History of Romania (Terra Cognita)

Golden Age - Prehistoric Era (3.3 mya to AUC -2245)

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. Valon Grotto in Transalpinia is a cave that contains some of the best-preserved figurative cave paintings in the world, as well as other evidence of Upper Paleolithic life. The Cardium pottery culture stretches the length of Romania, from Hispania across Gallia and Italia and including neighboring Dalmatia dating to AUC -5646

A well-preserved natural mummy known as The Venusta Iceman, determined to be 5,000 years old was discovered in the Similaun glacier of Alpine Romania in 2744. He is Europe's oldest known natural human mummy, and has offered an unprecedented view of Chalcolithic (Copper Age) Europeans.

First Age - Ancient Era (AUC -2245 to -46)

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.

AUC -446, Ancient Era Rome

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.

Second Age - Classical Era (AUC -46 to 1370)

Pre-Roman Period

Villanovan culture from the first century AUC

Phoenicians 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. Greek colonies sprang up along the northern Mediterranean coast of what is now Romania, with the notable Greek settlement of Massalia (modern Marsilia) founded in AUC 154. The Villanovan culture (c. AUC -140 to 54), regarded as the oldest phase of Etruscan civilization, was the earliest Iron Age culture of Romania. The Etruscans created a refined civilization which largely influenced Rome and the Latin world and subsequently Romania, the inheritor of Etruscan culture. The origins of this non-Indo-European people, which first settled on the Tyrrhenian coast of central Italia and later expanded to northern Italia and beyond the Alps (potentially as far north as Augusta in Vindelicia Province), are uncertain. The Raeti were Etruscan people who were displaced from the Po valley by the Gallians and took refuge in the valleys of the Alps. But it is likely that they were predominantly indigenous Alpine people. Their language, the so-called Raetic language, was probably related to Etruscan, but may not have derived from it.

Villanovan Culture, circa 1st century AUC

In Italia, cohabiting with the previous inhabitants, mingled new tribes of Celts in the north (Senones, Boii, Lingones, etc.), the Grecians in the west, along the Mediterranean coast of Hispania and Gallia, and the Phoenicians in the south and in Sardinia.

Gallia (then covering what is now Gallia Prefecture, western Raetia Prefecture, as well as continental Cambria and western Francia) was inhabited by many Celtic and Belgae tribes whom the Romans referred to as Gallians and who spoke the Gallian language, as well as some Germanic tribes. On the lower Garuña river the people spoke Aquitanian, a Pre-Indo-European language related to (or a direct ancestor of) Vasconian. The Celts founded cities such as Namnetes (Nametis) while the Aquitanians founded Tolosates (Tolosa).

Western Romania, Hispania Prefecture, included the the Iberians (a non-Indo-European people), the Celts in the interior and northwest, the Lusitanians (possibly Celtic) in the west.

The far north (northern Raetia Prefecture) of Romania's first known inhabitants, the Celts, preceded the arrival of the Suebi and related Germanic tribes, who absorbed the original inhabitants.

The Latins, sometimes known as the Latians, were an Italic tribe which included the early inhabitants of the city of Rome. From about AUC -246, the Latins inhabited the small region known to the Romans as Old Latium (Latium Vetus). The Latins were an Indo-European people who probably migrated into the Italian Peninsula during the late Bronze Age. Their language, Latin, belonged to the Italic branch of Indo-European. Their material culture, known as the Latial culture, was a subset of the Proto-Villanovan culture that appeared in parts of the Italian peninsula in the circa AUC -440s. The Latins maintained close culturo-religious relations until they were definitively united politically under Rome, and for centuries beyond. These included common festivals and religious sanctuaries. The rise of Rome as by far the most populous and powerful Latin state led to volatile relations with the other Latin states, which numbered about 14 in AUC 254.

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 Gallians 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.

The Flight of Aeneas from Troy, his retinue ultimately to end up in Italia and to become the Romans.

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 twins were said to have been born to the virgin priestess Rhea Silvia of Alba Longa, who had been exiled into priesthood to prevent any awkward appearance of an heir or rival to her uncle's line. Rhea Silvia was said to have been raped by the god Mars, with some writers declaring "a disembodied phallus coming from the flames of the sacred fire that she tended" while others assume it was a convenient cover for the breaking of her vows, especially as priesthood had been forced on her.

Romulus and Remus were orderer killed by Rhea Silvia's uncle, Amulius, but were instead discarded by a river bank, to be found by the legendary She-Wolf who nurtured them. Some have speculated the wolf was a metaphor for a prostitute, as the Latin term 'lupa' (she-wolf) was colloquial for prostitute (lupanare was a standard term for a brotherl). A kindly shepherd soon found the boys and took them in, raising them, says the legend.

The Founders of Romania

The Trojans (two on the right) are declared to be the ancestors of the Romans, Aeneas specifically. Those on the left are the Greek heroes of the Trojan War - enemies of the Trojans.

In Greco-Roman legend, Aeneas (/ɪˈniːəs/; Grecian: Αἰνείας, Aineías, possibly derived from Greek αἰνή meaning "praised") was a Trojan hero, the son of the prince Anchises and the goddess Aphrodite (Venus). His father was a first cousin of King Priam of Troy (both being grandsons of Ilus, founder of Troy), making Aeneas a second cousin to Priam's children (such as Hector and Paris). He is a character in Greek legend and is mentioned in Homer's Iliad. Aeneas receives full treatment in Roman legend, most extensively in Virgil's Aeneid, where he is cast as an ancestor of Romulus and Remus. He became the first true hero of Rome and the first Roman as well as a pivotal figure in Hellenism. Snorri Sturluson identifies him with the Norse god Vidarr of the Æsir, thus further connecting him to Heathenism. The Aeneid explains that Aeneas is one of the few Trojans who were not killed or enslaved when Troy fell. Aeneas, after being commanded by the gods to flee, gathered a group, collectively known as the Aeneads, who then traveled to Italia and became progenitors of Romans. The Aeneads included Aeneas's trumpeter Misenus, his father Anchises, his friends Achates, Sergestus, and Acmon, the healer Iapyx, the helmsman Palinurus, and his son Ascanius (also known as Iulus, Julus, or Ascanius Julius). He carried with him the Lares and Penates, the statues of the household gods of Troy, and transplanted them to Italia. The journey was extensive and epic, including various obstacles along the way from Troy to Italia.

King Numitor of Alba Longer, forebear of Romulus and Remus, defeating his usurper brother Amulius.

In Roman legend, King Numitor of Alba Longa, was the maternal grandfather of Rome's founder and first king, Romulus, and his twin brother Remus. He was the son of Procas, descendant of Aeneas the Trojan, and father of the twins' mother, Rhea Silvia, and Lausus. a In -40 AUC Procas died and was meant to be succeeded by Numitor. Instead he was overthrown and removed from the kingdom by his brother, Amulius, who had no respect for his father's will or his brother's seniority. Amulius also murdered his sons, in an effort to remove power from his brother for himself. Rhea Silvia was made a Vestal Virgin by Amulius rendering her unable to have children on pain of death; however, she was forcibly impregnated by the god Mars, so the legends claim. Romulus and Remus overthrew Amulius and reinstated Numitor as king in 2 AUC.

Romulus

Son of the Vestal Virgin Rhea Silvia, the legendary Romulus was Rome's first king and the city's founder. After he and his twin brother Remus had deposed King Amulius of Alba and reinstated the king's brother and their grandfather Numitor to the throne, they decided to build a city in the area where they had been abandoned as infants. After Remus was killed by Romulus in a dispute on where to built the first settlement, Romulus began building the city on the Palatine Hill. The controversy surrounding this brotherly murder would hang over Roman historians from the founding of the city to the present day. Many have commented that Remus' blood cursed Romania into eternal Civil War, suffering brother against brother forever.

Roman raiding party of Rome's early days - reminiscent of the Rape of the Sabines

Romulus' work began with fortifications. He permitted men of all classes to come to Rome as citizens, including slaves and freemen without distinction. He is credited with establishing the city's religious, legal and political institutions. The kingdom was established by unanimous acclaim with him at the helm when Romulus called the citizenry to a council for the purposes of determining their government. Romulus established the senate as an advisory council with the appointment of 100 of the most noble men in the community. These men he called patres and their descendants became the patricians. To project command, he surrounded himself with attendants, in particular the twelve lictors. He created three divisions of horsemen (equites), called centuries: Ramnes (Romans), Tities (after the Sabine king) and Luceres (Etruscans). He also divided the populace into 30 curiae, named after 30 of the Sabine women who had intervened to end the war between Romulus and Tatius. The curiae formed the voting units in the popular assemblies (Comitia Curiata).

Roman soldier, circa AUC 50s

Roman Hoplite, circa AUC 250

Romulus was behind one of the most notorious acts in Roman history, the incident commonly known as the rape of the Sabine women. To provide his citizens with wives, Romulus invited the neighboring tribes, the Sabines and Latins, to a festival in Rome where the Romans committed a mass abduction of young women from among the attendees. The account vary from 30 to 683 women taken, a significant number for a population of 3,000 Latins (and presumably for the Sabines a well). War broke out when Romulus refused to return the captives. After the Sabines made three unsuccessful attempts to invade the hill settlements of Rome, the women themselves intervened during the Battle of the Lacus Curtius to end the war. The two peoples were united in a joint kingdom, with Romulus and the Sabine king Titus Tatius sharing the throne. In addition to the war with the Sabines, Romulus waged war with the Fidenates and Veientes and others.

He reigned for 37 or 38 years. According to the legend, Romulus vanished at age 54 while reviewing his troops on the Campus Martius. He was reported to have been taken up to Mt. Olympus in a whirlwind and made a god. After initial acceptance by the public, rumors and suspicions of foul play by the patricians began to grow. In particular, some thought that members of the nobility had murdered him, dismembered his body, and buried the pieces on their land. These were set aside after an esteemed nobleman testified that Romulus had come to him in a vision and told him that he was the god Quirinus. He became, not only one of the three major gods of Rome, but the very likeness of the city itself

After Romulus died, there was an interregnum for one year, during which ten men chosen from the senate governed Rome as successive interreges. Under popular pressure, the Senate finally chose the Sabine Numa Pompilius to succeed Romulus, on account of his reputation for justice and piety. A string of Kings of Rome followed Numa.

Tarquin the Proud

The seventh and final king of Rome was Lucius Tarquinius Superbus. He was the son of Priscus and the son-in-law of Servius whom he and his wife had killed.

Tarquinius waged a number of wars against Rome's neighbours, including against the Volsci, Gabii and the Rutuli. He also secured Rome's position as head of the Latin cities. He also engaged in a series of public works, notably the completion of the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus, and works on the Cloaca Maxima and the Circus Maximus. However, Tarquin's reign is remembered for his use of violence and intimidation to control Rome, and his disrespect of Roman custom and the Roman Senate.

Tensions came to a head when the king's son, Sextus Tarquinius, raped Lucretia, wife and daughter to powerful Roman nobles. Lucretia told her relatives about the attack, and committed suicide to avoid the dishonour of the episode. Four men, led by Lucius Junius Brutus, and including Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus, Publius Valerius Poplicola, and Spurius Lucretius Tricipitinus incited a revolution that deposed and expelled Tarquinius and his family from Rome in AUC 245.

Brutus and Collatinus became Rome's first consuls, marking the beginning of the Roman Republic. This new government would survive for the next 500 years until the rise of Julius Caesar and Caesar Augustus, and would cover a period during which Rome's authority and area of control extended to cover great areas of Europe, North Libia, and the West Asia.

The Celts

The Celts, in addition to the Latins and Etruscans, are counted as the founding peoples are modern Romania and Romans.

Reconstruction of Italic Celts from a dig in Patavia, in northwestern Italia, near the Adriatic

Before the rapid spread of the Tenui Culture (so named after the major archeological site in Tenui, Romania. The bearers of the Tenui Culture were the people known as Celts or Gallians to ancient ethnographers) in the 3rd century AUC, the territory of northwestern and eastern Romania already participated in the Late Bronze Age Urnfield Culture (linguistic evidence suggests that the people of the Urnfield Culture spoke a form of Italo-Celtic, perhaps originally Proto-Celtic) out of which the early iron-working Lentia Culture (commonly associated with Proto-Celtic and Celtic populations and named after Lentia, Romania) would develop.

By AUC 250, there is strong Lentia influence throughout most of Romania. Out of this Lentia background, presumably representing an early form of Continental Celtic culture, the Tenui Culture arises, presumably under Mediterranean influence from the Grecian, Phoenician, and Etruscan civilizations, spread out in a number of early centers along the Seine, the Middle Rhine and the upper Elbe.

Celtic tribes had been settled in the Alpine valleys and the areas south since well before the founding of Rome as well, expanding southwards in the direction of Rome.

The Canegrate culture may represent the first migratory wave of the proto-Celtic population from the northwest part of the Alps that, through the Alpine passes, penetrated and settled in the western Po valley.

They brought a new funerary practice—cremation—which supplanted inhumation. It has also been proposed that a more ancient proto-Celtic presence can be traced back to the beginning of the Middle Bronze Age, when North Western Italia appears closely linked regarding the production of bronze artifacts, including ornaments, to the western groups of the Tumulus culture. The bearers of the Canegrate culture maintained its homogeneity for only a century, after which it melded with the Ligurian aboriginal populations and with this union gave rise to a new phase called the Golasecca culture, which is nowadays identified with the Celtic Lepontii.

Urnfield Culture spread

Livy (v. 34) has the Bituriges, Arverni, Senones, Aedui, Ambarri, Carnutes, and Aulerci led by Bellovesus, arrive in northern Italy during the reign of Tarquinius Priscus, occupying the area between Milan and Cremona. Milan (Mediolanum) itself is presumably a Gallic foundation, its name having a Celtic etymology of "[city] in the middle of the [Padanic] plain". Polybius wrote about co-existence of the Celts in northern Italia with Etruscan nations in the period before the Sack of Rome in AUC 364. Ligurian tribes were also present in Latium and in Samnium. According to Plutarch they called themselves Ambrones, which could indicate a relationship with the Ambrones of northern Europe. Little is known of the Ligurian language. Only place-names and personal names remain. It appears to be an Indo-European branch with both Italic and particularly strong Celtic affinities. Because of the strong Celtic influences on their language and culture, they were known in antiquity as Celto-Ligurians (in Greek Κελτολίγυες, Keltolígues).

The Celtic Insubres tribe of northern Italia - the namesake of the northern Italian region Insubria, here depicted fighting Greeks.

The initial Celtic settlement of the Po valley in the mid thirteenth century AUC brought the invaders hard up against the barrier of the Apennines—a barrier permeated by well-trodden routes linking the Etruscan-dominated north to the Etruscan homeland backing onto the Tyrrhenian Sea. Inevitably Celtic war bands were drawn southwards into the heart of Etruria. This occurred at the moment that Rome, expanding her power northwards, was taking over the old Etruscan cities one by one.

The whole of northern Italia would gain the term Gallia Cisalpina by the Romans, with notable tribes such as the Insubres residing there, who have given their name to northern Italia as Insubria.

The most northerly Celts of what is modern Romania were found in Raetia are surrounding areas which would later see an influx of Germanic settlers.

Little is known of the origin or history of the Raetians, who appear in the records as one of the most powerful and warlike of the Alpine tribes, expanding to what is modern Augusta, Raetia. Livy states distinctly that they were of Etruscan origin. A tradition reported by Justin and Pliny the Elder affirmed that they were a portion of that people who had settled in the plains of the Po and were driven into the mountains by the invading Celts, when they assumed the name of "Raetians" from an eponymous leader Raetus. Even if their Etruscan origin be accepted, at the time when the land became known to the Romans, Celtic tribes were already in possession of it and had amalgamated so completely with the original inhabitants that, generally speaking, the Raetians of later times may be regarded as a Celtic people, although non-Celtic tribes (es. Euganei) were settled among them.

The Euganei (fr. Lat. Euganei, Euganeorum; cf. Gr. εὐγενής (eugenēs) 'well-born') were a Proto-Italic ethnic group that dwelt an area among Adriatic Sea and Rhaetian Alps. Subsequently, they were driven by the Adriatic Veneti to an area between the river Adesa and Lake Lariu, where they remained until the early Roman Empire. They may have been a Pre-Indo-European people, ethnically related to the Ingauni, as suggested by the similarity of the names. According to Pliny the Elder the Stoni people from northern Venetu et Histria were of the same stock as the Euganei.

The First Roman Republic

Eurasia circa AUC 450

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 Gallians, who initially prevailed and sacked Rome. The Romans then took up arms and drove the Celts 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.

AUC 354 (1) Aristocratic Rasenna woman, (2) Rasenna hoplite from Velzna, (3) Rasenna hoplite from Tutere

From the 200s AUC through the 500s the Roman Republic expanded from the city in the hills to control the length of Italia, fighting the Celts who lived in the north of Italia, the Etruscans, and the various Italic peoples to their south and east, such as the Samnites.

Battle of Telamon, AUC 529 - A coalition of Cisalpine Gallic tribes, from northern Italia, battling with Legions of the First Republic

The First Republic was in a state of quasi-perpetual war throughout its existence. The Republic nonetheless demonstrated extreme resilience and always managed to overcome its losses, however catastrophic. After the Gallic Sack of Rome, Romania conquered the whole Italian peninsula in a century, which turned the Republic into a major power in the Mediterranean.

In the 5th century AUC Rome had to face a new and formidable opponent: the powerful Phoenician city-state of Carthage.

With Carthage defeated, Romania would become the dominant power of the ancient Mediterranean world. It then embarked on a long series of difficult conquests, after having notably defeated Philip V and Perseus of Macedon, Antiochus III of the Seleucid Empire, the Lusitanian Viriathus, the Numidian Jugurtha, the Pontic king Mithridates VI, the Gallian Vercingetorix, and the Egyptian queen Cleopatra.

Pyrrhic War

The Pyrrhic Wars occured from 474 to 479, fought by Pyrrhus, the king of Epirus. Pyrrhus was asked by the people of the Greek city of Tarentum in southern Italia to help them in their war with the Roman Republic.

The Grecian forces of Epirus were able to employ armored elephants against the Romans, who were unused to the animals.

Battle of Beneventum (AUC 479), Roman Legions (left) against the Phalanx of Epirus (right)

A skilled commander, with a strong army fortified by war elephants (which the Romans were not experienced in facing), Pyrrhus enjoyed initial success against the Roman legions, but suffered heavy losses even in these victories. Plutarch wrote that Pyrrhus said after the second battle of the war, "If we are victorious in one more battle with the Romans, we shall be utterly ruined." He could not call up more men from home and his allies in Italy were becoming indifferent. The Romans, by contrast, had a very large pool of military manpower and could replenish their legions even if their forces were depleted in many battles.

This has led to the expression Pyrrhic victory, a term for a victory that inflicts losses the victor cannot afford in the long term. Worn down by the battles against Rome, Pyrrhus moved his army to Trinacria to war against the Carthaginians instead. After several years of campaigning there, he returned to Romania in AUC 479, where the last battle of the war was fought, ending in Roman victory. Following this, Pyrrhus returned to Epirus, ending the war. Three years later the Romans captured Tarentum. The Pyrrhic War was the first time that Rome confronted the professional mercenary armies of the Grecian states of the eastern Mediterranean.

The Romans first facing of the war-elephant occured during Pyrrhus' invasion and at first these animals unsettled the legions. A tactic famously developed, however, where the Romans would use chariots and rope to ride a circle aroudn the elephant's legs, thereby tying them up and tripped them. Ultimately the beasts became fairly simple to deal with by a variety of tactics.

Rome's victory drew the attention of these states to the emerging power of Rome. Ptolemy II, the king of Egypt, established diplomatic relations with Rome. After the war, Rome asserted its hegemony over southern Italia and cast glances eastwards, to have resounding impacts on the Grecian world.

The Macedonian Wars

Sandwiched between the war against Epirus and that against Carthage was the other instrumental conflict in Romania's early growth beyond the Italian peninsula. The Macedonian Wars (540 - 606) were a series of conflicts fought by the First Roman Republic and its Grecian allies in the eastern Mediterranean against several different major Greek kingdoms.

They resulted in Roman control or influence over the eastern Mediterranean basin, in addition to their hegemony in the western Mediterranean after the Punic Wars. Traditionally, the "Macedonian Wars" include the four wars with Macedonia, in addition to one war with the Seleucid Empire, and a final minor war with the Achaean League (which is often considered to be the final stage of the final Macedonian war).

The Romans (left) came against the famous Greek phalanx (right) during the Macedon Wars, besting the once dominant military tactic.

The most significant war was fought with the Seleucid Empire, while the war with Macedonia was the second, and both of these wars effectively marked the end of these empires as major world powers, even though neither of them led immediately to overt Roman domination. Four separate wars were fought against the weaker power, Macedonia, due to its geographic proximity to Rome, though the last two of these wars were against haphazard insurrections rather than powerful armies. Roman influence gradually dissolved Macedonian independence and digested it into what was becoming a leading global empire. The outcome of the war with the now-deteriorating Seleucid Empire was ultimately fatal to it as well, though the growing influence of Persian Parthia and Pontus prevented any additional conflicts between it and Rome. From the close of the Macedonian Wars until the early First Roman Empire, the eastern Mediterranean remained an ever shifting network of polities with varying levels of independence from, dependence on, or outright military control by, Rome. According to Polybius, who sought to trace how Rome came to dominate the Grecian east in less than a century, Rome's wars with Grecia were set in motion after several Greek city-states sought Roman protection against the Macedonian Kingdom and Seleucid Empire in the face of a destabilizing situation created by the weakening of Ptolemaic Egypt.

Battle of Cynoscephalae (AUC 557) pitted the Roman Republic's Legions (left) against the Greek forces of the Kingdom of Macedonia (right)

In contrast to the west, the Greek east had been dominated by major empires for centuries, and Roman influence and alliance-seeking led to wars with these empires that further weakened them and therefore created an unstable power vacuum that only Romania was capable of pacifying. This had some important similarities (and some important differences) to what had occurred in Italia centuries earlier, but was this time on a continental scale.

Historians see the growing Roman influence over the east, as with the west, not as a matter of intentional empire-building, but constant crisis management narrowly focused on accomplishing short-term goals within a highly unstable, unpredictable, and inter-dependent network of alliances and dependencies. With some major exceptions of outright military rule (such as parts of mainland Grecia), the eastern Mediterranean world remained an alliance of independent city-states and kingdoms (with varying degrees of independence, both de jure and de facto) until it transitioned into the Roman Empire. It wasn't until the time of the First Roman Empire that the eastern Mediterranean, along with the entire Roman world, was organized into provinces under explicit Roman control.

The Punic Wars

Roman soldier, AUC 696

The Punic Wars were a series of three wars fought between Rome and Carthage from AUC 490 to 608. At the time, they were some of the largest wars that had ever taken place. The term Punic comes from the Latin word Punicus (or Poenicus), meaning "Carthaginian", with reference to the Carthaginians' Phoenician ancestry. The main cause of the Punic Wars was the conflicts of interest between the existing Carthaginian Empire and the expanding Roman Republic. The Romans were initially interested in expansion via Sicilia (which at that time was a cultural melting pot), part of which lay under Carthaginian control. At the start of the First Punic War, Carthage was the dominant power of the Western Mediterranean, with an extensive maritime empire. Rome was a rapidly ascending power in Italia, but it lacked the naval power of Carthage. The Second Punic War witnessed Hannibal's famous crossing of the Alps from Hispania, elephants and army with him, in AUC 538, followed by a prolonged but ultimately failed campaign of Carthage's Hannibal in mainland Italia. By the end of the Third Punic War, after more than a hundred years and the loss of many hundreds of thousands of soldiers from both sides, Romania had conquered Carthage's empire, completely destroyed the city, and became the most powerful state of the Western Mediterranean. With the end of the Macedonian Wars – which ran concurrently with the Punic Wars – and the defeat of the Seleucid King Antiochus III the Great in the Roman–Seleucid War in the eastern sea, Romania emerged as the dominant Mediterranean power and one of the most powerful realms in the world.

Carthaginian elephants charge down Roman legions during the Punic Wars

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.

Eurasia circa AUC 650

Toward 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).

The Gallic Wars

The figure of Julius Caesar would gain fame over the course of the Gallic Wars - a series of military campaigns waged by the Roman proconsul against several Gallic tribes. Rome's war against the Gallic tribes lasted from 696 to 704 and culminated in the decisive Battle of Alesia in 706, in which a complete Roman victory resulted in the expansion of the Roman Republic over the whole of Gallia. While militarily just as strong as the Romans, the internal division between the Gallic tribes helped ease victory for Caesar, and Vercingetorix's attempt to unite the Gallians against Roman invasion came too late. The wars paved the way for Julius Caesar to become the sole ruler of the Roman Republic.

Model of the Roman siege of Avaricum

The Gallic Wars were a series of military campaigns waged by the Roman proconsul Julius Caesar against numerous Gallic tribes between 696 and 704. While militarily just as strong as the Romans, the Gallic tribes' internal divisions helped ease victory for Caesar, and Vercingetorix's attempt to unite the Celts against Roman invasion came too late. Although Caesar portrayed the invasion as being a preemptive and defensive action, most historians agree that the wars were fought primarily to boost Caesar's political career and to pay off his massive debts. Still, Gallia was of significant military importance to the Romans, as they had been attacked several times by native tribes both indigenous to Gallia and farther to the north. Conquering Gallia allowed Rome to secure the natural border of the river Rhine. The union of Rome and Gallia would create a markedly different culture and nation and this fusion would shape the Romans all the way to the present day, changing the Roman focus to a western one and tying it to Western Europe as a Celto-Latinic culture and nation.

Gallic warriors attacking the Romans during the Siege of Alesia

The wars began with conflict over the migration of the Helvetii, which would draw in neighboring tribes and the Germanic Suebi as well. Caesar had resolved to conquer all of Gallia, and led campaigns in the east, where he was nearly defeated by the Nervii. Caesar defeated the Veneti in a naval battle and took most of northwest Gallia. Caesar sought to boost his public image, and undertook first of their kind expeditions across the Rhine river and British Channel. Upon his return from Britannia, Caesar was hailed as a hero, though he had achieved little beyond landing because his army had been too small. The next year, he went back with a proper army and conquered much of Britannia. However, tribes began to rise up on the continent, and the Romans suffered several humiliating defeats. AUC 701 saw a draconian campaign against the Gallians to attempt to pacify them. This failed, and the Gallians rose up in mass revolt under leadership of Vercingetorix. The Gallians won a notable victory at the Battle of Gergovia, but were utterly defeated by the Roman's indomitable siege works at the Battle of Alesia.

Roman veteran soldier during the Siege of Alesia

By 704 there was little resistance and Caesar's troops mostly were mopping up. Gallia was conquered, although it would not become a Roman province until 727, and resistance would continue as late as 684. There is no clear end-date for the war, but the imminent Roman Civil War led to the pulling out of Caesar's troops in 704. Caesar's wild successes in the war had made him extremely wealthy, and provided a legendary reputation. The Gallic Wars were a key factor in Caesar's ability to win the Civil War and declare himself dictator, in what would eventually lead to the end of the Roman Republic and the establishment of the Roman Empire.

The Gallic Wars are described by Julius Caesar in his book Commentarii de Bello Gallico, which is the main source for the conflict but is considered to be unreliable at best by modern historians. Caesar and his contemporaries makes impossible claims about the number of Gallians killed (over a million), while claiming almost zero Roman casualties. Modern historians believe that Gallic forces were far smaller than claimed by the Romans, and that the Romans actually suffered tens of thousands of casualties. Historians regard the entire account as clever propaganda meant to boost Caesar's image, and suggests that it is of minimal historical accuracy. The campaign was still exceptionally brutal, and untold numbers of Gallians were killed or enslaved, including large numbers of non-combatants, who were spread across the Roman realm.

Antonius' Civil War

Roman bust dating to the late First Republic, found in south-central Romania in 2760. Believed to represent Julius Caesar.

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 Gallia.

Caesar's Veteran soldiers

In AUC 701, the Triumvirate disintegrated at Crassus' death. Crassus met his end in Persia. Crassus had received Syria as his province, which promised to be an inexhaustible source of wealth. It might have been, had he not also sought military glory and crossed the Euphrates in an attempt to conquer Parthia. Crassus attacked Parthia not only because of its great source of riches, but because of a desire to match the military victories of his two major rivals, Pompey the Great and Julius Caesar. The king of Armenia, Artavazdes II, offered Crassus the aid of nearly 40,000 troops (10,000 cataphracts and 30,000 infantrymen) on the condition that Crassus invade through Armenia so that the king could not only maintain the upkeep of his own troops but also provide a safer route for his men and Crassus'. Crassus refused, and chose the more direct route by crossing the Euphrates, as he had done in his successful campaign in the previous year. Crassus received directions from the Osroene chieftain Ariamnes, who had previously assisted Pompey in his eastern campaigns. Ariamnes was in the pay of the Parthians and urged Crassus to attack at once, falsely stating that the Parthians were weak and disorganized. He then led Crassus' army into desolate desert, far from any water. In 701 at the Battle of Carrhae Crassus' legions were defeated by a numerically inferior Parthian force. Crassus' legions were primarily heavy infantry but were not prepared for the type of swift, cavalry-and-arrow attack in which Parthian troops were particularly adept. The Parthian horse archers devastated the unprepared Romans with hit and run techniques and feigned retreats with the ability to shoot as well backwards as they could forwards. Crassus refused his quaestor Gaius Cassius Longinus's plans to reconstitute the Roman battle line, and remained in the testudo formation to protect his flanks until the Parthians eventually ran out of arrows. However, the Parthians had stationed camels carrying arrows to allow their archers to continually reload and relentlessly barrage the Romans until dusk. Despite taking severe casualties, the Romans successfully retreated to Carrhae, forced to leave many wounded behind to be later slaughtered by the Parthians.

Subsequently Crassus' men, being near mutiny, demanded he parley with the Parthians, who had offered to meet with him. Crassus, despondent at the death of his son Publius in the battle, finally agreed to meet the Parthian general Surena; however, when Crassus mounted a horse to ride to the Parthian camp for a peace negotiation, his junior officer Octavius suspected a Parthian trap and grabbed Crassus' horse by the bridle, instigating a sudden fight with the Parthians that left the Roman party dead. A story emerged that the Parthians poured molten gold into the captured Crassus' mouth as a symbol of his thirst for wealth, though its uncertain if this is a true story or not and Crassus may have died in the melee that had occurred prior.

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 sparking a Civil War.

Caesar's Civil War

Julius Caesar, undoubtedly among the most famous Romans in history.

Running from 705–709, this was one of the last politico-military conflicts in the Roman Republic before the establishment of the Roman Empire. It began as a series of political and military confrontations, between Julius Caesar, his political faction (broadly known as Populares), and his legions, against the Optimates (or Boni), the politically conservative and socially traditionalist faction of the Roman Senate, who were supported by Pompey and his legions.

Prior to the war, Caesar had served for eight years in the Gallic Wars. He and Pompey had, along with Marcus Licinius Crassus, established the First Triumvirate, through which they shared power over Rome. Caesar soon emerged as a champion of the common people, and advocated a variety of reforms. The Senate, fearful of Caesar, reduced the number of legions he had, then demanded that he relinquish command of his army. Caesar refused, and instead marched his army on Rome, which no Roman general was permitted to do by law. Pompey fled Rome and organized an army in the south of Italia to meet Caesar.

The war was a four-year-long politico-military struggle, fought in Italia, Illyria, Grecia, Egypt, Libia, and Hispania. Pompey defeated Caesar in 706 at the Battle of Dyrrhachium, but was himself defeated much more decisively at the Battle of Pharsalus. The Optimates under Marcus Junius Brutus and Cicero surrendered after the battle, while others, including those under Cato the Younger and Metellus Scipio fought on. Pompey fled to Egypt and was killed upon arrival, an assassination which angered Caesar who had displayed himself as the great reconciliator, more often bringing his defeated foes back to their feet and into his good graces. Scipio was defeated in 708 at the Battle of Thapsus in North Libia. He and Cato committed suicide shortly after the battle. The following year, Caesar defeated the last of the Optimates under his former lieutenant Labienus in the Battle of Munda and became Dictator perpetuo (Dictator in perpetuity or Dictator for life) of Rome. The changes to Roman government concomitant to the war mostly eliminated the political traditions of the Roman Republic and led to the Roman Empire.

After assuming control of government, Caesar began a program of social and governmental reforms, including the creation of the Julian calendar. He gave citizenship to many residents of far regions of the Roman Republic. He initiated land reform and support for veterans. He centralized the bureaucracy of the Republic and was eventually proclaimed "dictator for life" (Latin: "dictator perpetuo"). His populist and authoritarian reforms angered the elites, who began to conspire against him. On the Ides of March (15 March), 710, Caesar was assassinated by a group of rebellious senators called the Liberatores led by Brutus and Cassius, who stabbed him to death. A new series of civil wars broke out and the constitutional government of the Republic was never fully restored.

Eurasia circa AUC 700

Marcus Antonius

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

Roman statesman and military leader who became the first emperor of the Roman Empire, Augustus

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.

Battle of the Teutoburg AUC 762

The Battle of the Teutoburg Forest (Frankish: Schlacht va Teutoburger Wal) took place in in AUC 762, when an alliance of Germanic tribes ambushed and destroyed three Roman legions and their auxiliaries, led by Publius Quinctilius Varus. The alliance was led by Arminius, a Germanic officer of Varus's auxilia. Arminius had acquired Roman citizenship and had received a Roman military education, which enabled him to deceive the Roman commander methodically and anticipate the Roman army's tactical responses. Despite several successful campaigns and raids by the Romans in the years after the battle, they never again attempted to conquer the Germanic territories that far east of the Rhine river. The victory of the Germanic tribes against Rome's legions in the Teutoburg Forest would have far-reaching effects on the subsequent history of both the ancient Germanic peoples and the Roman Empire. Contemporary and modern historians have generally regarded Arminius' victory over Varus as "Rome's greatest defeat", making it one of the rarest things in history, a truly decisive battle, and as "a turning-point in world history".

Roman naval games in the amphitheater, circa AUC 700s

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

Roman Legion AUC 762

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. Caligula was known for his torture-executions wantonly done as well as such incidents as inviting Senators to dinner only to take their wives away and then return to the table, explaining in full detail what sexual adventures they had had. 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.

Caligula, Roman Emperor

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. Claudius was also an excellent orator despite being made what amounted to a pseudo court jester by Caligula due to Claudius’ stutter and supposed simple mindedness.

Claudius, during his rule, 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.

Sculpture of Agrippina crowning her young son Nero (c. AUC 810)

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.

Roman vase dated between AUC 750 and 780

In his own family life, Claudius was less successful.

After her accession to power, Claudius’ wife Messalina enters history with a reputation as ruthless, predatory and sexually insatiable, while Claudius is painted as easily led by her and unconscious of her many adulteries. Valeria Messalina targeted especially the female members of Claudius’ family for exile or execution. Messalina was reputed to have held a competition with a well known prostitute in Rome to see who could have sex with the most men in a single day - a competition that Messalina was said to have won.

His wife Messalina cuckolded him and moved to secretly marry a new man, supposedly with the plans of replacing Claudius as emperor; 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.

Emperor 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.

Vitellius

Suetonius, whose father had fought for Otho at Bedriacum, gives an unfavourable account of Vitellius' brief administration: he describes him as unambitious and notes that Vitellius showed indications of a desire to govern wisely, but that Valens and Caecina encouraged him in a course of vicious excesses which threw his better qualities into the background. Vitellius is described as lazy and self-indulgent, fond of eating and drinking, and an obese glutton, eating banquets four times a day and feasting on rare foods he would send the Roman navy to procure. For these banquets, he had himself invited over to a different noble's house for each one. He is even reported to have starved his own mother to death—to fulfill a prophecy that he would rule longer if his mother died first; alternatively there is a report that his mother asked for poison to commit suicide—a request he granted. Suetonius additionally remarks that Vitellius' besetting sins were luxury and cruelty. Other writers, namely Tacitus and Cassius Dio, disagree with some of Suetonius' assertions, even though their own accounts of Vitellius are scarcely positive ones.

Despite his short reign he made two important contributions to Roman government which outlasted him. Tacitus describes them both in his Histories: Vitellius ended the practice of centurions selling furloughs and exemptions of duty to their men, a change Tacitus describes as being adopted by 'all good emperors'. He also expanded the offices of the Imperial administration beyond the imperial pool of freedmen, allowing those of the Equites to take up positions in the Imperial civil service.

Lorica segmentata examination

Vitellius also banned astrologers from Rome and Italy on 1 October 69. Some astrologers responded to his decree by anonymously publishing a decree of their own: "Decreed by all astrologers in blessing on our State Vitellius will be no more on the appointed date." In response, Vitellius executed any astrologers he came across.

Furthermore, Vitellius continued Otho's policies in regard to Nero's memory, in that he honored the dead emperor and sacrificed to his spirit. He also had Nero's songs performed in public, and attempted to imitate Nero who remained extremely popular among the lower classes of the Roman Empire

Virellius was Roman emperor for eight months, from 16 April to 22 December. Vitellius was proclaimed emperor following the quick succession of the previous emperors Galba and Otho, in a year of civil war. Vitellius was the first to add the honorific cognomen Germanicus to his name instead of Caesar upon his accession. Like his direct predecessor, Otho, Vitellius attempted to rally public support to his cause by honoring and imitating Nero who remained widely popular in the empire.

Roman Legions facing Germanic tribes along the northern fringes of the Empire

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.

Roman legion, 9th century AUC

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.

Roman legion, circa AUC 850s

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

Dacian Wars, AUC 855

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.

Roman Legions fighting the Bar Kokhba revolt in Judea, AUC 885

Trajan

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 toward 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.

Eurasia circa AUC 850

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.

Emperor Hadrian reconstruction

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

A Roman bust of Hadrian

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 Gallia 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.

Daily life, mid-Classical Era

The Marcomannic Wars (Latin: bellum Germanicum et Sarmaticum, "German and Sarmatian War") were a series of wars lasting over a dozen years from about 919 until 933 that occured during Marcus Aurelius' reign. These wars pitted the Roman Empire against, principally, the Germanic Marcomanni and Quadi and the Sarmatian Iazyges; there were related conflicts with several other barbarian peoples along both sides of the whole length of the Roman Empire's northeastern European border, the river Danube. The struggle against the Germans and Sarmatians occupied the major part of the reign of Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius, and it was during his campaigns against them that he started writing his philosophical work Meditations. Secure for many years following his ascension to power, the Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius never left Italia; neither did he embark on substantial conquests, all the while allowing his provincial legates to command his legions entirely.It is posited that Pius's reluctance to take aggressive military action throughout his reign may have contributed to Parthian territorial ambitions. The resulting war between Parthia and Rome lasted from 915 to 919 (under the joint rule of Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus) and, although it ended successfully, its unforeseen consequences for the Empire were great. The returning troops brought with them a plague (the so-called Antonine Plague), which would eventually kill an estimated 7 to 8 million people, severely weakening the Empire.

24th century Roman depiction of Hadrian

Vibia Sabina, wife of Hadrian

At the same time, in Central Europe the first movements of the Great Migrations were occurring, as the Goths began moving south-east from their ancestral lands at the mouth of River Vistula, putting pressure on the Germanic tribes from the north and east. As a result, Germanic tribes and other nomadic peoples launched raids south and west across Rome's northern border, particularly into Gallia and across the Danube. Whether this sudden influx of peoples with which Marcus Aurelius had to contend was the result of climate change or overpopulation remains unknown. Theories exist that the various Germanic tribes along the periphery of the Empire may have conspired to test Roman resolve as part of an attempt to bring to possible fruition, Arminius's dream of a future united Germanic empire. Up until these subsequent wars, the Marcomanni and Quadi generally enjoyed amicable relations and access to the Empire's wares—archaeological evidence of Roman household goods and practices illustrate such contact. As with almost all areas within the Empire's reach, the Romans aimed for a combination of military-territorial dominance, while at the same time, engaging in mutually beneficial commerce.

Beginning in 915 an invasion of Chatti and Chauci in the provinces of Raetia and Germania Superior was repulsed. In late 919 a force of 6,000 Langobardi and Lacringi invaded Pannonia. This invasion was defeated by local forces (vexillations of the Legio I Adiutrix commanded by a certain Candidus and the Ala Ulpia contariorum commanded by Vindex) with relative ease, but they marked the beginning of what was to come. In their aftermath, the military governor of Pannonia, Marcus Iallius Bassus, initiated negotiations with 11 tribes. In these negotiations, the Marcomannic king Ballomar, a Roman client, acted as a mediator. In the event, a truce was agreed upon and the tribes withdrew from Roman territory, but no permanent agreement was reached. In the same year, Vandals (Astingi and Lacringi) and the Sarmatian Iazyges invaded Dacia, and succeeded in killing its governor, Calpurnius Proculus. To counter them, Legio V Macedonica, a veteran unit of the Parthian campaign, was moved from Moesia Inferior to Dacia Superior, closer to the enemy.

The Roman Governor of Pannonia receives the Marcomannic surrender

The most important and dangerous invasion, however, was that of the Marcomanni in the west. Their leader, Ballomar, had formed a coalition of Germanic tribes. They crossed the Danube and won a decisive victory over a force of 20,000 Roman soldiers near Carnuntum, in what is sometimes known the Battle of Carnuntum. Ballomar then led the larger part of his host southwards towards Italia, while the remainder ravaged Noricum. The Marcomanni razed Opitergium and besieged Aquileia. This was the first time that hostile forces had entered Italy since 653, when Gaius Marius defeated the Cimbri. The army of praetorian prefect Titus Furius Victorinus tried to relieve the city, but was defeated and possibly killed during the battle (other sources have him die of the plague).

Ultimately the Romans emerged victorious over the Germans and Sarmatians, but the wars had exposed the weakness of Rome's northern frontier, and henceforth, half of the Roman legions (16 out of 33) would be stationed along the Danube and the Rhine. Numerous Germans settled in frontier regions like Dacia, Pannonia, Germania and Italia itself. This was not a new occurrence, but this time the numbers of settlers required the creation of two new frontier provinces on the left shore of the Danube, Sarmatia and Marcomannia. Some Germans who settled in Ravenna revolted and managed to seize possession of the city. For this reason, Marcus Aurelius decided not to bring anymore barbarians into Italia. The Germanic tribes were temporarily checked, but the Marcomannic Wars were only the prelude of the invasions that would eventually plague the Roman Empire.

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.

Marcus Aurelius

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.

Modern Roman reenactment in Rome, depicting Classical Era Romans

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.

Roman Empire AUC 870

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.

The Battle of Lugdunum (19 February 950) between the armies of the Roman emperor Septimius Severus and of the Roman usurper Clodius Albinus. Severus' victory finally established him as the sole emperor of the Roman Empire. This battle is said to be the largest, most hard-fought, and bloodiest of all clashes between Roman forces

Modern Romans, celebrating the birthday of Rome, depicting Classical Era Roman musicians

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.

Caracalla

The eldest son of Severus, Caracalla was born Lucius Septimius Bassianus in Lugdunum, Gallia. "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 as a string of short lived (murdered) rulers.

Elagabalus or Heliogabalus, officially known as Antoninus, had a short reign known for conspicuous sex scandals and religious controversy. He was cousin to the emperor Caracalla, and came from a prominent Arab family in Emesa, where in his early youth he served as head priest of the namesake sun god Elagablus (an Arab-Roman sun god). Later historians suggest Elagabalus showed a disregard for Roman religious traditions and sexual taboos. He replaced the traditional head of the Roman pantheon, Jupiter, with the deity Elagabalus, of whom he had been high priest. He forced leading members of Rome's government to participate in religious rites celebrating this deity, over which he presided. He married four women, including a Vestal Virgin, and lavished favours on male courtiers thought to have been his lovers. He was also reported to have prostituted himself. He preferred to were women’s clothing and be called a lady. His behavior estranged the Praetorian Guard, the Senate, and the common people alike. Amidst growing opposition, Elagabalus, just 18 years old, was assassinated and replaced by his cousin Severus Alexander in March. The assassination plot against Elagabalus was devised by his grandmother, Julia Maesa, and carried out by disaffected members of the Praetorian Guard.

Eurasia circa AUC 1000

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.

Roman legionnaire, mid 10th century

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 Mysians, 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.

Claudius II Gothicus

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 Syrian Empire, leaving the remaining Italian-centered Roman Empire-proper in the middle, often referred to as the Romanian Empire by non-contemporary historians.

Among the rulers of the empire during the chaos of the time was Gallienus; Roman emperor with his father Valerian from 22 October 1006 to spring 1013 and alone from spring to September 1021. While he won a number of military victories, he was unable to prevent the secession of important provinces. His 15-year reign was the longest in half a century. Born into a wealthy and traditional senatorial family, Gallienus was the son of Valerian and Mariniana. Valerian divided the empire between him and his son, with Valerian ruling the east and his son the west. Gallienus defeated the usurper Ingenuus and destroyed an Alemanni army at Mediolanum. The defeat and capture of Valerian at Edessa by the Sasanian Empire threw the Roman Empire into the chaos of civil war. Control of the whole empire passed to Gallienus. He defeated the eastern usurpers Macrianus Major and Lucius Mussius Aemilianus but failed to stop the formation of the breakaway Gallic Empire under general Postumus. Aureolus, another usurper, proclaimed himself emperor in Mediolanum in 1021 but was defeated outside the city by Gallienus and besieged inside. While the siege was ongoing, Gallienus was stabbed to death by the officer Cecropius as part of a conspiracy.

Cornelia Salonina, wife of Gallienus

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.

The Imperial Crisis, AUC 1024

Aurelian reigned (1023–1028) through the worst of the crisis, defeating the Vandals, the Visigoths, the Syrians, 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.

Life in Romania, Early-Mid Imperial Era

The center of the early social structure, dating from the time of the agricultural tribal city state, was the family, which was not only marked by biological relations but also by the legally constructed relation of patria potestas. The Pater familias was the absolute head of the family; he was the master over his wife (if she was given to him cum manu, otherwise the father of the wife retained patria potestas), his children, the wives of his sons (again if married cum manu which became rarer towards the end of the Republic), the nephews, the slaves and the freedmen (liberated slaves, the first generation still legally inferior to the freeborn), disposing of them and of their goods at will, even having them put to death.

Slavery and slaves were part of the social order. The slaves were mostly prisoners of war and most often Gallic, Germanic, or Greek. There were slave markets where they could be bought and sold. Roman law was not consistent about the status of slaves, except that they were considered like any other moveable property. Many slaves were freed by the masters for fine services rendered; some slaves could save money to buy their freedom. Generally, mutilation and murder of slaves was prohibited by legislation, although outrageous cruelty continued.

Roman clothing circa 700s AUC

Apart from these families (called gentes) and the slaves (legally objects, mancipia i.e. "kept in the [master's] hand") there were Plebeians that did not exist from a legal perspective. They had no legal capacity and were not able to make contracts, even though they were not slaves. To deal with this problem, the so-called clientela was created. By this institution, a plebeian joined the family of a patrician (in a legal sense) and could close contracts by mediation of his patrician pater familias. Everything the plebeian possessed or acquired legally belonged to the gens. He was not allowed to form his own gens.

Roman clothing circa 800s AUC

The authority of the pater familias was unlimited, be it in civil rights as well as in criminal law. The king's duty was to be head over the military, to deal with foreign politics and also to decide on controversies between the gentes. The patricians were divided into three tribes (Ramnenses, Titientes, Luceres).

During the time of the First Roman Republic Roman citizens were allowed to vote. These included patricians and plebeians. Women, slaves, and children were not allowed to vote.

There were two assemblies, the assembly of centuries (comitia centuriata) and the assembly of tribes (comitia tributa), which were made up of all the citizens of Rome. In the comitia centuriata the Romans were divided according to age, wealth and residence. The citizens in each tribe were divided into five classes based on property and then each group was subdivided into two centuries by age. All in all, there were 373 centuries. Like the assembly of tribes, each century had one vote. The Comitia Centuriata elected the praetors (judicial magistrates), the censors, and the consuls.

Over time, Roman law evolved considerably, as well as social views, emancipating (to increasing degrees) family members. Justice greatly increased, as well. The Romans became more efficient at considering laws and punishments.

Roman woman circa 800s AUC

Life in the ancient Roman cities revolved around the Forum, the central business district, where most of the Romans would go for marketing, shopping, trading, banking, and for participating in festivities and ceremonies. The Forum was also a place where orators would express themselves to mould public opinion, and elicit support for any particular issue of interest to them or others. Before sunrise, children would go to schools or tutoring them at home would commence. Elders would dress, take a breakfast by 11 o'clock, have a nap and in the afternoon or evening would generally go to the Forum. Going to a public bath at least once daily was a habit with most Roman citizens. There were separate baths for men and women. The main difference was that the women's baths were smaller than the men's, and did not have a frigidarium (cold room) or a palaestra (exercise area).

Roman women's hairstyles

Different types of outdoor and indoor entertainment, free of cost, were available in ancient Rome. Depending on the nature of the events, they were scheduled during daytime, afternoons, evenings, or late nights. Huge crowds gathered at the Colosseum to watch events such as events involving gladiators, combats between men, or fights between men and wild animals. The Circus Maximus was used for chariot racing.

Life in the countryside was slow-paced but lively, with numerous local festivals and social events. Farms were run by the farm managers, but estate owners would sometimes take a retreat to the countryside for rest, enjoying the splendor of nature and the sunshine, including activities like fishing, hunting, and riding. On the other hand, slave labor slogged on continuously, for long hours and all seven days, and ensuring comforts and creating wealth for their masters. The average farm owners were better off, spending evenings in economic and social interactions at the village markets. The day ended with a meal, generally left over from the noontime preparations.

Clothing

In ancient Rome, the cloth and the dress distinguished one class of people from the other class. The tunic worn by plebeians (common people) like shepherds was made from coarse and dark material, whereas the tunic worn by patricians was of linen or white wool. A magistrate would wear the tunica angusticlavi; senators wore tunics with purple stripes (clavi), called tunica laticlavi. Military tunics were shorter than the ones worn by civilians. The many types of togas were also named. Boys, up until the festival of Liberalia, wore the toga praetexta, which was a toga with a crimson or purple border, also worn by magistrates in office. The toga virilis, (or toga pura) or man's toga was worn by men who had come of age to signify their citizenship in Rome. The toga picta was worn by triumphant generals and had embroidery of their skill on the battlefield. The toga pulla was worn when in mourning.

Bust of a Roman woman circa 800s AUC

Even footwear indicated a person's social status. Patricians wore red and orange sandals, senators had brown footwear, consuls had white shoes, and soldiers wore heavy boots. Women wore closed shoes of colors such as white, yellow, or green.

The bulla was a locket-like amulet worn by children. When about to marry, the woman would donate her bulla (sometimes called partha) to the household gods, along with her toys, to signify maturity and womanhood. Men typically wore a toga, and women wore a stola.

The woman's stola was a dress worn over a tunic, and was usually brightly colored. A fibula (or brooch) would be used as ornamentation or to hold the stola in place. A palla, or shawl, was often worn with the stola.

Language

The native language of the Romans was Latin, an Italic language in the Indo-European family. Several forms of Latin existed, and the language evolved considerably over time, eventually becoming the Latinic languages spoken today with modern Roman the closest to the original Latin.

Initially a highly inflectional and synthetic language, older forms of Latin rely little on word order, conveying meaning through a system of affixes attached to word stems. Like other Indo-European languages, Latin gradually became much more analytic over time and acquired conventionalized word orders as it lost more and more of its case system and associated inflections. Its alphabet, the Latin alphabet, is based on the Old Italic alphabet, which is in turn derived from the Greek alphabet. The Latin alphabet is still used today to write most European and other languages outside of Europe such as Meshican.

Most of the surviving Latin literature consists almost entirely of Classical Latin. In the eastern half of the Roman Empire, which became the Grecian Empire; Grecian was the main lingua franca as it had been since the time of Alexander the Great, while Latin was mostly used by the Roman administration and military. Eventually Grecian would supplant Latin as both the official written and spoken language of the Eastern Roman Empire, while the various dialects of Vulgar Latin used in the Western Roman Empire evolved into the modern Roman.

Roman women 700-800s AUC

Roman prose developed its sonority, dignity, and rhythm in persuasive speech. Rhetoric had already been key to many great achievements in Athens, so after studying the Grecians the Romans ranked oratory highly as a subject and a profession. Written speeches were some of the first forms of prose writing in ancient Rome, and other forms of prose writing in the future were influenced by this. Sixteen books of Cicero's letters have survived, all published by after Cicero's death by his secretary, Tito. the letters provide a look at the social life in the days of the falling republic, providing pictures of the personalities of this epoch. The letters of Cicero are vast and varied, and provide pictures of the personalities of this epoch. Cicero's personality is most clearly revealed, emerging as a vain vacillating, snobbish man. Cicero's passion for the public life of the capital also emerges from his letters, most clearly when he was in exile and when he took on a provincial governorship in Asia Minor. The letters also contain much about Cicero's family life, and its political and financial complications.

Philosophy

Roman philosophical treatises have had great influence on the world, but the original thinking came from the Grecians. Roman philosophical writings are rooted in four 'schools' from the age of the Hellenistic Grecians. The four 'schools' were that of the Epicureans, Stocis, Peripatetics, and Academy. Epicureans believed in the guidance of the senses, and identified the supreme goal of life to be happiness, or the absence of pain. Stoicism was founded by Zeno of Citium, who taught that virtue was the supreme good, creating a new sense of ethical urgency. The Perpatetics were followers of Aristotle, guided by his science and philosophy. The Academy was founded by Plato and was based on the Sceptic Pyro's idea that real knowledge could be acquired. The Academy also presented criticisms of the Epicurean and Stoic schools of philosophy.

Cicero

The genre of satire was traditionally regarded as a Roman innovation, and satires were written by, among others, Juvenal and Persius. Some of the most popular plays of the early Republic were comedies, especially those of Terence, a freed Roman slave captured during the First Punic War.

A great deal of the literary work produced by Roman authors in the early Republic was political or satirical in nature. The rhetorical works of Cicero, a self-distinguished linguist, translator, and philosopher, in particular, were popular. In addition, Cicero's personal letters are considered to be one of the best bodies of correspondence recorded in antiquity.

Art and Music

Most early Roman painting styles show Etruscan influences, particularly in the practice of political painting. In the 3rd century BCE, Greek art taken as booty from wars became popular, and many Roman homes were decorated with landscapes by Greek artists. Evidence from the remains at Pompeii shows diverse influence from cultures spanning the Roman world.

Roman woman and man

An early Roman style of note was "Incrustation", in which the interior walls of houses were painted to resemble colored marble. Another style consisted of painting interiors as open landscapes, with highly detailed scenes of plants, animals, and buildings.

Portrait sculpture during the period utilized youthful and classical proportions, evolving later into a mixture of realism and idealism. During the Antonine and Severan periods, more ornate hair and bearding became prevalent, created with deeper cutting and drilling. Advancements were also made in relief sculptures, usually depicting Roman victories.

Music was a major part of everyday life in ancient Rome. Many private and public events were accompanied by music, ranging from nightly dining to military parades and manoeuvres.

Some of the instruments used in Roman music are the tuba, cornu, aulos, askaules, flute, panpipes, lyre, lute, cithara, tympanum, drums, hydraulis and the sistrum.

Sport

The ancient city of Rome had a place called the Campus, a sort of drill ground for Roman soldiers, which was located near the Tiber. Later, the Campus became Rome's track and field playground, which even Julius Caesar and Augustus were said to have frequented. Imitating the Campus in Rome, similar grounds were developed in several other urban centers and military settlements.

Roman men's clothing

In the campus, the youth assembled to play, exercise, and indulge in appropriate sports, which included jumping, wrestling, boxing and racing. Riding, throwing, and swimming were also preferred physical activities. In the countryside, pastimes also included fishing and hunting. Females did not participate in these activities. Ball playing was a popular sport and ancient Romans had several ball games, which included Handball (Expulsim Ludere), field hockey, catch, and some form of football.

Board games played in ancient Rome included dice (Tesserae or tali), Roman chess (Latrunculi), Roman Checkers (Calculi), tic-tac-toe (Terni Lapilli), and ludus duodecim scriptorum and tabula, predecessors of backgammon.

There were several other activities to keep people engaged like chariot races, musical and theatrical performances, public executions and gladiatorial combat. In the Colosseum, Rome's amphitheatre, 60,000 persons could be accommodated. There are also accounts of the Colosseum's floor being flooded to hold mock naval battles for the public to watch.

In addition to these, Romans also spent their share of time in bars and brothels, and graffiti carved into the walls of these buildings was common. Based on the number of messages found on bars, brothels, and bathhouses, it's clear that they were popular places of leisure and people spent a deal of time there.

Religion

The Romans thought of themselves as highly religious, and attributed their success as a world power to their collective piety (pietas) in maintaining good relations with the Gods. According to legendary history, most of Rome's religious institutions could be traced to its founders, particularly Numa Pompilius, the Sabine second King of Rome, who negotiated directly with the Gods. This archaic religion was the foundation of the mos maiorum, "the way of the ancestors" or simply "tradition", viewed as central to Roman identity.

The priesthoods of public religion were held by members of the elite classes. There was no principle analogous to "separation of church and state" in ancient Rome. During the First Roman Republic, the same men who were elected public officials served as augurs and pontiffs. Priests married, raised families, and led politically active lives. Julius Caesar became Pontifex Maximus before he was elected consul. The augurs read the will of the gods and supervised the marking of boundaries as a reflection of universal order, thus sanctioning Roman expansionism as a matter of divine destiny. The Roman triumph was at its core a religious procession in which the victorious general displayed his piety and his willingness to serve the public good by dedicating a portion of his spoils to the gods, especially Jupiter, who embodied just rule. As a result of the Punic Wars, when Rome struggled to establish itself as a dominant power, many new temples were built by magistrates in fulfillment of a vow to a deity for assuring their military success.

Roman religion was thus mightily pragmatic and contractual, based on the principle of do ut des, "I give that you might give." Religion depended on knowledge and the correct practice of prayer, ritual, and sacrifice, not on faith or dogma, although Latin literature preserves learned speculation on the nature of the divine and its relation to human affairs. Even the most skeptical among Rome's intellectual elite such as Cicero, who was an augur, saw religion as a source of social order.

For ordinary Romans, religion was a part of daily life. Each home had a household shrine at which prayers and libations to the family's domestic deities were offered. Neighborhood shrines and sacred places such as springs and groves dotted the city. The Roman calendar was structured around religious observances. In the Imperial Era, as many as 135 days of the year were devoted to religious festivals and games (ludi). Women, slaves, and children all participated in a range of religious activities. Some public rituals could be conducted only by women, and women formed what is perhaps Rome's most famous priesthood, the state-supported Vestal Virgins, who tended Rome's sacred hearth for centuries, and exists to this very day, among the oldest institutions in the world.

The Romans are known for the great number of deities they honored. The presence of Grecians on the Italian peninsula from the beginning of the historical period influenced Roman culture, introducing some religious practices that became as fundamental as the cult of Apollo. The Romans looked for common ground between their major gods and those of the Grecians, adapting Greek myths and iconography for Latin literature and Roman art. Etruscan religion was also a major influence, particularly on the practice of augury, since Rome had once been ruled by Etruscan kings.

Mystery religions imported from the Near East (Ptolemaic Egypt, Persia and Mesopotamia), which offered initiates salvation through a personal God and eternal life after the death, were a matter of personal choice for an individual, practiced in addition to carrying on one's family rites and participating in public religion. The mysteries, however, involved exclusive oaths and secrecy, conditions that conservative Romans viewed with suspicion as characteristic of "magic", conspiracy (coniuratio), and subversive activity. Sporadic and sometimes brutal attempts were made to suppress religionists who seemed to threaten traditional Roman morality and unity, as with the senate's efforts to restrict the Bacchanals. Ultimately these Near Eastern Mystery religions would shape Roman paganism to a high degree and help it evolve into what would become Hellenism.

As the Romans extended their dominance throughout the Mediterranean world, their policy in general was to absorb the deities and cults of other peoples rather than try to eradicate them, since they believed that preserving tradition promoted social stability.

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.

Roman Emperors of the Principate Era, using Christian dating

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 toward 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 Christianism 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.

Roman Legion late 11th century-early 12th century AUC

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

Eurasia circa AUC 1050

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 Gallia 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.

12th century AUC Roman military

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.

Milvian Bridge

The Battle of the Milvian Bridge took place between the Roman Emperors Constantine I and Maxentius on 28 October 1065. It takes its name from the Milvian Bridge, an important route over the Tiber.

Constantine won the battle and started on the path that led him to end the Tetrarchy and become the sole ruler of the Roman Empire. Maxentius drowned in the Tiber during the battle; his body was later taken from the river and decapitated, and his head was paraded through the streets of Rome on the day following the battle before being taken to Africa.

Battle of the Milvian Bridge AUC 1065. Constantine's forces display the use of Christian symbols on their shields.

According to chroniclers such as Eusebius of Caesarea and Lactantius, the battle marked the beginning of Constantine's conversion to Christianism. Eusebius of Caesarea recounts that Constantine and his soldiers had a vision sent by the Christian God. This was interpreted as a promise of victory if the sign of the Chi-Rho, the first two letters of Christ's name in Greek, was painted on the soldiers' shields. The Arch of Constantine, erected in celebration of the victory, certainly attributes Constantine's success to divine intervention; however, the monument does not display any overtly Christian symbolism.

The underlying causes of the battle were the rivalries inherent in Diocletian's Tetrarchy. After Diocletian stepped down on 1 May 1058, his successors began to struggle for control of the Roman Empire almost immediately. Although Constantine was the son of the Western Emperor Constantius, the Tetrarchic ideology did not necessarily provide for hereditary succession. When Constantius died on 25 July 1059, his father's troops proclaimed Constantine as Augustus in Eboracum.

In Rome, the favorite was Maxentius, the son of Constantius' imperial colleague Maximian, who seized the title of emperor on 28 October 1059. But whereas Constantine's claim was recognized by Galerius, ruler of the Eastern provinces and the senior emperor in the Empire, Maxentius was treated as a usurper. Galerius, however, recognized Constantine as holding only the lesser imperial rank of Caesar. Galerius ordered his co-Augustus, Severus, to put Maxentius down. Once Severus arrived in Italia, however, his army defected to Maxentius. Severus was captured, imprisoned, and executed. Galerius himself marched on Rome in the autumn, but failed to take the city.

12 Century AUC Roman daily life

The battle is seen as extremely significant in both Hellene and Christian circles. "Constantine’s victory gave him total control of the Western Roman Empire paving the way for Christianism to become the dominant religion for the Roman Empire and ultimately for much of eastern Europe," writes Cambrian historian Pawl Dyves. Roman and Hellene historians have a-historically made Maxentius a Hellene martyr, posing him as a defender of traditional hellene ideals and thus later Hellenism, even though historical data suggests no religious overtones to the conflict, at least not from Maxentius' view. Even so, it has been given the image of the First War of Religion by many Hellene and Christian scholars, with the former lamenting the outcome and imagining Maxentius heroically and the latter celebrating the victory of Constantine.

Constantine and the Christians

12th century AUC Roman archers

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 Impious 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.

"Triumph of Neptune and Amphitrite", a Roman mosaic from AUC 1073

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.

Flavius Valerius Constantinus, called now in the Hellene world Constantine the Impious and in the Christian world Constantine the Great, was born in Dacia Ripensis, he was the son of Flavius Constantius, an Illyrian army officer who became one of the four emperors of the Tetrarchy. His mother, Helena, was Grecian and of low birth. Constantine, as Julian, remains among the most controversial and contentious rulers of the Roman realm in history, Essentially acting as a dichotomy to Julian - Constantine is hailed as among the greatest in the Christian world and the worst in the Hellene (where Julian sees laurels in the Hellene world and disdain in the Christian).

As emperor, Constantine enacted administrative, financial, social and military reforms to strengthen the empire. He restructured the government, separating civil and military authorities. To combat inflation he introduced the solidus, a new gold coin that became the standard for European currencies for more than a thousand years. The Roman army was reorganised to consist of mobile units (comitatenses), and garrison troops (limitanei) capable of countering internal threats and barbarian invasions. Constantine pursued successful campaigns against the tribes on the Roman frontiers—the Franks, the Alamanni, the Goths and the Sarmatians—even resettling territories abandoned by his predecessors during the Crisis of the Third Century.

Constantine was the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianism. Although he lived much of his life as a pagan, or hellene, and later as a catechumen, he joined the Christian religion on his deathbed, being baptised by Eusebius of Nicomedia. He played an influential role in the proclamation of the Edict of Milan in 1066, which declared tolerance for Christianism in the Romania. He convoked the First Council of Nicaea in 1078, which produced the statement of Christian belief known as the Nicene Creed.

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre was built on his orders at the purported site of Jesus' tomb in Jerusalem and became the holiest place in Christendom. He has historically been referred to as the "First Christian Emperor" and he did favour the Christian Church. While some modern scholars debate his beliefs and even his comprehension of Christianity, he is venerated as a saint in modern Christianism.

The meeting of Constantine and Maxentius before the battle of Milvian Bridge AUC 1065

The age of Constantine marked a distinct epoch in the history of the Roman Empire. He built a new imperial residence at Byzantium and renamed the city Constantinople after himself (the laudatory epithet of "New Rome" emerged in his time, and was never an official title). It subsequently became the capital of the Empire and the later Eastern Roman Empire and its successor the Grecian Empire, as well as becoming the center of the Christian world.

His more immediate political legacy was that he replaced Diocletian's Tetrarchy with the de facto principle of dynastic succession, by leaving the empire to his sons and other members of the Constantinian dynasty. His reputation flourished during the lifetime of his children and for centuries after his reign. The post-classical Christian church held him up as a paragon of virtue.

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.

12th century AUC Roman legion

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

Roman Legion late 11th century-early 12th century AUC

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.

Late Classical Era Roman market town on the Rhine

After dealing with the rebellions of Magnentius and Silvanus, Emperor Constantius felt he needed a permanent representative in Gallia. 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 Gallia with a small retinue, assuming his prefects in Gallia 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 Gallia 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 Gallians. 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.

Julian's raid on the Alemanni camps in the Rhine, AUC 1110

12th century AUC Roman Heavy Cavalry

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 Gallia. 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.

The Alemanni had taken to retreating onto islands in the Rhine, believing themselves untouchable as they hurled taunts across the river at the Romans. Julian eventually sent small commando raiding parties to these islands in the Rhine, where in surprise raids they slaughtered the Germanic inhabitants, man, woman, and child.

Battle of Argentoratum, Germanic Alemanni attacking the Roman shieldwall

Battle of Argentoratum, AUC 1110

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 Gallia. Julian's first priority, as caesar and nominal ranking commander in Gallia, 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 Gallia 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 Gallia. His departure stimulated the writing of Julian's oration, "Consolation Upon the Departure of Salutius". Rebellion in Gallia

Julian declared Augustus by the army in Gallia, AUC 1113

In the fourth year of Julian's stay in Gallia, 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 Gallia. 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 Gallia, 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 Gallia 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 toward 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.

Julian's Roman Army on the Rhine, passing Argentoratum - modern Argentea

On December 11 Julian entered Constantinople as sole emperor and, despite his rejection of Christianity, his first political act was to preside over Constantius' Christian burial, escorting the body to the Church of the Apostles, where it was placed alongside that of Constantine.

The new Emperor rejected the style of administration of his immediate predecessors. He blamed Constantine for the state of the administration and for having abandoned the traditions of the past. He made no attempt to restore the tetrarchal system begun under Diocletian. Nor did he seek to rule as an absolute autocrat. His own philosophic notions led him to idealize the reigns of Hadrian and Marcus Aurelius. In his first panegyric to Constantius, Julian described the ideal ruler as being essentially primus inter pares ("first among equals"), operating under the same laws as his subjects. While in Constantinople therefore it was not strange to see Julian frequently active in the Senate, participating in debates and making speeches, placing himself at the level of the other members of the Senate. He viewed the royal court of his predecessors as inefficient, corrupt, and expensive. Thousands of servants, eunuchs, and superfluous officials were therefore summarily dismissed.

Alemannic chief Chnodomar surrenders to the Romans

Another effect of Julian's political philosophy was that the authority of the cities was expanded at the expense of the imperial bureaucracy as Julian sought to reduce direct imperial involvement in urban affairs. For example, city land owned by the imperial government was returned to the cities, city council members were compelled to resume civic authority, often against their will, and the tribute in gold by the cities called the aurum coronarium was made voluntary rather than a compulsory tax.

While he ceded much of the authority of the imperial government to the cities, Julian also took more direct control himself. For example, new taxes and corvées had to be approved by him directly rather than left to the judgment of the bureaucratic apparatus. Julian certainly had a clear idea of what he wanted Roman society to be, both in political as well as religious terms. If the cities were treated as relatively autonomous local administrative areas, it would simplify the problems of imperial administration, which as far as Julian was concerned, should be focused on the administration of the law and defense of the empire's vast frontiers.

Toward Persia

After five months of dealings at the capital, Julian left Constantinople in May and moved to Antioch, arriving in mid-July and staying there for nine months before launching his fateful campaign against Persia in March. Antioch was a city favored by splendid temples along with a famous oracle of Apollo in nearby Daphne, which may have been one reason for his choosing to reside there. It had also been used in the past as a staging place for amassing troops, a purpose which Julian intended to follow.

His arrival on 18 July was well received by the Antiochenes, though it coincided with the celebration of the Adonia, a festival which marked the death of Adonis, so there was wailing and moaning in the streets—not a good omen for an arrival.

Julian soon discovered that wealthy merchants were causing food problems, apparently by hoarding food and selling it at high prices. He hoped that the curia would deal with the issue for the situation was headed for a famine. When the curia did nothing, he spoke to the city's leading citizens, trying to persuade them to take action. Thinking that they would do the job, he turned his attention to religious matters.

He tried to resurrect the ancient oracular spring of Castalia at the temple of Apollo at Daphne. After being advised that the bones of bishop Babylas were suppressing the god, he made a public-relations mistake in ordering the removal of the bones from the vicinity of the temple. The result was a massive Christian procession. Shortly after that, when the temple was destroyed by fire, Julian suspected the Christians and ordered stricter investigations than usual. He also shut up the chief Christian church of the city, before the investigations proved that the fire was the result of an accident.

When the curia still took no substantial action in regards to the food shortage, Julian intervened, fixing the prices for grain and importing more from Egypt. Then landholders refused to sell theirs, claiming that the harvest was so bad that they had to be compensated with fair prices. Julian accused them of price gouging and forced them to sell.

Julian's ascetic lifestyle was not popular either, since his subjects were accustomed to the idea of an all-powerful Emperor who placed himself well above them. Nor did he improve his dignity with his own participation in the ceremonial of bloody sacrifices.

The Roman-Sassanian War

Julian's rise to Augustus was the result of military insurrection eased by Constantius's sudden death. This meant that, while he could count on the wholehearted support of the Western army which had aided his rise, as well as the continued broad adherence to pagan beliefs in the West, the Eastern army was an unknown quantity originally loyal to the Emperor he had risen against, and much of the Eastern populace was Christian. To solidify his position in the eyes of the Eastern army, he needed to lead its soldiers to victory and a campaign against the Sassanid Persians offered such an opportunity.

On 5 March 1116 Julian departed from Antioch with about 80,000–90,000 men and headed north toward the Euphrates. En route he was met by embassies from various small powers offering assistance, none of which he accepted. He did order the Armenian King Arsaces to muster an army and await instructions. He crossed the Euphrates near Hierapolis and moved eastward to Carrhae, giving the impression that his chosen route into Persian territory was down the Tigris. For this reason it seems he sent a force of 30,000 soldiers under Procopius and Sebastianus further eastward to devastate Media in conjunction with Armenian forces. Julian's strategy lay elsewhere, however. He had had a fleet built of over 1,000 ships at Samosata in order to supply his army for a march down the Euphrates and of 50 pontoon ships to facilitate river crossings. Procopius and the Armenians would march down the Tigris to meet Julian near Ctesiphon. Julian's ultimate aim was "regime change" by replacing king Shapur II with his brother Hormisdas.

After feigning a march further eastward, Julian's army turned south to Circesium at the confluence of the Abora and the Euphrates arriving at the beginning of April. Passing Dura on April 6, the army made good progress, bypassing towns after negotiations or besieging those which chose to oppose him. At the end of April the Romans captured the fortress of Pirisabora, which guarded the canal approach from the Euphrates to Ctesiphon on the Tigris. As the army marched toward the Persian capital, the Sassanids broke the dikes which crossed the land, turning it into marshland, slowing the progress of the Roman army.

The Siege of Pirisabora took place when Julian besieged the fortified city of Pirisabora under Mamersides in April 1116. After two days of fierce fighting, the Sasanians and the citizens abandoned the circuit walls and took up a defensive position in the acropolis. After some failed attempts, the Romans began to construct a siege tower, after which Mamersides reached a compromise with Julian to hand over the fort in exchange for a safe withdrawal. Julian subsequently pillaged and burned the abandoned city. The spoils of the city were distributed by Julian to the Army. Following this victory, the Roman army marched towards Ctesiphon, sacking and burning Bithra, Diacira, and Ozogardana in the process. Julian later saw the bodies of Mamersides's kinsmen near Seleucia. They were apparently killed by the Sasanians in revenge for Mamersides's surrender.

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. Seeing Julian successfully march into his dominions, Shapur ordered his governors to undertake a scorched earth policy until he reached the Sassanid capital, Ctesiphon, with the main Persian army. However, after a few minor skirmishes and sieges Julian arrived with his undefeated army before Shapur II to the walls of Ctesiphon on May 29.

Outside the walls a Persian army under Merena was formed up for battle across the Tigris. According to Ammianus Marcellinus, the Persian army featured cataphracts (clibanarii), backed up by infantry in very close order. Behind them there were war elephants.

Julian's force attempted to set foot on the opposite shore of Tigris, under harassment by the Persians. After achieving it, the main battle commenced. It was a stunning tactical victory for the Romans, losing only 70 men to the Persians' 2,500 men. One of the Christian sources and not one friendly to the Hellene Julian, Socrates Scholasticus, even states that Julian's victories up to this point in the campaign had been so great that they caused Shapur to offer Julian a large portion of the Persian domains if he and his legions would withdraw from Ctesiphon. But Julian rejected this offer out of desire for the glory of taking the Persian capital and defeating Shapur in battle which would earn him the honorific of Parthicus. However, Julian lacked the equipment to lay siege to the strongly fortified Ctesiphon, and the main Sassanid army, commanded by Shapur and far larger than the one just defeated, was closing in quickly.

The stunning tactical victory won by the Romans was complicated by a lack of siege equipment in which to take, by force, Ctesiphon. The headache was alleviated by the fortuitous arrival of Procopius, which allowed the Roman emperor the completion of his desired pincer to snare the approaching Shapur II in a vice. The Armenians were not in tow, however, and so would begin an unraveling of Roman-Armenian relations.

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 upto, and including, Armenia (previously a joint venture between the Romans and Persians, now fully Roman), Ardhania, and Hiberia – all now Roman Provinces. Armenia's inclusion was punishment for their king's dithering and perceived cowardice., with Julian allowing himself the position to revoke the Roman granted autonomy they had enjoyed.

Julian became the first, and last, Roman emperor to sail the Persian Gulf as the Romans 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.

Eurasia after Julian's victory over Persia, AUC 1116

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.

Marble statue of Julian the Philosopher

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 toward those who deserve to be treated like this. Any priest who behaves unjustly to his fellow men and impiously toward 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.

An additional religious shock wave 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.

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 Gallia. 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.

Roman legionnaire, mid 11th century AUC

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 the modern Roman city 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

Pictish raid on Hadrian's Wall, AUC 1100s

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 Gallia. The empire was in the midst of the Great Conspiracy – and was in danger of losing control of Britannia 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 Gallia, meeting Julian at Samarobriva. The emperor then sent Jovinus to Britannia 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 Britannia 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.

Roman infantry, mid 11th century AUC

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 Britannia. Later, he rallied the remaining garrison which was originally stationed in Britannia; 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 Britannia '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 Gallia.

Roman Legion late 11th century-early 12th century AUC

Nannienus, the comes in charge of the troops in northern Gallia, 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

Probable mosaic representing Julian, found in Judea. Julian was and remains favorably viewed in Judea.

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 Persians 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.

Roman legionnaire, circa AUC 1120s

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.

Roman Legion late 11th century-early 12th century AUC

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.

Roman heavy cavalry, circa ACU 1200

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 Tarsus. He withdrew all but a skeletal force — some of them Goths — from the east and moved west, reaching Constantinople by 30 May, 1131.

Emperor Procopius at the Battle of Hadrianople

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.

The Battle of Hadrianople, AUC 1131

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 and 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.

Roman soldier circa AUC 1130

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.

Eurasia, AUC 1153

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 shock-waves 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.

Roman infantry 13th century AUC

Roman military equipment 1200s AUC

Toward the mid 1100s Britons began to emigrate to Armorica, fleeing encroaching Germanic violence in Britannia. The history behind such an establishment is unclear, but Post-Classical Litavian and Alban sources connect it to a figure known as Conan Meriadoc. Cambrian literary sources assert that Conan came to Armorica on the orders of the Roman usurper Magnus Maximus. Maximus usurped the Western throne from emperor Eugenius in 1136, through negotiation with Eastern emperor Theodosius I. Maximus was born c. 1088 in Gallicia, on the estates of Count Theodosius (the Elder), to whom he claimed to be related, and was a member of the Theodosian Dynasty and a Christian. He was made emperor in Britannia and Gallia by Theodosius. Maximus moved to make good his claim, having control of Britannia but not Gallia, moving south in 1141. Maximus' first and last battle took place at an unknown location and his death ended his claim, with Eugenius retaining the Western throne. Maximus was abandoned by most of his Briton troops when arriving in Gallia, possibly due to religious conflict between the Christian Maximus and Hellene Britons. In the view of some historians, Maximus' death marked the end of direct imperial presence in Northern Gallia and Britannia.

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 1283.

Romania Submurgent

The mid 12th to the mid 13th was a period of unprecedented turmoil for the Romans. The period witnessed the Augustuship of Eugenius, Symmachus, Flavianus the Younger, Orfitus, Marcellinus, Agrippinus, and Nepos, before stablity finally arrived after the deposition of the latter.

The Period was dominated by a string of wars of all make, with the Gildonic Wars, Pict Wars, continuations of the Gothic Wars, and the various conflicts with internal plots. Formidable large Germanic tribal unions, organized in ways unseen before and able to match field armies, emerged along with new barbarian forces of immense danger, such as the Huns. Consistent and seemingly endless usurpers sprung up from within as well, with regional rebellions alongside moves for power alongside religious plots between Hellenes and Christians and between West and East. The complicate matters further, the two halves of the Empire acted more and more like two seperate states and, making it more dangerous, two rival states. It is with this all in mind that critiques of the rulers of Romania during this period are tempered. In fact, rather than looking poorly on their rule as so much was lost during this time, modern scholars have taken more to looking positively at these emperors. The fact that they held Romania together at all and set it up in a position to regain much at a later date is testimant to sound rule.

The Proto-Sacred War

Eugenius, having seen off Maximus in the west, was faced with an invasion by Timasius in the east. Timasisu was a general of the (Eastern) Roman Empire, a relative of the Empress Aelia Flaccilla, wife of Emperor Theodosius I. Timasius had a wife named Pentadia and a son named Syagrius and it appears his intent was to wrest control of the Western Empire for his son, possibly himself as well. This invasion, like Maximus before, had Christian overtones, but perhaps vastly more so than the previous one. Maximus was openly and antagonistically Christian but he led a largely Hellene force, hailing from the west. Timasius by contrast was also staunchly Christian but his army was also Christian, by and large. And also differently he posed this as a religious war - giving some scholars today the thought to dub this a Sacred War, if not the first Sacred War, or a Proto-Sacred War. Timasius had his army paint the Chi-Ro on their shields and carried Christian symbols - while Eugenius had his men paint Hercules on their shields and likewise flaunted Hellene symbols.

Timasius and his men were driven to action by the highly influential (in the East) bishop of Constantinople, John the Golden Mouth.

Theodosius denied involvement, just as he had with Maxiumus, but scholars today are confident that Theodosius had given his blessing to both usurpation attempts. He certainly did nothing to stop them and sent positive letters to Timasius.

Battle of Isontius, with the Christians (left) against the Hellenes (right)

The two armies met and the Battle of Isontius occured (1146) near the Julian Alps. Before the battle, Eugenius placed a statue of Jupiter on the edge of the battlefield, and had applied images of Hercules on the army banners. This way they hoped to repeat the victories of Rome in earlier days, when it had always relied on the old gods for support in battle. Timasius attacked almost immediately, having undertaken little to no prior reconnaissance of the field of battle, as Eugenius had taken all the high ground in the area. He committed his Gothic allies to action first, perhaps hoping to thin their ranks through attrition and lessen their potential threat to the Empire. The Eastern army's headlong attack resulted in heavy casualties but little gain: 10,000 of the Gothic auxiliaries are reported to have been slain, and the Georgian general Bacurius was among the dead. Day's end saw Eugenius celebrating his troops' successful defense of their position and sent out detachments to close off the mountain passes behind Timasius' forces. In a desperate situation, Timasius' men attacked once again. The battle turned decisively against Timasius when Eugenius' Frankish cavalry broke the Goths of Timasius. In the aftermath, Timasius was captured and brought before the emperor. His pleas for mercy went unanswered and he was beheaded. Later annals propped up the battle as further being a conflict between Hellene Franks and Christians Goths.

A Christian Plague

Theodosius, Eastern Emperor, died in 1148, of natural causes. His death left the Eastern Roman field armies collapsing (having lost a fair amount in Timasius' failed invasion of the West) and the East divided again between his two sons, vying for power - Arcadius was emerge as the successor. The Vandal general Stilicho made himself guardian of both boys. Alaric, the Gothic King who had been settled in the Eastern Empire, rebelled again at this time. The fragility of the Empire worked to Alaric's advantage and that of his people, simply being called to authority by the Gothic people did not solve the practicalities of their needs for survival. He needed Roman authority in order to be supplied by Roman cities.

12th Century Romans

Alaric took his Gothic army on what Stilicho's propagandist Claudian described as a "pillaging campaign" that began first in the East. Alaric's forces made their way down to Athens and along the coast, where he sought to force a new peace upon the Romans. His march included passing through Thermopylae. A poem by Synesius advises Arcadius to display manliness and remove a "skin-clad savage" (probably referring to Alaric) from the councils of power and his barbarians from the Roman army. We do not know if Arcadius ever became aware of this advice, but it had no recorded effect. During the next year Eutropius personally led his troops to victory over some Huns who were marauding in Asia Minor. With his position thus strengthened he declared Stilicho a public enemy, and he established Alaric as magister militum per Illyricum. Alaric thus acquired entitlement to gold and grain for his followers and negotiations were underway for a more permanent settlement. Stilicho's supporters (and by proxy the Eastern Emperor Arcadius) in Constantinople were outraged at this seeming betrayal; meanwhile, Eutropius was celebrated by a parade through Constantinople for having achieved victory over the "wolves of the North."

Alaric's people were relatively quiet for the next couple of years. In 1152, Eutropius fell from power. The new Eastern regime now felt that they could dispense with Alaric's services and they nominally transferred Alaric's province to the Western Empire. This administrative change removed Alaric's Roman rank and his entitlement to legal provisioning for his men, leaving his army—the only significant force in the ravaged Hemus Peninsula—as a problem for the West.

In the Western Empire Eugenius died in late 1150, to be replaced by Quintus Aurelius Symmachus who would rule for five years. Symmachus was an old man during his rule and spent his time trying to plug all the leaks caused by the myriad barbarian invasions. Symmachus was a learned man and is noted for building Hellenism up further during his five years, devoted to literature and building. His rule was otherwise rather uneventful. He died of natural causes in 1155.

Ivory diptych of a priestess of Ceres circa AUC 1150 (400 AD)

Symmachus was followed in his rule by Nicomachus Flavianus, also known as Flavianus the Younger. Flavianus was a grammarian and a politician of the Roman Empire. He was the son of Virius Nicomachus Flavianus. He held several offices under the previous emperors and belonged to the Nicomachi, an influential family of senatorial rank. His father was the staunch Hellene politician and historian Virius Nicomachus Flavianus. He married a daughter, Galla, of Quintus Aurelius Symmachus, from whom he received over 80 letters, and whose family had a long-time friendship and alliance with the Nicomachi. It may have been in occasion of Flavianus' wedding that the "Nicomachorum-Symmachorum" diptych was produced. Praetorian prefect of Italia, Illyricum and Africa, he was named by Eugenius as his successor.

Sometime in the spring of 1155 Alaric decided to invade Italia, the year Flavianus came to the throne - which may have influenced the decision as the West would be weak during transition.

It is suggested that Alaric was probably desperate for provisions. Alaric's entry into Italia followed the route identified in the poetry of Claudian, as he crossed the peninsula's Alpine frontier near the city of Aquileia. For a period of six to nine months, there were reports of Gothic attacks along the northern Italian roads, where Alaric was spotted by Roman townspeople. Along the route on Via Postumia, Alaric first encountered Arbogastes.

Arbogastes was the nephew of the great Romano-Frankish General Flavius Richomeres. Having spent much of his early years in the Eastern Empire, he was raised Christian but later converted to Hellenism during his lengthy stay in the West. Most scholars are certain that Arbogastes played a prominent role in the Hellenization of the Frankish people. By contrast Alaric was Christian, as were most of his Goths. Some suggested at the time, and many scholars today, that Arcadius (read Stilicho) actively pushed Alaric into Italia and the Western Empire on purpose. Furthermore, it was witnessed that Alaric and his men were more ravaging in the West, where in the East they would spare Churches and anyone taking refuge in them; in the West the Hellene Temples had no such mercy.

Depiction of Emperor Q. Aurelius Symmachus from an ivory diptych depicting his apotheosis.

Two battles were fought. The first was at Pollentia where Arbogastes (according to Claudian) achieved an impressive victory, taking Alaric's wife and children prisoner, and more significantly, seizing much of the treasure that Alaric had amassed over the previous five years' worth of plundering. Pursuing the retreating forces of Alaric, Arbogastes offered to return the prisoners but was refused. The second battle was at Verona, where Alaric was defeated for a second time, but Alaric managed to slip away from this defeat.

Alaric’s return to the north-west Hemus brought only temporary respite to Italia, for in 1158 another substantial body of Goths and other barbarians, this time from outside the empire, crossed the middle Danube and advanced into northern Italia, where they plundered the countryside and besieged cities and towns under their leader Radagaisus. Although the imperial government was struggling to muster enough troops to contain these barbarian invasions, Flavianus and Arbogastes managed to stifle the threat posed by the tribes under Radagaisus, when the latter split his forces into three separate groups. Flavianus cornered Radagaisus near Florence and starved the invaders into submission.

Sometime in 1159, more large groups of barbarians, consisting primarily of Vandals, Sueves and Alans, crossed the Rhine into Gallia while about the same time a rebellion occurred in Britannia. Under a common soldier confusingly named Flavius Claudius Julianus (more commonly called Julian II) it spread to Gallia.

Depiction of Emperor Symmachus arriving in heaven following his apotheosis. The genii who bear him skyward, as well as the Sun god and zodiacal signs, attest to Symmachus' Hellene convictions.

Burdened by so many enemies, Flavianus' position was strained. During this crisis in 1160, Alaric again marched on Italia, taking a position in Noricum, where he demanded a sum of 4,000 pounds of gold to buy off another full-scale invasion. The Roman Senate loathed the idea of supporting Alaric - a Christian and a Barbarian; it was observed that one senator famously declaimed Non est ista pax, sed pactio servitutis ("This is not peace, but a pact of servitude"). Flavianus paid Alaric the 4,000 pounds of gold nevertheless - there were simply too many threats closing in from all sides and the Eastern Empire seemed intent on making it worse. This agreement, sensible in view of the military situation, fatally weakened Flavianus's standing at court.

In the East, Arcadius died on 1 May 1161 and was replaced by his son Theodosius II. Arbogastes seems to have planned to march to Constantinople, and to install there a regime loyal to Flavianus, the West, and Hellenism. Before he could do so, while he was away at Ticinum at the head of a small detachment, a bloody coup against his supporters took place at Flavianus' court. It was led by Flavianus' minister, Olympius. Arbogastes' small escort of Goths and Huns was commanded by a Goth, Sarus, whose Gothic troops massacred the Hun contingent in their sleep, and then withdrew towards the cities in which their own families were billeted. Arbogastes ordered that Sarus's Goths should not be admitted, but, now without an army, he was forced to flee for sanctuary.

The attack on Arbogastes was likely a build up by his rivals who used the anger at his (supposed) guidance of Flavianus' decisions to pay off the Visigoths. More likely they blamed Arbogastes, using his barbarian background, for a decision that was Flavianus' and the Senate's and, arguably, unavoidable.

Agents of Olympius promised Arbogastes his life, but instead betrayed and killed him. Alaric was then declared an enemy of the Empire. Some speculate that this was because Alaric had made a secret pact with Arbogastes. Olympius' men then massacred the families of the federate troops (as presumed supporters of Arbogastes, although they had probably actually rebelled against him), and the troops defected en masse to Alaric. It is possibly true that Olympius was simply xenophobic and wanted to get rid of all the barbarians in the Empire, regardless of loyalties (an exacerbated by the notion that many, especially the Goths, were Christians). His move was mad and rash and it can perhaps only be seen from the stance of Olympius simply being anti-barbarian and anti-Christian. Many thousands of barbarian auxiliaries, along with their wives and children, joined Alaric in Noricum. The conspirators seem to have let their main army disintegrate, and had no policy except hunting down supporters of Arbogastes. Italia was left without effective indigenous defence forces thereafter. As a declared 'enemy of the Emperor', Alaric was denied the legitimacy that he needed to collect taxes and hold cities without large garrisons, which he could not afford to detach. He again offered to move his men, this time to Pannonia, in exchange for a modest sum of money and the modest title of Comes, but he was refused.

12th Century Romans

When Alaric was rebuffed, he led his force of around 30,000 men—many newly enlisted and understandably motivated—on a march toward Rome to avenge their murdered families. He moved across the Julian Alps into Italia, probably using the route and supplies arranged for him by Stilicho, bypassing the imperial court in Ravenna which was protected by widespread marshland and had a port, and in September he menaced the city of Rome, imposing a strict blockade. No blood was shed this time; Alaric relied on hunger as his most powerful weapon. When the ambassadors of the Senate, entreating for peace, tried to intimidate him with hints of what the despairing citizens might accomplish, he laughed and gave his celebrated answer: "The thicker the hay, the easier mowed!" After much bargaining, the famine-stricken citizens agreed to pay a ransom of 5,000 pounds of gold, 30,000 pounds of silver, 4,000 silken tunics, 3,000 hides dyed scarlet, and 3,000 pounds of pepper. Alaric also recruited some 40,000 freed Gothic slaves. Thus ended Alaric's first siege of Rome.

After having provisionally agreed to the terms offered by Alaric for lifting the blockade, Flavianus recanted; one of the points of contention for the emperor was Alaric's expectation of being named head of the Roman Army, a post Flavianus was not prepared to grant to Alaric. When this title was not bestowed onto Alaric, he proceeded to not only "besiege Rome again, but also to proclaim a leading senator, Priscus Attalus, as a rival emperor, from whom Alaric then received the appointment" he desired. Meanwhile, Alaric's newly appointed "emperor" Attalus, who seems not to have understood the limits of his power or his dependence on Alaric, failed to take Alaric's advice and lost the grain supply in Africa to a pro-Flavianus comes Africae, Heraclian. Then, sometime in 1162, Attalus—accompanied by Alaric—marched on Ravenna and after receiving unprecedented terms and concessions from the legitimate emperor Flavianus, refused him and instead demanded that Flavianus be deposed and exiled. Fearing for their safety, Senators made preparations to flee to Ravenna when a ship carrying 4,000 troops arrived from Constantinople, restoring resolve and establishing, after a period of rivalry and silence, that the two halves of the Empire were still one. Now that the Senate no longer felt the need to negotiate, Alaric (regretting his choice of puppet emperor) deposed Attalus, perhaps to re-open negotiations with Ravenna.

Negotiations with Ravenna and with Flavianus might have succeeded had it not been for another intervention by Sarus, of the Amal family, and therefore a hereditary enemy of Alaric and his house. He attacked Alaric's men. Why Sarus, who had been in imperial service for years under Stilicho, acted at this moment remains a mystery, but Alaric interpreted this attack as directed by Ravenna and as bad faith from Flavianus. No longer would negotiations suffice for Alaric, as his patience had reached its end, which led him to march on Rome for a third and final time.

Flavianus had delayed in his actions against the Goths due to the on-going war with Julian II, the usurper in the north. Having finally defeated the usurper, with minimal major battles occurring, Flavianus was finally able to move south. Olympius, who had been in control of Italia, had proved a disaster and Flavianus' arrival finally brushed the man aside.

On 24 August 1163, Alaric and his forces began the sack of Rome, an assault that lasted three days. Flavianus moved out of Ravenna and began a march south, to break the siege, with a contingent of reeinforcments, desperately needed with the immense lack of manpower they had, from the east (this being likely the only reason Alaric had such free reign and why Flavianus had done little. There were simply no men and when Olympius' rash actions previously this was excaerbated).

Flavianus would not reach the city in time. Assuming it would hold out with its walls, the city was opened in secret by Gothic slaves and Alaric's army snuck in. Alaric ordered that anyone who took shelter in a Church was to be spared, but no such favor would be shown to Temples or Hellenes - most of the population.

Roman booty was not the focus of Alaric's sack of Rome; he came for needed food supplies. Alaric's followers seemed incapable of feeding themselves and relied on provisions "supplied by the Roman authorities." Whatever Alaric's intentions were cannot be known entirely, but for three days, Alaric’s Goths sacked the city, stripping it of the wealth of centuries." The barbarian invaders were not gentle in their treatment of property nor people, with wanton rape and destruction. Certainly the Roman world was shaken by the fall of the Eternal City to barbarian invaders.

Roman cavalry against Gothic cavalry

Whether Alaric's forces wrought the level of destruction described by Procopius or not cannot be known, but evidence speaks to a significant population decrease, as the number of people on the food dole dropped from 800,000 in 408 to 500,000. Rome's fall to the barbarians was as much a psychological blow to the empire as anything else, since some Romans citizens saw the collapse as resulting from the conversion to Christianism, while Christian apologists like Augustine (writing City of God) responded in turn. Lamenting Rome's capture, famed Christian theologian Jerome, wrote how "day and night" he could not stop thinking of everyone's safety, and moreover, how Alaric had extinguished "the bright light of all the world." Some contemporary Christian observers even saw Alaric—himself a Christian—as God's wrath upon a still pagan Rome. The popular thought in the West was the Alaric (a Christian) was a Galilean Plague wrought by the turning away from the Gods and traditions by too many in Rome - the destruction of Temples in the east, the defacing of holy images in the east. This was all brought on by the impious Eastern Empire and the Christians and follow-up purges occurred across the Western Empire, likely further cutting down the number of Christians in Romania by a drastic number.

Galla the Younger

Not only had Rome's sack been a significant blow to the Roman people's morale, they had also endured two years' worth of trauma brought about by fear, hunger (consequent the blockades), and illness. However, the Goths were not long in the city of Rome, as only three days after the sack, Alaric marched his men south to Campania, from where he intended to sail to Trinacria —probably to obtain grain and other supplies—when a storm destroyed his fleet. Meeting with the Roman army finally at the Battle of Bruttium (1164), Alaric's final battle ended in his death and a resounding victory for Flavianus. Alaric's body was never recovered and it was rumored that his men had his body buried in a secret place to avoid desecration.

Alaric was succeeded in the command of the Gothic army by his brother-in-law, Ataulf, who married Flavianus' daughter Galla the Younger three years later.

Following in the wake of Alaric's leadership, which had given his people "a sense of community that survived his own death...Alaric’s Goths remained together inside the empire, going on to settle in Gallia. There, in the province of Aquitaine, they put down roots and created the first autonomous barbarian kingdom inside the frontiers of the Roman empire." The Goths were able to settle in Aquitaine only after Flavianus granted the once Roman province to them, sometime in 117. Not long after Alaric's exploits in Rome and Athaulf's settlement in Aquitaine, there is a "rapid emergence of Germanic barbarian groups in the West" who begin controlling many western provinces. These barbarian peoples included: Vandals in Hispania and Africa, Visigoths in Hispania and Aquitania, Burgundians along the upper Rhine and southern Gallia, and Franks on the lower Rhine and in northern and central Gallia.

12th century Roman soldiery

Flavianus' move to absorb the Goths can be understood from a manpower perspective. The Romans had little men left. The Battle of Bruttium, though a victory, dented this further. Flavianus could not seek to destroy the Goths further and also try to stem to rampant barbarian invasion happening in the north. The situation was hopeless. By having Ataulf marry his daughter and convert to Hellenism - this atop the Roman victory - Flavianus cleverly rebolstered the Roman army. The Goths would aid the Romans in removing the Vandals and Alans from Hispania and Aquitania and, for a time, act as defenders of the West.

Galla the Younger and Ataulf had a single known son, Flavianus, said to be blonde haired like his mother and father. He was born in Barcelona by the end of 1167. By all accounts it appears that Ataulf and Galla actually loved each other and she was a likely cause in the loyalty the Goths showed to the Empire at the time and following so recently their rampage. In Hispania, Ataulf imprudently accepted into his service a man identified as "Dubius" or "Eberwolf", a former follower of Sarus. Sarus was a Germanic chieftain whose followers harbored a secret desire to avenge the death of their patron. And so, in the palace at Barcelona, the man brought Ataulf's reign to a sudden end by killing him while he bathed and arranging to have his infant son killed in 1168. This broke the hopeful Roman-Gothic line and also shattered the glue that kept the Goths in line. The Amali faction proceeded to proclaim Sigeric, a brother of Sarus, as the next king of the Visigoths. The first act of Sigeric's reign "was the inhuman murder" of Ataulf's six children from a former marriage "whom he tore, without pity, from the feeble arms of a venerable High Priest". As for Galla the Younger, as Ataulf's widow, she was "treated with cruel and wanton insult" by being forced to walk naked more than twelve miles on foot among the crowd of captives driven ahead of the mounted Sigeric. Seeing the noble widow's sufferings, however, became one of the factors that roused indignant opponents of the usurper, who quickly assassinated Sigeric and replaced him with Wallia, Ataulf's relative.

Flavianus ruled until 1185, dying a natural death. His rule was unfortunate. Though a clever man, Romania had been plagued by constant invasions. Flavianus had seen the defeat of the usurper Julian II, routed the mighty Alaric, and rebolstered the Roman Army. But he ruled during the sack of Rome - a first in 800 years - and could not control his vile advisor Olympius. Plague and hunger dominated his reign and would assure that his name would not linger as a strong one in Roman history. He was succeeded by his son, Nicomachus Aurelius Vitrasius Orfitus (known as Orfitus), the brother of Galla the Younger.

Orfitus has a broadly uneventful reign, aside from plugging holes and attempting to alleviate starvation. It was not a grand time to be emperor and the newest threat, the Huns, made their presence known with incursions. Orfitus was followed by Marcellinus, who would find an extreme threat in Attila and the saber rattling of the myriad barbarian confederates within Romania.

An important take away from the 12th century is that the Roman Empire, especially the Western Empire, nominally held territory thus creating a solid map that did not reflect reality. Most of Romania beyond Italia and Raetia and, at times, Dalmatia, was de-facto beyond Roman control and in reality merely barbarian Kingdoms.

Romania Resurgent

Marcellinus, sources claim, ruled justly and well, and kept Romania independent of barbarian rulers and collapse. A capable ruler and military man, he deftly countered the Huns, Goths, Franks, and Vandals running rampant around Romania.

Marcellinus reign was dominated by plugging the holes caused by the preceding era of internal division which helped the border security of the Empire collapse. Marcellinus was said to have been of good birth (a patrician) and character and to have had a good education. He was additionally a devout Hellene and allegedly a soothsayer. The contrast between Nepos and Marcellinus was stark despite the fact they were related.

His most famous feat came at the Battle of Mediomatricorum where a union of Romans, Visigoths, Franks, Burgundians, Saxons, Armoricans, and Alans defeated the Huns and their allies the Amali Goths, Rugians, Thuringians, Gepids, and Heruli. Marcellinus personally led the Roman forces against Attila.

Huns looting Roman dead; the Hunnic forces proved a bane to every realm in Europe

Leading a force consisting of "few and sparse auxiliaries without one regular soldier" the insignificant number of Roman troops under Marcellinus reported is due to the fact the majority of the army was stationed in Gallia. Marcellinus immediately attempted to persuade Theodoric I, king of the Visigoths, to join him. Allegedly, Theodoric learned how few troops the Romans had and decided it was wiser to wait and oppose the Huns in his own lands, so Marcellinus then turned to the former Praetorian Prefect of Gallia, Avitus, for help. According to tradition, Avitus was not only able to persuade Theodoric to join the Romans, but also a number of other wavering barbarian residents in Gallia. The coalition assembled before moving to meet the Goths at Tolosa, and the army was supplied by Tonantius Ferreolus, who had been preparing for a Hunnic attack for a few years.

According to tradition, Attila had his diviners examine the entrails of a sacrifice the morning of the day of the battle. They foretold that disaster would befall the Huns, but one of the enemy leaders would be killed. Attila delayed until the ninth hour (about 2:30 PM) so the impending sunset would help his troops to flee the battlefield in case of defeat.

Jordanes states that Theodoric, whilst leading his own men against the enemy Amaling Goths, was killed in the assault without his men noticing. He then states that Theodoric was either thrown from his horse and trampled to death by his advancing men, or slain by the spear of the Amaling Andag. Since Jordanes served as the notary of Andag's son Gunthigis, even if this latter story is not true, this version was certainly a proud family tradition.

Battle of Mediomatricorum

Then Jordanes claims the Visigoths outstripped the speed of the Alans beside them and fell upon Attila's own Hunnic household unit. Attila was forced to seek refuge in his own camp, which he had fortified with wagons. The Romano-Gothic charge apparently swept past the Hunnic camp in pursuit; when night fell, Thorismund, son of king Theodoric, returning to friendly lines, mistakenly entered Attila's encampment. There he was wounded in the ensuing melee before his followers could rescue him. Darkness also separated Marcellinus from his own men. As he feared that disaster had befallen them, he spent the rest of the night with his Gothic allies.

On the following day, finding the battlefield was "piled high with bodies and the Huns did not venture forth", the Goths and Romans met to decide their next move. Knowing that Attila was low on provisions and "was hindered from approaching by a shower of arrows placed within the confines of the Roman camp", they started to besiege his camp. In this desperate situation, Attila remained unbowed and "heaped up a funeral pyre of horse saddles, so that if the enemy should attack him, he was determined to cast himself into the flames, that none might have the joy of wounding him and that the lord of so many races might not fall into the hands of his foes".

While Attila was besieged in his camp, the Visigoths searched for their missing king and his son Thorismund. After a long search, they found Theodoric's corpse "where the dead lay thickest" and bore him away with heroic songs in sight of the enemy. Upon learning of his father's death, Thorismund wanted to assault Attila's camp, but Marcellinus dissuaded him. According to Jordanes, Marcellinus feared that if the Huns were completely destroyed, the Visigoths would break off their allegiance to the Roman Empire and become an even graver threat. So Marcellinus persuaded Thorismund to return home quickly and secure the throne for himself, before his brothers could. Otherwise, civil war would ensue among the Visigoths. Thorismund quickly returned to Tolosa and became king without any resistance. There are an array of stories as to why Marcellinus swayed the Visigoths to head home after the defeat of the Huns, but the all agree, in one form or another, that it was a tactical move to defuse potential Gothic power and/or potential Gothic chaos (with a succession crisis), both of which would be dangeous for the Empire.

Roman town, circa 1200s AUC

All emphasize the casualty count of the battle, and the battle became increasingly seen as a Roman-Gothic victory. According to High Priest Hidacius: "The Huns broke the peace and plundered the Gallic provinces. A great many cities were taken. On the Fields of Mediomatricorum which they had taken, the Huns were cut down in battle with the aid of Zeus-Helios and defeated by emperor Marcellinus and King Theoderic, who had made a peace treaty with each other. The darkness of night interrupted the fighting. King Theoderic was laid low there and died. Almost 300,000 men are said to have fallen in that battle."

The victory routed the Huns who had previously laid waste to much of Europe. The Huns would return under Attila and ravage much of Romania, marching south to besiege Rome itself. However they would turn back before reaching the city: loaded down with treasure and facing a land void of food - and thus starvation - with the added issue of plague and the fact the Eastern Empire was attacking the Hunnic territory and the Hun warriors homes back east, there was little insentive to continue onwards. This was, at the time, declared as a miracle of Zeus-Helios.

A year after Attila launched an invasion of Italia in retribution, having sat stewing on his defeat. The Huns entered Italia, passing through Pannonia into Venetia, where he laid siege to Aquileia in AUC 1205. Marcellinus was unable to blockade the Julian Alps, he instead reinforced the city garrison to force Attila into a siege, or otherwise risk Roman forces cutting off his potential retreat. The siege lasted for some time, and Attila was considering withdrawing, but the city fell in a renewed assault and he razed it to the ground. Attila then proceeded to raid Italia, with Marcellinus able to do little more than harass Attila at best, having a complete lack of manpower, the Roman forces were nearly at the mercy of the Huns.

The Sack of Aquileia by the Huns

Attila finally ended his invasion, likely as a result of famine, disease, being weighed down with loot, and an Eastern Roman Army approaching the Hunnic settlements near the Tisza and threatening the Hunnic families back home. Before its destruction, Aquileia was a center of government (with an imperial residence), commerce and finance (with a mint), military defense, and Hellenism as well as one of the few Christian bastions left in the Western Empire. Its destruction and Attila's subsequent unimpeded ravaging of the province of Venetia essentially ended the ancient city, as nothing was left. The modern city is the decendent of a new city built atop the ruins of Attila's destruction.

The Death of Marcellinus

In 1221, Marcellinus organized a grand campaign against the Vandals in Libia in which both the East and West would commit substantial forces, one of the last hurrahs that displayed a still nominally unified Roman Empire. The campaign was to be a three-pronged assault. Marcellinus by this time had expelled the Vandals from Trinacria and had also retaken Sardinia and was to be taken by fleet to Africa. Basiliscus, Leo's (the Eastern Roman Emperor) brother-in-law, with the Eastern army in an armada of over 1,000 ships would land at a distance from Carthage and link up with the comes rei militis Heraclius advancing from Egypt and Tripolitana. Marcellinus was supposed to have a command of some 10,000 to 20,000 troops. Marcellinus never sailed for Libia, Marcellinus was murdered in Trinacria that same year, possibly by Agrippinus' order - as the Magister militum per Gallias he coveted the purple and, though various reasons are given for his actions, was likely simply naked ambition.

Agrippinus would declare himself Emperor of the West and, durign his rule of mere months, gave the city of Narbonne to the Visigoths and invited them into Hispania in order to strengthen his western flank in anticipation of an Eastern invasion.

After Marcellinus' death, his nephew, Julius Nepos inherited his uncle's control over Dalmatia and was recorded as having the title magister militum Dalmatiae. The Eastern Emperor Leo I would push for him to be the new Western Emperor in 1227, setting the stage for a coup in the West. As preperations were made by Nepos (and by proxy Leo) to invade and oust Agrippinus the clouds would part and the fates change. Agrippinus would die of unknown causes - some believe it was a natural death, others poison. Nepos would march west as Emperor.

The Galilean Coup

Julius Nepos’ appointment as Augustus of the Western Roman Empire followed the rule of Marcellinus. The appointment by Eastern Emperor Leo I was immediately unfavorable to the inhabitants of the West and a highly unusual step at the time. A Christian emperor had not sat the Western throne since before Julian and religious division had solidified heartily by this time.

Roman spearman, circa AUC 1230

Nepos' veritable giving away of Hispania to the Visigoths was also a heavy source of contention.

Roman noblewomen mid-late 13th century AUC

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 Gallia, 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 toward 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.

Eurasia circa AUC 1250

In 1243 Anastasius brokered a deal with Theodoric, king of the Goths, to invade the West on behalf of Nepos and depose the Western regime, replace it with Nepos, and gain a settlement agreement in Italia thereafter. The two forces clased at the Battle of Faventia and resulted in a resounding defeat of Theodoric, but a crippling blow to the Western Roman military all the while. This was the last ditch attempt by Anastasius and Nepos, though Romulus was unable to likewise counter or invade after Faventia. Theodoric and his Goths were absorbed and, coincedentally, allowed to settle in Italia regardless - getting the end result they had long sought to begin with. The Western choice in doing this can be seen from a desperate need for manpower.

Roman instructor, circa AUC 1230s

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 which would nominally be under the Western Roman realm but with considerable autonomy.

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's successor Vettius Agorius Basilius Mavortius of natural causes, in AUC 1283. 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 Hispania. 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 Lugdona in 1303.

Roman military, circa 13th Century AUC

Emperor Probus Orestes died in 1305, of natural causes, though some evidence suggests it was due to the plage, 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.

Roman heavy cavalry, circa AUC 1230

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.

Europe, North Libia, West Asia; circa AUC 1355

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 Venedic 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 a hearty mixture of the devoutly Christian – looking to the Eastern Roman Empire for support - neighbored with Hellenes and traditional animists.. This, coupled with the continued 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.

Belisários' Civil War (AUC 1288 to 1289)

Simultaneous to Probus Orestes' invasion of the Franks came an attack from Eastern Roman Emperor Ioustinianós. The war was directed and led by Eastern military commander Belisários, who assembled 4,000 troops, which included regular troops and Gothic foederati, 3,000 Isaurians, 300 Moors and 200 Huns. In total, including his personal guards, his force numbered roughly 8,000. Belisários landed in Sicilia and took the island in order to use it as a base against Italia. Ioustinianós wanted to pressure Probus Orestes into relinquishing his throne and to then annex the Western Empire through diplomacy and limited military action while the West was occupied with the Franks and the Goths on their western side.

Roman banner carrier, late AUC 1200s

The civil war can clearly be seen through religious tones. Eastern Roman Emperor Ioustinianós, as in his secular administration, despotism appeared also in his ecclesiastical policy. He regulated everything, both in religion and in law. At the very beginning of his reign, he deemed it proper to promulgate by law the Church's belief in the Trinity and the Incarnation, and to threaten all heretics with the appropriate penalties and began a particularly detailed campaign to rid the Eastern Roman realm of Hellenes. The invasion used the pretense of persecution against Christians in the West coupled with the death of Orestes' wife Amalasuntha. The Gothic queen of the Western Empire, Amalasuntha, had played a key role in keeping the peace between the two halves of the Roman Empire and historians believe she had been attempting to persuade Orestes to convert to Christianity, a religion she practiced. It is likely that Ioustinianós had held out hope that the queen would succeed and, upon her death, decided to force the matter.

Bust of Empress Amalasuntha, a key figure during Orestes' reign

The war was brief. The occupation of the Western army against the Franks cleared the way for the Eastern Romans to march up Italia and besiege Rome. The siege dragged on and Belisários' army was forced to retreat from a Western Roman relief force arriving from the north led by Western Emperor Orestes himself. Belisários succeeded in taking Magna Graecia, that is southern Italia, and Africa and a quick peace deal was brokered between the two sides settling the matter on this. This unexpected invasion by the Eastern Emperor revealed the rip in the unity of the Roman Empire, the irreconcilability of the two competing religions, and the disregard the emperor in Constantinople had for the emperor in Milan.

The Yellow Plague (1295-1299)

The Yellow Plague of AUC 1295-1299 saw a mortality rate of 40 to 80 percent across the Roman Empire and beyond. The cause of the plague is still unconfirmed, but theories suggest Smallpox or Bubonic (a northern branch off of the Purple plague). 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 the deaths related to such martial chapters in history, and the concert it created with the Purple Plague, claim roughly 80 percent of the populations in the lands regained by the Western Roman Empire. Losses in northern Gallia, outside of the Roman realm, is estimated at 20 to 30 percent, while 60 percent for the regions north of the Alps, and 40 percent for Iberia.

It is difficult to suss out what amount of deaths in the areas taken from the Franks and Visigoths is attributed to the plague, to death by violence due to the war, or is death from starvation, also due to the conflict on going.

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.

There is significant debate as to if the Yellow Plague was simply the Purple Plague: a bubonic outbreak, occurring in Britannia via ships from the eastern Mediterranean, perhaps Greek traders or even Brittanic mercenary troops returning home, or Christian preachers arriving from Grecian lands into Britannia. There is evidence that any of these are true and it could even be a result of all of them.

The other argument is that the Yellow Plague was Smallpox, breaking out in the volatile Britannia and spreading from there, via a lingering strain from the Plague of Cyprian that was a hanger on in Britannia or someplace in the north.

All that is certain is that the Yellow Plague emerged in Britannia in 1295, a year after the Purple Plague showed up in Egypt and Constantinople. The two plagues, Yellow and Purple, would act as a pincer on Western Europe, closing in on the war ravaged lands retaken by Romania from the Franks and Visigoths, resulting in a perhaps unparalleled depopulation of devastation.

The Purple Plague (AUC 1294-1302)

The beginning of Probus Orestes' campaign against the Goths in Hispania also witnessed the arrival of the Purple Plague, sometimes called the Egyptian Plague. According to contemporary sources, an outbreak in Constantinople was thought to have been carried to the city by infected rats on grain ships arriving from Egypt. To feed its citizens, the city and outlying communities imported large amounts of grain, mostly from Egypt. The rat (and flea) population in Egypt thrived on feeding from the large granaries maintained by the government. The plague would strike the Eastern Roman, or Grecian, emperor, hence the creation of the plague's name for impacting the nobles, or the purple.

According to one view, the initial plague ultimately killed perhaps 40% of Constantinople's inhabitants and caused the deaths of up to a quarter of the human population of the Eastern Mediterranean.

The plague snaked its way from east to west, flowing from the Grecian Empire into the Western Roman realm via trade and other means. The Plague followed the wake of re-conquest and destruction caused by Romania's invasion of Frankish and Visigothic lands, causing extra devastation and depopulation atop the preceding and on-going wars.

The aftermath of the war-plagues combination left a vacuum in the lands retaken by Romania, allowing this void to be filled by eager settlers from the overcrowding Italian peninsula.

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, the conflict that erupted in AUC 1355 between the two halves of the Roman Empire had largely religions overtones but began as a conflict over the legitimate Augustuship of the East. Territory, economics, language, and culture all had roles as well.

The usurpation and murder of Eastern Roman Emperor Mauricius was ill met in the Western Empire. The Roman Empire had been on incredibly shaken ground for a time now, with religious tensions and a separation of defensive priority both playing heavily into the slow untying of the two halves. Even so, both halves viewed the realm as one while, as a single Empire, ever united. Mauricius had done much and more to realign the two parts of the Roman Empire and, despite religious rivalry, had warm relations with his co-Augustus Liberius. Mauricius continued to promote Latin as the language of the East and had gone a ways to diminish the pressure put on Hellenes in the East, an action with a reciprocal tolerance by Liberius in the West regarding Christians. Mauricius' Christian faith at first put him at odds but it appears that as his rule went on he began to view the unitary integrity of the whole Roman Empire as paramount, an idea that began to influence the Western Roman emperor, Liberius, religiously Hellene. Mauricius is popularly known in modern Romania as "the last Roman emperor of the East", a title sometimes put on Justinian I - with Justinian widely being believed to have been a Vlach, or proto-Vlach, and likely the last Old Roman, or Latin, Eastern Emperor. Mauricius, for his part, promoted Latin as a court tongue and also sought the continued union of the two Roman halves, thus also earning him this distinction, though he was likely a Grecian or Armenian speaker.

The proclamation of Phocas as Eastern emperor, and the murder of Mauricius that brought this event, was met with a declaration of war by Liberius and the Western Roman realm. The war was viewed in the West as no more than a civil war to put a rightful ruler in the East. Pretence for this came with Western claims of housing Theoctista, daughter of Mauricius, who the Romans claimed the Empress Constantina had sequestered away to a Christian community in the West and under the care of the Patriarch of Rome. Though Christians in the West were the minority and held less power, they were still influential and the Patriarch of Rome had particular influence across the Christian world.

The Persian King Khosrau II used Phocas’ coup and the murder of his patron, Mauricius, as an excuse for a renewed war against the Eastern Empire as well.

Liberius arranged the marriage of Theoctista to Gallicinus, a friend of both emperors and the current Vicar of Italia, thereby declaring Gallicinus the rightful Eastern Emperor.

An added layer of the conflict arrived with Phocas’ renewal of the persecution of the Hellenes in the East, essentially demolishing the various religious tolerance edicts and positions that Mauricius had enacted.

Phocas moved forces from Magna Graecia into Italia in an attempt to besiege Rome. Most historians believe that Liberius had intended to retake Magna Graecia from the Eastern Emperor and, as a preemptive, Phocas decided to act first. The reshuffling of this area to the Western Empire was part of the deal of installing Gallicinus in the East.

Eastern Roman writers later saw the conflict as a war against Hellenism and in defense of Christianism and as Roman against Grecian and, notably, revenge for the recent Purge of Rome (a Hellene mob-riot that witnessed widespread murder and looting of Christians in Rome). This may simply be later writer’s putting their own ideas on the war however. It seems more likely that Eastern Romans at the time merely viewed it as a civil war as well. Furthermore it is known that the East, Grecia, would continue to call itself Roman (Rhomania essentially) for centuries more.

Because of Phocas' incompetence and brutality, the Exarch of Carthage, Iraklios the Elder, rebelled against him early in the war. This is significant also in that Carthage had a prominent Christian population, likely the majority (even as the countryside around the city remained Hellene and animist). This may have resulted in the lag that the Western Romans took in responding as they allowed events to unfold in Carthage.

Iraklios the Elder's son, Iraklios, succeeded in taking Constantinople on 5 October 1363, and executed Phocas 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 (Khosrau claimed to have Mauricius’ son Theodosius and intended to install him as Eastern Emperor) the former lasting until AUC 1370.

Both sides ended the conflict exhausted. The Western Romans, henceforth known as the exclusive Roman Empire and, frequently, Romania, gained back Magna Graecia; the Eastern Romans, henceforth known as the Grecian Empire, 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. Theoctista has perished via unknown means, with poisoning a popular claim, and Gallicinus likewise would die before being able to make good his claim - a victim of plague most scholars believe. With manpower spent, money drained, and a cassus belli gone, the West agreed to end the civil war.

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.

Eurasia, circa AUC 1450

It is believed the war between the Romans was a major breaking point. Iraklios would govern the East in Grecian rather than Latin, the first emperor to do so, making it the language of the Eastern Roman Empire - though technically neither Roman realm had an official language and Grecian had long been the de facto tongue of the East. Iraklios merely used it in court rather than Latin - a first, titles were altered to their already commonly used Grecian forms, displacing the official Latin terms. The East would still call itself Roman until the rule of Leontios in 1449, when Grecian Empire was formally adopted - something that had been used casually since at least Eastern Roman Emperor Justinian II in 1438. Leontios’ rule was also notable in the formal break of the Roman Empire. The Edict of Dalmatia signed by the West and East in 1450 was the formal agreement that the two Roman Empires were separate, no longer were the two emperors co-rulers, but rather now officially independent of one another. The seeds of this grew strongest back during the Great-Schism, as a sort of catalyst. So despite the typical using of the Great Schism as the 'official' breaking date of the two Roman realms and with historians called the West as Romania and the East as Grecia after this point, the reality was that both lingered as a de-jure unified realm both called Romania/Rhomania until the rule of Eastern Emperor Leontios 75 years later. The changes under Leontios were not a sudden decisive move either. The slow seperation of the two sides, with slowly growing seperate identities, was something that had been growing for centuries and more than likely Leontios was simply officially confirming what had become de-facto.

Third Age - Postclassical Era (AUC 1370 to 2100)

Roman soldier, circa AUC 1350s

The Roman Empire spent the century following the Great Schism in a state of repair. The war, along with its adjacent conflict, the Greco-Sasanian War, exhausted the three great empires, Roman, Greek, and Persian. A string of emperors in Romania spent time rebuilding the borders and restoring order to the lands that had been reconquered. Notable among them was Augustus Olympius, a Hellene refugee from Constantinople. Emperor Olympius spent the early 1400s building the Olympian Wall along the entire length of Romania's northern border and connecting it to fortresses along the mountainous eastern border. This is significant in revealing the mindset of Olympius, which he adopted from his predecessors following the Schism. Defense became the rule and it seems the notion of expansion, as in the earlier era of the Roman Empire, was not a thought entertained. The vast amount of money and energy spent on defense reflects this. This is also likely influenced by the growing power and might of Francia to the north, with its expansion and annexation of nearly all of its Germanic neighbors, the growing formidable power of the Lombards, also expanding, and the Gepids, both to the east, and the proven strength of the Greeks, inheritors of the Eastern Empire. The disparate tribal neighbors was a thing of the past and the Romans understood that the new balance in Europe was not to be treated the same.

Roman embassy to Sina, AUC 1396

In 1396 it is recorded, from both ends, that Emperor Olympius' dispatched emessaries to Sina had arrived. Roman diplomat Caius Barbatiu, the Sinaean Tang histories record, arrived as an embassy in the 17th year of the Zhenguan (貞觀) regnal period, bearing gifts of red glass and green gemstones. Roman contact with Sina had occured before. The first group of people claiming to be an ambassadorial mission of Romans to Sina was recorded as having arrived in AUC 919 by the Book of the Later Han. The embassy came to Emperor Huan of Han Sina from "Andun" (Chinese: 安敦; Emperor Antoninus Pius or Marcus Aurelius Antoninus), "king of Daqin" (Rome). Roman contact would occur again, much later, causing an event that would bring about close contact between the two realms and shape world history forever.

In AUC 1405 Emperor Olympius, breaking with the standard he had firmly held onto, non-expansion, invaded Vasconia. The intent was to annex, or in Roman eyes reconquer, the Vasconic lands. The catalyst of this was repeated raids by Vascones into the surrounding Roman lands. The raids had been occurring for a century and had heightened significantly under Olympius' reign. His army was demolished in the mountain passes of southern Vasconia, where Olympius was killed.

The Saracen Wars

Roman equites, circa AUC 1470s

Emperor Scholasticus, like Olympius, was a Hellene refugee from Greece, though unlike Olympius his exact origin is unknown, but Asia Minor is believed the be the most likely candidate. Scholasticus, like his predecessors, determined to not expand, and spent much of his reign fighting defensive wars. He notably solidified the alliance between Domonia, Cambria and Romania, with the three realms aiding one another in seeing off Frankish attempts at invasion, especially of Domonia. Scholasticus also oversaw officially sanctioned Hellene proselytizing to Hibernia. The island had already witnessed Roman and Cambrian priests since at least the 1350s. Scholasticus was the first to give an official mission in this regard and the Romans found warm welcome in Hibernia - as it may have already been a good step into becoming fully Hellene. Scholasticus additionally fought off repeated Avar and Venedic raids from the east, aiding the budding Lombard and Gepid kingdoms in an effort to stem these attacks. This strengthening of Romania's neighbors succeeded in stemming this flow. The greatest threat, however, arrived from the rapidly expanding Arabian Empire. Romania lost all North Libian possessions, suffered several damaging raids in Sicilia and Sardinia, and watched the traditional rivals, Greece and Persia, succumb to this new power. Sicilia was ultimately overrun and an Islamic conquest took all of Magna Graecia from Romania.

Romans 16th-17th Centuries AUC

Roman cavalryman, circa AUC 1550s

The 1400s was a trying time for Romania and her former sister-realm, Grecia. Islamic raids continued across the Mediterranean and Armenia succumb to the invasions as well. Internally Romania was witnessing its regrowth, delayed from the time of the Migration Era through the reconquest and after. The invention of the heavy plow in Rhineland Romania was one example of many inventions and ideas that began to come into being and a steady population growth continued.

Augustus of the North

Elevated in 1522, Emperor Mauricius Galba, born in Heraclea, bore witness to a rebirth of Roman military professionalism. The Legions had, by most accounts, grown lackluster since the post Schism era. Galba revamped the army, using manuals from the Classical Era as guides, and investing in military technology. Growing conflict with Francia occured when Frankish king Carl Magnus married the Lombard princess Desiderata, a move Galba opposed, and protested the Frankish-Lombard alliance. The threat looming from Galba resulted in a divorce by Carl Magnus, who remarried a Frankish princess. A daughter from this second union, Hruodrud, would be betrothed to Galba's son and heir, Felicius Galba. This move secured Romania's northern border and created a shield against the increasingly powerful Carl Magnus. This was also a significant event in Frankish history and Galba bestowed on Carl Magnus the title Augustus of the Franks. It was symbolic, a hollow form of the previous two-emperor system of the Roman Empire before the Schism. But the prestige it culminated for the Franks was immense and would have repercussions for much of central and eastern Europe.

Romans 16th-17th Centuries AUC

The Arab invasion of Hispania in the 1460s/50s was now able to be countered with Frankish support and the renewed power of the Legions. Though repelled in 1513 across the Pyrenees by Roman forces, the Arabs had firmly rooted themselves in Hispania up to those mountains. In 1526 a Roman-Frankish force crossed the Pyrenees into Hispania and, by 1539, pushed the Muslim forces across the Tagus, the new frontier. Skirmishes would continue along this frontier for centuries and the Romans would ultimately create a formidable line of fortresses along it. Hispania was devastated during this reconquest, but the Islamic threat was subdued. Raiders from Scandia

Roman comitatenses or auxiliary, Hispania, circa AUC 1570s

In 1546 raiders from Scandia poured across the Germanic Sea and attacked targets far and wide. In the 1590s several raids took place along the western coast, ravaging Vasconia as well. In 1613 the Viking raiders attacked as far south as Luna before sacking Pisa and Fesula, making off with slaves and booty. The Hispanian coast was raided and settled as well. In AUC 1613 a significant raid took place off the coast of Galicia, confronted by a significant force of Romans. This was part of what seems to have been a three-year campaign by the Vikings along northern Hispania.

Roman legion, circa AUC 1600

"The expedition seems to have involved a large band of adventurers. Returning to the scene of Viking incursions in Roman Hispania and al-Andalus, but meeting with little success, they sailed on to raid targets on the shores of the Mediterranean. Here they may have taken captives for ransom or to trade as slaves. Vikings seem to have over-wintered in Romania, perhaps waiting on the northern shore of the Mediterranean for favourable tides and currents to exit the sea through the Pillars of Hercules. They then sailed to Italia, Alexandria and Constantinople"

This took place during the reign of Emperor Ranimirus and his personal interest in the Hispania theater may have been due to Hispania being his birthplace. It is known that Ranimirus took part in the conflict directly, but the 1613 Battle of Catora may have not involved him. It is believed to be the site of Hrómundr Gripsson's Saga and his legendary obtaining the sword Mistilteinn which first belonged to Þráinn, who had been king in Valland (Romania) before he retired in his burial mound with his wealth and was now a draugr. The story runs, "The Danish king Óláfr and his men, among whom Hrómundr Gripsson, learnt about that and found the barrow. Þráinn, who had become a draugr (living dead) was sitting inside, once a king of Valland. No one but Hrómundr dared to enter. After a long and fierce fight, he defeated Þráinn and took his treasure, especially his sword, with which Þráinn had killed four hundred and twenty men, including the Swedish king Semingr." Futher, "Þráinn, In the Scandian Hrómundar Saga , was a mighty berserker and sorcerer and King of Valland (Romania). He had done much evil. He was so old that he no longer wanted to know adversity, so he retired into his barrow, taking with him his sword, armor, and much wealth". It is unknown if Þráinn was Ranimirus or simply inspired by the numerous barrows, or tumuli, of northern Galicia.

A notable incident occured when Björn's foster-father Hastein got the idea to make Björn the new Roman Emperor and led a large Viking raid into the Mediterranean together with his protegée. The large Viking raid into the Mediterranean in 1612 - 1614 was subsequently led by Björn Järnsida and Hastein and made waste along the length of the Roman coasts. Raiding down the Iberian coast and fighting their way through the Pillars of Hercules, the Scandians pillaged the south of Gallia, where the fleet stayed over winter, before landing in Italia where they captured the city of Pisa. They proceeded inland to the town of Luna, in Italia, which they believed to be Rome at the time, but were unable to breach the town walls. To gain entry a tricky plan was devised: Bjorn sent messengers to the priest to say that his foster-father had died and that he had wished to receive Hellene burial rights - when a person dies, their body is to stripped, cleaned, washed by the women of the house with seawater, and anointed with oil - ending with a night time burial. Claims beings that Hastein had found Hellenic faith on his journey in Romania. He was brought into the temple with a small honor guard, then surprised the dismayed priests and priestesses by leaping from his stretcher. The Viking party then hacked its way to the town gates, which were promptly opened letting the rest of the army in. When they realised that Luna was not Rome, Björn and Hastein wished to investigate this city but changed their minds when they heard that the Romans were well prepared for defense and ultimately fled after many of their fellow Scandians were slaughtered.

Romans 16th-17th Centuries AUC

The Viking threat would not subside until the AUC 1950s, a 400 year span of coastal terror. Rivers began to become more secure to the Scandian threat as Romania and her neighbors fortified them and so went the coast. Coastal areas were more difficult to guard, however, expansive as they were. Romania implemented a system similar to the border forts and constructed watch towers and garrisons along significant points along the coast, at distances which would allow aid for troubled towns. This gave Romania a lasting boon and the Viking raids on Romania, though not stopping, diminished significantly and many of those that were launched met a bloody end.

Roman cavalry attacking Viking raiders

It was in these prisoners that the Germanic Guard was formed. A conscious revival of the Numerus Batavorum and a possible mimic of the Grecian Varangian Guard, formed in the 1650s, this body of Imperial Guard was composed principally of Scandians who originated along the western, or Norway, coast of Scandia. It was supplemented heavily by Frankish and Frisian volunteers. The Germanic Guard would never grow to the size or prestige of the Varangian Guard and remained principally a palace guard in Ravena and Milan and maintained garrisons along coastal areas. These coastal forts were settlements, foederati type agreements, whereby Scandian raiders who had been defeated were given coastal lands to farm, with forts built, and had Romans settled with them, thus encouraged to marry into the populace of Romania. The logic here was integration coupled with protection from Vikings by those who knew their tactics best. Return of Carthage

Roman legionnaire, circa AUC 1600s

In AUC 1636 Emperor Ursus Tradonicus began an invasion of Africa, taking advantage of the disintegration of the Arabian Empire in the 1620s. The Persians had a heavy impact on the Arabs in the east, from Tabaristan slowly completing a reconquest culminating in the taking of Cstesiphon in 1630 which resulted in the Persian explosion toward the Mediterranean and conquest of Syria and Judea. Egypt in turn revolted and declared themselves for the Greek Empire, who responded in turn. Grecia additionally took advantage of the chaos and invaded lands of the Sicilian Emirate, taking all but the island of Trinacria. Romania, all the while, swept into Africa and retook Carthage by 1639.

Roman depiction of a Roman soldier, circa 17th century AUC

Eurasia, circa AUC 1650

The Islamic successor realms on the western end of Europe and Libia solidified and survived the collapse, proving to be formidable opponents for Romania. Tradonicus was unable to push beyond Africa and Mauritania remained outside of Roman control despite a widespread Hellene revolt across northwest Libia against the Islamic entities.

The First Sacred War

There was a near disintegration of Grecian control over Haemia during the late 16th/early 17th centuries AUC. Additionally the Grecians faced a continued onslaught from a reinvigorated Persian Empire and continued robust attacks from the Sicilian Emirate and Arabic holders-on along the Levant.

The Bear Emperor

Into this chaos plunged Romania, led by Tribunus Urseolus. The Roman Emperor Urseolus is remember widely for his martial prowess. His origins are obscure and popular legend claims he rose from humble beginnings in the eastern Alps from a forest-clan. Urseolus began is career in the Roman legions. It is commonly accepted that Urseolus probably joined the army at around age twenty. It is also generally assumed that, though a member of the lower ranks, Urseolus' career is more easily understood if it is assumed that his family carried a tradition of military service, thus causing him to be enlisted as an equestrian, or knight. This could be a more expeditious route to senior military and procuratorial offices than that pursued by ex-rankers, although not necessarily less laborious. Urseolus certainly built up a very solid reputation for military competence during the tumultuous mid-decades of the century. Urseolus' ascension to Augustus came about as a result of the murky death of Ursus Tradonicus' son and heir.

Urseolus at the head of the Roman cavalry

A non-contemporary painting of Roman Emperor Urseolus

The notion of hereditary succession was still fraught in Rome and the Senate broadly opposed it. The tradition had remained to name a successor and to best avoid nepotism as one could. This tradition was ignored during periods of Roman history and had broadly been for the recent past. The likely influence of the Franks playing into this, with sons inheriting. The death of Rufus Tradonicus and subsequent elevation of Urseolus by the legions, was likely a planned event though still unproven.

Urseolus was described as a tall man, broad and greatly bearded, "handsomely faced and proportioned," as described by his contemporaries, his long nose and "eagles furrow" were commented upon. His preference for combat and well known religious devotion proved enough kindling to ignite a religious war. In AUC 1663 Urseolus declared what he termed a Sacred War to free Delphi and Athens and to come to the aid of the Maina, a Hellene people in the southern reaches of Grecia. The Romans succeeded in taking parts of Grecia, from Thessaly and south. The Bulgaro-Venedians and Arabs took advantage of the chaos with the former occupying nearly the entirety of Haemia and the latter re-invading Egypt in conquest. Initial Roman forays into Grecian territory was met with the surprise of Greek Fire and an initial Roman naval disaster resulted in an attempt to take Constantinople by sea. The Grecian land forces were not as capable as those of the Romans, but at sea the Grecians had dominion, forcing Urseolus to look towards a land slog rather than a naval go-around. The war ran for two years and the Grecians found themselves in disarray for its duration.

Life in Romania, late Imperial Era

Sexuality

in the Western Roman Empire, or Romania, the continued focus on athletics and gymasiums reigned, indeed may have been amplified due to its opposite stance taken in the Eastern Roman Empire, or Grecia. The Grecian historian Menander the Guardsman, writing in the mid 1300s AUC, described life in the Grecian Empire, explaining that he wrestled nude in his youth and it was a source of great shame to him now. This reveals the changes in the Eastern Empire, with the Christian attitude focusing on the spirit rather than athletics and seeing shame in nudity and sexuality. In Romania the opposite stance was taken. Partly this was simply a continuation of the historic norm, but additionally open attitudes towards sexuality and nudity were accepted as they were seen as, essentially, anti-Christian and thus 'true' Roman ideals. Ironically in the earliest days of the First Republic the open attitude towards sex and nudity was a Grecian thing while the Romans were more 'stuffy' on the topic, so the flip due to Hellenism versus Christianism is quite interesting.

Romania additionally clung onto pantomime dancing and every aspect of games, from chariots to gladiators. The aforementioned dance would be banned in Grecia as was gladiatorial combat, again clung onto by the Romans due to tradition and opposition in ideals openly held against Grecia. An example of the debate within Grecia in regards to pantomime can be found in the lost oration by Aelius Aristides; the pantomime was known for its erotic content and the effeminacy of its dancing; Aristides's work was responded to by Libanius, in his oration "On Behalf of the Dancers", written probably around 1114. Libanius (Grecian: Λιβάνιος, Libanios; c. 1067 – 1146) was a Grecian teacher of rhetoric of the Sophist school. During the rise of Christian hegemony in the later Eastern (Grecian) Roman Empire, he remained unconverted and in religious matters was a Hellene. Hellenes remained a strong minority in Grecia and are so to the present day.

This contrast to the Christian realms spread into the Post-Classical Period and would help define Romania.

Roman dancer, circa 1600s

While prostitution was legal, as before, and would remain so into modern times, during the late Imperial era the majority of prostitutes were at the bottom of the social ladder. The exception were the high-class "call girls" called meretrix, a class of prostitute that was the exclusive realm of those with money. Some meretrix earned a degree of fame and wealth, though a degree of respect is something that would always be beyong them. Typical prostitutes were known by a variety of names with 'lupas' being the most common slang. Prostitution flourished in capital and the largest cities of the empire - Milan, Argentea, Rome, and so on. Engaging in this activity was relatively voluntary when the daughters of actors or artisans were seduced by tales spread by the brothel holders about the luxurious life of getters; also prostitutes could become slaves and prisoners. Mistresses of brothels also went to the provinces to find suitable girls, buying them in poor families and this was a fairly common source of girls for the job.

Women whose activities involved trading of their bodies also included mime artists, performers on flute, and singers at weddings or banquets. According to the Romans, engaging in secular art is not befitting an honest man, and women of these professions were considered prostitutes of a separate kind. The lower class prostitutes were considered to be maidservants in taverns, about which, according to the tradition dating from ancient times, it was believed that they should satisfy all the needs of the guests.

Ravenna

The Roman capital, Ravenna, gained a level of prominence unknown before. The strategic value and cultural importance of Constantinople on the Grecian psyche likely played a role in the fortification of Ravenna by the Romans.

Ravenna circa AUC 1450 (700 CE)

The spot for Ravenna was vital for defense. The marshlands to the inland side of Ravenna made besieging the city difficult. If one made it through the difficult marshlands they were then faced with what amounted to an in-land sea in two layers, making it impossible to set up a seige from Ravenna's western side. This also allowed access to sea food by the people inside Ravenna, even during a siege. The sea-side of Ravenna was in turn protected by a wall and an array of towers, with access controlled by the cream of the Roman fleet. This ushered besiegers to the north or south of Ravenna, though the south one would have to besiege the southern suburb, overtaking its walls, and then crossing the water to besiege the narrow land present before the southern walls. Thus the northern walls were the best bet for a besieging army, thus reducing the area they could contest. This end was protected by two layers of walls, not unlike Constinatople, even if not as formidably nor thick as the walls of Byzantium. Even so, the first layer was an impressive array and defenders could fall back to a second layer of walls if the first fell. Then, within the city two major areas were further behind walls so in a last ditch effort defenders could hold the important parts of the city.

The Great Northern Threat

The 1700s and 1800s were spent with wary gazes northward. Across the Rhine the Frankish Empire was expanding territoriality and in population. Technological advances trickled north from Romania and farming advances saw a population boom. The Veletians grew as a rival of Francia in the north, with both influencing that direction that Scandia, to their north, would go.

Roman Augustus Vitalis Tegalianus would spend the mid 1750s courting the Veletians and opened up trade with them. Initial routes were established by sea, strengthening Cambria simultaneously, and by land, choosing a Lombard route rather than Frankish in order to curb said empire's boom. AUC 1753 bore the culmination of these happenings with the Battle of Svold. Though not directly involved, Romania held sway over the situation that unfolded in northern Europe. Burislav, King of Veletia, had his daughter wed to the King of Norway, Olaf Tryggvason, via the machinations of Emperor Vitalis. Olaf had taken on Hellenism as his own and had gone about a reformation of the folk-tradition beliefs of the Scandians. This move angered many and created enemies beyond count in Scandia. Vitalis had hope that Olaf would, now converted, bring Scandia under the Hellene fold, thereby nipping the Viking threat in the bud, creating a powerful state above Francia and thus reducing their threat, and also potentially create a new ally.

Svold ended in victory for Olaf and Burislav and the Scandian would continue a conquest of the entirety of that land. Far from being a united and powerful state to throw Francia off balance, this created a void and chaos. Though held as a unitary realm, Scandia remained in perpetual off-and-on civil war for centuries. It became a further breeding ground for raiders and the Viking tide did not stem, nor did Francia find a threat as the disunity in the unity that was Scandia prevented this. Lastly, Olaf ended up taking Hellenism and, some scholars believe, Christianity, and painted a new and organized religion of his own, based off of the Northmen's traditional beliefs; thus was born Heathenism. In a bizarre similiarity, the given name for this faith, Heathenism, was based on the word 'heathen', attested as the Gothic haithn, which was adopted by Gothic and later Gepid Christian missionaries as the equivalent of both the Greek word Hellenis (Hellene) - the word was used by Early Christian writers in Europe to describe non-Christians or those practicing the old traditions. In essence, Olaf did adopt Hellenism only altered severely, for the north, and not at all what Vitalis had intended.

Roman Praetorian, circa AUC 1700

The 1600s-1700s witnessed a mass raid from Hungarians, looting their way into the Italian peninsula and sacking smaller undefended settlements and farms. In 1652 the Hungarians had rolled over the Pannonian plain and defeated a Roman army in the Battle of Brenta, though they were shortly after this routed by another Roman force and via combined Roman-Gepid strength repelled across the Carpathians. The next fifty years witnessed a solidification of Hungarian hold on their northern Carpathian environs and the tribe was considered settled. They continued consistent harassment and raids into the Carpathian basin, Pannonia, and beyond, into Francia, Gepidia, and Lombardy. Unable to conquer but unable to fully demolished, the Hungarians became a sort of horse-bound Viking of the grass. In AUC 1700 the Hungarians poured forth in force, raiding deep into Romania and her nieghbors. They raided as far as Hispania and the coast of Gallia, raiding Vasconia to Saxony and between. The Hungarians were finally checked in 1710 at the Battle of Augusta by a massive Roman force. Minor raids continued into 1720 but the power of the Hungarians had been broken.

The attacks opened Roman eyes to the weakness of their eastern border. The north, guarded by rivers a wall and forts, was also susceptible, as the Hungarians merely went through the east or through Francia and around the principal Roman border of the north. The Romans answered by building up the eastern frontier, though much of it mountainous made this difficult. Even so, Romania had another wave of withdrawal, internal building guided by paranoia of raiders from abroad, seemingly consistent since the Migration Era and wearing down moral.

A notable reaction to the threat during the era came from Emperor Dauferius. Of Germanic origin, possible Langobard, Dauferius openly sought to mimic the personal guard of the Grecian rulers, the Varangian Guard. His desire for a personal escort resulted in a rebirth of the Praetorians in 1753.

The Moorish Raids

Attacks would be launched from across northern Libia, Andalusia, and the Eastern Mediterranean into various parts of Romania. Some of these were small raids, seeking slaves and booty, while others were larger, taking control of small chips of territory before being driven out - a seemingly perpetual stab and push between Romania and the Islamic forces to the south and east.

Roman legions and Roman fleet in Venetia, circa AUC 1750s

Mogehidus brought about one of the more significant of these in 1768. Mujāhid (known as Mogehidus to the Romans) was a ṣaḳlabī, a slave of Venedic origin. His patronymic, Ibn ʿAbd Allāh, does not refer to his actual father. His mother was a captured Christian from the Grecian sphere of influence in Eastern Europe. He was purchased and converted to Islam by the ḥājib al-Manṣūr, who also had him educated. He may have served as governor of Dénia in Andalusia, southern Iberia, under al-Manṣūr's sons after 1755. After the death of al-Manṣūr's second son, Sanchuelo, in March 1762, he took control of Dénia. Within a few years he had set up his own rival puppet caliph, al-Muʿayṭī.

Romans auxiliary of the 18th Century

In 1786 (AH 406), Mujāhid launched an expedition to conquer the island of Sardinia from the Romans in the name of the caliph al-Muʿayṭī. He landed with 120 ships and occupied the southern coastal plain before taking the entire island.

The following year he returned with a large force of cavalry and fortified the conquered area. He even sent a force to attack Luna on the Italian coast (the unfortunate town had been raided by Saracens in 1602 and Vikings in 1613 and now again by Andalusian and Moors in 1787).

The Frankish chronicler Thietmar of Merseburg wrote that he sent a sack of chestnuts to the Roman Emperor to illustrate the number of Muslim soldiers he would unleash on Hellendom, but that Emperor Benedictus Tusculum sent back a sack of millet representing the number of Roman soldiers that would meet them.

In May 1769, the Romans returned to Sardinia. Mujāhid, facing mutiny among his men, fled by sea. His fleet was devastated in a storm and the remaining ships were picked off by the Roman fleet. His mother and his son and eventual successor ʿAlī were captured, but Mujāhid made it back to Dénia. ʿAlī remained a prisoner for many years.

A Language for the Vulgar

Emperor Torchitorius (in Roman Torgitoriu) introduced the Carta Vulgare in AUC 1823. This was a pivotal moment and a monumental action. Previously the official tongue of Romania had been Latin, as spoken for centuries. The reality was that the language had changed through the eras. The vulgar tongue was common and widespread and fairly different. Though the unity of the empire reduced this and the spread of migrants from Italia in numerous waves previously had aided some commonness across Romania, there was still great distance and the language changed regardless. Torchitorius, hailing from Sardinia, took not of the speech in the streets of the cities he visited around Romania. The Augustus took a peculiar interest in language and studied it - sadly his writing on the topic has been lost. The culmination of his work was the Carta Vulgare, a standardized Vulgar Latin to be used across Romania. The emperor spent funds on schooling programs, buildings, and teachers across Romania in order to make his idea more effective. The hoped for outcome was a more unified linguistic realm and, as a result, a more unified realm. The language was dubbed Roman and is the standardized tongue the country has added to to this day.

The Second Sacred War

The catalyst for the Second Sacred War was the Massacre of the Hellenes in AUC 1935 in Constantinople. The Roman, Grecian, and Valachian Hellenes of Constantinople at that time dominated the city's maritime trade and financial sector. Although precise numbers are unavailable, the bulk of the Hellene community, estimated at 60,000 at the time by Eustathius of Thessalonica, was wiped out or forced to flee. Some 4,000 survivors were sold as slaves to the Persians. The massacre further worsened relations and increased enmity between the Hellenes and Christians, and a sequence of hostilities between the two followed.

Europe, North Libia, West Asia circa AUC 1930

Roman emperor Henricus Dandulus chose the Massacre as his cassus belli though it is widely understood that he had machinations on the conquest of Constantinople and the rebirth of the old, larger, Roman realm.

To take the city by force, the Romans first needed to cross the Bosphorus. The Romans had developed counters to Greek Fire by this point, a decisive Grecian weapon; Romans countered the weapon by staying out of its effective range and devising methods of protection such as felt or hides soaked in vinegar. About 200 ships delivered the Roman army across the narrow strait, where Alexios III had lined up the Grecian army in battle formation along the shore, north of the suburb of Galata. The Roman equites charged straight out of the horse transports, and the Grecian army fled south. The Romans followed and attacked the Tower of Galata, which held the northern end of the massive chain that blocked access to the Golden Horn. The Tower of Galata held a garrison of mercenary troops of Cambrian, Scandian, and even Roman origin. As the Romans laid siege to the Tower, the defenders routinely attempted to sally out with some limited success, but often suffered bloody losses. On one occasion the defenders sallied out but were unable to retreat back to the safety of the tower in time, the Roman forces viciously counterattacked, with most of the defenders being cut down or drowning in the Bosporus in their attempts to escape. The tower was swiftly taken as a result. The Golden Horn now lay open to the Romans.

Grecian emperor Alexios III finally took offensive action, leading 17 divisions from the St. Romanus Gate, outnumbering the Romans only slightly. Alexios III's courage failed, and the Grecian army returned to the city without a fight. The unforced retreat and the effects of the previous screening fire by the Romans greatly damaged morale, and the disgraced Alexios III abandoned his subjects, slipping out of the city and fleeing to Mosynopolis in Thrace. The Romans sacked Constantinople for three days, during which many ancient Greco-Roman and postclassical Grecian works of art were stolen or ruined. Many of the civilian population of the city were killed and their property looted. The Romans destroyed, defiled and looted the city's churches and monasteries.

The fall of Constantinople shocked the Christian world deeply. The call-to-arms of all Christians had only been answered by the Bulgarians (otherwise known as the Thraco-Mysians) while the Gepids dallied. The Romans mopped up their conquest by grabbing the remainder of the European possessions of the Grecian Empire, leaving only a Grecian rump-state in western Anatolia, with the Persian's looming over them. Henricus Dandulus installed his son, Rainerius Dandulus, as Eastern Emperor and restored the old split dynamic of Western and Eastern Roman Empires, linked.

The death of Henricus Dandulus in AUC 1958 saw Rainerius Dandulus as the solitary emperor of the Roman Empire. Rainerius continued to rule from Constantinople and spent most of his rule, like his father, attempting to Hellenize the Christian east. The one highlight for Rainerius was the fealty declared by the Dardanians, described as a "Hellene island in a sea of Christians". The Dardaniansand the Valachians would prove to be extremely dedicated fighters to what they considered their now reconnected mother-state, the Roman Empire, the latter with hopes that Rome would carve out parts of Grecia inhabited by the Valachs. However, endless Christian revolts sprang up across the east and continued harassments from the Gepids and Bulgarians made the situation nearly untenable. The boiling pot overflowed in 1993 with a full invasion by the Bulgarians under their emperor, Ivan II. The war in Haemia was brief but incredibly bloody, with both sides suffering catastrophic losses. The Romans were ultimately pushed back into Thessaly, narrowly holding onto Delphi in a bloody last stand, remembered as the Battle of Delphi and famous in the annals of Hellenism. Constantinople fell in AUC 1995 and Rainerius Dandulus was blinded and taken prisoner by Iván II. The Bulgarians absorbed the former Grecian lands into their own, forging what is known now as the Greco-Bulgarian Empire (also known as the East Mysian Empire, Thracian Empire, and Bulgarian Empire interchangeably).

The Mongol Invasions

Aeliana Dandulus, Rainerius' 25 year old daughter, now ruled as Empress in Romania. Having fled from Constantinople in the final days of the Bulgarian siege, Aeliana showed up in Ravena and declared herself Empress. The realm was in chaos however, with the army withered in Haemia and the Mongol invasion beginning in earnest, with attacks in Mysia as a whole, in Dardania as well as Bulgaria . Tens of thousands of Dardanians lost their lives defending their territories, a blow to Roman aid as the Dardanian people were by and large Hellenes. Crops and goods plundered from Capatian and Valachian settlements seem to have been a primary supply source for the Mongol Golden Horde. The invaders killed up to half of the population and burned down most of their settlements, thus destroying much of the cultural and economic records from that period. The army of Gepidia offered little resistance against the Mongols. The swiftness of the invasion took many by surprise and forced them to retreat and hide in forests and the enclosed valleys of the Carpathians. In the end, however, the main target of the invasion was the Kingdom of Gepidia. The Mongols cut through the Haemus Peninsula and met their first defeat at Clissa in Dalmatia. The invasion was hardly slowed, however, and continued the full conquest of Gepidia. The tide was finally stemmed in Lombardy by a combined Lombard-Roman force. The Romans arrived quite by chance, moving north after the disaster of the Bulgarian War, into friendly Lombard lands. The fortuitous arrival of the Romans, beaten as they were, may have aided the Lombards in their decisive victory against the Mongols.

The War of the Augustas

Trouble continued brewing at home. In AUC 1996 the pretender and Equites Marcus Cornarius rose up in

Venetia, intent to wrestle the throne from Aeliana, and the Frankish Emperor Diedrich II Kleve likewise made plans on the Roman purple. Allegiences in Rome splintered and Cornarius obtained loyalty from most of eastern and southern Romania, save for Ravena and other pockets, while Aeliana retained the north and the west. Cornarius moved the capital to Rome and began planning his campaign to oust Aeliana from her base in Argentea. The two Roman factions have become known as the Empire in Argentea and the Empire in Rome.

Aeliana Dandulus also hailed from Venetia, born there, though the Dandulus family had their origins in Treveria Province (a potential reason for her decision of Argentea as her later capital). Aeliana was described as small, as a lithe woman, blue eyed, black haired, and almost sickly pale. The sources describe her as pretty yet demure. Her fondness for hawking and birds is also commented upon. Her personality is equally favored by contemporary writers, described as "one to be deep in thought" and laconic as well as charitable and pious, humble and thoughtful, taking great moments to ponder before giving a well-thought response.

Augusta Aeliana

The Cornarius reasoning for the war was manifold. A principal cause was the desire to see the repetitive nepotism of the past few decades, though not constant but fairly persistent, come to an end. Dynasties had grown common in Romania since the end of the Second Age, but the principal of hereditary succession was never formalized in Romania, and hereditary succession was a custom rather than an inviolable principle. This differed Romania from many surrounding states. Said states and their hereditary customs no doubt influenced the growing habit of Roman hereditary succession. Marcus Cornarius saw this as a threat to Romanitas. His move of the capital to Rome, centuries after it had last held that honor, is a reflection of his desire to shift the empire to older mores. That Aeliana was a woman was also a contentious issue. Like hereditary succession, there was no hard rule that said a woman could not rule as Augusta alone, but tradition held it to be an issue. Ulpia Severina had been Romania's only Augusta who ruled the empire, though her reign was very brief and came about due to the death of emperor Aurelian (ACU 1028), lasting less than a year. Severina did mint coins in her likeness, however, suggesting an accepted legitimacy. This practice was also reflected by Aeliana. The disasters of Aeliana's forebear was the additional catalyst for change and thus civil war.

Aeliana was pressured by her council to marry though this was a task she held off. Augusta Aeliana first turned her attention to the north and the gathering Frankish forces. The Frankish forces launched a successful assault on the Olympian Wall and crossed the Rhine while the bulk of the Roman forces remained in the south to counter the threat from Cornarius. The Franks continued to ravage the land and routed two smaller Roman forces that came to meet them. In the autumn of AUC 1996 the bulk of the two armies finally clashed at the Battle of Argentea. Diedrich II had the city as his principal war-goal, aiming to take Aeliana's capital and the empress as well, thereby gaining the empire in one fell swoop. The Frankish origins to claim of the Roman Empire date to the declaration of Carl Magnus as an honorific Northern Augustus by Mauricius Galba in the 16th century AUC. Numerous Frankish emperors (no longer kings) had since claimed the two empires were halves of one and should be united, under Frankish sovereignty. The notion that much of the Frankish lands had been integral parts of the Roman Empire, including an old capital city, solidified this belief.

The battle outside of Argentea in the spring of 1997 was a bloody affair and both sides suffered greatly. Diedrich would lose his life in this battle and the Frankish forces withered and were crushed. Aeliana brokered a peace with the Franks by taking in marriage the second son of Diedrich II and brother to the new Frankish emperor (eldest son of Diedrich II) Diedrich III. Known as Diedrich Luf to differentiate him from his father and the new emperor, his brother. Aeliana was 26 at the time, while Diedrich Luf aged 15, eleven years her junior. The move was broadly criticized by her council and many in Romania. The fear lay in the notion that this would elevate the Frankish claims, opening the way for further invasion. The other camp believed that this not only solidified peace, desperately needed with the threat of Cornarius in the south, but opened up the potential of annexing the Frankish lands back to Romania, thereby recovering long lost territory.

The marriage cemented, the new Augustus and Augusta marched south to confront Cornarius and his increasing power. Diedrich Luf became ill on the journey south. After crossing the Alps and camping in the Po Valley the young emperor died of fever. Immediate rumors circulated of poison. Diedrich Luf had been hale and hearty. The suspects were numerous - those many in the Roman court who believed Luf a threat to Romania or an assassin from Cornarius. Most historians believe it was the former though all remains conjecture at this point. Aeliana, empress alone again, continued the campaign, moving with her army. The first clash came at the Battle of Placentia. The clash was not motivating for either army and even today it is difficult to declare a victor. Aeliana's camp suffered worse however, due to the depletion of the early Frankish conflict and the growing support for Cornarius. The empress moved her forces west and established a base in Tolosa, a safe area that supported Aeliana, with the full weight of Hispania behind. Cornarius still held the most populated areas, however, and he made his move.

The fortuitous death of Marcus Cornarius on August 5th AUC 1998 shifted the balance of the war. Marcus, aged 45, perished of what may have been alcoholism. It seems that the would-be-emperor drank himself to death in a raucous celebration on the eve of his campaigns move from Italia to the west. Marcus' daughter Felicia immediately declared herself his successor, as his only child.

The irony was noticed immediately and the nepotism did not echo well with Marcus' supporters. A second, miniature civil war opened up within the Cornarius camp - played out in the form of mass arrests and a few executions by Felicia Cornarius. Her hold on power, though still slippery, was now more firm with those dissenters out of the way. Felicia, at the age of 23, was now one of two Augustas in the Roman Empire. The two competing Augustas spent the remainder of 1998 rebuilding their forces. The death of Marcus derailed the invasion force. Though speculative, there is high potential that the large force, support, and skill of the general, Marcus Cornarius, would have seen him through the alpine passes, along the coast, likely defeating the border forces of Aeliana and, probably, successfully have taken Tolosa. What might have occurred then is of course difficult to suss out. As things occurred, with his death, Felicia chose to delay the campaign, frustrating many. Her need was true - the depletion of the purges after her ascension drained moral and support, coupled with a further decrease in that many were under her banner who had wanted to end nepotism or rid themselves of a female monarch - or both, yet here they were with both of those very things.

Not much is known of Felicia's early life before she declares herself empress; "the later Roman historians called [her] a courtesan, but the Felicite chroniclers a lady of Istria."

Therein lies a rumor that circulated that Felicia was not Marcus' daughter but rather his courtesan, owing to the sketchiness of her background and a seeming lack of evidence of her actually being his daughter, nor of Marcus having children. The lack of a wife for a time that would place his having a daughter, at least a legitimate daughter, also suggests that Marcus could not have indeed had a child, further complicated the situation.

Felicia was described as "not short, for a woman, though not of great stature" and evidently more of a beauty than her rival Aeliana. Olive skinned, black eyed, with light brown hair, "hale of body", it was said Felicia held herself in a lofty manner and quite literally looked down her nose at others, keeping her head tilted in such a manner as to display a haughtiness. She was perhaps the opposite of Aeliana, quick to speak, quick to spite, sure of herself, and preferring villa life to that of hawking and things of that nature.

Reproduction of the eagle flown by Aeliana's ships and legions

AUC 1999 began shakily for both Augustas. Aeliana was forced to turn her attention south as the Andalusian began a great increase to their raids. Raiding had occurred since the border was established in Hispania, with Romans taking Andalusians and Andalusians raiding to take Romans - all destined for slavery for both sides. The Andalusians hadn't recovered enough strength to mount a reconquest and with their severing from the remainder of the Muslim world this status lingered. Likewise, Romania had maintained a policy of non-expansion, for fear of overstretching and risking another near collapse as had nearly occurred in the late Second Age. The Andalusian revival came about due to two principal causes: the Roman Civil War drained their northern rivals dearly and the growth of Islam across the Sahara and sub-Sahara, reconnecting Andalusia and Maghribia with their Islamic brethren in the east. This enabled easier movement of forces religiously loyal. It was in this light that the Andalusian raids intensified, seeing an increased flow of Muslim movement from the eastern Mediterranean and into Andalusia.

The Jihad declared in 1999 witnessed Andalusian and Maghribian forces crossing the Odiana river and mounting a simultaneous invasion of Mauritania and Africa. Andalusian forces clashed with the Romans at Siege of Bartselona. The city was besieged for three months until a relief force arrived from Tolosa. Andalusian forces were routed and fled across the Odiana, pursued by the Romans. A final clash occurred at the Battle of Jayén in February 2000. Andalusian forces were crushed definitively. Augusta Aeliana had the Roman army withdraw and return to Tolosa. The decision to not press their victory, annexing only the land occupied along the eastern coast, is likely due to the continued threat of Augusta Felicia and the ongoing civil war. The return of the city Valentia however was heralded in Aeliana's circle and proved a great boon to her reputation and cause.

The Third Sacred War

Augusta Felicia and her husband, Theodatus Falier

Simultaneous to this Andalusian threat came a separate war for Felicia's Romania. Sicilia, or Magna Graecia, had been reconquered by the Greek Empire since their conquest of the AUC 1630s and the island Trinacria was added to this by the Greeks in AUC 1844. Sicily had a rocky history during the last few centuries. Bouncing between Grecian, Roman, and Islamic control, the lingua franca became Greek, the writing Latin, the religion predominately Christian and then predominately Hellene, the culture a hearty mix of Grecian, Roman, and Muslim. This pot boiled over into war, breaking off from the yoke of the Grecian Empire, routing a renewed Islam invasion, and then bleeding into protracted internal civil war. The principal cause of the internal war was religious - Hellenism had come to surpass Christianity as the majority, though only slightly. The power struggle came to a clash and into this fray stepped Felicia.

Unlike Aeliana she saw an opportunity to expand Romania. Felicia's reason for the invasion was heavily inspired by Aeliana's success in Hispania. The laurels lauded Aeliana's campaign and cause were enormous when she retook Valentia and the routing of a non-Hellene army brought prestige. The action clearly began the eclipsing of Felicia and the would-be-empress knew this. She needed a win. Sicilia offered the chance. AUC 2000 was spent subduing Magna Graecia and ultimately absorbing it into the Roman fold. The Massacre of Panermu was the tragic end of the conflict. After successfully storming the city the Roman forces began a relentless and rabid slaughter of the Christian inhabitants. The conquest of Sicilia by Felicia's Romania would come to be known as the Fourth Sacred War. Felicia secured a husband, her leading general, Theodatus Falier. Falier, 10 years her senior, was a reliable companion of the Cornarius family, also from Venetia. The couple produced a child, Marcus, namesake of the infant's grandfather.

The Augustas Clash

The Battle of Histria, AUC 2003, during the War of the Augustas; the forces of Augusta Aeliana (right) board a ship held by those loyal to Augusta Felicia (left)

AUC 2002 finally saw the two Romania's face one another. The first move was made by Felicia who crossed defeated Aeliana's forces at the Battle of Lugdona, taking the city. Aeliana had since returned to Argentea, her capital, and this new move by Felicia threatened to cut off the Augusta form Aquitania and Hispania. Aeliana made her move but did not confront Felicia, rather she moved east, pushing through loyal Norica and into Felicia's Veneta and Histria. Roman forces loyal to Felicia were routed here, massively outnumbered as they were, but Theodatus, nominal Augustus of the Roman Empire (though most understood that Felicia was the true power) fell on the battlefield. Aeliana began to move around Italia, securing holdings and regaining loyalties. The move knocked Felicia off balance and with such a stroke she began to see her support eroding. Forced to relinquish her gains in Gallia, Felicia began to move back toward Italia. Felicia established herself in Genova and Aeliana in Venetia, which was Felicia's home city and thereby a snub to the would-be-Augusta. AUC 2003 witnessed the Battle of Histria, a naval engagement between the two Romanias. The battle was fierce, and initially in favour of Felicia's forces, but the timely arrival of reinforcements tipped the scale in Aeliana's favor, resulting in a crushing victory. Aeliana now had dominion of the sea. Aeliana spent the remainder of 2003 sweeping around Italia and quickly garnered support, taking Rome back. She established her capital in Ravena, which had, with Milan, been the traditional capital of Romania for centuries. This allowed her legitimacy over her rival.

The pledging of Felicia's defeated forces to Augusta Aeliana

In October 2003 the Battle of Hasta in Liguria Province saw Felicia's army decisively defeated and splintered. A significant portion was absorbed in Aeliana's forces and the remainder fled into the Alps. Felicia was lost in the chaos and her frozen body that of her retinue, and the child Marcus would be discovered a month later in an Alpine pass near Bardoneca, near the border of Transpadania and Transalpinia. Felicia's retinue may have been hounded as Aeliana had sent for them to be tracked and brought to her after the dissipation of her army in Hasta.

Two years after the end of the war against Felicia, Aeliana granted Sicilia independence, effectively making them a co-state, reliant on and tethered to Romania, though nominally separate from it. This alleviated spear shaking from the Greek Empire as well as any rebellious stirrings from within Sicilia - which had been aided in its independence and civil war by Felicia, though unasked for aid that was viewed as unwanted aggressive help. The massacre on the island of Trinacria by the Romans made this situation more liable to explode. Aeliana was therefore able to maintain benefits of Sicilia, assure it of not being absorbed by any neighboring rivals, and was able to avoid any rebellions caused by holding onto it any closer. The move was popular in both Romania and Sicilia.

Aeliana retained her position as sole Augusta until her death at the age of 76, AUC 2049, by natural causes. Her ability to retain her position stood atop her success in the civil war as well as against the Franks and the Andalusians, her solving the Sicilian question, and her decision to not take a husband again: Two lovers are recognized throughout the Augusta's remaining time reigning, though none were taken to the purple and no child was produced, thus avoiding the testy issue of hereditary monarchy.

Marcus Cornarius & The Ordo Equites

A principal cause of Cornarius' initial success during his rebellion rests in the Equites. With the reconquest of Roman lands there came a need for tighter security. The traditional border army, with its forts and newly built great-wall, led by Dukes, was a strong defence, but evidently not enough. The Equites, a noble order since the First Republic, found themselves as a stop-gap to fix this issue during that period. Though both Senators and Equites held vast estates or holdings (Latifundias), only the Equites were a martial noble order.

The structure of the Roman Army during the Postclassical Era

It was in this light that successive emperors granted Equites Latifundias along the lengthy border of reconquered lands. Many expanded these into vast holdings, veritable fortresses with towns around them for protection, toiled by slaves and manned by extensive auxilia troops. The violence of the border brought laurels to many Equites and their extensive auxilia meant they had small armies. This amount of respect and power meant that it was inevitable one Equites or another would rise up, as Marcus Cornarius did. The surprising aspect is, as Cambrian historian Emblyn Angove points out, "that no member of the Ordo Equites chose to make a grab at the Imperial Purple before Cornarius is quite surprising."

The End of Empire

Ariminus Baracone was elected by the Senate to replace Aeliana in 2049. The Consul was a respected member of the Roman aristocracy and viewed as a fairly moderate mind and, importantly, was antagonistic toward nepotism. His reign is largely uneventful and the man himself was described as plain. Perhaps unfair to Baracone, as he managed to balance the checkbook of Romania and initiated many internal work projects and infrastructure repairs.

World Map circa AUC 2050s

Baracone was succeeded in 2056 by his Caesar Valentinu Valdracone (Valentinus Valdraconus). Valdraconus is notable in that he was the first recorded Augustus to use his vulgar name, or his name in Roman rather than Latin. It had been tradition, firmly established, for Emperors and Senators, and all those involved in the state or formality, to write and speak their name in the older Latin form. Even as the common speech was developed into an official tongue, Roman, and the Emperor's spoke it, the naming system remained Latin for the elite (not the commoners however). This exception was nominal only, as daily speech, religious, and court, were all conducted in Roman since its standardization by Emperor Torgitoriu the Scholar in the Carta Vulgare in AUC 1823. Previous to this the common speech was still quite similar to what would be Roman, in the form of various Vulgar Latin dialects. As such, Latin as it had been known, as it was used for names, was all but unspoken but by elite scholarly circles.

Valdracone, like his predecessor, ruled largely in peace and the realm witnessed a high degree of prosperity under him. The neighboring Greco-Bulgarians lost a significant amount of territory to the growing Persian Empire under the zealously Zoroastrian Kurdish Hazaraspid dynasty who had erupted from the Zagros mountains to dominate the Persian realm. Hazaraspid raids along Morea and Crete, Romania's last holdings in the east, brought the growing threat to their attention and much of Europe had turned their attention toward it. The Hazaraspid dynasty emerged from the splintering of the Samanian Empire's (also known as Samanid Persia) fall to the Turkic Seljuqs and the subsequent fall of the Seljuqs to the Mongols. The western portion of the Persian realm was nominally Mongol but in reality independent and from this was born the Hazaraspid Empire, or Kurdish Empire. Expanding rapidly and aggressively west, they consumed the entirety of Greco-Bulgarian Anatolia and allied themselves closely with Judea, independent since the fall of the Samanids.

The Anatolian Campaign

Contemporary painting of Venturellu Sterpetu

The first wide scale engagement between Roman (Western) and Persian forces since the late Classical Era came in the joint Roman and Greco-Bulgarian invasion of Anatolia - highly unprecedented. The collaboration clearly reveals the threat that was believed to be in the Kurdish Empire. Romania was also likely acting to defend its southern Haemic possessions, namely Morea and of high importance Athens and Delphi, the first the headquarters of the Pontifex Maximus, the holy high priest of Hellenism, and the latter the home of the Oracle, equally important.

The campaign against the Kurds commenced in the spring and summer of 2059. Their costly campaign came with success, driving back the Kurds in parts of Asia Minor. At Philadelphia, 18,000 Kurdish soldiers were left dead. However, the Grecians got more than what they bargained for; the Romans were difficult to restrain and consequently much of the reconquered territory was laid to waste. Roman goals, unspoken to their Grecian allies, was to decimate the area and essentially severe the head of the growing Kurdish realm so the threat would be gone. An added bonus would be delaying Grecian regrowth (as the Grecian Empire had been on a long and steady decay for a long while at this point). The Duke in charge of the Legionary expedition, Alfredu Medices, was assassinated in Gallipoli on 3 April 2061 by Michael IX Palaeologus followed by a massacre of 1,300 Romans. This turn of events sparked a war between Romania and Grecia.

The Roman-Bulgarian War

The Romans began a two-year pillage in revenge and crossed over to Macedonia under the command of their new Duke, Berengariu Antenssa, where further raiding occurred. Eventually the Roman legions would leave behind a devastated Grecia after a long cat-and-mouse campaign against the Greco-Bulgarian Empire's chief commander Vladi Bogdani. The peace terms for the year long war with the Myso-Grecian Empire witnessed the annexation of Cyprus, the Ionian Islands, Corfu, and Arberia. After this, the Kurds found much support among those who suffered and reoccupied land that had been lost and a fairly large conversion from Christianity to Zoroastrianism is witnessed. Thus, the Romans' campaign was a short-term Grecian victory, but benefited the Kurds in the long term. The Romans arguably benefited the most from the two conflicts, rather deviously.

A Cruel Narcissist

Valdracòne was succeeded in 2070 by Venturellu Sterpetu, his Caesar. Sterpetu's single year was quite productive internally if not boring. However, in 2071 the emperor died at the age of thirty-seven and had failed to name a Caesar and therefore an heir, nor did he produce any children. The Ravenna Senate set about choosing one when Sterpetu's twenty-one year old widow, Sancia Orariu, declared herself empress. Sancia hailed from the Orariu Senatorial family from the city Cáeta, in the Province of Latina, while her mother's family hailed from a minor noble line of Grecian Hellene refugees whose family originated in Asia Minor though had been residing in Romania for generations to escape the periodic Christian purges.

Sancia is a well documented individual from Roman history and would earn the title the Narcissist. The reconstruction of the empress was further made possible by her remains being available in modern times adding another uncommon level of being able to, in a sense, see the empress now.

Contemporary painting of Sancia

The peculiarity of Sterpetu's death, supposedly due to falling from his horse during a hunting trip, led many to suggest that Sancia and her lover Jovianu were responsible for it. The latter's presence during the hunt reinforced the notion and most scholars today believe it to be so. The speculation arrived quickly and early; it was well known that Sancia cared little for Venturellu and her marriage was an arrangement of political gain by her father Faustu Orariu. Rumor said that their marriage had never been consumated, as Sancia preferred the company of other men and had not such desire for Venturellu. Venturellu was a wispy man and described as dull and not handsome. Sancia was explained to be a vainglorious woman, a ravishing beauty, with delusions of grandeur, red haired, described by a contemporary: "she was beautiful and ingenuous. Her legs were the best; her mouth the cutest. Her form ideal". Notably many of these words were lifted from Dares Phrygius' description of Helen of Troy and it is seems likely the Roman poet Merul Crus was deliberarely attempting to compare Sancia to Helen as a form of flattery. Sancia adopted the title Serenissima Augusta Imperatrix Sancia Orariu Venus Helenas, suggesting both that the Empress was Venus-Aphrodite and Helen of Troy, or their equal. It appears that Sancia either truly believed she was a descendant of Helen or at least attempted to make others believe this; her mother's family had their origins in Asia Minor and the fact Troy was there was not lost on Sancia. In her words she was clearly of Helen's line via her mother, going so far as to have a detailed family tree drawn up which claimed a sequestered away child of Helen and Paris. The overt self-aggrandizement did not sit will with the elite of Romania.

Sancia had herself wed to Jovianu immediately upon taking the throne and declared that the two were jointly Augustas and Augustus. She openly referenced Aeliana as a precedence and likened herself to the previous Augusta - the only successful Roman empress in the full sense of the word that had ever existed. It was undoubtedly Sancia's hope that by conjuring up the memory of the much beloved Aeliana that any issues with her own rule would be muted. Sancia was decidedly not Aeliana however. The humble and demure Aeliana took no spouse during her rule, after the conclusion of her war, and made it known that she was but a humble servant of the Senate - the mother of the Roman people and nurse of the state. Sancia displayed herself as lavish and in control and, in short, was nothing like Aeliana nor did she appear capable of being.

Contemporary depiction of Sancia

Jovianu was also a cause for concern as well. The rogue of a man was popular with the youth and the lower-nobles, hailing from a lesser-noble house himself. A rackish and dangerous young man, Jovianu was declared to be nearly as beautiful as Sancia and prone to even greater rages. His jealous streak saw many young men killed by his hand.

The Imperial couple held lavish parties, many of ill-repute. Sancia had a large statue of herself made and placed in Ravenna, the infamous Sancia-Aphrodite monument depicting the empress as Venus-Aphrodite in an incredibly un-pious move. The duo flouted Hellene norms and many suggested the empress was no Hellene - she was a hellene instead, with the implications that Sancia was an old pagan, something seen as rather simple and perhaps volatile and unrefined. Violence was present even during this period and Sancia was known for easily going into a rage, she had many killed or exiled for crossing her. Sancia had as a possible lover the Praetorian Prefect Isate Leontiu and thus her the utmost loyalty of the Praetorian Guard. Some said that Sancia's daughter was actually the child of Isate, not Jovianu, though this is very unlikely.

Rumors floated that Sancia opened a high class brothel just for the Praetorians, taking high born girls who were nominally her hand-maids and forcing them to work as the whores of the Guard though if this is true remains unknown. The patrician girls who 'exposed' the brothel may have been in league with those seeking to overthrow Sancia, though equally it may be true. The duo certainly had many people killed via the Praetorian Guard, but the degree of rumors that spawned from the moment Sancia first reared her head makes sussing out what is real and imagined very difficult. Her demise only fueled this with little to no defense existing to make a counter possible. Sancia and Jovianu took joy in insulting and humiliating the nobility and the Senate as well as the Chrisitan minority in Romania.

Facial reconstruction of Sancia, allowing an accurate view of the Augusta

Jovianu perished in what was certainly a poisoning by the Chamberlain in 2072 and left Sancia and their infant daughter, Hermione, at the whims of an increasingly volatile court. The empress grew increasingly paranoid throughout 2073 and the Roman court saw widespread persecutions. Sancia’s reign would here witness endless cruelty and torture and, in this instance, the stories are likely true. Romania had a lawless era in the countryside as Sancia sent forces to scout out traitors, and hold mass crucifixions which she was fond of. The empress allowed the security of the empire to wither meanwhile, pulling seurity inwards in her paranoia. Sancia would fly into uncontrollable rages and one notable incident has her bludgeoning to death a noble-girl in her service to death with a small statue for raising her ire. The statue damaged, the empress flew into another rage and continued to attack the dead body. The empress kept Isate Leontiu close and many thought she would make the prefect her new spouse, but this she never did. Even so, the empress was with child again and would give birth to a son name Paris, with Isate acknowledged as the father though she refused to marry him.

Sancia-Venus statue

Sancia's paranoia was perhaps justified. Attempts to remove her had existed since she first declared herself in 2071. The incredible list of those executed or exiled, crucified, or killed in vairous fashions came about only in part due to rampant paranoia. Many on the list were there for real plots. The crucifixions of Roman citizens was considered particularly abbhorant. This was a punishment reserved for foreigners and slaves. The fact that Sancia lasted as long as she did was owed to the Praetorian Guard and, truly, luck. The more years that went by with Sancia in power, the harder it was to remove her.

The Chamberlain, Denaru Chillu, had perhaps been the most active to remove Sancia and the most hidden. How Denaru lasted as long as he did is a surprise and may have to do with Sancia simply being fond of the man. Denaru was outed even so, charged with the murder of Messo, the chamberlain was castrated and exiled to Crete, where he was supposed to await his execution as the empress thought up how she wanted to do it. Sancia's chambermaid, Lunadina, was famously tortured until confessing her plans to poison the young Hermione and Paris, Sancia's children. Lunadina was promptly crucified in the central square of Ravenna and left as a warning.

Sancia was found drowned in her bath in 2080, killed by unknown assailants - a mystery that remains unsolved. Her enemies were plentiful and there are many valid guesses with such as exhausting list that were her enemies. The Senate's immediate action hints at potential responsibility and it seems not far-fetched to at least assume some Senatorial invovlement. The fate of Paris and Hermione remains unknown to this day, they simply fades from the historical record. Presumably they were moved to Cáeta in southern Romania to be with the Orariu family.

The post-Sancia purge saw the Praetorian gutted, with Isate killed in turn.

The Second Republic

The Senate abolished the Augustuship over night, effectively ending the Roman Empire and announcing a rebirth of the Roman Republic. The two existing consuls were elevated. Mule Notaiu of Titanu was announced as Supreme Consul and his deputy Ninu Mula, was declared Defender Consul. This was a direct promotion of the existing consul position, given new titles and status. The Senate borrowed predominately from their understanding of the First Roman Republic. The Ravenna Senate was elevated in power as well and those of the now abolished emperor were spread among the Consuls and the Senate.

The chaotic events of the previous rulers had cemented the desire of the Senate to rid themselves of an emperor. The purges of Sancia only drove that home, with many noble senators' lives at risk during her reign. A pressing reason for the Senate to eradicate the Augustuship was the fear of another woman ruler. Women could Rather than amend the imperial title so that a woman could not hold it, the Senate debated the more virtuous route of merely moved back to a Consulship which could never be inherited by a spouse of a dead consul - it was a position elected by noble men, from among noble men, wherein a new noble man would be the replacement for the previous noble man. A certain degree of sexism is easily visible in the abolition of the imperial title. After suffering myriad tyrants, it was a string of women rules, with a notable tyrannical one in Sancia, that drove home the need to abolish such a position of power. Women were isolated from the rest of society supposedly. Another points of view is that the isolation of women in the sources does not reflect the real state of affairs, but the ideal idea of Roman men. The of Roman women in the political life of the country was significant in the late period of imperial history in connection with the consolidation of the aristocracy, the patricianship, whose position became dominant. Within this ruling class, women were important because they possessed significant property and had influence over their children. Whereas legally women could no inherit before, in earlier Roman history, the legal status by the late empire was fuzzy at best. The law simply wasn't anymore, in a solid sense. Women began to inherit and, via nobility, grow in importance de-facto. Women in power was an alarming notion to the Senate. It is speculative at best, but many historians have wondered had Sancia been a man would the Senate have taken the bold step to reform the republic?

The new government had as its head the Supreme Consul who was assisted by the Defender Consul, though the two did not share power as the modern Roman state, rather the Supreme Consul was, in essence, a much toned down Emperor who was elected. Below this was The Council of Six, composed of six councilors to the Supreme Consul. The Supreme Consul could open his personal correspondence and discuss hearings only in the presence of at least 4 of these councilors. These six were elected from within the Senate by the Senate. Adjacent to this power was the Council of Forty, which was one of the highest constitutional bodies of the Second Republic, with both legal and political functions as the Supreme Court. The Council of Forty was established as an assembly of forty electors who were entitled to nominate the Consuls of Romania. These forty were elected in their turn by nine electors who were nominated by the popular assembly. After completing their primary role as the Consul's nominators, they remained in power alongside the Supreme Consul as the Judiciary, participating in the state government and the legislative functions, which were often delegated to them by the Senate, in which the forty were members by law. These institutions were combined to essentially be the functioning government of the Second Roman Republic.

An additional body, the Supreme Tribunal, was established to guard the security of the republic. By means of espionage, counterespionage, internal surveillance, and a network of informers, they ensured that Romania did not come under the rule of a single Consul and thus a rebirth of the Augustus. One of the inquisitors – popularly known as Il Rúbiu ("the red one") because of his scarlet robe – was chosen from the Council of Six, two – popularly known as Ís Négres ("the black ones") because of their black robes – were chosen from the Council of Forty.

The Senate was the theoretical fount of all authority and was the base layer of government, from which all other officials above would originate. As a result the Supreme Consul's powers were shared with the Senate, composed of members taken from patrician families, so that in the Supreme Consul could do nothing without the Senate and the Senate could do nothing without him. Ultimately all members of the aforementioned governmental positions would have to originate in the Senate and the Senate was the realm of noble patrician families.

The Second Republic was, therefore, an 'Oligarchic Republic'.

The twenty years after the disposal of Augusta Sancia Scuilaces and the formation of the new Republic were fairly bumpy, with the details of government ironed out over this time. The election of Maxiu Calcignes as Supreme Consul in 2100 is generally the accepted marker for the transition into the Fourth Age, coupled with the rise of the Black Death.

Fourth Age - Middle Era (AUC 2100 to 2500)

Supreme Consul Maxiu Calcignes began his governance over what was at last a fully stable Republic. The machine of government had been tried and tested and was able and working, the past two decades had proven so. The intricacies of such a move were now established and therefore attention was shifted elsewhere, even as trouble stirred once again.

Modern Roman man from Tuscia depicting a Fourth Age cavalryman.

Tribune of the Roman People

In May 2100 Renssu Romagnus, a commoner from the city of Rome, styled himself as "Tribune of the Roman people" and declared himself the Emperor of Romania. For his demagogic rhetoric, popular appeal and anti-establishment (as nobility ruled the Senate) sentiment, some sources considered him an earlier populist figure.

Renssu Romagnus Dictatorellu, self-declared Tribune of the Roman People, self-appointed Dictator, and aspirant to bring back the Greater Roman Empire.

Renssu was born in Rome of humble origins. He claimed descent from Romulus himself, though factually his parents were a washer-woman and a tavern-keeper named Lorenssu Gavrines. His own name was a shortened version of his father's forename in order to distinguish him frrom the elder Lorenssu. He added later the crated surname of Romagnus, creating his own patrician line in essence. Renssu's early years were passed at Anagna. Having devoted much time to the study of the Latin writers, historians, orators and poets, and having nourished his mind with stories of the glories and the power of ancient Rome, he turned his thoughts to the task of restoring his native city, then in degradation and wretchedness, having not been the capital for a very long time, not only to good order, but even to her pristine greatness. His zeal for this work was quickened by the desire to avenge his brother who had been killed by a patrician in a dispute. Renssu became a notary and a person of some importance in the city, and was sent in 2096 on a public errand. He discharged his duties with ability and success, and although the boldness with which he denounced the patrician rulers of Rome drew down upon him the enmity of powerful men, he won the favour and esteem of many.

Roman army during the 2100s

Returning to Rome about April he worked for three years at the great object of his life: the restoration of the city to its former position of power. He gathered together a band of supporters, plans were drawn up, and at length all was ready for the insurrection. On 19 May 2100 heralds invited the people to a parliament on the Capitol, and on 20 May the meeting took place. Dressed in full armor, Renssu headed a procession to the Capitol; here he addressed the assembled crowd, speaking "with fascinating eloquence of the servitude and redemption of Rome." A new series of laws were published and accepted with acclaim by the plebs of Rome, and unlimited authority and power was given to the author of the revolution - a self-styled dictator. Without striking a blow the patricians and the Senate of Rome left the city or went into hiding, and a few days later Renssu took the title of Tribune and had at his disposal an army of plebs. His authority quickly and quietly accepted by all classes, the new ruler governed the city with a stern and religiously zealous justice which was in marked contrast to the recent reign of license and disorder. In great state the tribune moved through the streets of Rome, while in a letter the poet Petrarca urged him to continue his great and noble work, and congratulated him on his past achievements, calling him the new Camillus, Brutus and Romulus. All the patricians in Rome submitted, though with great reluctance; the roads were cleared of robbers; tranquility was restored at home; some severe examples of justice intimidated offenders; and the tribune was regarded by all the people as the destined restorer of Rome and the Empire. Renssu began to speak broadly and boadly about the return of greatness for Romania with the reconquest of all lands once Roman, from Britannia to Syria.

A modern Roman woman from eastern Romania depicting a patrician woman of the 2100s.

Roman infantryman circa early 2100s

In July in a sonorous decree he proclaimed the sovereignty of the city of Rome and her people over the Empire, reformed, but before this he had set to work upon his task of restoring the authority of Rome over the cities and provinces of Romania, of making the city again caput mundi. He wrote letters to the plebs of the cities of Romania, asking them to send representatives to an assembly which would meet on 1 August, when the re-formation of the Roman Empire would be decided. On the appointed day a number of representatives appeared, though the numbers were far less than had been hoped for.

Renssu's power was already beginning to wane. His character has been described as a combination of knowledge, eloquence, and enthusiasm for ideal excellence, with vanity, inexperience of mankind, unsteadiness, religious zealotry, and physical timidity. As these latter qualities became conspicuous, they eclipsed his virtues, and caused his benefits to be forgotten. His extravagant pretensions only served to excite ridicule. His government was costly, and to meet its many expenses he was obliged to lay heavy taxes upon the people.

The Senate in Ravenna had been alerted earlier by the patricians and Senators who had fled Rome, they were aware of the secession of Rome and the aspirations for Empire there, but evidently they thought little of it, as they didn't give it their time. This reveals the magnitude the Senate and Consul believed the threat to be - that being minuscule. Ravenna at last sent the Senate from Rome back with Legions behind them and war began. On 20 November Renssu's forces were defeated in the Battle of Rome. Renssu's Pleb Army was arrested in mass and sent to lives in perpetual hard labor across Romania. Renssu was crucified outside the walls of Rome.

Though only recently reborn, the Republic's fragility was evident. Though Renssu never posed an enormous threat, his popularity among the plebs was evident and the resentment toward the patricians and the Senate was easily stirred.

The pleb usurper would be remember by the name Renssu Romagnus Dictatorellu, the first part his own crafting, the last title, Dictatorellu, the mocking name given to him by the Senate in Ravenna, meaning Little Dictator.

The Black Plague

The new threat to Romania came in the form of plague. Calcignes' first year as Supreme Consul witnessed the arrival of the Black Plague in Massilia. In 2084 a group of Roman merchants fled from Theodosia, the Grecian city on the northern Black Sea, and they likely brought the disease with them to Constantinople. Genoa and Venice also saw the plague arise the same year as Massilia, in 2100. By 2101 the plague had spread to every end of Romania.

A modern Roman woman from Venetu, Romania depicting a pleb woman of the 2100s.

The composition of the Roman Army circa 2100s through late 2200s.

In Romania the plague ran for about four years consecutively and it is estimated that it probably killed close to 60-70% of the population. With such a large population decline from the Plague, wages soared in response to a labor shortage. Renewed religious fervour and fanaticism bloomed in the wake of the Black Death. Some targeted various groups such as Jews, Christians, foreigners, beggars, lepers, and Sinti, thinking that they were to blame for the crisis. There were many attacks against Jewish communities. The single most notable event was in the Argentea Massacre of February 2102, about 2,000 Jews were murdered. Sinti slaves were killed as well, variously blamed for the epidemic.

From the perspective of many of the survivors, the effect of the plague may have been ultimately favorable, as the massive reduction of the workforce meant their labor was suddenly in higher demand. For many Romans, the century was a golden age of prosperity and new opportunities, post-plague. The land was plentiful, wages high, and farmland was more plentiful. It was a particular boon to Romans in the Po Valley and a large swath of area in northern Italia. For reasons that scholars still are not quite sure of, this region remained relatively plague free. The population here, long overcrowded, subsequently had the opportunity to expand across Romania and fill vacant lands.

Supreme Consul Calcignes was one of the victims of the plague, in the year 2103.

The Kurdish Threat & Other Wars

Supreme Consul Antoniu Venieres

The late 2140s witnessed the loss of all eastern Roman possessions save for Morea, taken by the Kurdish Empire during their increasing growth. A brief on-and-off war between Romania and Kurdia (Cordienea in Roman) resulted in repeated Roman withdrawal. Supreme Consul Antoniu Venieres directed a stand in Morea for the impending Kurdish invasion, with this land being determined as paramount, but the Kurds had their attention pulled north by a combined Gepid-Dardanian attack. The invasion of Morea never appeared.

Legionary helmets from the mid 22nd century AUC

Antoniu Venieres spent the remainder of his reign fighting around Haemia, answering pleas of aid from the Dardanians. The Haemic Wars (off and on dating 2153 - 2209) were bloody and protracted and a clear winner is difficult to define. It became a type of testing ground for the Roman Legions and they earned a string of victories, undefeated in all open engagements with the Kurdish Empire.

A Roman Cataphract helmet, circa 2100s. This helmet was developed by the Gundiaca family, a Senatorial family from Mantova, it not long after found a permanent place among the heaviest of the Roman cavalry.

Supreme Consul Venieres was fairly unusual among the Supreme Consuls who came before him and many of those after in that he was prone to campaign directly. A member of the Ordo Equestres, Venieres was an able commander in the field and seemed to relish martial conflict.

The Battle of Vrata in 2146 witnessed a combined Roman-Dardanian force under Venieres lay waste to a larger Kurdish army under Shah Milet Ajar. This was a deciding moment during the Kurdish invasion of Haemia and was likely a singular event which blunted the seemingly unstoppable expansion. A second blow came to the Kurdish Empire the following year with conflict on their eastern end with Gurkania (also known as the Timurid Persian Empire), a Persian realm under the rule of Timur the Lame.

The various realms in Haemia suffered greatly, but the Kurdish expansion was certainly blunted. Dardania escaped engulfment by the Kurdish Empire as did Dalmatia, after years of off and on full scale invasion.

A unique event from the Haemic Wars was Julia's Legion. A Roman woman of a lesser-patrician family, Julia Arrecinu believed that Zeus-Helios had spoken to her in a vision and told her that she must take arms to the east and she must destroy the religious enemies of Hellenism. Julia gathered a wide degree of support and patricians and plebs rallied to her call all across northern Romania. She marched, fully armored, at the head of an impressive army surging with religious zeal. Her forces would best the Kurdish war-leader Eylo Ardalan on three occasions before meeting a devestating defeat on the fourth, though the damage put to the Kurds previously was shocking and crippling. Eylo Ardalan, having captured Julia Arrecinu, had her burned alive.

Julia Arrecinu

2177 marked the final year of the first chapter of the Haemic Wars. Roman involvement had been reduced by the Northern Deluge and much of the fighting had fallen to the Gepids and Dardanians. Gepidia had largely been overrun, but Dardania, with Roman contingents, held on. Radu II the Wall gained fame, routing repeated Kurdish advances into Dardania, culminating in a truce.

The Grecian Empire was reduced to Macedonia, made a client realm of the Kurdish Empire, reduced to the status of Kingdom (hereby known as the Grecian Kingdom of Macedonia or the Byzantine Kingdom of Macedonia), but allowed nominal independence and retention of Christianity. Arberia and the remainder of the Haemis were directly absorbed into the Kurdish Empire however, including Gepidia. Dardania remained apart but repeated Kurdish, and later Afrasiyab Persian, attempts to subdue it would reopen warfare. These would famously involve Dardanian commander Vlastar Dragulli the Flayer and bring about extensive brutality in the Haemic Peninsula.

The Snow Beards

Augustinu Barbarix

The rule of a string of Supreme Consuls later collectively known as The Snow Beards brought in an era of high learning for Romania. Generally starting with Antoniu Venieres who ruled from 2126 to 2154 and followed by Vita Corvellu the Explorer from 2154 to 2173, Augustinu Barbarix the Golden from 2173 to 2198 who famously cemented the Golden Alliance with Sinaean Emperor Yingzong, Augustinu's brother Marcu Barbarix from 2198 2206, Marcantoniu Mediu from 2206 to 2226, and ending with Julian Donatu who reigned from 2226 to 2231.

Marcu Barbarix

The nickname of the collective referred to the general old age of the Supreme Consuls who all ruled well into the whitening of their beards. This was coupled with the fact that all of these Consuls grew long beards and it was a status and fashion symbol during the period, with the image of a greatly bearded philosopher consul being the dominate idea. Hand in hand with this was an outpouring of finance and instruction directed dominance towards learning and a great deal of obsession with alchemy, philosophy, intricate Hellenist doctrine, astrology, astronomy, and global exploration.

Marcantoniu Mediu

The Supreme Consulsip had by this point surpassed the Senate. There is no doubt that the Senate still had incredible power and every Supreme Consul was wary of raising the ire of the Senate. Even so, the Supreme Consulship had evolved into the supreme power of Romania and during the reign of Artur Valeria, the succesor of Maxiu Calcignes, the on-going debate about Consular term-limits was eradicted and declared for life, wherein the Senate would elect the next Supreme Consul from among their members. The Republic was hardly a republic in such terms and was more along the lines of an elective monarchy.

The Snow Beards were generally well liked during their time and the outpouring of investment in knowledge and a general avoidance of war resulted in prosperity though restlessness. Augustinu Barbaix courted controversy in his marrige to Valeria Adventu, a young woman from a Raetian or Italian peasant family (her birthplace was in or near the Alps, though there is no detail if it was north or south of the mountains), she was widely regarded as the foremost beauty of her day in Romania. The controversy arrived due to the age gap, with Augustinu age 70 and Valeria aged somewhere between twenty and twenty-three. This earned Augustinu the nickname Augustinu the Paraphile - one that garnered less use than Augustinu the Golden, declared for his treaty with Sina.

Vita Corvellu the Explorer was among the most popular of the group and responsible for an array of scientific advances. Vita was obsessed with oceanography, exploration, mapping the world, and astrology - near obsessive with astrology. Vita's wife also proved popular in Romania. Ingund of Ermanthuria, tradition has it, was known for her exceptional strength, which, for example, she showed by driving nails into the wall with her bare hands and cracking nuts between her finger. This may have been myths made up due to her being Germanic, from Francia, as her name implies, from Ermanthuria. Ingund was a large and healthy woman however, contemporary evidence affirms, and prone to celebrations, very fond of food, and wont to throw lavish festivities which put her in the good graces of the lower classes. Ingund was known to visit the plebs and often acted on their behalf.

Ingund of Ermanthuria

The dynamic of age shifted to the young in 2232 with the ascent of Cosmu Thoriu, who would bring about a consulship dominated by youth, daring, and war. Cosmu openly compares himself to Alexander and the flamboyant and perfumed lad talked about invading India.

Cosmu Thoriu

A famously rich Senatorial family hailing from Raetia, the Thoriu were married into the Medices and Cosmu counted that Florentine family in his mother’s side. The Thoriu came to dominate the banking and trade of Romania and had a finger in every proverbial trans-oceanic trade pie. Cosmu bought his way into the Supreme Consulship at the young age of 30, which was absolutely unheard of and illegal. No one could be elected from the ranks of the Senate until the age of 40 (while one could not be in the Senate until the age of 25 and it was expected that a Senator would not have worked their way up to chain of authority until at least 30 years of age.) The absence of a Supreme Consul with Julian Donatu's death lingered for much of the year 2231 while the Senate blocked itself and the Republic came very close to war. Billed as the Elders versus the Youth, the dust settled after a string of murders of aged and antagonistic Senators and what looked like Civil War was avoided. Cosmu would prove an abnormality in that all those who followed him first served as Senators, but the age for Supreme Consulship was dropped from 40 to 30. The over the top Cosmu would prove highly controversial during his rule.

The Northern Deluge

In 2169 the Romans, Franks, and Cambrians delved into a quagmire in the form of a Wendish-Scandian invasion. The conflict that came to be known as the Northern Deluge (2169 - 2190) affected the richest provinces of Francia. Almost all cities, towns, castles and temples were destroyed or damaged. According to the estimates of Frankish scholars the invasion by the Scandian and Wendish army and their allies, resulted in the loss of 25% of the population in four core Frankish provinces. The damage done during this war is estimated as greater than that of the Great World War.

The initial invasion was multifaceted in cause. The Scandian focus seems to have been a massive raid on Cambria to obtain religious sacrifice victims and a way to alleviate overcrowding and restless young men at home - giving them the option of a glorious death in battle, also religiously linked. Their focus turned toward Francia as well. This linked with the Wendish objective of growth, also for their budding population, as well as nominal notions of empire. Frankish religious proselytizing, with Hellene priests making forays into Wendish land, is also a cause. A precursor to the war was a mass slaughter of said Frankish priests in Wendia.

Equites Armor. Those members of the Ordo Equestres were of noble stock and subsequently had ample financial resources. Their armor tended be highly decorative and followed a style apart from the regular Roman army.

Typical Equestres armor, circa 2150s

The initial conflict involved Cambria and Francia but by the second year Romania had joined the fray. Wendish and Scandian forces successfully breached the Olympian Wall protecting Romania's northern frontier. The wall had, by this point, fallen into disrepair and was partially manned. It had been understood decades before that the wall was largely a useless drain on resources and had not worked well enough to prevent crossing - it was simply too long. The various implementation of fortified Equites' latifundia was far more useful. The scale of the invasion, however, witnessed the Wendo-Scandian forces reaching the northern slopes of the Alps in Romania.

The Battle of Lucerna in 2176 brought about a devastating blow to the Wendish and Scandian forces by Roman legions under the command of Duke Ricevutu Lunardella. It is estimated as one of the bloodiest battles in the history of warfare. The Wendo-Scandians were on the defensive from that point onward and the remainder of the war witnessed a gradual pushing of them out of Francia where the war then began to take place in Wendia.

The deluge witnessed massive destruction and loss of life across Europe, with rampant lawlessness at the hands of roving soldiers, from rape and theft to torture and murder. Scandian raiders abducted, raped, and sacrificed many across Europe, including in Romania. Victims were flayed and killed by Wendish forces and many retributive slaughters were done by Roman forces in return, witnessing widespread crucifixions. It was a dangerous time, especially for the poor.

The resulting defeat of the Wends and Scandians brought about the Treaty of Ochen. Cambrian gains included Erch Island, the separation of the other German Sea islands from Scandia (recently gained), and a cessation of all raids outside of the Baltic Sea. Wendia lost its budding empire, its Baltic possessions were released and Lombardia was shifted from Wendish hands into Frankish hands.

The Linking of the Globe

Lands on the western end of the Atlantic Ocean had been known since the mid to late 1700s. The settlement of northern coastal areas by Scandian refugees from the protracted and violent civil-wars in the north had established themselves at that time. Trade flowed to and fro and information was exchanged. The immensity and depth of these lands, dubbed Hesperia by Romans, remained largely unknown however.

In 2156 Carolu Zenu, a naval hero of the Haemic Wars, set out on a mission of exploration, charged by Supreme Consul Vita Corvellu and the Senate to build upon earlier Roman voyages. In 2044 Roman expeditions led by two Roman sailors, the Vivaldu brothers, had sailed down the Libian coast, reaching and claiming the Fortunate Isles in the Atlantic and mapping much of the western Libian coast. The Vivaldus reached Cape Nun and established Roman trade links along the coast. The 2156 voyage was directly intended to build upon these discoveries, their having not been built upon for around 100 years. The trade routes established with the Mali Empire by the Vivaldus, down the western Libian coast, had become well known to Roman sailors by this point. Zenu would ultimately establish a strong contact with the Asante Empire, the Oyo Kingdom.

Roman Trireme of the 2100s, a common fast moving war ship

Successor explorers pushed further south. The Congo Kingdom was reached in 2180 and the Congo river was explored. In 2188 Claudiu Canes reached the Cape of Storms, on the very southern tip of Libia, and established myriad trade posts along the way. The intricate trade network snaking across Libia from Bakitara and Zingia revealed a complex and wealthy domain beyond these reaches. The information he fed back only built up the Senate's desire for more.

One notable discovery after concrete coastal trade was established with Mali was the revelation that the Libian realm had sailed west and found land. In 2080 two hundred boats sailed from Mali at the instruction of Abu Bakr II, Mansa of the Mali Empire. Abu Bakr ordered two thousand boats to be equipped for him and for his men after the return of the 200 revealed lands. Bakr II would preish in these western lands, though many of his ships returned, explaining that the Mansa had conquered new lands for Mali. The Mansa he had established in his stead, Musa I the Lion, followed these up in later 2080s and a permanent establishment bloomed in what is now called Antillia. Romans dubbed this land Anti-Thule, Thule being a broadly generic term for the northern reaches of the world. This name later transformed into Antyllia, and finally Antillia, which the continent today possesses.

Supreme Consul Vita Corvellu the Explorer

Martinu Contis, a Roman explorer and merchant from Clodia, who traveled to India and Southeast Asia, and to Southern Sina. Contis departed from Venetia about 2172 and established himself in Damascus, Syria, where he studied Persian and Aramaic. Over a period of 25 years, he traveled as an official merchant, part of a large Roman contingent, to numerous places in Asia. His travels followed the period of Timurid relations with Europe. They also occurred around the same time and in the same places as the Sinaean expeditions of Admiral Zheng He.

The Roman Galea, a principal core ship design that would aid in naval dominance and world exploration, circa 2100-2200s AUC

These Asian expeditions, Libian expeditions, and Atlantic expeditions were all a major focal point of Supreme Consul Vita Corvellu. A prominent astrologer and star-gazer, Corvellu arguably lit the fire that was global exploration on the European end (excluding, of course, Mali and Sina who had already started their own global explorations around this time. The timing for the three seems coincidental). Corvellu spent large sums constructing an observatory in Milan and a large astrolobe in Ravenna. His financing of these endeavors earned him the name Corvellu the Explorer.

In 2170 Antoniu Barbaru was sent west, across the ocean, instructed to first stop at the Fortunate Isles and then proceed, using knowledge gained from Mali and Scandia. Barbaru made landfall in Boriken and went about exploring adjacent islands. The successful findings brought about a further three expeditions by Barbaru and follow-ups by many others. These outer islands were annexed directly into the Republic after a confrontation turned violent. The source of the conflict is unknown as the Roman records state only "local hostility" as a cause. The result was a massacre and a resultant un-stemmed tide of movement from Romania to Boriken and the surrounding islands.

Barbaru made further voyages from his new base in Boriken and contact was established with the the mainland. Meshico was in the midst of war, with Itzcoatl, the King of Meshico-Tenochtitlan, on the warpath conquering most of his neighbors. The Romans established themselves coastal for a year before taking up stakes. Trade was established with the Meschian after they were deemed to be the stronger side.

The diseases brought by the Romans devastated their island possessions but the result on the mainland seems fairly minimal. Most scholars accept the theory that European diseases spread from the island of Vinland over the 400 years before Roman arrival. The diseases appear to have rolled down the continent and may have petered on the isthmus. The islands evidently were not reached, perhaps due to isolation.

Sailing Into Sunset

Romania was not alone in obtaining western lands. The islands in the Altinean Sea became ripe for the picking as the diseases from the east decimated their populations. Cambrian sailors claimed land for their king, Frisians, as well Mali sailed north from Antillia to do the same and Scandia even grabbed land. A peculiar episode of this time was the small and hardly noticed Vasconian-Saqvegian War. Stemming from whaling conflicts, Vasconian seamen were killed in Vinland and would return with a contingent of Vasconian knights to take the islands they called Zuria - the modern Vaskareyjar.

Goods, Ideas, and Disease

An array of new crops and animals found their way from Hesperia to Europe, Asia, and Libia - and the reverse happened as well, with goods from those Eastern Worlds finding their way to this Western World. The globe was connected in a way not seen before. The Roman trade initiated with their docking in the ports of Mali is estimated to be the beginning of a global trade-connection. Scholars have found the Romans traded parrots and brazilwood which they obtained via trade in Mali, originating from the Malian lands in Antillia. These items moved from Roman hands into Sinaean hands at the Cape of Storms. By this action the world witnessed Antillian goods transfer into Libian hands which in turn moved into European hands which in turn moved in far-eastern Asian hands. This chapter is believed by scholars to be the first global exchange.

Europe, Asia, and Libia had an array of goods arrivals via the Roman trade routes and the Romans found themselves growing quite rich with their monopoly on the western trade. Batate, papate, mais, tabaco, and lisocita were extraordinarily valuable asset crops for Romania and the meat of the uesolote as well. The principal settlements of the Romans in Hesperia (Acolua, Boriquen, and Soleterra) would ultimately find themselves focusing heavily on tobaco and sugar production, as well as acting as as the hub of Hesperian trade. Tobaco became a prominent European crop in Romania as well, in short order, finding wide production in Roman Provinces of Tuscia, Venetu et Histria, and Umbria et Picenia. Socolata found its way into patrician life in Romania and was a veritable obsession.

Heading from the western world into Hesperia were horses, citrus, apples, onions, coffee, wheat, rice, as well as improvement in steel manufacturing and the arrival of the arquebus.

Goods were no the only exchange. Disease arrived from both directions. From 2271 to 2275 the Black Plague found its way onto Hesperian shores for the first time. It coincided with a second outbreak in Europe. The European outbreak resulted in 50,000 deaths, a significantly smaller amount than the first round of the Plague, but those in Hesperia fared much worse. Known as the Cocoliztli Epidemic, the death-toll is estimated at over 5 million.

Greatpox was a disease the moved from Hesperia into Europe, known additionally as Cupid's Disease. The first recorded case in Europe was in the patrician courts of Bartselona where it appears to have returned with adventuring Equites returned from Hesperia, from whence it spread.

A Roman-Sinaean Alliance

The myriad trade goods flowing from the southern point of Libia, from Hesperia, and from Asia brought about culinary and cultural revolutions in Romania.

The meeting in Melinde on the eastern coast of Libia in AUC 2190 with Chinese merchants is an event of upmost importance to history. Subsequent trade ports were was established on the Cape of Storms specifically for the Sina-Roman trade and the point was fortified as an important part of Romania. 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, with a line running up from the Cape of Storms - the southern tip of Libia.

The Mezo-Roman War

Heavy Roman infantryman circa AUC 2100s

In 2239 the Tarascan, nominally part of the Meshica Empire, sent an envoy to the Romans, secreted through trade ports. Tizoc, the emperor of Meshico, had a shaky hold on his realm and much of the land that had been conquered over the last 60 years was restless. This was in no small part due to the Meshican heavy-handed rule and penchant for pseudo-wars to gain sacrifices, not unlike Scandia. The Roman duke Laurentiu Calcignes, in charge of the Roman Hesperian lands, decided to act before hearing from the Senate. Roman forces landed on the eastern shore of Meshico while the Tarasco rose up in the west in a prearrange move.

The Meshican state of warfare was broadly similar to northern Hesperia at the time. Technology levels were essentially at a state similar to early Postclassical Europe. Steel was used and weapons were subsequently good while some armor was available, though most went with cotton padding instead - armor was still a sign of very high status. The horse was not yet available, excepting stout horses in the far north of Hesperia, and these remained a novelty of the Romans which the Meshica found terrifying.

The Roman use of the cannon and the hand-cannon are seen as defining tools, with the horse, that allowed for their victory. The Meshican aim to render an opponent unconscious, so they might be sacrificed later, also hindered their success in the war. The Romans fought to kill and this gave an advantage. Even so, the war dragged on for three years, ending in 2243. Calcignes formally annexed the Empire of Meshico into the Roman Republic and announced himself as the Provincial Governor. The Senate found out about much of these far later and the initial reaction was frigid indeed. The fear stoked in the Senate chamber in Ravenna is clearly reflected in what was written down - that this young Duke had acted on his own accord, disregarding the Senate and Supreme Consul, now had a Roman army, an immense population of a former empire under his control, and a penchant for self-promotion. It seemed like a potential Augustus in the waiting.

The Republic Grows

The feared grab for the purple never occurred. Calcignes was murdered by his Tarascan wife after a string of abuses to her people. The Tarascans were not given independence as they desired, instead Calcignes has essentially removed Tizoc and placed himself as ruler instead, ruling no better. The disrespect for the local religion and rapacious nature of his men assured his demise.

Blancu Venturines arrived as Calcignes replacement, intending to unseat him under the Senate's instruction. Fortunate for Venturines, he learned of Calcignes death on his arrival. Duke Venturines was a far more malleable man and set about issuing the instructions given to him by Consul and Senate. The eastern coastal strip of Meshico was under direct Roman control and governed from Boriken while the remainder would be governed as a new Province, but more loosely. Tarasco was given independence but as a vassal-state of Romania. Hellene proselytizing was limited to the coastal strip, called Acolua. A new town was also established under Venturines, on the Seric Ocean, called New Rome. This was also to be directly governed and a Roman road was built to connect it to Acolua. This was Romania's first settlement on the Seric Ocean.

The Roman hold on Meshico remained shaky even still. In 2253 the Acolhuas, allies of the former Meshican Empire, captured a Roman convoy, taking Legionaries, women, children and horses - all imprisoned for months, sacrificed and eaten by Acolhuas and Meshican rebels. The incident sparked a series of back-and-forth attacks between Meshican and Roman forces.

The Canara and Gurkanian War

This period saw widespread growth of Romania. The islands they had come across were all annexed and they controlled territory from southern Libia (the Cape of Storms) to Meshico.

Roman explorations had moved beyond the Cape of Storms, meeting the Sinaean merchants and explorers in Zingia, and moving beyond. Zingia and the Bakitaran coast was described as "a most glorious place and welcoming - the Gods smile on this land and these people" by Roman explorer Marinu Grimanes.

Grimanes would sail to India under the guidance of Sinaean and Zingian merchants. Grimanes made the fateful decision to strike at Gurkanian merchant ships, essentially becoming a pirate, unsanctioned as he was by the Roman Senate. His reason for the decision to attack the Gurkanian, or Timurid Persian, fleets is not perfectly known. It has been posutlated that his actions came about because of need of supplies (though it is evidenced the Sinaean provided these) or general antipathy for the Persians. Grimanes may have even mistook them for Kurdish ships. The most likely, and widely agreed upon, source of the Roman agression was guided by the Gujarat Sultanate and the Canaran vassals in Mysore. Grimanes met representatives from both of these and received intel from them of an impending invasion by Canara, under the guidance and pressure of Timurid Persia.

The Canaran Empire was teetering on the edge of its demise and many of those around it sought to quicken this as well as gain territory (as well as independence) - the arrival of a new player in this political game, Romania, was taken as a sign. Envoys from the Gujarat Sultanate to the north and from the Canaran vassals in Mysore, to the south, having been received by Grimanes in Taprovana, undoubtedly guided his hand, or manipulated his actions. Zingia certainly acted in this direction, with the Zingian merchant Jumbe bin Ahmad loudly declaring it was Gurkanians intent to oust the Romans from their sphere of trade. Jumbe played a vital role in Grimanes' explorations of South Asia and provided the Romans with extrodinarily important resources, trade routes, aid, supplies, and intel. Jumbe and Grimanes appear to have developed a sincere friendship and it becomes unsurprising Grimanes believed Jumbe. Truly, Jumbe may have been truthful - the details are too scant to say for certain. Gurkania and their chief ally Canara may have intended to, at least eventually, removed the Romans. Romania was stepping into a valuable trade zone that had long been dominated by the Persians to the detriment of the others in the area. A Roman presence threatened to supplant that powerful position and the richness that came with it. The Romans and Persians were long time enemies to boot, with war ever looming between them.

Whatever the case, Grimanes received word while he was in Taprovana that the Canaran Empire was attempting to gather forces at Goa to sail south and assault Roman holdings in Taprovana. These claims said that Timurid Persia, or Gurkania, was spinning these wheels in order to oust the Romans from South Asia, as they were a threat and in any event, Grimanes took the bait and ultimately took Goa.

Gurkanian traffic was heavily impacted in the negative and this opened up a war between Romania and Gurkania. Grimanes acted on his own accord, much like Calcignes, though for whatever reason Grimanes remained un-reprimanded by the Senate. Grimanes broke the Golden Alliance agreement additionally by taking the city of Goa, technically in the Sinaean sphere as had been agreed upon. Again there seems to be no fallout from this action, either by the Senate or Sina.

Depiction from the AUC 2300s of a Roman woman (woman furthest left) and a Roman man (man on right with sword) in Goa

The Canara Empire was a chief ally of Timurid Persia and it was in the Canaran city of Goa that Grimanes landed. On February 16, 2240 the Roman armada sailed into the deep waters of the Mandovi river. Supported by 2000 men of Zingia and disgruntled Canaran vassals, with some Gujarat aid, the Romans landed troops and assaulted the fort of Pangim, defended by a force of 400 Persian men. At Pangim Grimanes received envoys from the most important figures of Goa, and proposed religious freedom (the city was ruled under clear favor of Zoroastrianism, with the ruler in favor with the zealously religious Timurids. Though he had converted, the population had not) and lower taxes they accept Roman sovereignty. Thereafter they declared their full support toward the Romans and Grimanes formally occupied Goa on February 17. Grimanes reaffirmed that the city was not to be sacked and that the inhabitants were not to be harmed, under the penalty of death. In the city, the Romans found over 100 horses belonging to the ruler of Canara, 25 elephants and partially finished new ships. For his assistance, he was nominated tanadar-mor (the chief tax-collector and representative) of the Hindus of Goa . Expecting retaliation from the King of Canara, Grimanes began organizing the city's defences. The city's walls were repaired, the moat was expanded and filled with water and storehouses for weapons and supplies were built. The ships were to be finished and pressed into Roman service, and the five fording points into the island were defended by Zingian, Roman, and Malabarese troops, supported by several artillery pieces. At the same time, Grimanes sent ambassadors ahead of an embassy to the court of the neighbouring Muslim Bahmanid Sultanate, hoping to secure an alliance against Canara and the Zoroastrian Timurids.

A Roman defender fights off Timurid forces during the Siege of Goa

Unbeknownst to Grimanes, the Sultan of Bahmani had just agreed on a truce with the Timurid Persian Empire, and could divert many more troops into recapturing the city than expected. To that effect a Persian general, Peroz Dregubyo, with 40,000 troops, which included many experienced Persian and Turkic mercenaries, defeated Romania's Malabar allied troops on the mainland. An assault on Goa was next. Trusting the strength of his defensive position, Grimanes held tight. With the coming of the monsoon rains, the Roman situation became critical: the tropical weather claimed a great amount of Roman lives, foodstuffs deteriorated and the Romans were stretched too thin. Under these conditions, Dregubyo launched a major assault on May 11, across the Banastarim ford at low tide amidst a heavy storm, quickly overwhelming the small number of Roman troops. As defenses crumbled, a revolt broke out in the outskirts of Goa. The Romans hurriedly retreated into the city walls, with the aid of their Hindu allies, but abandoned several artillery pieces by the riverside. The following day, Peroz Dregubyo ordered an assault against the city but was repelled. The city suffered three more assaults but Dregubyo's forces were never able to penetrate. The Persian forces left after a protracted siege witnessed disease and death in the Persian-Canaran camp.

There would be no further attempt on Goa and it become a peculiarly long-held Roman possession, their furthest to the east.

The Game of South Asia

Romania had stepped into a complex and ever-changing situation, one engaged in a push and pull between Gurkania and Zingia, the latter supported by Sina recently (though the Sinaean's wisely stayed out of any diret conflict with any party). The success at Goa was followed up by a decisive naval battle and a destructive raid further up the coast, witnessing two more Roman victories. The Empire of Canara virtually collapsed from within as a result. The Princely State of Mysore was established in the south, a player in the game that removed the Canaran Empire, and established themselves as favorable trade partners with Sina. The Gujarat Sultanate made a move from the north and consumed their Islamic neighbor and ally of Canara, the Bahmanid Sultanate.

The Romans made no further move after Goa. The Senate instructed Grimanes to take no more, but make redoubtable what he now had. The order was irrelevant as Grimanes had already intended to do just that - sit on what he had. Goa was built up and fortified and the Roman outpost on the island realm of Taprovana as well. These were linked tightly with trade posts in Melinde, which was linked to the fortress that was the Cape of Storms. All of these were further tied to the various Zingian, Sinaean, Bakitaran, Indian, and Arab trade ports along the way. Boats of Roman settlers would find their way to Goa in the meantime and the city grew quite prosperous, surrounded by the now supportive and Sinean backed states of Mysore and Gujarat - the latter a prominent enemy of Gurkania.

Goa would sit as an important hub through the next turbulent period in South Asia - the rise of the Mughal Empire. From 2318 to 2353 the Mughal Empire would conquer nearly all of the South Asian sub-continent. By 2453 it would have the entire thing excluding Goa, Taprovana, Celobotra, and Dramiria - all on the southern extremity.

Sailing to Earth's End

2273 witnessed the first recorded contact between the inhabitants of Japan and Europeans. The arrival of Roman fleet, accompanied by Sinaean ships, sparked booming interesting on the island. Sinaean trade had been tuned up over the past decades with the initiation of the' Age of the Golden Sea' by Sinaean Emperor Yingzong, which saw extreme growths in wealth and learning globally. The world had arguably become truly linked at this point, between Hesperian connections via Romania to Sinaean connections in the east, with Malian connections running from the Romans to Antillia, and so on. Roman trade posts were established on Amakusa island in Japan and would prosper and the rise of the Toyotomi Shogunate, which perhaps owed much of its survival on Sinaean and Roman interests.

The Disintegration of Messicu Province

The Roman hold in Meshico (known as Messicu in Roman and given Provincial status) was always on rough ground. The governance was fraught and difficult to maintain. Unlike Boriqen it had a large non-Roman population. Although all Meshica had been given Roman citizenship and were thus considered Roman, the language, cultural, and religious barriers proved a higher hurdle than the citizenship granting could leap over. New Rome grew at a steady rate and numerous Roman explorations along the Seric coast, north and south, occurred. Contact was made and trade opened with Tawantinsuyu and trade posts were established along the northern Hesperian coast.

The Chichimeca War

The term 'Chichimeca' carried the same sense as the Roman term 'barbarian' and was used by the Meshica for what they considered the uncouth and rowdy tribal confederations to their north. These groups, under this banner term, would prove fatal the the Roman hold on Meshico.

From 2288 to 2294 there would be a back and forth between the Romans and the Chichimeca. The war gradually and increasingly became manned by Meshica, fighting for the Romans, and subsequently the Romans lost interest. The city of New Rome and the coastal province of Acolua, both heavy fortified, appeared to be Romania's only true concern and the slaughter occurring inland was paid less mind after Romans had been sheltered in the two aforementioned locations.

It was in this light that King Xolotl III of the Chichimeca Confederation obtained the title Emperor of Meshico. As the war had continued unabated, it became clear that the Roman policy of a war of fire and blood had failed and the reliance on Meshica fighters was waning as many worryingly were joining the Chichimeca. The treasury was being emptied by the demands of the war. Mistreatment and enslavement of Chichimeca women, children, and men by the Romans increasingly came to be seen with antagonism by the Meshican and various allied states that made up the Roman province. Thus, to end the conflict, the Romans began to change public policy to purchase peace from the Chichimeca. The guarantee was the security of New Rome and Acolua, sovereign Roman waystations along the road connecting the two, and an alliance pact between Romania and Xolotl's empire. Thus was reborn the Empire of Meshico in 2294.

The Hesperian Explorations

Minerva Martelles, wife of Supreme Consul Ludoviciu Medices

The colony of Terra del Sole (moden Soleterra) was established as part of a Senatorial directive. Fearing for New Rome in its disadvantaged position, easily cut off should Meshico turn hostile, there came a need for a direct link. Any renewed hostility that would arrive with a renewed conquest of Meshico was not desired - the population was too robust, the country too large and too distant from Ravenna to control. It was in this light that Supreme Consul Ludoviciu Medices, with the Senate, sent instructions to establish a Roman settlement to connect New Rome to "those Roman islands on the eastern end of Messicu... and to search out other suitable arrangements for Romania."

Camillu Martelles was given the task directly from Ludoviciu and sent to Hesperia with them. The Equites Martelles was the elder brother of Ludoviciu Medices' wife, Minerva, who the Supreme Consul was very fond of. It is in this light that we may see the favoratism granted Camillu in this order.

Martelles set about establishing Terra del Sole in 2296 after getting a reading of this new world. The location had been scouted already by the numerous Roman forays around the region and the destination was confirmed by Martelles after he surveyed it. Named in honor of the Conquering Sun, he remained at the site to oversee the new colony and would linger here for over a year while it grew. Martelles was delayed the following year due to illness from the new environment. The Equites set out after recovery, choosing to sail up the Seric side of the coastline. This choice may have been multifaceted. The eastern side had been fairly thoroughly scouted by the Romans at this point. Destinations further south weren't particularly sought after due to the mistaken belief that Malian territory was very close (the distances weren't understood yet). Mali was a powerful realm and the Roman preferred keeping them as trade-allies. North proved to be fruitful to trade, but not for settlement.

Ludoviciu Medices would establish what was essentially a Consular dynasty

The Hesperians of the east were firmly established and had a better handle on the weaponry technology and stone-walled of settlements. The reports issued to Martelles likened their level of martial ability as that of the "thulean region (far northern) of Europe or that of the deserts of Libia" and we know that the Hesperians here had complex realms developed, the use of steel, and lamellar armor. In other words, as reported to Martelles, these weren't people who could be bullied or, if need be, fought off for a potential bit of land. The Seric Ocean remained an unknown, however, and the enticing of idea of reaching Sina from that direction was a plus.

Western Hesperia

The Seric Ocean had not been left alone naturally enough. Three Roman expeditions sailed north around 2200 as far as a land he dubbed Fornixia, from the Roman word fornàxe (furnance) in reference to the scorched land they saw. Further expeditions sailed forth from Roman Messicu for a time, but the distance traveled remains unknown.

Martelles sailed beyond Fornixia and made landfall at what he dubbed the Bay of All the Gods (modern day Calanca de Totus Deus in Concordia). The deep-water bay was envisioned as an ideal port, a good distance from New Rome, and so the spot was determined as the first settlement by Martelles. The party consisted of numerous (the number is unknown) ships, carrying building material, animals, and colonists. The inhabitants of the area, the Kamia, comprised several autonomous bands with 30 patrilineal clans. They evidently fled the area on Roman landfall but would approach the camp in the next days. Martelles delivered to them an official announcement of Roman claim and opened trade. The nuances of what occurred are, of course, lost to time, but we know that food goods and other trinket-items were 'given as gifts' to the Kamia who were essentially swindled into selling land, engaging in an activity they had no understanding of. Kamia bands would ultimately set up on the outskirts of the colony and would become a boon to local language and customs to the Calanca as it grew. The non-native, invasive flora, and domestic animals and disease brought by the Romans would have a dire impact. It is estimated that there were around 9,000-12,000 Kumia at the time of the Roman arrival, where 1,300 remain today, far from their homeland.

Ordo Equestres Helmet dated circa AUC 2250s. The Equestres had a style their own, apart from the regular Roman forces, and their trends tended to be shared amongst the Roman Equestres. This style of helmet was developed in Milan specifically for the Order.

Martelles would set north again after a month at Calanca. His next location he would name Fumasia, originally calling it the Bay of Smoke, he would combine the word smoke (fumu) with the inhabitants group name he met ashore, the Chumash. A small group was left on the Limuia islands off the coast, though there is evidence no colonists were among them but probably soldiers only. Trade was established with Fumasia and Martelles sailed on. The small band left behind by Martelles found themselves approach and, with a Kumian translator, were able to determine that there were two warring provinces, "Jejo ruled by an "old woman", and Jucu" as was written down by the head of the party. Jejo was requesting aid from the strangers but any more detailed has been lost, so the result remains unknown.

The next stop was at the Gulf of Pines (Colfu de Pinus). Martelles was enamored with the area as his own writing suggests. He established a significant number of the ships here. The same scenario that occurred with the Kumia repeated itself here. The region inland and around the gulf was named Meacia after the self-designation of the indigenous inhabitants. Martelles remained here for over a week before the arrival of a small Roman ship from Limuia. The Roman group left in Fumasia were in duress and requested aid. Martelles returned south to discover the island under attack by a tribe whose name is written down as "Cij" (pronounced keej). This is believed to be the ancestors of the modern Toviscanians. Martelles stepped out of his boat and splintered his shin when he stumbled onto a jagged rock while trying to rescue some of his men from attacking Cij warriors. The injury became infected and developed gangrene, and he died on November 3. The expedition came under the command of Augustíne Ferralzu.

The Cij attack was repulsed and the Romans left on Limuia islands were taken aboard and the entire group set up on the mainland. Ferralzu debated with his fellow expedition leaders and the decision was reached to winter at Fumasia and establish a colony here instead. The settlement was named Martellia, after their beloved expedition leader, Camillu Martelles.

Ferralzu spent the winter on a mad frenzy of retribution. The exact numbers are unknown, but Ferralzu roamed great distances north and east from Martellia and left great slaughter in his wake. The incident came to be known among Roman circles as the Slaughter of the Innocents and Ferralzu earned a bloody reputation. The Cij were beaten back but the real damage came to surrounding tribes, innocent of any wrongdoing. Speculation is varied as to why Ferralzu was so relentless in his revenge. A leading, and popular, theory follows that Ferralzu and Camillu Martelles were lovers.

Roman Infantry helmet circa 2300s

Ferralzu would lead the expedition north six months later, leaving behind all colonists and materials save for those they might need for small forts. He arrived at the Takelma river in what is now Tsinucia. Ferralzu made note that the inhabitants were called Takelma, whence the river name comes. He noted further that they were being encroached upon from the north by the Tsinucan realm. Ferralzu, in his extensive notes, records the Takelman people lived as foragers. They collected plant foods and insects, fished and hunted. The Takelma cultivated only one crop, a native tobacco. The Takelma lived in small bands of related men and their families. Ferralzu indicated that the Takelman were "of a level comparable to that of those Hesperian barbarians to our present locations south and north of Messicu", disparagingly commenting on his belief of their lower technological level. Ferralzu also waxes about the Hesperians of the western coast and their being "men left over from the Golden Age. Utopian and ignorant in their utopia, living a life with the earth that we have fallen from".

Roman infantry, circa late 2200s - early 2300s

Ferralzu made a further voyage north, leaving none behind. The next location he was met with the Tsinucan people who he commented upon as being "altogether different" from those of previous encounters. He noted their tradition of flattening their heads as well as their use of lamellar armor, though noted an absence of fortified settlements and an absence of steel like was seen in eastern Hesperia. Ferralzu described them as expansive and war-like, hinting abundantly that there would be no viable land here. Ferralzu next made landfall at Tseuitzen, a budding village and not yet a city at that time. Ferralzu called the place Anian, believing it to be a land that was the result of mistaken identity from a misreading of an old map likely indicating Sinaean-land rather than Anian. This turned out to be what is now called the Anian Peninsula, in Talam. Ferralzu noted that the Anians and the Talamese were much the same as the Tsinucan and suggesting that they sit atop a waterway that would lead to eastern Hesperia and the Atlantic. Trade was established and a Roman presence remained in Tseuitzen to foment this, but diplomatically and minimally - there was no intent on land grabbing in this area at that moment. A trade settlement was constructed near Tseuitzen, to be inhabited by Roman trading families. Ferralzu returned south to Martellia after overwintering in Tseuitzen then proceeded to New Rome, Boriquen, and ultimately ended up in Ravenna.

The arrival of Sinti slaves in Martellia, along with horses, would play a crucial role in the future of Hesperia. There is no exact date given to the first release of horses from Roman control. It could have been escaped animals, traded animals, stolen, maybe a combination. The Sinti certainly escaped in some numbers and began a tradition of migratory herding, horses in tow, across Hesperia not long after their arrival.

The Forgotten Romans at Earth's End

It would not be until six years later that a follow up expedition, led by Andronicu Menesteu, a Morean-Roman navigator, would make anything of Anian and the Roman trading families left there. Andronicu was following the notion that the sea-lane was a direct route back to the Atlantic and acting on direct Senatorial orders. The expedition returned to Tseuitzen (where the Romans had established a settlement called Portu Andronia) in abundance, a shock to not only the native Anian population but to the Roman traders and their families too. Menesteu established a fort at the mouth of the Strait as well, naming it Finiterra.

Roman Equites, depicted in Roman painting, circa late 2200s - early 2300s

This peripheral land on the edge of the world turned out to be not as useful as intended; the sea route to the Atlantic proved to be a fantasy. Instead of removing the Roman colonists the people were simply left and the area was governed de-facto but in all reality was independent, Finiterra and Portu Andronia became City-States. The indigenous populace in the immediate area succumbed to European disease and the colonies of the Romans became fairly isolated for a time.

Meanwhile the area was a ripe target to piratical raids from up and down the Pacific coast of Hesperia and raiders regularly took goods and people for the coastal slave-trade. These Romans on the Anian Peninsula had no protection from the de-facto ruler, Romania, and struck up a defensive pack with the budding Talamese realm - providing trade goods, horses, and the art of steel for increased aid in coastal defense. The Romans of the two city-states would ply deep into the interior of the Peninsula, further than any human had ventured before, and additionally explored the length and breadth of Western Hesperia.

Many of the Romans, over the decades and centuries, ultimately made their way back to Romania or other Roman possessions while some vanished into the interior of Hesperia. The two cities would wither until being absorbed by Nostalam once the Roman populace was essentially reduced to something negligible, most gone or moved into the mountains as isolated forester families. In 2543 a Cambrian trading expedition noted 'Mountain Romans' living in the interior of the Anian Peninsula, the forgotten Romans of the edge of Hesperia. The two town names, Porandro being a district of Tseuitzen and Finiterra still a village, and various structures are all that remains today. The last Roman in the Anian interior passed away in 2656, his family preceding him - the last Roman family of Anian.

Eastern Hesperia

The success of Roman settlement in western Hesperia was not repeated in eastern Hesperia, though not for want of trying. The first probing voyages took place in 2250, but these followed a mapped route that was accessible to Europeans who sought it - sometimes called The Greenland Way and The Markland Way. Sailing north, along Cambria and the Norse islands, to Iceland then Greenland and arriving in Hesperia via the island of Vinland. This was the path in 2250 taken by Sevastianu Orariu, of the patrician Orariu family, one of lengthy maritime history (in fact founded as a maritime family) with (in)famous historical family member Sancia Orariu among their line.

Sevastianu Orariu

Sevastianu was a resident of Caeta, as his family long had been; accepted into the religious confraternity of Divine Julian the Philosopher, this was one of the city's prestigious confraternities, his acceptance suggests that he was already a respected member of the community. Indeed the family had a long respectable history, tarnished briefly by the mad-reign of Sancia Orariu, but otherwise rather unblemished.

Sevastianu engaged in maritime trade, as the family was wont to do, including the trade to the eastern Mediterranean that was the source of much of southern Italia and Adriatic Italia's wealth - the wealthiest parts of Romania at the time. A 2236 document refers to his selling a slave in Crete whom he had acquired while in the territories of Egypt. Sevastianu asserts that he had visited Mecca during his time in the east, which he said in 2250 to the Cambrian ambassador in Milan. In this Mediterranean trade, he may have acquired better knowledge of the origins of the Eastern merchandise he would have been dealing in (such as spices and silks) than many Europeans at that time.

Sevastianu's voyage to Hesperia followed the Greenland Way and he explored the island of Vinland - unvisited from the denizens of Europe save for Vasconian whalers, Hibernian merchants and priests, Scandian traders and adventurers, and the odd Cambrian trader and fisherman. The island had long been known to Europeans but the exact distance was shady and the lands beyond it were unknown completely, beyond being believed to be endless taiga, cold and hostile, with monsters - very much like the lands north and east of Slovenia. Fur was the only reason to venture so far - a trade which the Saqvegians had complete control of, which came through Scanian middle-men into the European market and was jealously guarded by the Scandians as their equivelent of the spice-trade. Sevastianu was the first to really burst open that dam with his voyage, curbing the Scanian hold on the market. The impact would be felt in Scandia over the following decades as their hold on the trade dropped rapidly. The first voyage mapped Vinland and much of Saqvegia and gained information from the Norse-speaking people of Hesperia, before returning home.

Sevastianu Orariu

A second, larger, voyage was taken in 2251 by Sevastianu and his new second-in-command Alwyn, a Cambrian sailor who had already explored Vinland and, reputedly, had left a few bastard children on the island. Alwyn, able to speak the Nordic tongue, would also act as a guide. The second voyage turned north from Vinland after a stop and explored the Markland coast and into the island of Helluland and the cold waters of the far north before turning south again, setting in on the island of Vinland at Hóp. The voyagers then entered the Kaniatarowa River and put in at the de-facto Saqvegian capital Noranbega - though this was more a 'chief' settlement simply being the largest in Saqvegia, rathern than the capital, so to speak. Exploring further into the Kaniatawora, Sevastianu made extensive contact with the Ganonsians and, possibly, viewed the Sweet Sea before his return home.

Later Expeditions

In 2277 Janu Verrasane plied the eastern coast, mapping much of it and establishing extensive trade contacts. Born in Greva, Tuscia Province, Janu was an experienced sailor and explorer. Janu left a detailed account of his voyages in Hesperia, but little is known about his personal life. After 2259, he settled in the port of Dieppa in Francia, where he began to fruther his career as a navigator. In 2276 Janu was offered by the Senate to lead an exploratory and trade-mission to Hesperia - one of many offered - and he took the opportunity. Within months, four ships set sail for Boriquen, from where they would bank north and explore. On route to Boriquen a violent storm and rough seas caused the loss of two ships. The damaged ships were forced to return to Europe and landed in Letavia, continental Cambria. Repairs were completed in the final weeks of the year, and they set sail again, now with a swelled crew with added Cambrians. They arrived in Boriquen around March and set north mere days after. Sailing along the eastern coast, heading north, the Roman ships first encountered the Stapabans. Janu listed it as slightly more advanced than "the islanders" (presumably the Taino and Caribs) and after bartering he moved on. The next encounter Janu had was with the Mascogans who he was evidently altogether more impressed with, implied by his much more extensive notes on them. Their level of developement was markedly higher than their southern neighbors and the islanders. Janu noted walled towns and steel weapons but suggested a disorderly band-oriented military, "easily overcome" as he put it. Janu established trade contact and sailed on, making further north before stopping in the sound he would later call Pamoi Sound, after the inhabitants. The Pamoii were under the dominion of the Issians, the dominate kingdom in the area. At the bequest of the Pamoi Janu would establish himself here. Serendipitously a Roman, stranded years prior, was a member of the Pamoi, trusted, and able to translate for both parties, living in the city Raudauqua freely. It was in this light Janu was able to determine the way the winds blew and likely resulted in his decision to accept the offer. Janu would ramp up the bargain and obtained a plot of land for the Romans, if they would aid the Pamoi in breaking away from Issian control. It seemed an echo of the situation that happened when first coming upon the Meshican Empire.

Roman armor, depicted in Roman painting, circa late 2200s - early 2300s

Janu left a bulk of his men, who got about building a fort, and the explorer sailed north. Șesepice Sound (from the local name 'Chesepioc') was entered and explored briefly, with Janu noting a number of budding towns. Janu next stopped among the Renapian, the exact town however is unknown. Here the Romans encountered a Vinlandic party of merchants and noted the size of the Renapian settlement and the further level of development in building material, weaponry, and architecture. The communication was eased via a Scandian who was among the Cambrian crew. He was able to roughly translate the Vinlandic and the Vinlanders in turn the Renapian. It was via the Vinlandic Renappland, which the Romans turned into Renapia. Janu indicated this was a small but sturdy Kingdom. Trade was established and the Vinlanders agreed to journey north with Janu. The next stop was in what the Vinlanders told the Romans was the territory of the Maikanders, called Maikland, thus termed Mahicania. Noted as a very small realm, the Romans established trade contact and moved on. The next stop they were informed by the Vinlanders would be a powerful Kingdom they called Skræland (whence the Roman name Scralia), Janu noted this realm as very prominent and prosperous "with a great many fortresses". Janu would ultimately arrive in Vinland where he would winter and a portion of his Cambrian crew remained before he sailed on, deciding to see if he could make a circular trip back to Romania, and this he did.

Roman armor, depicted in Roman painting, late 2200s

The return of Janu from the north was highly regarded in European circles. The continent had been aware of Vinland and received trade goods from the land they inhabited via Scandian and Vinlandic traders, but this was a mere trickle and the bulk of the items were furs, fish, and "unicorn horns" (narwhal teeth). An occasional item of southern Hesperian origin has shown up from earlier dates, but this appears rare. Vinlandic merchants did not move beyond Șesepice Sound; evidently shying away from the areas south of this from disastrous expeditions in the past. Though explorers from Vinland may have reached the Seric Ocean, and certainly sailed Sweet Sea, they didn't make a habit of it for the dangers. The smaller exchange area they inhabitant was lucrative enough. It was in this light that none in Europe were certain that the lands the Roman had come upon were connected to Vinland - the Vinlanders were uncertain of this as well. Janu ultimately proved it to be so. The explorer would return to Pamoi Sound and his men he left behind, sailing a direct route, in 2280. Storms drove him further south and he arrived not far south, along the Azalea Coast. Janu found the situation surprisingly unaltered, save for a completed fort and that some of his men had taken local wives. He was updated with a report of an Issian armed 'diplomatic' mission who treated the foreigners with a great deal of respect. This occured mere days before Janu's arrival. The Issians had mistook the Romans as Vinlanders at first and, so Janu was informed, supposed this was a possible Renapian attack, the two being chief allies. When it was revealed this was not so, all was well with the Issians. Janu suspected ulterior motives and so settled down to aid in the forts construction.

Roman Legionary armor circa circa late 2200s - early 2300s

The suspected attack did arrive, two weeks later. The combined Pomoi and Roman force repelled the attack with relative ease and the Pomoi "held a great celebration, heralding us as deliverers from above" notes Janu. Janu made no attempt to extend his territories and appeared to work with the Pomoi, emphasizing respect and agreement between the two groups, in stark contrast to the situation in western Hesperia. Janu named the new fortress Hellenia, in honor of his religion, and the area around it he claimed as New Gallia.

Janu Verrasane's demise arrived in 2281, after his voyage south from Hellenia to Boriquen. Exploring south this time, Janu anchored out to sea and rowed ashore, probably on the island of Karukera (it is presumed this island as it was an "island outside of the Roman sphere, only just south of that"). He was killed and eaten by the native Carib inhabitants. The fleet of two or three ships was anchored out of gunshot range, and no one could respond in time.

The Massacre of Pomoia

Hellenia would prosper for a time, expanding and absorbing Raudauqua. In 2293 an expansive Roman expedition would set out with a force of Pomoii, sacking Issian towns along the way and establishing way-forts. It was an exploratory and military expedition, Senate supported, that would ultimately set the situation for Hellenia's fall. Ariu Vadu led the expedition, the second son of a minor patrician family in Hispania. His movement snaked through Issian land and continued into Tsalagia, despite Pomoii warnings to not. The Pomoii objective was both retribution and certainty of independence from Issia, with the added benefit of annexing new lands. Pomoi had, rather smoothly and beneath their very feet, become a Roman territory. even so, to bring down Tsalagia into the conflict was not hoped for by the Pomoi. Vadu was intent, however, to gobble the entire thing up.

Roman Cavalry helmet circa late 2200s - early 2300s

Vadu established a fort at Ilasi, a small castle taken by his men. Approaching the Shaconage Mountains, Vadu sacked the city of Juara, the capital of the Cosan, a tributary realm of Tsalagia, and established soldiers there, as in Ilasi. Moving on, across the mountains, he turned south and would ultimately arrive at the fortified city of Mavila, part of Mascoga. A lengthy siege began that resulted in a Pyrrhic Roman-Pomoii victory. Tascalusa, the Mascogan king, met the Romans after their conquest. The Battle of Atahachi witnessed another Pyrrhic victory for the Romans. Vasu was well aware at this point that he needed to hurry east, dropping his original plan of making for the Sibonean Sea before turning east. The party made haste, harassed along the way, until the Atlantic was sighted. The party turned north from here, arriving eventually in Issian territory. The journey further north was largely uneventful, though the force was much depleted upon arrival in Hellenia in 2295, two years later. The Issian realm and that of the Mascogans would begin to rebuild and plan. Vasu set back out not long after resettling in Hellenia, making for Ilasi and Juara and the Romans who remained there. Juara and Ilasi suffered a number of assaults over the years but the two fortress-settlements remained unbroken. As the years progressed settlers rolled in and the land up to Juara, just beyond the foothills of the Shaconage Mountains, became part of the Pomoia Province.

Equites helmet circa late 2200s - early 2300s

In 2319 Juara would fall to a massive Tsalagian, Mascogan, and Issian force. Juara had grown extensively, settled heavily by the Romans, with a growing Pomoi town adjacent. The siege was extensive but the outcome nearly certain due to the competing numbers. The inhabitants were slaughtered regardless of age or gender and particular savagery was reserved for the Pomoi. Those who managed to survive arrived in Ilasi with the dire news. Aid would not make it to the second city in time, which fell in a repetition of the Juara. Pomoia was invaded from three directions and the Roman garrison was too meager - the Province was peripheral to the Romans and nearly neglected. Hellenia suffered the same fate as her two sister cities. Those who escaped fled to the north for refuge in Renapia, from where they found ships to carry them south to Boriquen.

Roman Territories in Hesperia, AUC 2318

There was no Roman reprisal and no desire for another attempt at eastern Hesperia. The Pomoi were destroyed by the Issians completely - the name of the Pomoi Sound and the city Raudauqua (reverting from Hellenia) are essentially all that remains.

The Medices Dynasty

Ludoviciu Medices was the descendant of Duce Alfredu Medices, a martyr in Roman eyes who was killed in the Anatolian campaign by 'treacherous Grecians' in 2061. The son of Alfredu Medices had taken his father's place as a Provincial Count (Comes de Provìntsia) for Italia, a post of extraordinary honor and reputation. The Medices family would veritably hold this post hereditary with a few changes off and on through the decades, but the Florentine family continued to hold a prominent patrician position. It was via this influence that the Medices family gained the Supreme Consulship and would hold it through several generations, essentially becoming a sort of elected monarchy or dictatorship, without the official trappings of being such. Ludoviciu was the first Medices to be granted the title Supreme Consul, but the first of what would be four.

The Great East-West War

The Medices would see Romania through a time of prosperity called the Era of Golden Seas, with a flourishing of art fueled by the greatly increasing wealth from the Hesperian trade-monopoly and the trade links with Sina to the east. Europe roiled in turmoil and great changes during this period. 2292 witnessed the rise of the Wendish Empire, or rather the reemergence. The young Kingdom of Galindia was absorbed by the Wends after a brief war in 2162. A protracted war with Francia to reabsorb Lombardia occurred in 2289 and though the Lombards were able to resist, the Cimbro-Saxon Kingdom was annexed into the Wendish Kingdom. Aestia fell next to the Wendish expansion. The expansion of Afrasiyad Persia at the expense of the Timurid Persian Empire (or Gurkania) in 2244 witnessed a dynamic change as well. Aq Qoyunlu, a Persianate Turkic tribal confederation, began to expand from Upper Mesopotamia (an area granted to them by the Gurkanian Empire) while the Afrasiyab dynasty of Tabaristan began a simultaneous growth - both realms eating away at Gurkania from within.

Roman Cataphract helmet AUC 2313

The Afrasiyabs came out on top after a marriage alliance with the rump Grecian Empire, or Greco-Bulgarian Kingdom, via a wedding with the Greco-Bulgarian princess Keratsa. Tabaristan ultimately completed a swift conquest of Gurkania, Aq Qoyunlu, and finally the Kurdish Empire. Afrasiyad Persia sat in dominance of western Asia and southeastern Europe. In 2289 the Persian Empire began a conquest of the Greco-Bulgarian realm. 2290 witnessed the conquest of Constantinople - long separated from the rest of the Grecian realm - and before long all that remained was Bogdania in the north and Chalkidikia in the south. The conflict in Haemia witnessed an alliance between the Persians and Wends, the news of which sent shock-waves across Europe and grabbed Roman attention. Morea was reinforced and became the central focus of the Republic, with the happenings in Hesperia as very much periphery.

Roman Legionary armor circa AUC 2350s

The remainder of the 2290s was spent organizing and preparing by Romania and Cambria in the west, the Wendish-Persian alliance in the east (meanwhile the Wends completed a conquest of Hungaria), and witnessed a union of need between the Gepids and Lombards, creating the United Kingdom of Gepidia-Lombardia via a marriage alliance - a clear move for survival. The Lombards were largely Christianized at this point and had slowly been shifting toward the Gepid sphere of influence. Bogdania (the rump Bulgarian Empire) and Chalkidikia (the rump Grecian Empire) became de-facto separate realms again and both buckled down.

2303 began the eruption of the Great East-West War. A protracted conflict spanning from 2303 to 2326. The war bounced back and forth, with a plethora of Roman-Cambrian victories and just as many Wendish and Persian successes resulting in a conflict that is difficult to define. The Persians successfully conquered Capatia but the Wends lost Hungaria at the same time. Dalmatia and Gepidia-Lombardia remained unconquered despite repeated attempts, but Arberia was absorbed by the Persians. Morea suffered numerous battles but also remained unconquered, as did the Chalkidikia and Bogdania.

The Contest of the Engineers

The sundering of the First Roman Empire into two halves resulted in a power-struggle and an arms-race, echoing very closely the conflicts of the modern age in the guise of seeing who can develope the best weapons of war. Perhaps the first great step in this direction came from Grecia, with the creation of so called Greek Fire, probably the Grecians most memorable or notable creation. Romania in turn, though with myraid advances through the centuries, is perhaps best remembered for the Roman Turtle, what could simply be called a proto-landship.

The Roman Turtle

The concept was designed by Antoniu de Empolis, under the patronage of the Senate in 2240. Sometimes described as a prototype of modern landships, Empolis' armored vehicle represented a conical cover inspired by a turtle's shell. The covering was made of wood and reinforced with metal plates that add to the thickness. Slanting angles deflected enemy fire. The machine was powered by two large inside cranks operated by four strong men. The vehicle was equipped with an array of light cannons, placed around the perimeter. The armored vehicle was designed to intimidate the enemy rather than to be used as a serious military weapon and, not unlike the war-elephant centuries earlier, would prove psychologically impactful but, once gotten used to, diminshed in usefulness. Due to the vehicle's impressive size, it was not capable of moving on rugged terrain.

The Roman Turtle

The Roman Turtle was intended for use in defending the northern routes into Italia in the event of the assumed Afrasiyad Persian invasion, which never occured. Subsequently the war-machine was used in Morea during Persian forays during the East-West War and evidently was impactful during in defensive role at the Battle of Larissa which was the largest of the engagements in its theatre. This was the only recorded action of the Roman Turtle but contemporary writting indicates they were used further norther of Morea against the Persians and also on the front against the Wends - in both events with little result, likely ending in an abandonment of the war-machine.

The Quartet of Europe

The continent remained quiet yet scarred until 2353. The Persians consolidated their gains in the south but the Wends had more difficulty. Their alliance crumbled and the two powers engaged in the Battle of Halics on the outskirts of the titular Hungarian capital.

Roman Equites armor, circa 2350s

The conflict caused more Hungarian suffering than either Persian or Wendish as the two powers struggled over Hungaria. Ironically the battle, the single event in the very brief Wendish-Persian War, caused both sides to lose the struggle for Hungaria and a Gepid-Lombard force arrived and routed the previously Pyrrhically victorious Wends. Hungaria joined the United Kingdom of Gepidia-Lombardia after this event (hereby known as the United Christian Kingdom of Mary, or Mariana), a tri-lingual Christian kingdom and now the most powerful realm of that religion (along with Armenia) since the near disintegration of Grecia and Thracia. The mutual support once found with Romania dissipated and the United Kingdom became the newest antagonist in what was a four-way rivalry in Europe - known as the Quartet of Europe.

Roman cavalry 2350s

In 2362 the region of Thessaly rebelled with Roman aid and the War of Thessaly broke out between the Persians and Romans. The war in 2364 turned favor of the Romans, who had been joined by Chalkidikia and renewed attacks from Armenia and Mariana against Persia. The region of Thessaly was handed over to Chalkidikia, a regrowing Grecian Empire, which served as a buffer between Roman Morea and the Persian Haemic possessions. In 2368 the Grecians attempted an invasion of Arberia but the intended 'liberation' turned into a deadly sinkhole. The Arberian realm had taken strongly to Zoroastrianism and became some of the most zealous fighters for the Persian cause - potentially due to past abuses by the Grecians. Far from being a liberation of a Christian realm, the Grecians found themselves in a religiously fueled guerrilla campaign. Grecia was saved from being overrun by timely Roman involvement, resulting in a status-quo antebellum in 2370.

2353 also brought about the meteoric rise of Armenia. Taking advantage of the back-and-forth between the myriad dynasties that ruled over Persia, the once small and confined Christian realm began a regrowth, expanding rapidly at Persian expense. The preoccupation of the Persians in Europe proved a boon to the Armenians who were able to carve out a substantial territory in Anatolia, regaining a significant amount of Armenian lands lost long ago. The Armenian-Marianan alliance was formed on the back of these successes and had a decidedly religious flavor.

Ten Years' War

The late 2300s was the boiling point of growing religious strife in northern and north-central Europe. The lands to the west of the Viadrus (also called the Odra) River had been contested ground between Francians and Wends for centuries. The population was subsequently a mixture of the two peoples and with the Francians had arrived Hellenism. Furthermore, Hellene proselytizing from Francia into Wendia had resulted in Wendish Hellenes in that area as well. This was coupled with its counterweight - the lands south of the Elbe had frequently jumped between Francian and Wendish hands as well.

The Pontifex, supposedly void of corporeal powers, had seen a budding influence over the centuries. With the ability to appoint High Priests across the Hellene world and dictate the mores of those realms, he was a powerful figure. The political control gained from Athens in Lombard lands, Francia, and encroachment into Wendia caused resentment and, ultimately, war.

Roman Legion circa 2350s

AUC 2393 began, in January, with that war. Known as the Ten Year's War and also called the Clash of the Gods or the War of the Soul, and sometimes known as the Fourth Sacred War, this conflict was religious in nature. A Wendish uprising, cross border, in the lands between the Elbe and the eastern side of the Odra witnessed widespread massacres of Hellenes, the death of High Priests, and a populist movement to accompany it. It was partly peasant rebellion and partly religious uprising - Wendish lords of non-Hellene background were not spared, though the Hellene communities fared the worst.

A Hellene Duchy

Roman Legionaries, circa AUC 2350s

A precursor to the event lay in Wladimir III Spindthrift, king of Wenedia in AUC 1914, who began an invitation of Roman, Cambrian, and Francian immigrants into his land, settling them between the Vistula and the San rivers, in order to boost the economy, farm the land, and guard against the Hungarians to the south. The Wendish city Krakow became commonly known as Cracovia, its name in Roman. Valachian migrants and shepherds, moving north along the Carpathians, added to this Hellene mixing-pot. This region, nicknamed Little Romania, increasingly grew to be a thorn in Wendish sides yet a boon to Wendish pockets. Increasingly allied with the Pontifex, it became evident that Athens was Cracovia's liege-lord. The rulers of Wendia were devoted to Rodism and tolerated Heathenism to a large degree - Hellenism would not gain such favor, it was too linked to Athens and Ravena and too at odds with their own belief. The region ultimately became its own duchy (The Duchy of Ultracarpathia), proving how influential the inhabitants were, and it was administered in Roman and Valachian, becoming a Hellene domain. An agreement in 1309 preserved a considerable degree of political rights for the Duchy which excluded the large Wendish peasantry from political life in the duchy. The abuse of the Wends fueled resentment by the inhabitants of the Duchy of Ultracarpathia, which would reach its boiling point with the Clash of the Gods in 2393.

The Brutality of War

Wjeleměr the Wolf, the King of Wendia, brought the resentment of the privileged duchy to the fore in 2392. In June Wjeleměr plunged into Ultracarpathia and plundered the villages, carried men, women, children from them and had them flayed and set up on posts around Wendia. This sparked a rebellion in Ultracarpathia by the privelaged class, which would meld into the War of the Gods in 2393.

The Ten Years' War ran from 2393 to 2403 and ravaged an already war-scarred Wendia as well as Francia, Hibernia, Cambria, and Romania. Scandian invasions of Cambria and Hibernia wrought widespread carnage; the conflict killed through plague, war and famine, an estimated total of 616,000 in Cambria alone. Romania lost Africa over the course of the conflict to the Persians, a separate engagement, as their focus was north, and the Persian realm began a tremendous growth without Roman interference. Grecia was fully taken and Athens put under siege, though survived, over a continuation of the Haemic Wars.

The Battle of Zakroczym, at that point in history the furthest east in Europe the Roman Legions had ever been, was the final point of the war. A bloody clash between Roman, Cambrian, and Valachians against a combined effort of Wends, Scandians, and Slovenians ended in a significant loss for Wendia. Ultracarpathia was granted independence and Wjeleměr, who had vanished, was dethroned in absentia and the crown was given to the Francian Emperor's nephew who would become known ultimately as Karl De Verhexten (Carl the Hexed). Karl would prove a madman, invading Ultracarpathia and plunging himself deeply into Heathenism, his reign of blood in Wendia surpassed Wjeleměr and he adopted that Wendish king's fondness for flaying. Karl would be tried for his crimes by the Wends and deposed without a fuss from Francia or Romania in 2415.

The Francian Coup

The period of the 2400s was one of turmoil in not only Romania but much of Europe. The Ten Years' War had drained the western and northern parts of the continent while the Haemic Wars had done the same for the south and east. By 2453 Persia was ousted completely from Europe and Mariana had engulfed the entirety of the Haemic Peninsula save for Dardania, Arberia, and the Grecian realms. Wendia remained in a state of disrepair, a broken Kingdom.

In 2462 Supreme Consul Octaviu Tines died in a freak winter storm upon his return from Hibernia, sinking his ship and the Consul with it. The Francian Käsar Antonie II The Ambitious moved immediately and rode south, into Romania, at the head of a large force before the certainty of Tines' death was confirmed. Antonie II Rhingburg declared himself Emperor of Romania, Augustus Antonius Rhenusburgum Carolus Magnus Francorum et Romanorum on January 9th 2463.

The Senate in Rome was held prisoner in the Senate House by the Francian forces until they acquiesced to the arrangement. By the evening the word had traveled, the re-birth of the Roman Empire, and by the weekend a parade was held in the ancient city of Rome.

Antonie moved the capital to Trier, the seat of his family, the Rhingburg Dynasty, thus stripping Francia of its traditional capital Oche and Romania of Ravena, with the intent to build Trier into an immense city and "focal point of the world".

This marked the ascent of what is known in Roman as the Rhenburgu Dynasty and the start of the Second Roman Empire.

The Settling of the Empire

Roman Legionary circa 2450s

The next few decades became a settling period across Romania and the new reality of a Franco-Roman Empire became established and widely feared across Europe and West Asia. The Rhenburgu Dynasty did not sit idle. After the coup had been consolidated the new Emperor began an immense growth and upgrade of the Roman Legions and firearms were put at the forefront, a situation where Romania had been starting to slip behind Persia and the budding Mariana. The growth in manpower was also a great boon to imperial ideas. In 2468 Vasconia was conquered - a task a number of previous Roman emperors were unable to do. Sicilia fell next and then Dalmatia in 2472 after the brief Adriatic War with Mariana - the first real test of the new Franco-Roman Legions found them highly able and capable and stemmed the growing prestige of Mariana.

A Spoiled Friendship

Roman Legion circa AUC 2450s

The turning of the tide arrived with Antonius' successor, Willhelm I. Beginning his reign in 2482, Willelm began an unraveling of the long held Roman-Cambrian alliance. The issue first arose in his second year after a backed coup in Hibernia witnessed his marriage to the newly widowed Hibernian Queen, Sláine née Baccagh, after the death of the Hibernian High King Murchadh V. The young Hibernian Queen Sláine had been veritably newlywed when her husband perished and his death remains an issue of suspicion to this day, as well as the Francian marriage or as some have argued kidnapping.

Willelm, now High King of Hibernia, absorbed that island into the Roman Empire. Meanwhile Mariana had engulfed the whole of Haemia, including Morea and Dardania, the former a part of Romania. The invasion was a declaration of war and taken as such by Willelm, though the Emperor lagged in response due to an ongoing crisis in Cambria.

A coup had occurred in 2489 in Cambria and King Keneder II was deposed by a band who placed his cousin Demelza on the throne. Demelza reached out her hand to Willelm in offer of marriage to secure her throne. The Roman Emperor responded by divorcing his wife, Sláine, and taking ship to Cambria in a hurried wedding with Demelza. The act sent a mixture of shock and anger across Romania, Cambria, and Hibernia - the latter even more so as Willelm continued to hold Hibernia as a part of Romania.

Roman Legionaries circa 2490

In May 2490 a Cambrian Civil War erupted and in quick succession the keep in Loundres was stormed and Demelza seized. She was tried immediately and beheaded, as was her entire staff, a mixture of Cambrian, Roman, and Francian patricians and servants.

Keneder III, the sequestered away son of the previous Cambrian king, was brought out of hiding to take the throne. This plot soon unwound and the Cambrian Civil War erupted. Willelm remarried Sláine - the twenty-four year old Hibernian Queen's feelings on all of these matters remains unrecorded.

Willelm directed his attention east, having no intention of stepping into Cambria while it was boiling in war. The conflict was Mariana, presumably inevitable, and war swiftly erupted.

The War of the Rivers

The conflict came to be known as the War of the Rivers (2490-2495), due to the river-oriented names of the Rhenburgu Dynasty and the Istramaje Dynasty of Mariana. The war brought about the notable Gepidian warcry "Im-u ik veetig?" (Am I not worthy?) which has become synonymous with the conflict.

The Rhenburgu Dynasty ended early in the war, in March 2492. A Hibernian commoner named Ragnall Ua Tuathail, believed to have been in the Roman Legion, stabbed Willelm to death before he himself was stabbed. The incident took place while the Emperor was riding through the countryside in Tuscania. The act is believed to have been arranged by the Roman Senate but remains largely a mystery to this day.

The Senate sat for one week in debate and the notion of reestablishing the Republic was weighed against nominating a new Emperor. The latter was chosen as the Borromeu dynasty was seated on the throne, elected from a highly reputable Senatorial family. Hibernia was 'released' by Romania and swiftly became engulfed in the Cambrian Civil War, what became known as the Revolution of the Isles.

The conflict with Mariana continued, unabated, after a diplomatic mission from that realm was turned away after bringing an offer of peace. The Senate reportedly told them they are not worthy of holding Athens and so the war will continue until that city and Delphi are free. The response from Varro I Istramaje, king of Mariana, was the famous "Im-u ik veetig?" which became a war cry.

The conflict resulted in numerous back-and-forths between the two realms with neither able to gain the upper hand for long. The Treaty of Bratesburg returned Morea into Roman hands and ended the war.

Fifth Age - Modern Era (AUC 2500 to Present)

Paulina Borromeu

The Fifth Age is largely regarded as coming into being with the ascent of the Borromeu Dynasty by the election of Titu Borromeu as Augustus in Romania as well as the conclusion, in 2499, of the Revolution of the Isles in Cambria and Hibernia. The rise of two republics in those countries would help usher in a new age.

The Borromeu dynasty built upon the advancements of the Roman military started by the Rhenburgu dynasty and the foundations of the modern military system can be seen.

The dynasty was ultimately Romania's last, becoming the first and only hereditary line by law in Romania, a stipulation the first Borromeu, Titu, put into place in the midst of his rule. The logic was that the hereditary issue would come into play regardless of what anyone wanted and it was simpler to just make it law and avoid any conflicts. The Senate agreed.

Titu made history by enacting a constituional monarchy (model in no small way on the same thing that had occured in Cambria in 2422; this same path would be taken by Francia in 2544), curbing the power of the monarchy and therby, in his eyes, assuring its survival. This made the dynasty all that more popular among the populace and allowed the beginning of modern political factions.

Paulina Borromeu

The dynasty would imbed itself in public life in every facet, with a certain celebrity emerging in the form of royalty. Paulina Borromeu came to represent this mightily and garnered both disdain and envy from the masses - in the eyes of many moder historians placing her as a proto-celebrity and the era as the beginning of what we know today as modern celebrity. Paulina was the younger sister of Titu and an example of how the entire Borromeu family came to step into the spotlight. Paulina's popularity is witnessed in her presence as the protagonist of the Sinaean anime-influenced strategy video game Banner of the Maid, as a professional warrior and leader of soldiers. The real Paulina was not martial in the slightest and made her fame by attending and hosting myriad parties and banquets, inviting the nobles of countries across the globe and spending lavishly on art and culture.

The cult of personality (particularly in the west) can be traced back to the rise of the Borromeu dynasty and, though it was a thing already coming to be, the likes of Paulina undoubtedly aided it and certainly benefited from it. Paulina's blessing for patronage, aid for fashionable clubs, her ties to socialites across the world, all imbedded the dynasty into the popular Roman psyche. It is said that few in history have had more portraits or statues made of them as Paulina. What Titu did for the governmental establishment and military affirmation of the Borromeu's, his sister Paulina did for the popular appeal and internal as well as global image of the dynasty.

"A coup against the Borromeu family would have been impossible during Titu's time. The people loved his sister, Paulina, far too much. Had the Senate, for example, moved to get rid of the dynasty there would have been a rebellion... against the Senate. The people would probably have installed Paulina on the throne if so," Cambrian historian Conan Bolitho from his book The People's Dynasty: How the Borromeu Family Ruled the World.

Roman Legion circa AUC 2500

The war ran from 2536 to 2586 and spanned much of the globe, known as the First Great Global War, the Fifty Years’ War, the Borromeic War, and the Romano-Cambrian War.

The war had its origins in Caeso Borromeu, the successor of Titu, sheltering Keneder III's granddaughter Mabena Camebwen, claimant to the Cambrian throne. Mabena was raised in the Borromeu household and was seen as a vital tool in curbing the increasingly powerful Cambria, who was increasingly distant and hostile to Roman power. Caeso's successor, Visellu Borromeu, would antagonize the issue via repeated rebukes of Cambria and 'acting out of place', frequently dismissing them from continental affairs and going as far as to suggest at a dinner party that he should "take Letavia and make Cambria into Britannia. Just an island."

Visellu was also globally antagonistic, with dreams of empire and a desire to see a "Europe under Ravenna and whatever place in the world we might fancy to add to it."

The conflict opened in 2536 with a Roman invasion of Carthage, in possession of Afrasid Persia. Cambria's declaration of war and landing in Vasconia was a surprise to many and the alliance struck between Cambria and Persia was viewed in Roman eyes as a great betrayal.

Roughly since 2480 Cambria had been on an immense economic climb. Investments and involvement abroad, without the tedious and costliness of actual empire, resulted in an empire of the mind and the coin. Technological advancements heralded the industrial movement in Cambria at the forefront. The intense growth of the Cambrian navy also surpassed that of the Romans by 2500 and the military might of Romania subsequently diminished.

The Vasconic War, a subset of the Fifty Years' War, was a phenomenal Cambrian success. The swiftness and surprise scored by the landing and the Vasconian uprising was coupled with a dramatic naval victory north of Hispania by Cambria. Romania recognized Vasconian independence though a peace was technically not struck with Cambria.

Roman Legionary circa 2500s

The north coast of Libia meanwhile had been a battleground between Romans and Persians, with slow Roman advancement on land but naval supremacy gained in the Mediterranean. Numerous other theaters opened up with the Cambrian alliance struck with Siam and Japan bringing those two realms into war with Sina (a chief Roman ally). Cambria invaded Hibernia, allied with Romania, and successfully occupied the country after the Battle of Galvia and the taking of the Hibernian capital city Galvia (Gaillimh in Hibernian). Ganonsia had aid from Cambria against their rival Shaouenia - a role that had been held by Romania - thus bringing the Ganonsians into the war in the Cambrian camp. Myriad peculiarities occurred in the various convoluted alliances. Mariana would end up in the Roman camp, releasing Dardania in an 'act of goodwill'. Scandia, the long-held rival of Cambria, would be an ally of the island nation in this conflict, as was Wendia. The Cambrian war in Benin was an event that ended in utter disaster for that realm and ended in a Roman-Beninese occupation of Asante.

The Altinean Sea bore witness to incredible naval conflicts between the competing powers and devloped a reputation for brutal piracy.

The conflict ultimately spread to every continent except Antillia (save for the Cambrian occupation, uncontested, of the Frigid Isles). The Roman military would become spread wide and thin during the course of the war, conquering much of Europe as well as Meshico, Ganonsia, Stapaba, the entirety of North Libia including Egypt, Asante, Taprovana, and beyond. This period witnessed Romania at its largest to date and what would be its largest ever after. Additionally other areas were occupied, though not annexed, such as Congo, Maye, and Anian.

Cambria too came into physical empire over the conflict's course. The Cambrian, Persian, and Indian invasion of Bengal saw the absorption of that realm by Cambria. Antipodea, though previously explored by Sina repeatedly, was made better known to Europe at this time as Cambria laid claim to a swath of land on its southern half. Zingia also fell under Cambrian control, suffering as an ally of Romania and Sina, and the Cape of Storms was briefly held by Cambria before being lost, regained, and lost again.

The conflict was largely a mess, with a string of historically notable battles across Europe, Libia, Asia, and Hesperia. The Roman army developed an unbeatable reputation that was staggered by Cambria's equally impressive reputation at sea. This resulted in a standstill of a sorts, where Cambria could not dislodge the continental home of Romania and Romania could not invade Cambria - ergo the cause of the globalizing of the war, with numerous periphery actions.

The Borromeu Dynasty arms, featuring a golden hydra, were frequently seen in Romania during their reign

The closing chapter arrived due to an immense Roman invasion attempt of Cambria, finally daring the odds. The full might of the two navies clashed in the Battle of the Celtic Sea and Cambria came out the victor, sinking the glory of the Roman fleet. The Legions were spread too thin all the while and the continent lay open. The last three years of the war occurred across Romania with brilliant success to the Romans, though it would not be enough. The Battle of Ravenna (2586) saw the occupation of that city and Romania by Cambrian forces, a humiliation and defeat not suffered by Romania before.

The Borromeu dynasty was allowed to remain in place, surprisingly, but all of Romania's war gains were stripped and Boriquen was given to Cambria, along with Crete, the Balearic Islands, and the city of Tamuda. Tamuda was a hold over from the Muslim invasions of North Libia, held by the Romans since the reconquest from the Goths and Vandals. It was an important point of protection at the Pillars of Hercules furthermore. The loss of it was an immense blow to Roman pride.

The Golden Score

Roman Imperial Officers 2600s

The score following the end of the Fifty Years' War was a time of rebuilding and the globe witnessed a general cultural flourishing. These two decades involved a building of trans-continental connections, particularly via Cambria's new position in the world, along with that realm's new global possessions and revolutionary political philosophy.

Art of all forms blossomed on the continent of Europe as well, despite the scars of the recent past. Romania witnessed numerous urban beautification projects and expanding communications. Asia and Libia also simmered, with the global conflict devolving into a few small-scale localized events and forming into new ones altogether, such as the Central Libian War and the constant skirmishing by the Cambrian occupation of Bengal and the bled over conflicts in Southeast Asia.

This double decade of prosperity is called the Golden Score. Witnessing more than just art, ideas, technology, trade, and travel, the Golden Score also spread political philosophy and, subsequently, unrest.

Patricianwoman Viatora Ravilla

The great gap of inequality was felt deeply in Roman society. The Golden part of the Golden Score came to be used ironically and with venom - representing a golden gap in wealth and equality, a gilded patrianship leaving everyone else behind in a new wealthy and connected world. The rapid expansion of industrialization led to a real wage growth of 60% and spread across the ever-increasing labor force. Conversely, the Golden Score was also an era of abject poverty and inequality, as the high concentration of wealth became more visible and contentious.

The political landscape was notable in that despite some corruption, election turnout was very high but the voting male populace felt unheard regardless - the constitutional monarchy a charade. What's more women could not vote at all. With the rapid growth of cities, political machines increasingly took control of urban politics. Guilds crusaded for the eight-hour working day, and the abolition of child labor; middle class reformers demanded civil service reform and women's suffrage.

Science played an important part in social thought as the work of Cambrian scientist Digory Chowen became known among intellectuals. Following Digory's idea of natural selection was proposed the idea of Natural Hierarchy. This new concept justified the stratification of the wealthy and poor. This was latched onto heartily by Roman patricians and the division of society became rigid.

Roman Republican infantry AUC 2603

The Roman Revolution (2609 - 2619)

In 2609 the quiet was shattered in Romania with the first act of what would become the Roman Revolution.

The origins of the revolt are multifaceted and lay in the oligarchic nature of the Second Republic and monarchic nature of the Second Empire. The inertia of the Hibernian and Cambrian revolutions also played dynamic roles and the novel ideas of a republic governed equally by plebs, not strictly patricians or hereditary, would prove far too subversive for the existing institutions to maintain their survival.

Insurrectionist tracts easily found their way from the Celtic countries into Romania over the two decades of exchange and idea. The flourishing of thought that accompanied the outgrowth of art during the Golden Score also fostered radical ideas that the Augustuship found subversive.

Roman Republican infantryman AUC 2603

The declaration of the Republic of Carpetania in 2609 was the culmination of these things and more. A Milanese revolutionary Mariu Maravília and his co-conspirators made the declaration and wrote out a detailed constitution, taking much from the Second and First Republics with numerous inspiration from the recent Cambrian Revolution. The Carpetanian Republic ultimately evolved into the new Roman Republic and a full revolution was at hand. Carpetania Region has retained the nickname “the Revolution Region” and the first republican capital Recopolis “the Revolution City’.

Roman Imperial infantryman AUC 2603

The three year long conflict tore at the soul of Romania and is still regarded as the most demoralizing, costly, and deadly conflict by Romans. It popularly became known as the Blacks (Republican revolutionaries) versus the Reds (Imperial force). The division during the war was largely along pleb/patrician lines but this was by no means concrete and each side was a mixed pot. The map was even less clean, with a patchwork of allegiance and Hibernian-Cambrian Revolutionary volunteers aiding the chaos.

The issue of the enslavement of the Sinti also came to the fore during the war and the Republican side would make emancipation a key aspect of their cause, subsequently garnering the aid and manpower of the Sinti population within Romania.

The most widely known battle of the lengthy war and the deciding clash is the Battle of Sulferinu. With an outnumbered force (Republican 82,000 to Imperial 120,000) the Republican side gained a decisive victory. The royal family fled in the aftermath, sequestered away aboard a ship bound for Meshico, thus being sparred the beheading suffered by the Cambrian royals upon their loss.

The Third Republic

The birthing pains of the new Republic were many-fold. The new government had to recover from a damaging internal war, one one a destructive level technologically not seen before. The internal rifts were also extremely prevalent and many novel ideas had been put into motion, such as emancipation of the Sinti and true rule by the people with true democracy.

The famous painting from the Revolution depicts (Republican) Romania personified as a woman (Cybele Romania). She defends the Winged Morse (Sea-Lion), the symbol of Morea, and thereby defends the Pontifex and Delphi from the clutches of the Imperial Roman forces.

The existence of the Borromeu dynasty in Meshico was also problematic. Alberu was declared the Augustus and sheltered in Meschico as his father Edardu voluntarily stepped down. The Borromeu dynasty would ultimately gain control of Meshico itself, becoming the monarchs of that Empire and expanding it broadly at the territorial expense of Meshico's neighbors as well as begin Sinti slavery anew there. A formal peace would be struck ten years after the Roman Revolution had ended, formalizing the end of monarchy between Borromeu and Romania in 2629. Edardu's other three children would return to Romania as struck by the agreement, divorcing their line from that of Alberu's, retitled Borroma. The Roman branch that returned home was given an absolution and the retention of nominal titles and estates.

Mariu Maravília was named the first Senatorially elected Consul and his second was chosen as well, the Republican war hero Traian Vidraru, a Valachian who had first made a career as a Legionary Duce in the Roman Army and, with the outbreak of the war, quickly moved to the Republican side.

The Economic Revolution

Romania spent the next four years consolidating and rebuilding, as well as preparing for what they believed would be an inevitable war with Meshico. The exiled monarchy in Meshico made no secret that Romania would be regained, that the Republic was illegal. Alberu Borroma, Emperor of Meshico, declared bodly that "Romania will be a province, an extension, of the Empire of Meshico." The ill will shown toward his former home country may have been bluster yet his plan may have been to annex Romania to his new Empire, the truth is lost to history.

Vintsente Píxea would step into the position of Senatorial Consul following Maravilia's departure in 2625. Píxea was a Hellene priest in his younger days and spent time touring the world. His notable experiences derived from Ganonsia, where he developed his economic theory of Egalitarianism. Píxea made it his Consular work to adjust the Republican system in Romania to divert it toward a vastly more democratic and equitable system than had been seen ever before, in order to prevent a rupturing of the republican that would succumb to Empire ever again. Píxea's economic theory had been decades in the works and had adherents in Romania as well as across Europe, Hesperia, Libia, and Asia, thus the details of such a change were already laid out. Implementation was smooth, due in no small part to the chaos still ruling since the rebirth of the Republic, laying open the way for new ideas. The Consul's redistribution system alleviated homelessness caused by the war and resulted in a farming boom that curved the rising hunger issues brought on by the war. By 2630 Romania had shifted its entire spirit behind Egalitarianism, the Republic, and what might be a bright new future.

The People's Empire

The height of the Roman Republic's territorial gain, 2640s

The rebirth of empire came in the guise of a republic. The cause of Romania's explosion in global empire can be explained by examining the pressing feeling of unease brought on by their then largest rival the Empire of Meshico. The Consuls during the late 2630s through the 2640s reacted to the threat of Meshico and the fear of invasion by that power by expanding Romania's influence, presence, and power abroad. The other aspect that allowed for this rise was a self-assured belief in the superiority of the Roman Republican and Egalitarian system, combined with a true desire to spread Egalitarian ideas coupled with the belief that the Roman people must be provided for and this can come at the expense of lesser realms all while liberating their people from tyrannical rule all the while - the burden of the Roman. It is in this light that we can see Roman Egalitarianism did not share the universalist and internationalist brotherhood ideas that Bakitaran Egalitarianism did or that of the Radical-Egalitarians in Europe (and within Romania itself). Early Roman Egalitarianism resembles the modern New Latin League Faction's take on the philosophy.

The late 30s-2640s Witnessed an array of quick wars around the globe for Romania, almost competing with the violently expanding Meshico. Romania defeated a coalition of Western Hesperian powers during the Romano-Hesperian War, Haitia in the Altinean Sea War, Zingia, Magribia, and Arabia in the Romano-Islamic War, Persia and Egypt in the Red Sea War, Brunei in the Roman-Brunei War, and annexed Covalong and Taprovana (then known as Taprobane) after the Canarinan War.

The taking of land in Asia - Taprovana, Covalong, northern Brunei, and the area around the Red Sea resulted in strained Sino-Roman relations. This episode was the most damaged the relation between the two powers had ever been and has ever been since. The Revolution in Romania did not translate well in Sina and the Sinaean Empire had testy relations with the Republic, going so far as to outreach further with Meshico, who they believed had the rightful Emperor of Romania in it. The fear of a similar popular uprising in Sina played no small part in this disdain for this new Egalitarian Republic in Romania. The extra insult by the Romans of taking traditionally Sinaean sphere lands showed that the Republican Romans also cared little for Imperial Sina.

Venetu Province street in AUC 2650

The Máyì Islands Conflict came close to open war between Romania and Sina, resulting from Roman meddling on the aforementioned islands, in the Kingdom of Tagalia, a Sinaean puppet kingdom that also bordered on Sinaean territory.

2654 would see a repairing of the Sinaean-Roman friendship, the aftermath of the Sinaean Revolution, toppling of that Empire, and creation of a Republic in Sina.

The Great Famine

The massive famine that hit Romania in 2637 would result in a widespread loss of life and a significant migration out of Romania, primarily into those new possessions overseas of the Roman Republic, but also witnessed an exodus of Romans into Cambria and other locals.

The influx of Romans into Concordia set the scene for the Wilderness Era, a lawless time that saw roving bands of Romans, Sinti, Cambrians, various Hersperians, Sinaeans, Japanese, and others pour into southwestern Hesperia. Random towns popped up here or there over this area, much of it loosely claimed by Romania, much of it simple no-claimed territory, often contested by new states attempting to form. This era provided ample fodder for cinematic ideas in later Roman history.

Republicanists against Vulgarists against Caesarists

The mid 2600s saw a competition in the interpretation of Egalitarianism within Romania.

Amerigu Malecapita, Popular Consul from 2643 to 2646, was the protégé of Juventiu Percutellu who was Popular Consul from 2638 to 2643, but the two would come to have competing views about the course of Romania.

Juventiu Percutellu

Percutellu was a member of the Republicanismu Faction and adhered to a strictly republican form of governance as his ideal. He likewise was hostile towards the antagonism of class-rivalry and believed that acting against the Patricians was not beneficial to the continued survival of the Roman Republic. Modern Romania can largely be seen as an animal of Percutellu's making and much of his values and governance style still shapes modern Romania's political workings. Percutellu called the Vulgarists "a dreadful perversion of utilitarianism because of its insistence on class interests, especially class struggle, a conflictual vision that could not harmonize with our Republican unitarianism"

Percutellu condemned the radical, anti-religious and revolutionary egalitarian revolt in Sicilia (Red Leg Rebellion, 2642), which resulted in a schism within his own party. Many felt that any movement heralding Egalitarianism should be supported while Percutellu's supporters believed that what they deemed 'radical egalitarians' would actually harm the movement in the end and thus risk ending the fledgling political movement globally.

Amerigu Malecapita rode into the Consulship after what historians believe was Percutellu's blunder in not supporting the Sicilians. Malecapita was a member of the Fraternalist Faction (what many believe is the ancestor of the modern Spartacus Society Faction), a 'radical-egalitarian' or 'vulgarist' movement within the Roman Egalitarian philosophy. Vulgarism gained a wide following that would linger until the post World Order War days when the ideology would begin to take a backseat at home but broad acceptance elsewhere in the world.

Malecapita hailed from the Patrician family, the House of Malecapita, a prominent family that owned large swaths of Ariminu and were Masters of the City in Ariminu in the mid 2200s. His own family were middle-class landowners but and Amerigu was born in 2606, during the Revolutionary Days. Amerigu's father was a sympathetic Patrician, aiding the Revolutionary cause - not a common occurance but not exceedingly rare. The Malecapita family were not among the elite of the patricianship, rather comfortable middle-class, a common occurance to revolution friendly patricians.

A young Amerigu Malecapita

Amerigu left the country in his teens as a revolutionary activist, aiding Egalitarian movements around Europe and Libia before returning and becoming a pupil of Juventiu Percutellu.

Malecapita's Vulgarist views proved too radical for many in goverment during his Consularship and thus many of his moves were blocked. The abolishing of all wage labor, hierarchies, private property, and removal from the market economy of the world, was met with push back and came to naught. His increase of direct-democracy and collective worker ownership did see results however.

Internal factions began to rise in Romania following a belief called Mediterraneanism. Jeracare Sergiu (Jerakaris Sérgios in Sicilian) was an architecht of the belief. Sergiu was a Sicilian immigrant into Romania and a fervent believer in both Hellenism and Egalitarianism, but of a nationalist bend. Sergiu asserted that a supposed Mediterranean race was "the greatest race...derived neither from the black nor white people...an autonomous stock in the human family." Caesarism adhered strongly to Mediterraneanism and claimed a bond existed between all Mediterranean cultures and Mediterranean peoples, often placing Mediterranean people and cultures above other cultures. This form of Mediterraneanism was in stark contrast to and was a defensive reaction towards the then-popular Hyperborean racial theory common in Europe.

Amerigu Malecapita during his Consul days

Teodor Wichura, a Wendish anthropologist, proposed that the Hyperboreans originated in the vast Rokitno, or Pinsk Marshes, after having migrated from the far northern reaches of the world, and that the Marshes was where they would culturally shift from Hyperboreans to Aryans, thus spreading from there to create the modern Indo-European languages and peoples. Wichura proposed that the Venedic peoples were the closest to these original Hyperboreans, along with the Germanic and Baltic peoples. This was the theory called 'Root Races'. Vera Pavelovna Dolgorukaya, a Wendo-Ruthenian noblewoman, was a major factor in this theory, though she gave a decidedly esoteric and psuedo-religious stance on it. Wichura provided the scientific racism while Dolgorukaya gave the occult stance. The Latinic and Celtic peoples had also sprang from this Hyperborean source, claimed the proponents of Root Races, but these two peoples had seen diminished their Hyperborean lineage by mingling with other Root Races, argued by the abundance of blond hair and blue eyes among the Romans and Celtic peoples as revealing this Hyperborean lineage still, but the equal darkness found revealing a mixture with the Atlantean and Shalmalian races. The supposed the Atlanteans were the predecessors of the Grecians and West Asians, North Libians, and so forth, from the global center, while the Shalmalian race provided the darkest people, hailing from the global south, and the Lemurian race gave rise to East Asian peoples, hailing from somewhere in Tibet. The entire Root Race and Hyperboreanist belief system opened up a wave of racism in Europe that found a comfortable home with the Sotnist movement. The Mediterraneanist movement was seen as a counter to this ideology, providing a Roman-centered belief, as Hyperboreanism has taken hold among many supposed intellectuals in Romania.

Sergiu rejected the Root Race's claims of Hyperborean peoples being strongly 'Aryan', saying that Aryans (that is Iranic peoples) were not Hyperborean in appearance (Hyperborean being the term broadly used for 'Northern and Northeastern Europeans', essentially Germanic, Baltic, and Venedic peoples).

Instead he claimed that Hyperboreans were "Aryanized Euroafricans", and that the Hyperborean race is related to the Mediterranean race. Sergiu rejected claims that Hyperboreans who were a Euroasian people were responsible for founding Greco-Roman civilization. Sergiu described the original Aryans in Europe in a negative manner: "The Aryans were savages when they invaded Europe: they destroyed in part the superior civilization of the Neolithic populations, and could not have created the Greco-Roman civilization". He claimed that the only contribution by the ancient Aryans to European civilization was Indo-European languages. He claimed that the ancient Aryans interbred with the Mediterranean race north of the Po Valley but declined south of it and became insignificant south of Rome - thus further giving claim that places such as Sicilia and Morea were the most 'purely of the Mediterranean race' and thus Romania and Romans were essentially a mixed people, Mediterrano-Hyperborean.

Sergiu claimed the Hyperboreans had made no substantial contribution to pre-modern civilization, noting that "in the epoch of Tacitus, the Germanians and Venedians... remained barbarians as in prehistoric times". He claimed that the Romans were unable to Romanize the Germanians because the Germanians were averse to the Romans' civilizing influence. Mediterraneanists held claims of Mediterranean universalism which was locked onto by Caesarists in Romania who pushed a desire to unify the Mediterranean region under Roman rule once again.

The myriad psuedo-science and racist views held by both the Mediterraneanists and the Hyperboreanists influenced many of the dictatorial political movements of the era and would cause senseless suffering throughout. There is little doubt that the views of the Mediterraneanists, influencing Roman thought at the time, led to criminal acts by the Roman forces against 'outside people' during the World Order War, and like the Hyperboreanist ideas gave rise to the racial terrorism of the Sotnist regimes in Wendia and Scandia, with the racism urged by these beliefs still impacting people today.

Terra Roma

Rome's Earth was how the Romans defined the mid 2600s. The Sino-Roman Alliance, renewed, dampened the spirits of the Meshican Empire and massive Roman aid to Meshico's enemies in Hesperia, coupled with a resounding defeat of Meshico by Ganonsia, put Romania into an uncontested global power position. Persia had likewise been humbled by Romania, who had taken some of Persia's land. Japan, Sina, Mali, Cambria, Bakitara, and Ganonsia presented the biggest challenges to global hegemony by Romania, but Sina was a close Roman friend and collaborator while Japan, Bakitara, and Ganonsia tended to be away from any Roman interests and were unable to mount a meaningful challenge to Roman dominance at the time. Mali was a waning power and quagmired in mounting social unrest at home at in Mali's colonial Empire. Cambria provided the biggest challenge and, though nominally a friend, Cambrian history had proved that not only would Cambria act own its own accord and its own interests, but it was capable and willing and had also bested the Romans before. The Cambrian Navy had likewise grown to nearly surpass Sina and Japan and, certainly, the Romans. A delicate balance of power between the Cambrian Naval strength and Roman Land strength kept the two powers at bay, but conflict seemed to ever simmer near the surface.

The Terra Roma era saw a massive influx of new wealth into Romania and witnessed many impressive building projects

Despite the Cambro-Roman tension, the era proved one of relative peace and massive prosperity. Commercism became the dominant economic power, a Cambrian export, and seeped its way into Romania's economic ideology, resulting in internal conflicts between pure-Egalitarian's and reformists. The Reformists were in power for most of the era and adjusted the country to a more Commercist stance, crafting what was called Roman Mercantilism (or simply Mercantilism, also Egalo-Commercism). The pure-Egalitarian's developed what would be called Libertism, which would ultimately come to dominant Romania as the standard and preferred ideology, though not until after the Great Eurasian War. before then, at this point, Commercists reigned. The global trade power Romania held, wither strategic possessions around the world, allowed for a massive influx of wealth.

The Asia Minor Conflict

Roman infantryman circa 2670s

Roman Alares volunteer during the Hemic Wars

The Asia Minor Conflict broke out at the conclusion of the Great Eurasian War. The new war, the Asia Minor Conflict (2675 - 2677), involved Armenia, Syria, and Romania against the newly declared Kurdish Republic supported by Persia, who sent volunteers but did not officially involve itself. Romania stepped in to keep the peace in Anatolia and keep the chaos from exploding into a larger war, so the official line from Romania claimed. Some argue that the Romans intended to experiment with their new war-tech learned from observing the preceding Eurasian War.

The two year long conflict wrought destruction and poverty in Armenia and the Kurdish lands and became a ground for atrocities. The Armenian forces notably showed unrelenting cruelty to the Kurds while Persian forces likewise revealed a brutality towards the Armenians. The Romans engaged in the war almost as practice or experimentation. Having little stock in either side. Romania had no strong ties to any combatant and their allies were Christian nations and peoples. The Romans thus bombed and fought with utter abandon, revealing little regard for the land or people. It wasn't until 2762 that Romania issued a formal apology to Armenia and Syria for their part in the ruin and poverty caused by the war.

The conflict ended with the defeat of the Kurds and a full occupation by Romania, despite Armenian objections.

The New Caesar

The series of events that led Nicolau Bombelles and the Caesarist Faction to dominance in the 2680s stemmed from a growing resentment within Romania and globally. These feelings brought about Sotnism in Scandia, Tataria, and Wendia and created a similar fashion in the form of Caesarism in Romania and other western European states. These movements looked for a strongman to lead the people through the turbulent times that followed the hardships endured by recent conflicts, devastating on scales the world had not known. This technological growth that allowed for such deadly warfare also brought about a boom in population growth and thus resource issues. To accompany these issues came the rising presence of a globe that was connected by increased trade and contact, boosted by technology, paving the way for a multiculturalism hardly witnessed before in history. In addition the wealth wrought a new upper class that was growing outpacingly rich and many found themselves left behind. Romania's egalitarianism began to witness cracks as well.

Roman Army 2790s

This brought innovation and joy but also unease and a flair of traditionalism in many places. The Popular elected Consul Nicolau Bombelles would be the first at last elected consul of the Caesarist Faction, voted into office in 2691, and he would rule, as sole consul, with the death of the Senate's Consul Larentu Magnulo. The senatorial elected consul was murdered in what remains unknown circumstances and to this day there remains a division among historians as to if he was murdered simply by an angry and disgruntled Roman or if it was a planned Caesarist attack.

Roman infantry during the Asia Minor Conflict

The shooter, Selvo Dolabellu, was a third son of a down and out patrician family. The death left Nicolau Bombelles the sole consul and an emergency vote was held by the Council that saw Bombelles retain that singular title. Many contemporary and modern historians have readily noticed the similarities to dictatorial takeovers in Romania's history. The period of Bombelles' rule ran twenty three years, from 2691 to 2714, and was put into place due to the The World Order War (2693-2701), with the Caesarists backing a legal move that allowed Bombelles to retain the solo Consular position due to the crisis of the war, alongside his emergency Consulship after the assasination of Magnulo, with the idea that a fair election during wartime and an interruption of leadership would be a bad thing. The reluctance of Bombelles during the 2703 and 06 elections to not run resulted in controversy. Bombelles would not amend the emergency rule that allowed a singular consul to be in place, though he still had to contend with the Council.

Nicolau Bombelles

The Caesarist Faction argued vehemently that Romania's glory days only came with the rise of Caesar, who they dubbed The Greatest Roman, and openly sought to emulate this. The miasma of Romania's wartime experience was a perfect setting for the chaos that allowed Bombelles reign, described by one historian as "the perfect person at the perfect time and the perfect place." The Caesarists would gain rabid support of the Alares, pitting this force against the Legions, who championed the Republic as it was. The rift in the Roman military was detrimental and many feared what would happen if another war broke out and the Roman Armed Forces remained at odds with itself.

Roman Alares Trooper

Bombelles would maintain the suspension of Consular elections, ruling as a quasi-dictator in Romania, though retained all other officials as electable. The established government of Romania somewhat negated his one-man-rule, which was the desired outcome of the Caesarist Faction, with the Council checking Bombelles, though often going along with him. Bombelles was still able to amend his title so he was technically the Caesar, not the Consul, and was able to call shots more independently during his rule. The democratic base of Romania tended to support Bombelles as well - largely due to the support garnered during the war, causing friction for those opposed to his take over of the Consulship.

By 2714 the issue had found a solution in Bombelles death via natural causes. The Senate reinstated popular elections for the Consulship, while abolishing the position of Caesar. The Caesarist Faction candidate in his place did not win the election and the incoming Consul re instituted the duel-consular vote, bringing in a Senatorial consul as well. Ferreolu Facta, the popular consul who followed Bombelles brought to fore a law restricting consular terms to a limit of two and also eradicated the Bombelles era loophole of a solo consul, making it so there is no way around two - the death of one calls for immediate election of a new one.

Julian the Philosopher's Dionysian Procession, 2690s classical realism painting of the sort very popular during the Caesarist era

Nicolau Bombelles, Romania's War Time Caesar

The Bombelles Era is known as the Time of the New Caesar, or the War Dictator. Bombelles and the Caesarist Faction favored Caesarism, which called for a singular Consul (called Caesar) ruling the country, a negation of the Council, but a retention of the Equalitarian system and semi-democracy. In this view there would be democratic participation, but like Interventionists, the government of Romania, here under a singular person, would be the final arbiter on any and all actions and could adjust things how he saw fit, in order to best preserve the country and make sure things went smoothly, rather than getting bogged down in bureaucratic messes and disputes. The Caesarist reign restricted media and "foreign influence" and also focused heavily on Romanitas and 'Roman Ideals', witnessed a large swatch of finite decision by Bombelles (even though democracy continued and a variety of items and individuals were vote upon by the populace). Bombelles also staffed his personal council with many patricians, though this body was technically merely a personal advisory board, they acted as a secondary Council. The Caesarists attempted to control media, culture, and the ideas of the Roman populace, with varying success.

The idea was that a strong leader was needed to guide Romania and prevent internal chaos. The move found strangely large support among the Roman people during Bombelles' rule. The New Order War gave the Caesarists this ability, but with Bombelles' death the entire experiment went away.

The New Order War

Roman infantry during the Global War

The New Order War ran from 2693-2701 and pitted the League Alliance, led primarily be Romania, Cambria, Francia, Persia, Ganonsia, and Sina against the New Order Pact of Wendia, Tataria, Scandia, and Meshico and, thirdly, the Co-Prosperity Pact led by Japan and including Tlallam, Haidagwai, Siam, Mongolia, and Brunei. A massive modern conflict, the engagement involved total war, witnessing the destruction of cities and extensive loss of civilian lives. The conflict in Europe opened in Francia and saw northern and southern Romania invaded and ravaged before counter attacks by mid-war turned the tide and began a reversal, pushing the conflict through the whole of Wendia and deep into Asian Tataria, where the European theater would end, with the Thermo-bombing of the Tatar proxy-capital.

Romans during the North Libia campaigns

The war would see Roman forces cross the length of Europe and into Western and Northern Asia, fighting also in Northern Libia and, later in the war, engaging in a deadly island war against Meshico in Hesperia before mounting an invasion of that country, engaging in the largest armored battle in history, before or since.

Roman soldiers during the New Order War

The eight year war raged across Europe, Northern Libia, Asia, and Southern and Western Hesperia. The League Alliance emerged victorious while the Co-Prosperity Pact emerged semi-victors and the New Order ended the war utterly defeated. The New Order War would leave a lasting scar on the Roman psyche and is considered the final blow to Romania's once held global power.

The New Order War was perhaps the defining moment of the 28th century, heralding its arrival with the wars end yet forever altering the course of the 2700s in every way.

Romania and much of the world would witness dynamic shifts in global power and balance and the Roman psyche was shifted away from militarism - an aspect seen as a defining part of Romanitas since the founding of the city. This would leave Romans questioning much about themselves and their past, opening the way for a philosophical time that spreads into the present day.

A Twilight Power

This balance was decidedly shifted by the Global War. Romania particularly witnessed a drastic reduction in its global standing as well as a deterioration of its internal image - this all despite the fact that it emerged from the war as one of the primary victors. The Global War is thus seen as a Pyrrhic Victory by Romans. The event that broke their national spirit.

Much of modern Romania's behavior can be glimpsed in this post-war shellshock. The once staunchly pro-military and martial population began to become anti-war and military involvement dropped significantly from the 2710s onward. This turn appeared to open up a broad counter view to most Roman traditions, such as the domination of Hellenism and the obsession with beauty, among other things. Romans also took a turn inward, examining their lives and culture and questioning the necessity of global outreach beyond basic aid.

The financial burden and loss of lives coupled with destruction of land and property also hampered Romania's growth and ability to maintain an unquestioned dominant position. Ganonsia, Bakitara, even Cambria (which witnessed less destruction, even if it lost many lives) were able to pass Romania on the international stage while the Roman Republic stood stagnant.

A Modern Romania

Romania has spent the 2700s as a World Power but not in the preeminent global position it shared with Sina during the previous century. Roman's have adjusted to this position by delving into various global alliances and organizations, spending and aiding these groups and their global friends, as a cooperative international nation. The internal egalitarian system (named libertism, the Roman variety) was tweaked and the country developed an even more detailed democratic and cooperative nation over the 2700s.

Roman soldier (left) talks to a Syrian contractor during the Abyssinian War

Romania adjusted well into its role as co-world power with an array of nation-states, taking a back seat at times and seemingly comfortable with that. This period of adjustment and self-examination is considered to be coming to an end, running from 2701 to 2765. Known in Romania as the Era of Self-Reflection, Roman's explored their ideals and culture, often with heavy critique and humor, via films and books, writing and conversation. Happy without the hegemonic position of before, it allowed a sincere critical examination and adjustment of Roman life. This period, ending as it has, is moving aside and revealing a modern Romania that is harkening back to the older days, in some ways.

Roman Consul Mogerines

The New Latin League, while holding onto domestic egalitarian ideas, has abandoned the international-cooperatist ideal held by Romans during the Era of Self-Reflection, with the NLL and many Romans and politicians arguing for a stronger global standing, an attempt to regain global hegemony, even at the expense of long time friend Sina. The popularly elected Consul, brought into office in 2771, Aeliana Berninu is believed to define this shift. Roman's, as shown in her election, are roughly divided in half on if Romania should maintain the Internationalist-Cooperative position or should position itself into a strong Global-Hegemonic position like the days of yore. Berninu is of the latter mindset and, though narrowly winning the election, is attempting to sway Romania back to what many idealistic Roman's believe were Romania's glory days.

The Roman wars, ongoing, in both Abyssina and Osajia are widely seen as precursor echoes of this sentiment to move out of the shadows, to stop being a Twilight Power, and act as a real global power. The wars were highly controversial as Romania pursued them without global agreement, snubbing global and alliance cooperation they held dear for so the last several decades.

The election of Mogerines as popular Consul in 2769 seemingly brought about a period of non-hegemonic acceptance in Romania, with the Romans searching for a new standing in a new multi-faceted world, as a cooperative nation. This "Light of All Nations" idea would wane near the end of Mogerines' consulship with a deadlier turn and quagmire in Romania's foreign wars accompanied by economic problems at home and globally and a stark increase in immigration, ushering in a wave of populism in Romania that would unseat Mogerines in 2772.