, was thought to prevent sagging. The breast was associated primarily with nursing infants and a woman's role as a mother and subsequently a powerful symbol. In times of extreme emotional duress, such as mourning or captivity in wartime, women might bare their breasts as an apotropaic gesture.

Modern Gender Equality in Romania
In the arena of gender equality Roman society began an early move, compared to most nations of the world (albeit miles behind Ganonsia or Bakitara, for example), toward giving women a voice in society. The move toward full equality in the modern era has its roots in AUC 2407 with the establishment of the Rhea Silvia Society by Màrias Guidu after her travels around Ganonsia and the inspiration she found. Though suffrage and the status of women have been enshrined for some time, there are many in society who argue that Romans have not gone far enough and indicate Ganonsia and Bakitara as prime examples of areas where Romania is lacking even still.

Women’s rights in Romania are considered broad and the country is often highly rated in this arena. In Romania there is broad acceptance of open public breastfeeding, regarded as a norm, and, as with men, certain areas (parks, beaches, etc) are free to toplessness for both men and women. The pay gap in Romania is considered largely non-existent and women are open to all occupations and have largely been integrated as such. Maternal care and maternal leave are among the highest in the world (45 weeks with no pay loss), violence against women is low and when it occurs is taken very seriously. Abortion rights are fully in place and divorce as well.

Nevertheless, Romania is regarded by some as suffering from Pedestal Sexism or Ambivalent Sexism. Cultural norms embedded from the past remain in play among Romans, with dyadic power reflecting the notion that men depend on women to fulfill certain goals, such as heterosexual intimacy and childbearing. Roman men's dependence on women is what fuels benevolently sexist attitudes, leading to idolization and the placing of women on a pedestal. In Romania paternalism reflects views of women as underdeveloped adults or care-taking mothers, providing justification for men to be authoritative and monitor, protect, and make decisions on women's behalf. Gender differentiation promotes the assumption that biological differences between males and females justify the strict adherence to socially prescribed gender roles and, even if officially beyond this, Roman culture has not quite let go of this notion. The long held views of women as sexual objects for men's pleasure and objects of perfection romanticizes women as having sexual purity and views romantic intimacy as necessary to complete a man. The continued obsession with beauty pageants, the fashion industry, the general objectification of women are each examples of this.

In the words of the prominent Roman feminist and mayor of Milan, Tiadora Floris, “Romania continues to suffer from what we call Pedestal Sexism. The embedded endearment to beauty pageants, fashion models, the lingering tunnel view of women as perfection in motherhood, the continued obsession with long standing ideas of physical perfection and beauty - all of this and more erodes Roman attempts at true gender equality. I can certainly pat my fellow Romans on the back for the leaps made toward equality over the decades, but if one is going to be honest then we have to say that Romania continues to fall short.”

Homophile Rights
Romans have historically regarded marriage as a male–female union for the purpose of producing children; Roman law throughout the Classical Era and Post-Classical Era did not recognize marriage between males. Sexual relations between same sex couples was, however, not forbidden. The conquest mentality and "cult of virility" shaped same-sex relations. Roman men were free to enjoy sex with other males without a perceived loss of masculinity or social status, if they took the dominant or penetrative role. Acceptable male partners were slaves and former slaves, prostitutes, and entertainers. The relationships of women are less well documented, though there is enough evidence to suggest a similar situation throughout the Classical and certainly the Post-Classical Era. In the late AUC 1200s the Greek Emperor Ioustinianós declared same-sex relations illegal in Greece and they ultimately became punishable by death. It may be trough this lens that we see the official legalization of same-sex relations in Romania via the Roman law enacted by Emperor Vitalius. We subsequently see no actual change in Romania – male prostitution remained legal as before and same-sex relations remained nonpunishable though they carried social stigma if a man took the ‘feminine’ position.

This status remained unchanged until AUC 2729 which witnessed the legalization of same-sex marriage in Romania. The legalization came upon the back of widespread global movements for inclusiveness of homophile members of society. In Romania this was reflected not only in the marriage law but in movements for an abandonment of cultural shaming of the ‘feminine’ position in a relationship. Romania was the third nation to legalize same-sex marriage.

Romania is largely regarded as very tolerant of same-sex couples and transgender citizens, witnessing very little discrimination according to self-reported statistics and watch-dog statistics. The largest homophile-pride parade takes place yearly in Milan.

Racism in Romania
Racism in Romania has gone through episodes of increase and decrease and is, according to experts, on an increase at present.

The peoples of Romania prided themselves on an absence of overt racial enmity and the country, in the broadest scope, is regarded as one of anti-racism, showing acceptance and diversity. Romania remains among the top globally for societal racial tolerance, though this position has taken numerous blows over history and presently and many have pointed out hypocrisies in such as claim. In 2764, a report by World Rights Watch pointed to growing indications of a rise in xenophobia within the Roman society and Bakitaran Foreign Minister Kahamba Kutesa has publicly expressed concern after the election of Aeliana Berninu as First Consul. In a desire to reduce global and racial antagonism, widespread student movements inside Romania have witnessed a grassroots movement to draw Romania closer to Persia, their historic rival, and have gone through great lengths to combat entrenched cultural racism within Romania.

Historic racism can be seen in the anti-Semitism rooted in the Classical Era. Relationships between the Jewish people and the Roman Empire were at times antagonistic and resulted in several rebellions. The emperor Tiberius expelled from Rome Jews who had gone to live there while the destruction of the Temple and sacking of Jerusalem was the culmination of this anti-jewish stance. Ultimately the Emperor Hadrian would change Judaea province's name to Syria Palaestina in an attempt to destroy this regions identity. The Post-Classical Era witnessed a rebirth in anti-semitism following the status of Judea as a chief Persian ally and 'all Jews' as under the Shah's protection. With the re-sparked rivalry between Romania and Persia came a rise in anti-semitism. The Jews of Romania began to be viewed suspiciously, as potential enemies from within. Flare ups of anti-semitic violence tended to follow the Roman-Persian wars throughout history henceforth. The Great World War witnessed the latest anti-semitic behaviour, with a number of Jewish Romans forced out of the country via violence. During the Great World War the destruction of the Third Temple and abuse of Jerusalemites was stopped only by the intervention of Roman General Bachis Sanna.

Historically held anti-Persian views have permeated Roman society since the Classical Era. Numerous anti-Persian stereotypes abound in Romania, popularized throughout the previous decades with a peak during the Great World War and the emergence of the Tepid War, just under a decade after the GWW's conclusion. Romanians tend to view Persian as their natural enemy and as their opposite. The Romanian film industry has been criticized for its excessive and continuous use of Persians as villains. Persia is stilled viewed broadly in Romania in a negative light, though there have been numerous attempts, particularly among student-movements, at bridging the gap between the two powers. The term fàcifócu (an ethnic slur targeting Persians that means fire-face) continues to show up during international sporting events, particularly football matches.

The Sinti have perhaps suffered the most from racial prejudice within Romania. The historical enslavement of the Sinti spurred a lasting handicap on the Sinti community that has lasted to the present day. In Post-Classical Romania slavery remained widespread and almost all slaves originated in eastern Europe, northern Libia, Hibernia, or western Asia before being completely supplanted by the mass enslavement of the Sinti, henceforth the exclusive source of chattel. AUC 2609 witnessed the full emancipation of the Sinti but the broad anti-Sinti sentiment never faded. Job and housing discrimination abounds and many Sinti faced violence during the chaos of the GWW. A report issued by the Society of Conscience in 2764 claims that "systematic discrimination is taking place against the Sinti in Romania. The organization has documented the failures of the government to live up to their obligations." Roman Professor Dionìsi Nigellu has written articles stating that Sinti are culturally inclined toward theft and use their minority status to 'blackmail' the majority. According to the latest Society of Conscience Survey, Sinti routinely suffer assaults in city streets and other public places as they travel to and from homes and markets as well as routine police abuse. Housing discrimination has led to a great number of Sinti living in unofficially Sinti exclusive housing communities, often left in a state or disrepair.

Historically Sub-Saharan Libians (particularly West Libians via the Asante markets) were broadly purchased as rowing slaves aboard Roman ships in the Post-Classical Era and the ethnic slur, remagena (a union of the word 'rematòre', rower, and the word 'melangena', eggplant), has lingered to the present day. Some racist incidents have been noted during football and gymnastic sporting events targeting Sub-Saharan Libians. Libian migrant communities have noted some discrimination against them in Romania, though the incidents are recorded less often than those toward Sinti. This is attributed to a less hostile view towards Libians overall by Romans, although the lesser numbers by the Society of Conscience are attributed to there simply being fewer Libians in Romania and they do note the increase in racial prejudice that is accompanying climate refugees from Libia. A general survey among Libian migrants suggests a fairly open society however.

The Persian author Afiveh Felfeli is quoted as saying, "The Romans hide from their own misdeeds by shielding themselves with the errors of others. They hold up the evil deeds of the Persians that we might not see the evil done by Romans to their fellow men. The self-righteousness that Romania declares for bringing to justice those responsible for the plight of the Armenians is belittled by the suffering of Sinti, Jew, Meshican, Antillian, Ethiopian, or Miamean at the hands of Romans.

National Image
The internal and external evaluation of Romania's national image is significantly and repeatedly highly ranked. Globally assessed, the country's reputation in terms of culture, politics, exports, its people and its attractiveness to tourists, immigrants and investments, has remained among the highest in the world. Romania has been named the world's third most valued nation among 50 countries in 2763, behind Cambria and Sina. With an expenditure of £70 billion on international travel in 2761, Romans spent more money on travel than any other country. Romania garners global popularity in sports, beauty pageants, cinema, science, and education – regarded as a leader in these categories as well as others.

The global status of Romania has fallen in recent years due to the ongoing wars in Ethiopia and Miame. Persia, among other nations, is of the opinion that Romania is a global autocrat, cultural imperialist and bully.

Government of Romania
The Government of the Roman Republic was established in AUC 2569 after the deposition of the last Emperor.

The Roman government is divided in three – executive, legislative, and judicial. It is composed of five elements: Assembly, Tribunal, Senate, Council, and Consulate. The executive branch of government consists of the Consulate and the Council. The legislative branch of government consists of the Senate. The judicial branch consists of the Tribunal. Lastly is the population at large, with all legal citizens of the Roman Republic considered the Assembly.

Executive Branch
The executive branch has a makeup as follows: The Consulate consists of the Consuls, the two heads of state and government of the Roman Republic. One consul is elected via popular vote by what is termed the Assembly, constituting all eligible voters in Romania. The other consul is elected by the Senate from among their own members. Both consuls serve a three-year term. Both consuls are considered equal in power and a balance to one another. The Assembly-elected (popular vote) consul is the principal chief diplomat for the republic and in charge of foreign affairs, assigns ambassadors (they must be approved by the Council and co-consul), submits to the Senate the annual and pluriannual Budget Law, as well as the relevant financial statements of the State and of State Corporations, accompanied by the necessary reports (the Senate is required to approve). The Senate-elected consul appoints Tribunal members (though they must be approved by the Council and co-consul) and traditionally acts as the commander-in-chief of the Roman military – a role that is not constitutional only traditional. Each consul rotates as head of the Senate each month, residing over meetings and acting as the tie breaker in votes. Both consuls have full veto power over one another and the Council. The Consulate can order immediate execution, under its own responsibility, of urgent and unpostponable measures, which are subject to the preventive control in conformity with the provisions in force. The consuls can draft laws, though they must be passed by the Council, then the Senate, and are eligible for veto by the public via referendum. Consuls may be elected twice in their life but may not exceed two terms.

Typical terminology to differentiate the two consuls (as legally and officially both are simply called Consul) are for the consul elected by popular vote: Consul of the Plebs, popular-consul, people's consul, assemblies consul, assembly-elected consul, or popular-elected consul. For the consul elected by the Senate: Consul of the Senate, senatorial-consul, senate's consul, Number Ten (a reference to the idea that this consul acts as the tenth member of the Council), government's consul (usually derisively).

The Council consists of nine members elected from the Senate by the Senate. They act as a secondary executive, only marginally less powerful than the Consulate. Generally the elected group lasts five years as the Council, but it can be forced to resign by a senatorial vote of no confidence. Each elected Councilor is chosen for a post:

Councilor of State for Internal Affairs and Civil Defense

Councilor of State for Finance, Budget and Programming

Councilor of State for Education, Culture, University and Justice

Councilor of State for Territory, Environment and Agriculture

Councilor of State for Health and Social Security

Councilor of State for Trade and Relations with the Town Council

Councilor of State for Communication, Transport, Tourism, and Sport

Councilor of State for Industry and Crafts

Councilor of State for Labour and Cooperation

Collectively the Consulate and the Council decide on international policies for Romania, as well as international treaties and agreements concerning general international policies and matters relevant for the State’s security. They determine the general administrative policies by defining the relevant objectives and general programmes and by issuing the necessary general directives of the Public Administration. Are entrusted with the legislative initiative by drafting the laws to be submitted to the Senate for their approval; Decide on any other matter concerning the implementation of the Government programme, unless otherwise provided for in law provisions. Adopt or veto delegated decrees voted on by the Assembly (referendum laws initiated by the population and voted for); In case of need and urgency, adopts decrees having force of law and subject to ratification by Senate within three months, under penalty of nullity; Controls expenditure plans, as well as the single interventions, with a view to verifying their compliance with the approved budget and with the directives issued; Proposes administrative provisions falling within the competence of the Senate; and Adopts regulations concerning the forms and implementation modalities of laws, as well as the organisation and functioning of public offices in conformity with law provisions.

Legislative Branch
The Senate is the legislative branch of the Roman government. Elected via popular vote every five years, there are 310 senators elected from Roman constituencies (via each province by proportional representation), 10 from Roman citizens living abroad, and a nine are senators for life (senatores ad vita, also known as Il Nòve, meaning The Nine). A majority of at least 40 seats are given to the winning coalition of parties which receives an absolute majority of votes. A 3.5% threshold exists, together with guarantees for female candidates. The Senate approves or vetoes a number of decisions by the executive branch, appoint the Advising Commissions, and the Government Unions. The Senate also has the power to ratify treaties with other countries, co-acting and being the final arbiter for the Assembly-elected consul. The Senate is divided into six different Advising Commissions consisting of senators who examine, propose, and discuss the implementation of new laws that are on their way to being presented on the floor of the Senate. Though the Consulate may draft laws, these must go through their co-consul, the Council, and the Senate. The Senate, on the other hand, is able to draft laws which only need approval from the Senate (any law from any source may additionally be vetoed by a popular vote via referendum).Through referendums, citizens may challenge any law passed by senate or consulate and through initiatives, introduce amendments to the republic’s constitution, thus making Romania a direct democracy.

Judicial Branch
The Council of the Tribunal serves as the supreme court of the republic. The Senate-elected consul elects the Tribunal (with approval by the co-consul and the Council, with additional potential for Senatorial denial via vote), whose members remain in office until the age of 70 or via removal on the address of the Senate. The Tribunal consists of twelve members, one of which is the Supreme Tribune, the highest ranking and chief judge.

Current Issues
The principal contemporary issues facing Romania today are the global economic recession, the continued financial and life drain of the two wars, a wave of anti-Sinti rhetoric sparked by the New Latin League Party, anti-immigrant stances across the country in light of climate and war refugees from Hesperia and Libia, the continued desire for Romania to see Persian global power hemmed in, with concerns about Persian activity abroad, trade-agreements with Sina and the effect that Sinaean productivity has on domestic productivity, March 2771 saw the inauguration of a new government under the popularly elected Aeliana Berninu and the senatorially elected Cassandra Bergamòne. At almost two years into their term the contemporary issues at hand include and administrative problems related to Romania's status as a close financial and trading partner within the European community. The other priority issue is to increase the transparency and efficiency of the Council. The long-standing push-and-pull between the Consulate and the Council remains a contentious issue. Consul Berninu has remained an antagonistic figure, riding into office on a wave of populism across Romania. The consul is seen by some as pushing the boundaries of the Consulship and using the office to broad excess of power. Issues which Consul Berninu road into office on include immigration issues, including a rising anti-migrant sentiment brought upon by climate and war refugees, principally from Libia and Hesperia. A wave of anti-Sinti sentiment has accompanied Berninu’s election as well, with a national conversation started by her political party, the New Latin League Party, suggesting moving the Sinti to India, a situation causing a diplomatic crisis with the Indian Republic. Claims of racism have since sparked from within the Senate and from leaders abroad, with witness to additional protest movements within Romania itself.

The Consulship has been largely cooperative, to the dismay of many in the Senate who had perhaps hoped a centre-right element in Consul Bergamòne would act as a moderating force to the farther-right of Consul Berninu. At present the principal issue between the consuls is the war in Ethiopia and the war in Miame; Consul Berninu wishes to speed up the situation with swift and aggressive force and turn these two areas into reliant states on Romania that the refugee communities might be forcibly returned to. Consul Bergamòne wishes to continue the gradual course Romania has been on and aid these two states in stabilizing themselves and subsequently protect Romanian interests at large.

Political Philosophy of Romania
The guiding political philosophies of the modern Roman Republic are Corporatism, Distributism, and Republicanism; the form of government is Republicanism, the form of economic system is Distributism, while the overarching political philosophy is termed Corporatism. This is sometimes referred to as Distributist-Corporatism, or Roman Distributism.

The guiding political philosophy which Romania adheres too was largely put into place during the early 2600s by Consul Vintsente Píxea. Pixea and others developed the ideology in the preceding decades as a reaction against the increasing issues caused by the then dominant philosophy of Mercantilism.

Many of Pixea’s ideas were put into place by extensive land-divisions and settling to prop up small family producers. Additional state funding and aid went to smaller industries to broaden the field, with many arguing that this is just Mutualism and Managism with a different name. The following governments expanded on these initiatives, with international trade agreements that respected human rights, closing big business tax loopholes, ending of corporate welfare, and provided for more accountability for abuses in the finance sector, tax breaks for local farmers and family businesses, higher tariffs on goods from mega-exporters (one of the bumpiest times in the fairly smooth-friendship road between Romania and Sina occurred during this time), and more trust/cartel-busting laws.

A prominent and common business model in Romania that has resulted from this guiding philosophy is the cooperative. A prominent example of this business style is the Astùria Co-operative Corporation. With £16 Billion per year in sales making everything from muzzle-loading hunting guns to modern built-to-order factories. They operate an extensive network of social programs, schools, colleges, training institutes for apprentices and research facilities. A recent pay cut occurred in the ACC with the workers voting themselves this pay cut. They could do this because the workers are also the owners of the firm, a common occurrence across Romania. Each worker is a member of two organizations, the General Assembly and the Social Council, two guiding parts of the Guild involved.

The Cooperative Economy of Nord-Italia is another large-scale example of Roman Distributism. The Co-op is in the area around Bolona. While the ACC uses a hierarchical model that resembles a multi-divisional corporation (presuming the divisions of a corporation were free to leave at any time) the Nord-Italia model is one of networking among a large variety of independent firms. These networks are quite flexible, and may change from job to job, combining a high degree of integration for specific orders with a high degree of independence. The cooperation among the firms is institutionalized many in two organizations, The Nord-Italia Development Agency (NIDA) and the National Guild of Artisans (NAGA). NIDA provides a series of “real” service centers (as opposed to the “government” service centers) to businesses which provide business plan analysis, marketing, technology transfer, and other services. The centers are organized around various industries; one, for example, serves the fashion and textile industries, another serves construction, yet another serves earth-moving equipment, etc. NAGA serves the small craftsmen, the artisanal firms with fewer than 18 employees, and where the owner works within the firm, and adds financing, payroll, and similar services to the mix. The cooperatives supply 35% of the GDP of the region (Nord-Italia), and wages are 50% higher than much of Europe. The region’s productivity and standard of living are among the highest in Europe. The entrepreneurial spirit is high, with over 8% of the workforce either self-employed or owning their own business. There are 90,000 manufacturing enterprises in the region (Nord-Italia).

The detailed function which the Guild performs in Romania, apart from its general function of mutual support and guarantee among men of a similar craft, are as follows: First, it guarantees workers property; it does the exact contrary. It makes property permanent and sees to it that undue competition and hostile action between the various members shall not lead to the eating up of the poorer man by the richer man. Thus, of the very first activities of the Guild is the making of laws for the conduct of its special trade by its own members, and the making of those laws so that each member may continue to be, within certain limits, a free members of the Guild and a free owner of his own means of livelihood. The Guild does not prevent the industrious man from flourishing, nor set a premium on idleness or inefficiency, but it makes rules whereby entrance into the Guild is only to be obtained on certain conditions, whereby there is a term of probation before a man becomes a full member, whereby those who desire to work in such and such a craft must belong to the Guild and whereby undue competition is checked. Second, the Guild has by charter from the State the right to deal with the matters which are the occupation of its members, and the right to such occupation is restricted to members of the Guild; but the State does not allow the Guild to exclude willing workers, still less to sell the privilege of membership. Entry to it must be open to all upon a sufficient test of efficiency in the trade concerned. Third, a Guild member must observe in his competition against other Guildsmen of his own craft certain limits. There are things he may do and things he may not do. There are rules for his professional conduct which he must obey under penalty of being turned out of the Guild and thereby losing his livelihood, and these rules are designed for two main objects, the good working of the craft and the maintaining of its members, so that each, with a certain minimum of industry and efficiency, is certain of a livelihood. Fourth, the Guild is self-governing within the limits of its charter, the charter granted to it by the public authority of the State.

According to the principal political philosophy which Romania operates Romans are supposed to follow an ideal of self-sufficient citizens of guild-organized craftsmen and farmers. The market is seen not so much an end in itself but as a means of generating wealth in order to achieve broader social goals and to maintain societal cohesion.

Roman Corporatism is viewed as demanding that the welfare of all people, especially the poor and vulnerable, must be protected because every human being has dignity.

According to the Roman philosophy of Distributist-Corporatism, property ownership is a fundamental right, and the means of production should be spread as widely as possible, rather than being centralized under the control of the state, a few individuals, or corporations. Distributist-Corporatism, therefore, advocates a society marked by widespread property ownership. A term used is co-operative economics.

Roman Distributism seeks to subordinate economic activity to human life as a whole, to the spiritual life, intellectual life, and family life.

The economic order engaged in by Romania involves the guild system. Guilds are mixed class syndicates composed of both employers and employees cooperating for mutual benefit, thereby theoretically promoting class collaboration.

Under the Roman system, most people are able to earn a living without having to rely on the use of the property of others to do so. Examples of people earning a living in this way are farmers who own their own land and related machinery, carpenters and plumbers who own their own tools, programmers who own their own computers, etc. The "cooperative" approach advances beyond this perspective to recognise that such property and equipment may be "co-owned" by local communities larger than a family, e.g., partners in a business. This broader distribution does not extend to all property, but only to productive property; that is, that property which produces wealth, namely, the things needed for humans to survive. It includes land, tools, and so on. Roman Distributism allows for society to have public goods such as parks, roads, and transit systems.

Within Romania any activity of production (which distributism holds to be the most important part of any economy) is to be performed by the smallest possible unit. This helps support Roman Distributism's argument that smaller units, families if possible, ought to be in control of the means of production, rather than the large units typical of many modern economies.

Roman Distributists believe in a society that is as self-reliant as possible. However, their remains in place a substantial welfare and social security system, with a recent raise the level of student income support payments as one small example. Extreme Distributists in Romania have argued for eliminating the welfare system, though the majority of political thinkers in Romania discard this notion.

Roman Distributism promotes a society of artisans and culture, so called. This is influenced by an emphasis on small business, promotion of local culture, and favoring of small production over mass production. A society of artisans promotes the distributist ideal of theunification of capital, ownership, and production rather than what distributism sees as an alienation of man from work. This belief system results in a more local ownership of factories and other industrial centers. Products such as food and clothing have been preferably returned to local producers and artisans instead of being mass-produced overseas.

It is widely held in Romania that the transition from Mercantilism to Distributism over the decades has been positive, though there are many detractors and setbacks. Some have argued that the increase in family-owned production has resulted in a higher workload and stress levels across Romania. It is argued that Cambria, which adheres to offshoots of Mercantilist philosophies, Marketism, has somewhat outpaced Romania’s productivity and therefore continues to grow richer while Romania begins to stagnate – albeit there is truly a global stagnation and many in Romania point out the significantly higher wages in Romania compared to much of Europe and indeed the world as well as the lower unemployment rate than Cambria. The stagnation in Romania’s finances, it is argued, is not due to their political system but rather to wasted money in ongoing wars among other factors. Many argued that Distributism was the factor in the mass starving that took place in the 2630s. Some in the business community in Romania have complained that this guiding philosophy demonizes them while the country profits from their successes – a few wealthy Romanian businessmen have relocated to Cambria and other locations due to the State’s non-preferential treatment for large corporations, and their aid to smaller ones. Many businessmen can get benefits by relocating their companies abroad – something which has spooked Roman’s with the departure of a few megacorps in recent history. An issue often raised about Roman Distributism is the inability to successfully articulate how the small cottage industries can be prevented from growing into the large-scale commercial enterprises – as many in Romania subsequently have. The counter argument there is that there is no desire for small-business to not grow large – they merely must reflect the model of the Asturia Cooperative Corporation or expect restrictions from the State. Many additionally argue that the Roman governments financial aid to small business, wage aid, and continued welfare support culminate it its being a Mutualist system which Distributists are supposedly against.

Foreign Relations
Romania is a founding member of the European Community, the League of Peace, the Global Great Power Council, and the Global League Alliance.

Romania's closest allies are its fellow GOLA states, though the closest states to Romania remain Sina, Hibernia, and Cambria. The Sino-Roman and Hiberno-Roman friendship remain the most prominent, the longest, and have been the most durable by far.

Sino-Roman Alliance
Romania's longest standing alliance remains with Sina. The Golden Alliance forms the historical backbone of the Sino-Roman pact, beginning with fair trade relations that cemented with the meeting in Melinde on the eastern coast of Libia in AUC 2183. Subsequent trade was established on the Cape of Storms at the southern tip of Libia. AUC 2198 witnessed the formal signing of the Golden Alliance with Sinaean Emperor Yingzong. Romania and Sina essentially agreed to divide the world into two halves, one to be the dominion of each.

Romania and Sina maintain a significant alliance in the modern day, with a number of preferential treaties with one another, intricate exchange of ideas and technology, and frequent military support and games together, preference for student exchanges, tourism, among other things. Both countries inhabitants have a largely favorable view of one another, though some in Romania argue that the Sinaean economic powerhouse is detrimental to Romania's production and economy, with Sina's export power combined with Sinaean mass-production of notably high quality products. Nevertheless, the Sino-Roman Alliance and friendship remains strong on all fronts. The combined military might of the Sino-Roman friendship is warily viewed by much of the world. Romania is understood to have the strongest land-based military globally while Sina is considered to have the strongest naval capability (together with Cambria) and what some consider either equal footing with Romania's land-based military or to be ranked second. The duo have subsequently been the most dominating force globally for nearly four centuries.

Historic Clothing
Historically the clothing of Romania went through gradual changes, divided fairly neatly into periods: Early Third Age, Late Third Age, Early Fourth Age, Late Fourth Age, Fifth Age, and Modern Era (or Fifth Age). The Late Third Age witnessed an overt influence from both Germanic and Parthian influences which altered the Classical styles of Romania. From this grew a form that was consistent throughout the Post-Classical Era (Third Age) and grew into a form during the Fifth Age which can clearly be glimpsed in the modern day folk costumes of Romania.

Clothing in the Early Third Age generally comprised a short-sleeved or sleeveless, knee-length tunic for men and boys, and a longer, usually sleeved tunic for women and girls. On formal occasions, adult male citizens could wear a woolen toga, draped over their tunic, and married citizen women wore a woolen mantle, known as a palla, over a stola, a simple, long-sleeved, voluminous garment that hung to midstep. Clothing, footwear and accoutrements identified gender, status, rank and social class.

Roman fashions underwent very gradual change. In part, this reflects the expansion of Rome's empire, and the adoption of provincial fashions perceived as attractively exotic, or simply more practical than traditional forms of dress. Changes in fashion also reflect the increasing dominance of a military elite within government, and a corresponding reduction in the value and status of traditional civil offices and ranks. In the later empire clothing became highly decorated, with woven or embellished strips, clavi, and circular roundels, orbiculi, added to tunics and cloaks. These decorative elements usually comprised geometrical patterns and stylised plant motifs, but could include human or animal figures or floral designs. The use of silk also increased steadily. Trousers — considered barbarous garments worn by Germans and Persians — achieved only limited popularity in the latter days of the empire, and were regarded by conservatives as a sign of cultural decay. The toga, traditionally seen as the sign of true Romanitas, had never been popular or practical. Most likely, its official replacement by the more comfortable pallium and paenula simply acknowledged its disuse.

The palla/shawl, drapped over the head, atop an ankle length stola was the mainstay for Roman women throughout the history of Romania and would evolve into the modern attire with adjustments as advances in clothing came about. The belt, cinched at the waist, was gradually replaced by the bodice, or corset, invented in Florentia during the Fourth Age. Men, likewise, had a fairly permanent form of dress in the tunica, thigh length, with trousers and a box shaped hat that grew in length over history; this forming the core of the Late Post-Classical Era’s costume and evolved to that of the present day.

National Costume & Folk Costumes
Folk costumes in Romania descend from the Roman style of the Post-Classical Era, or Third Age, with myriad updates involved. In turn, the clothing of the Third Age descends from that of the Classical Era with the myriad later influence of the Germanic, Parthian, and Celtic peoples during the late Classical Era.

The common theme for men involves a black skirt, descended from the chiton and the tunica, various hoods, hooded capes, a long soft cylindrical stocking cap. Likewise, women have a few constant or regular features across regions. A long dress, descended from the stolla, often fastened by the bodice, the stole (or shawl), a type of mantle descended from the palla and drapped over the head.

The declared official national costume of Romania is essentially that of the southern region of Italia, Latsia, focused around Rome.