Caesar Lives: A timeline of the Roman Empire

This is a timeline about a world where Caesar survives the Roman Senate's assassination attempt. Just a heads up.

46 BC: Caesar defeats Cato and is declared Dictator for another ten years.

45 BC: Caesar begins the Julian calendar and defeats the last remnants of Pompey's faction at the Battle of Munda.

44 BC: On March 14, Marc Anthony discovers the plot to kill Caesar, and the next morning, attempts to head Caesar off before he is killed. Trebonius attempts to stop him as he enters the Theatre of Pompey, but fails. Bursting into the room, Anthony distracts the conspirators, who look up just as Casca attempts to stab Caesar, and misses. Caesar seizes the dagger from Casca and cries to Anthony, "Help, brother!" Anthony draws his Spanish sword and menacingly advances upon the crowd of conspirators. Knowing that they are no match for the two experienced soldiers, the Senators surrender, dropping their arms. Marcus Junius Brutus the Younger, having hung behind as the Senators attacked, is not among them. They are quickly taken outside by Marc Anthony's personal guard, where Caesar makes an impromptu speech to a rapidly gathering crowd, revealing the plot against him. Enraged, the crowd, mostly consisting of Caesar-loving plebians, begins jeering at the Senators. They are quickly slain by Anthony's guard. Over the rest of the year, Caesar, finally convinced of the danger inherent in leaving his enemies unpunished, carries out several purges of the aristocracy of Rome, devastating particularly the Junia family, though sparing Brutus for his perceived loyalty during the attack. This angers Brutus and he begins formulating a second plot to kill Caesar, traveling to Apollonia on a pretense, where he begins poisoning the young Octavian's mind against his father. Meanwhile, in Egypt, Caesar's mistress Cleopatra continues urging her lover to accept Caesarion as his heir. He begins seriously considering it, as she was one of the first to rush to his side after the attempted assassination.

43 BC: After consolidating his power throughout the newly-proclaimed Roman Empire, he raises an army of several thousand men and marches toward Parthia, leaving his adopted son, Octavian, and the only Senator he trusts, Marcus Brutus, in charge of the Empire in his absence. This is seen as a slight by Cleopatra. Brutus continues poisoning Octavian against Caesar, and Octavian, meanwhile, begins spreading unrest among the troops remaining in Rome. Marc Anthony, who has remained behind, watches these developments with an uneasy eye.

Nice to see someone doing a TL on this era, however, I do have some issues with it.

- Firstly, Caesar's popularity is unlikely to last forever. Once things start to go pear shaped for him, as they will do in the end, the staunchly Republican Roman mob will tire of the dictator. I can't see Caesar lasting much beyond 40BC even ITTL.

- Second, the Parthian war. Do not underestimate the Parthians, who defeated numerous Roman generals in this period. Admittedly, Caesar is a much better commander than either Crassus or Mark Anthony, but even so, he was prone to overconfidence, which almost lost him the war in Gaul IOTL, and could lead to disaster against a much more formidable enemy even than Vercingetorix. So for the good of all Roman TLs, I urge you not to make the Parthian war a complete wank.

- Finally, I think Octavian would be much, much cleverer than to start to plot against Caesar, whether or not Brutus tries to get him to do so. A much more likely plotter, I believe, would be Caesar's consular colleague Mark Anthony, who as an aristocrat with his own power base is likely to want to follow in Caesar's footsteps. Octavian ITTL has been denied the death of Caesar that allowed his rise to be so meteoric, so his early career is likely to be rather more conventional.

Why is it that the Romans always conwuer Parthia? Mesopotamia? Yes, Armenia? Yes. Azerbaijan? Possibly, but not Persia itself. It's too rugged, too far away from any Roman powerbases and too far from the Imperial economic core to be worth any expense of energy.

But that aside, this is good. Is Caesar going to redign his Dictatorial powers, or it Mark Antony going to try and take them? If he does try, he will probably lose, unless a certain Brutus collaborates with him.

Oh, it's very likely Caesar won't actually manage to defeat the Parthians; He's just starting a war against them. Also, at the moment, Octavian is still quite ambivalent about the plot against Caesar. He might not actually go through with it; then again, he might. And don't worry, there will soon be something on Caesar's popularity.

Update tomorrow.

Look forward to it!

One final thought about the Parthians- Caesar will likely be turning sixty while fighting them. It's entirely plausible that he could do rather well in battle, before abruptly dying of cold or exposure. He's not as young as he used to be, after all.

Since moving year-by-year does not give one exactly an "in-depth view" into what's going on, I'll instead move month-by-month. Also, since I'm dissatisfied with the whole "Octavian plotting" thing, let's say that Brutus has begun to whisper in the ear of Marc Antony instead.

43 BC

January

Caesar begins to levy an army, for his long-planned invasion of Parthia. While this is going on, he begins structuring things to remain in his favor during his absence. He forces a law through the remains of the Senate that will allow him to appoint all magistrates and consuls via letter in 42 BC. As well, he leaves Marc Antony, perceived as his only ally, with dictatorial powers in his absence. These actions begin to turn even the Plebians against him, as they observe uneasily his increasing Imperial powers. Octavian remains in Apollonia. Brutus, meanwhile, travels to Rome, where he begins poisoning Antony's mind against his leader.

February

Caesar, with his Glorificus Exercitus now at full numbers (9,000 men), departs Rome on February 16th, after participating in the Februa cleansing festival with his subjects. The lavish displays and feasts leading up to his arrival have caused the citizens of Rome to begin questioning such spending. However, such concerns are drowned out in the excitement of Caesar's departure. Caesar also comes to a decision about his heirs, and begins writing a new will; one which would split the Empire into two, between Octavian, and Caesar's as-of-yet-unclaimed heir Ptolemy XV Philopator Philometor Caesar, usually known as Caesarion. Marc Anthony, at first uncertain about rebelling against Caesar, is beginning to harden his heart against him.

March

Pacorus I, Shahanshah of Parthia, learns of Caesar's army and his intent. Quickly, he levies an all-cavalry force of 2,000 cataphracts and 5,000 horse archers to combat Caesar's force. He is unable to raise more because of the defeat at Antioch in 51 BC, from which Parthia has not yet recovered. On March 12th, he preemptively strikes Armenia, a Roman client-state. Caught unawares, the King of Armenia is forced to join with the Parthians in a military alliance, levying a further 2,000 men to join the Parthian army. Pacorus I has dictated where the battle will be fought, and that place is Armenia.

Meanwhile, Caesar sends his will back to Rome, where it is kept in the hands of Brutus. Interested in what it may contain, Brutus opens the letter, careful not to break the seal. What he finds delights him, and he quickly travels to Marc Anthony's home to enrage him.

Interesting stuff, very interesting. The new wills in particular are good, and seem very realistic, perhaps due to the OTL convergence.

What's Lepidus up to? IOTL he was Caesar's second-in-command as Master of Horse, so has he been left behind in Italy, or is he in Parthia too? And moreover, how about Cicero? I know he was planning to travel to Athens before Caesar's death intervened, so has he gone so? One final character to query- Sextus Pompey. What's he up to?

The title of a Parthian monarch was not Emperor, but rather King of Kings- Shahanshah, which was used in most of the Achaemenid successor states. Cleopatra herself used the title Queen of Kings.

Oh, thanks for reminding me about those three, I forgot to mention them. Silly of me, they were rather important. Also, did not know about the Parthian title; I'll change it. Here's what's happened:

Sextus Pompey

Immediately after foiling the plot against him back in 44 BC, Caesar turned his attention to purging the aristocracy and defeating rebellious factions within his new Empire. He commanded one of his loyal partisans, Gnaeus Domitius Calvinus, to travel to Sicily and take it back from the last of the Pompeys. This was important to Calvinus, as it meant he would be forgiven for his failure in defeating Pharnaces the Bospuran king's invasion of Rome in 48 BC. He raise an army of 3,000 legionnaires using his family's funds and hired a small fleet of triremes to bring him south. Landing at the extreme west of Sicily, at Lilybauem, he was able to overwhelm the small Pompeyan garrison of the city and take it with relative ease. Sextus was thrown off balance by this sudden invasion, and pulled together a small army of around 1,800 irregulars, fortifying himself within Messana. This allowed Calvinus to sweep across the Sicilian countryside, destroying focal points of Pompey's support, and integrating loyalist Sicilians into his army. By the time he reached Messana, his army had increased by a full 700 men. Then, he simply set his men to surround Messana, and his tiny navy to blockade its port, and waited for Sextus to surrender. Six months later, he did so, and Sextus Pompey was taken to Rome and publicly executed, while Calvinus was given the governorship of Sicily as a reward.

Cicero

Caesar, suspecting Cicero's involvement, ordered his death after the attempted assassination and banned his works throughout Rome. Cicero, disguised as a slave, fled to Greece. There, he was captured by a group of Greek equites and executed on the spot, near Corinth. His body was buried there.

Lepidus

Not much to say about Lepidus. When Caesar began his journey to Parthia, Lepidus came along as his second-in-command.

I'll add three more months into the timeline before tomorrow.

All right, so, per my plan to write six months of this TL each day, here's the next three months of 43 BC, as winter lightens into spring!

April

Caesar, having made record time crossing the Republic's territories, reaches Byzantium (or, more properly, Byzantion) on April 19th, where he is met by a flushed Armenian soldier named Safandasat. (Many scholars would later claim that this was a Latinization of the Armenian name Xavandisat.) Safandasat, or Xavandisat, informs him in hushed tones that Armenia has been defeated by the Parthians, and that the King has been forced to fight alongside Pacorus with 2,000 Armenians, or face execution. Moreover, he says, the Parthian army has made Arshamshat, in northern Armenia, their base and are launching scorched-earth raids into Roman Cappadocia. The local garrisons are powerless to stop them, being too few in number and too ill-trained to make much of an impact. Caesar, learning these things, becomes enraged and ordered a fleet gathered up at the port of Byzantion at once. They will sail to Lesser Armenia, in Roman Pontus, then launch a daring attack to Tigranakert, which will force the Parthian army to withdraw from Arshamashat and fight Caesar on his own terms. So confident is he of his plans, that he dismisses Xavandisat before he could inform him of the total numbers of the Parthians. And thus has Caesar made the first great mistake of the Eastern War.

Back in Rome, Marc Anthony is becoming seriously considered over his lack of mention in Caesar's will, and the ramifications of the will altogether. A dual dictatorship would mean the end of Republican Rome, and the beginning of an Empire: something no common Roman wants to see. Anthony and Brutus decide against consulting the remnants of the Senate; they are mostly filled with Caesar's puppets now, and would likely cause problems for the two. Anthony instead begins to raise an army in northern Italia, ostensibly for "rebel hunting". Octavian, undergoing a military education in Apollonia, nonetheless eyes these developments with extreme suspicion. Knowing of Brutus' opinions, he has reason to suspect the Senator's motives, and Anthony's as well. Thus, he sends a letter containing his suspicions to the one person who he believes he may be able to trust; his father's mistress, Cleopatra VII Philopater, pharaoh of Egypt.

May

On May 5th, Caesar's army lands in Roman Pontus, where he immediately begins recruiting the local garrisons for service. As such, by the time he reaches the Armenian border, his force has increased to 10,000. He invades at the Roman border town of Melitene, where he cuts a wide swath through the Kingdom, around heavily-defended Arshamshat. Pacorus, holed up in the city, is perfectly content to wait for Caesar to finish raging; Arshamshat has plenty of food, and there are several wells within the city. The Parthians can wait. However, Tigranes II, the King of Armenia, is furious at Pacorus' apathy, and threatens to leave the city with his army if Pacorus will not attack Caesar's army. The Shahanshah famously replies, "A fool are you, to think that I would value you and your soldiers more than the poorest Parthian." Nonetheless, he agrees to attack the Romans before they reach Tigranakert, Tigranes' capital. On May 12th, the Parthians leave Arshamshat, marching for the lake of Van, just a few miles east of Tigranakert, where Caesar is rumored to be. And on May 20th, the two armies meet, after several days of challenging each other to be the first to strike.

The Parthians begin the battle by covering the field with arrows. The Romans avoid most of these, using their revolutionary "turtle" small-unit formation. Pacorus orders a cavalry charge into the Roman ranks, using the famed Parthian cataphracts. At first, when the cataphracts strike the massed ranks of Romans, it seems as though the Romans have broken; the legionnaires turn and run, seeming to retreat. The cataphracts and Armenian irregulars pursue, already smelling easy victory. However, they have been tricked. In the reeds of Lake Van wait the 2,000 equites that have accompanied the army, commanded by Lepidus. After the cataphracts ride past, the equites burst from the reeds and charge into the back of the cavalry force; while in front, the Roman infantry suddenly turns and hardens into a powerful defensive line. The cataphracts, unfortunately for the Romans, prove to be a much more powerful and courageous force than Caesar foresaw. After much bloodshed and hand-to-hand fighting near the lake, Pacorus and a group of his cataphracts, around 300, bust through the legionnaires lines, and proceed to hammer the Roman infantry in a series of short cavalry charges. The rest of the Parthians, however, still trapped within the two walls, are unceremoniously slaughtered by Lepidus' cavalry. The horse archers, however, pepper the Roman cavalry with arrows, forcing them to withdraw. After several hours of this, Pacorus asks for a ceasefire. Caesar and Pacorus parley in a beautifully decorated tent in the center of the battlefield, while their troops are sweating in the desert sun. After several more hours, they finally emerge, with an agreement; Rome will be given most of western Armenia, up to the Dsopk river. Parthia will be given most of southeastern Armenia, up to Lake Urmya. The rest will remain as an independent, neutral Armenian Kingdom, to act as a buffer state between the two massive powers. Caesar is unsatisfied by the results, as none of Parthia had been taken, whilst 4,392 Roman lives had been lost in the reconquest of Armenia. Pacorus, while he has lost many Parthians, is happy with the results. There is now a neutral buffer state between him and the massively powerful Roman Empire; he has added more territory to Parthia itself; and he has humiliated Caesar with these terms. Tigranes II, on the other hand, is utterly furious with both powers; only 429 Armenians remain, out of the 2,000 that originally went to battle. He returns to Tigranakert hungering for revenge. A third thing happens on this day; as Caesar and his army leave Armenia, marching southwest to the newest portion of Rome, Caesar's horse is frightened by a squealing pig, and bucks him. Caesar is thrown to the ground, where he is knocked unconscious by the blow. Though he wakes up mere minutes later, his soldiers regard this as an inauspicious omen. And indeed, only three days later, on May 23rd, he falls mysteriously ill at Antioch, and dies on the sea-journey back to Rome. Lepidus quickly takes command of the army, and has the fleet land at Rhodes, where the army remains, under command of the Armenian soldier Safandasat. He himself sets sail for Rome.

June

Upon reaching Rome, Lepidus quietly informs Brutus, Marc Anthony, and the Senate of Caesar's death. He then reads to them Caesar's will, of which he has made a second copy. The Senate votes, with 10 dissensions, to honor the dictator's will, upon which Brutus stands and makes an impromptu speech on the glory of Roman republicanism and how it must be preserved. While this sways a few Senators, it is not enough to repute the will. After this, Brutus storms out, accompanied by Marc Anthony. Anthony prepares his newly-raised army for war, as news of the will and Brutus' speech spreads like wildfire throughout the Republic. In Apollonia, Octavian learns of the will, and quickly takes command of the three legions attached to the military school. Crossing the Illyrian channel, he begins marching south to take triumphal control of his Empire, while Marc Anthony prepares to meet him at the Rubicon. Meanwhile in Egypt, Cleopatra, though grieving, is overjoyed by the fact that her son will become Emperor of an Eastern Roman Empire. She immediately declares Alexandria the capital of the new Romano-Kemetic* Empire, and has her son crowned there.

*Kemet is the Ancient Egyptian word for Egypt; the Romano-Kemetic Empire will consist of the Bospurus, Syria, Northern Africa, Egypt, the Levant, the future Holy land....basically all of the Eastern Roman provinces beyond the Hellespont, along with North Africa.

Thoughts?

This is awesome, I like where you're going with this so far. It looks like Antony will be crushed seeing that Octavian and Cleopatra are on good terms. I like how you split the Roman Empire in half, north and south, should prove for a longer lasting Roman Europe, no? Maybe Octavian takes Germania and builds a giant wall along the Vistula-Dniester border.

I'm subscribed, keep up the great work

Ouch. Bad, bad move by Cleopatra there- no Roman will accept her son as a monarch over them. Difficult decisions appear in store for this new civil war. Octavian is much more blatantly monarchial ITTL, Mark Antony is likely to hold the same dictatorial ambition he did IOTL, Brutus is effectively a lone operator, and Cleopatra and Ptolemy Caesarion will be entirely unnacceptable. Lepidus-wank?!

Well, if you'll remember, the people in the new Kemetic empire are mainly minorities, not actual Romans. I suspect (well, I'm the one writing the TL, but then again I don't really know my mind from day to day ) that those minorities will side with Cleopatra, if she proves to be gentler towards the various religions than the Romans were.

Also, unfortunately, I don't have an update for today, but I will have one tomorrow.

July

On July 5th, Germanic tribes, hungering for the land that they have lost recently to Caesar, cross the border into Roman Gaul, burning and looting their way through the north of Rome. With much of the army occupied in Italy, Hispania, and Armenia, there is no one to stop them from conquering all lands north of recently-founded Lugdunum. On July 6th, the Cantabri and Asturs in northern Hispania cross the border into Roman Iberia, where they are met with disorganized and ineffectual Roman resistance. The few legions in the north of Spain are quickly pushed south. On the same day, Octavian (now becoming known Emperor Gaius Caesar), reaches the Rubicon, where Marc Anthony waits with his army. Caesar stops his army and meets with Anthony in the middle of the soon-to-be battlefield, where he pleads him not to do something so foolish and destructive. His words are unheeded, and both leaders ride back to their armies prepared to fight. At 1:36 pm on July 6th, the two armies meet in the center of the Rubicon river. There is little known about the battle itself; all that is, for certain, known is that it was incredibly bloody; that the Republicans lost the battle; and that the next day, July 7th, Emperor Gaius Julius Caesar leads his army into Rome, where he is greeted by throngs of cheering people, and proclaims the Caesarian Empire in the Roman Forum. Marc Anthony, having survived the battle, flees Italy with the remains of his army, accompanied by Brutus. The two make their way to Rhodes, where Anthony is welcomed with open arms by Safandisat, the pro-Republic commander of the late Caesar's Glorificus Exercitus. The eight legions of the Glorious Army are placed under Marc Anthony's command, and are ferried to Judea by a quickly rustled-up fleet, there to march on Alexandria and conquer, instead, the Romano-Kemetic Empire.

Cleopatra, learning of these things, begins hurriedly raising an army to supplement the tiny Egyptian army. As well, she sends messengers to the Tigranes II and Pacorus I to plead for help. Tigranes refuses out of spite. Pacorus, however, realizing the advantage in having a Greek Empire rather than a Roman Republic next door, agrees and raises what little of an army he can; a cavalry force of 5,000 men, mostly light spear-armed cavalry. He rides into Syria the next day, and begins marching southwards towards Judea. Cleopatra, meanwhile, begins solidifying her hold over Romano-Kemet by constructing a cult of personality for her son. She decrees that hundreds of statues of Caesarion will be built all over Egypt, North Africa, the Levant, Judea, and the rest of the Empire, while his birthday will become a national holiday, and his name will be worshipped as the latest incarnation of the god Horus.

August

Upon coming to power, Caesar is immediately faced with problems; the Germans are invading in the north, the Iberians are invading in the west, and Marc Anthony is causing trouble in his ally's empire. He immediately contacts Calvinus in Sicily and has him come north, while he begins consulting with Lepidus. In Italy, there are only six legions at the moment, while word has come in that the eight legions in Rhodes have defected to the Republicans. In Hispania, there are only three legions, while Gaul has but one. Thus, Caesar decides this; Calvinus will take two legions and sail to Hispania, where he will attempt to defeat the Iberians and conquer all of Hispania once and for all; Lepidus will take three legions and march north, to Gaul, where he will rendezvous with the one legion there and defeat the Germans; while Caesar himself will take the remaining legion and travel to Egypt, where he will attempt to again take poessesion of the eight, and if that is not possible, to assist Cleopatra in crushing them. The three go their separate ways. On August 10th, Calvinus arrives in eastern Hispania with his legions, and is immediately faced with problems. The Iberians are besieging Valentia, where the three Hispanic legions are bottled up. They run wild throughout the rest of the province. Calvinus, having landed north of Valentia, immediately, marches south and attacks the ill-organized Iberian attackers; after only an hour, they are easily defeated. Calvinus tightly organizes his new army, and has reconquered most of Hispania by August 27th.

Lepidus arrives in Lugdunum on August 13th, where he joins up with the Gallic legion. Over the next month, he conducts a military campaign of varying success against the Germanic invaders, and has managed to liberate up to Divio by August 27th. Meanwhile, Caesar arrives in Egypt on August 15th, where he is greeted warmly by Cleopatra. His legion is attached to the new Kemetic army of around 7,000 men, bringing the number up to 11,000. Meanwhile, Marc Anthony, with his new, massive army of 20,000 men, rages southwards, toward the Levant. The small Kemetic garrisons retreat before him, creating an illusion of easy victory. However, little does he know that the Kemetics and Parthians are simply trapping him in the Levant, as Pacorus' army of 5,000 men follows him southwards.

September

On September 7th, Marc Anthony and his army suddenly come up against a huge stumbling block in the Levant; the Kemetic army. Though the two are much differentiated in numbers, the Kemetics have the advantage of long pikes and superior terrain. As well, they are supremely dedicated to keeping Egypt independent, while many of Anthony's men have begun to desert, or begun to think about deserting. Behind Anthony, a smaller force of Parthian cavalry has begun to build up. Too late, he realizes how he has been trapped by the imperials. There is no negotiating before this battle; both sides realize that this is a battle to the death. If Anthony manages to break out of the Levant, he will have free reign over all of Romano-Kemet, with the Imperials powerless to stop him. If the Imperials crush Anthony, Republican Rome will die with him and Brutus.

The battle begins in earnest, with the Egyptians quickly advancing towards the Republicans, causing most of the Romans to turn away from the Parthian cavalry. What follows next is an ancient Hellenic tactic known as "hammering the anvil". The basic idea is that you have a phalanx keeping the enemy distracted, then you have a cavalry unit (or many cavalry units) hammer their rear, destroying their army. Pacorus is a master of this, and as his cavalry begins to slam again and again into the Republican lines, many Romans simply dropp their arms and run, attempting to make it through the Egyptians or the Parthians. Those few who manage to escape die of exposure weeks later, lost and sun-blind in the desert. After hours of fighting, the massive Republican army is crushed, and any captive Republicans swiftly executed. Brutus kills himself with a dagger as Parthians approach his tent, while Marc Anthony dies impaled on a Kemetic spear. News of this victory spreads like wildfire throughout both Empires; nascent Roman resistance movements in Kemet lay down their arms, in light of this show of strength. Caesar returns victoriously to Rome on September 15th, while Cleopatra begins spreading her new army around Kemet, to secure borders and hunt rebels. On September 17th, Cleopatra officially initiates a new system of division in Kemet. The Empire is to be divided into 4 magistrata--Africanus, Judea, Syria, Bospurus--which were to be ruled by Imperially-appointed magistrates. Aegyptus, the fifth magistratos, is directly ruled by Caesarion, and by extension, Cleopatra. Pacorus returns to Parthia, where he is faced with increasing unrest among the lords of his empire. Though this unrest will eventually led to the fall of Parthia, this is a long way off. On September 20th, Armenia is invaded by the Kemetics for refusing to aid Cleopatra and is quickly subjugated and split between the magistrata of Syria and Bospurus. Tigranes II is executed in Arshamshat, a swift show of Kemetic dominance.

On September 22nd, Cantabria falls to Calvinus, and he begins traveling to Gaul to aid Lepidus, who is in trouble. The Germanic tribes have forced him out of Divio and he is slowly being pushed south, back towards Lugdunum. Caesar begins traveling north as well, with his single legion, to aid Lepidus. Neither would arrive until it was too late.


Thoughts?

No comments...?

What are Octavian's plans for Germania? Will he and Lepidus conquer Germania after they defeat the tribes invading Gaul? Also, what of the Parthian threat to the Romano-Kemetic Empire? And finally, although the Kemetic empire is split into magistrates, Cesarion is still the Emperor of them all, correct? I just wanted to make sure my brain was processing what my eyes were reading.

Good read, keep it up I'm enjoying this.

Yay, interest!

What are Octavian's plans for Germania? Will he and Lepidus conquer Germania after they defeat the tribes invading Gaul?

Not just yet. Octavian will still need to reorganize the Caesarian Empire into a functioning entity, at least in his view (i.e. without a Senate or form of elected government). But when he's finished with internal affairs, he'll probably go in for some (possibly disastrous) military adventures in Germania.

Also, what of the Parthian threat to the Romano-Kemetic Empire?

At the moment, Romano-Kemet and the Parthians are friends, if not allies. Pacorus is still considering whether or not to make aggressive moves against Romano-Kemet; however, it doesn't really matter what he decides. ATM, Parthia is still too weakened from the losses in both this war and the (incredibly short) war in Armenia to really attack Kemet.

And finally, although the Kemetic empire is split into magistrates, Cesarion is still the Emperor of them all, correct?

Yes. While magistrates have executive powers in their own provinces, Caesarion has the ability to intercede in any of their decisions, and make decisions involving the whole Empire.

So it seems that this Octavian is nothing like OTL's. This TL seems to be very promising, can't wait for the next update.

Here's the next update. This update only has one month; apologies, but the next one will be much longer. Btw, the update after this will be about Gaius Caesar (Octavian)'s reign in general, not month-by-month.

October

On October 10th, the Caesarian forces push the German tribes back across the Rhine. Almost 600 Germans are captured and brought back to Rome. There, they are paraded through the streets in chains, behind the victorious Caesar. 200 Germans are executed that afternoon in the Roman forum, while the rest are killed slowly throughout the rest of the year via gladiator fights. Once back in Rome, Caesar decrees that from now on, he and his father will be worshiped as the sons of Jupiter himself, and consecrated in every temple. This does cause grumbles among the clergy, but Caesar silences them with a few beheadings. His reign has already become marked by brutal suppression of the people and the use of murder as a political tool. Here was a dictator in the modern sense, rather than in the Greek sense. After he returning to Rome, Caesar hurries to the business of consolidating his new, vast realm. He splits the nation into three regia, or regions--Hellas-Italia, Gallica, and Hispania. As a gift to his two greatest generals, Calvinus and Lepidus, he gave the two rule over Hispania and Gallica respectively, thus establishing a precedent for military involvement in the governance of Caesarea. Hellas-Italia is ruled by Gaius Carrinas, a former general and Caesarian loyalist. The city of Rome is ruled by Caesar himself. This new system, of course, does not change the fact that Caesar is the imperator. He still rules over the whole empire, and wields absolute power; but indirectly. He does away with the Senate entirely and establishes the imperatorium as a hereditary office, succeeded by the governor of Hellas-Italia in the case of no heirs. This month will be one of the most active, legislatively, of Caesar's reign. He embarks on a massive public works project, building walls, temples, and statues of himself throughout the empire; as well, he implements draconian tax laws taxing the Caesarians of as much as is possible without causing them to starve. He also begins expanding the military, adding five more legions of 4,000 men each to the already 10-legion-strong Caesarian army. He also institutes a law that says that any writer or musician who writes a piece insulting him will be summarily executed. As a result, the intelligentsia of Rome, including the budding architect Vitruvius, begin to flee their own country, heading south to what has become a safe haven for dissidents: the Romano-Kemetic Empire.

By contrast to Gaius' dominion, Kemet is a marginally more cultured place. On October 9th, Cleopatra, having been begged for this by her son for years, decrees that all tomes written by the Ancient Greeks that could be found would be brought to Alexandria immediately, to begin a new Library. She even requests Caesar to send as many as he could find to her realm. Among the three slim volumes sent from Rome, there is a copy of Archimedes' famous tome On Sphere-making*. Cleopatra also looks favourably upon those inventors, architects, and artists flocking to Kemet, giving them much public funding. Because of this, great new buildings are beginning to be built in Alexandria, while sculptures and written works are begun. A new golden age was begun in the south of Rome, and it would continue.

*For those of you who don't know, this is supposedly a how-to guide to Greece's many technological wonders. This will be important later.

Interesting but some issues

First of all I want to say that I found your description of the battle between the Parthians and Caesar extremely well done. Its not often that you get a Roman TL that isn't a wank with completely annihilated Parthians and thoroughly Romanised Mesopotamia. So kudos to you for that.

That being said some of the engagements and campaigns in your subsequent posts seem highly unrealistic.

In Iberia, you have the Cantabari and Astures, people who are known mainly for their guerrilla fighting prowess, somehow forcing three entire legions plus all of their auxiliaries and allies into a single city some 500 km from their starting point in just a month !! I sincerely doubt if even the Mongols could have pulled off such a feat.

You then have Calvinus showing up and then beating this until now unstoppable army AND conquering all of the Iberian peninsula in just 17 days. I'm pretty sure even ASBs can't do that.

Regarding the war in the east, I highly doubt Pacorus could have forced his vassals into another season of campaigning seeing as how they had just fought a incredibly bloody battle with Caesar. The Parthian army was a feudal affair so once the campaign was over, Pacorus would have been obliged to send the core of his army home. If he then calls his army to re muster two months later for a military adventure far from friendly terrain, a lot of his vassals are not going to show up. If he manages to get some of his army together its going to be a lot smaller and lacking anything close to the numbers of heavy cavalry you state.

If Pacorus for some inexplicable reason decides to go ahead with the expedition anyway, he will have to figure out a way to feed his army on the long trek during the height of summer through some very unfriendly territory. Suffice it to say Pacorus' army is going to have defection problems long before Antony's does.

This is of course ignoring the fact that if Antony is going to launch some kind of operation against Egypt, he will at least have some kind of client base set up in Syria to ensure a steady supply flow during his campaign. I am pretty sure these Antonians would have delayed and harassed the Parthians while informing their patron of Pacorus' approach.

Also why is Antony's army deserting ? Its not like they were trapped by an enemy fleet and starving while being bombarded by Octavian's propaganda like at Actium. TTL they are being led by an experienced general who despite a recent loss is still a very competent commander against an enemy whom they had handily destroyed the last time they had faced off at the Battle of the Nile.

Regarding the Egyptian army, what exactly is it that makes them so patriotic all of a sudden. The Native Egyptian Machimoi have no horse in this race unless of course Cleopatra panders to them excessively in which case she will turn off the Hellenic portion of her Army. Speaking of which how on earth are raw recruits moving in the infamously ponderous phalanx able to surprise the seasoned and much more agile Antonian army?

I could keep on nit-picking but lets just say I find the defeat of Antony highly unconvincing.

On a more positive note, I love your characterisation of Octavian in TTL as a brutal and unsophisticated military warlord as opposed to the Machiavellian PR genius of OTL.

Also referring to Hellenistic Egypt as Kemet is a bit anachronistic seeing as how most of the elites are Hellenes who call their country Aigyptos. Unless of course it is another way to pander to the Native Egyptians in which case that is an awesome bit of spin. Of course you will need to deal with any blowback from the Hellenic, Galatian and Jewish communities who might feel that their power is being usurped.

Apologies for being so critical but please continue I'm curious to see what this new Alexandrian intellectual revolution will bring forth and what effects it will have.