Some times I like to go back and ponder some TLs that I posted a long time ago that the group is long sick of. One of my favorites is the contemplation of the consequences of the Romans in the Americas. Robert Silverberg even wrote a mediocre book with a few good points with a short story about the attempted conquest of the Americas by the Romans.
I myself used Cicero fleeing to Gaul and Caesar after getting in trouble in Rome to see and appreciate the ships of the Veneti. Cicero OTL called for making the Atlantic a Roman 'lake'. With the ship tech from the Veneti and his exile to Gaul, he gets time to tinker...returning to Rome in an Atlantic worthy ship. Later only to be killed when he pissed off Caesar. I wrote some not so good posts on the subject. I wrote two (here and here) I rather like.
The consequences of the Romans in the Americas are huge. There's a new source of precious metals that are readily available. One of the plagues was that precious metals were leaking out of the Roman Empire due to the trade with India. Rome had a lot of gold. India had a lot of everything else that was interesting in trade (including spices). With the sources of gold and silver present in the New World feeding Rome, inflation due to devaluation of the coinage through mixing lead with the gold doesn't happen. That has interesting effects.
The big traders in Roman society were the equites - 'knights' - with the trade with the Americas opened up, we have some interesting possibilities for that class becoming even more important under the *Empire.
Sociologically, there are of course many more religious cult possbilities to feed into the Empire now too. Venus the Destroyer worship from the conquered Maya, anyone? What sort of wild cult could ahve come with the hybridization of the Mayan beliefs with the Graeco-Roman on Venus? Sex-Love-Death cults? *shudders*
Additionally, what happens when the tomato, avocado, corn, chile peppers, and potato hit the Roman world? The potato radically changed agricultural in Europe when it migrated. What happens to Rome when it does ATL? I worry about the mixing of Roman fish paste and chiles tho...*shudders*
Where in the Americas does Rome settle? The Carribean? Does it become the equivalent of the New World's Med? Well, with hurricanes...how do the Romans handle the engineering challenges of that. What does New World Roman architecture look like? Bunkers with domes and columns?
Do we see a Mayan Imperial Line from a successful general at some point?
Do we see the die-offs from disease in the Americas like when the Spanish came?
Do we see a Roman Empire in the Americas surviving past the fall of it in Western Europe? A little more difficult for the Germans, Slavs and Arabs to do a transatlantic invasion. Do we see a myth of The Fall and The Return when the American Romans vow to reconquer the Empire after it goes to hell in a hand basket in Europe? Do we see contact with Europe largely lost and Europe or the Americas rediscoverying the other?
What do we see?
Thoughts?
I myself used Cicero fleeing to Gaul and Caesar after getting in trouble in Rome to see and appreciate the ships of the Veneti. Cicero OTL called for making the Atlantic a Roman 'lake'. With the ship tech from the Veneti and his exile to Gaul, he gets time to tinker...returning to Rome in an Atlantic worthy ship. Later only to be killed when he pissed off Caesar. I wrote some not so good posts on the subject. I wrote two (here and here) I rather like.
The consequences of the Romans in the Americas are huge. There's a new source of precious metals that are readily available. One of the plagues was that precious metals were leaking out of the Roman Empire due to the trade with India. Rome had a lot of gold. India had a lot of everything else that was interesting in trade (including spices). With the sources of gold and silver present in the New World feeding Rome, inflation due to devaluation of the coinage through mixing lead with the gold doesn't happen. That has interesting effects.
The big traders in Roman society were the equites - 'knights' - with the trade with the Americas opened up, we have some interesting possibilities for that class becoming even more important under the *Empire.
Sociologically, there are of course many more religious cult possbilities to feed into the Empire now too. Venus the Destroyer worship from the conquered Maya, anyone? What sort of wild cult could ahve come with the hybridization of the Mayan beliefs with the Graeco-Roman on Venus? Sex-Love-Death cults? *shudders*
Additionally, what happens when the tomato, avocado, corn, chile peppers, and potato hit the Roman world? The potato radically changed agricultural in Europe when it migrated. What happens to Rome when it does ATL? I worry about the mixing of Roman fish paste and chiles tho...*shudders*
Where in the Americas does Rome settle? The Carribean? Does it become the equivalent of the New World's Med? Well, with hurricanes...how do the Romans handle the engineering challenges of that. What does New World Roman architecture look like? Bunkers with domes and columns?
Do we see a Mayan Imperial Line from a successful general at some point?
Do we see the die-offs from disease in the Americas like when the Spanish came?
Do we see a Roman Empire in the Americas surviving past the fall of it in Western Europe? A little more difficult for the Germans, Slavs and Arabs to do a transatlantic invasion. Do we see a myth of The Fall and The Return when the American Romans vow to reconquer the Empire after it goes to hell in a hand basket in Europe? Do we see contact with Europe largely lost and Europe or the Americas rediscoverying the other?
What do we see?
Thoughts?
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