A Light Shines East: The World of a Christian Persia

[Merovingian]

From “Rome: Rise and Fall” by Æthelred Ædelbertson

Having secured a dominion for himself in the Roman east, Odaenathus began to dream of further expanding the borders of his new empire. Odaenathus would seek to accomplish the same thing that the Alexander the Great, the man whom Odaenathus was convinced that he was the spiritual heir to, had accomplished; he would conquer Persia. Odaenathus would ally himself with Armenia, who were still ruled by the Arcasid dynasty which Persia’s ruling Sassanids had overthrown[1]. Odaenathus would claim two goals; the restoration of the Arsacids to the Persian throne, and the restoration of Zoroastrianism as the state religion of the Persians. The Romans had a complicated relationship with Christianity, having executed Jesus and brutally persecuted the religion within their empire, and this animosity carried on to the Palmyrenes. Thus, Odaenathus was able to present his attempt to turn Persia into a Palmyrene vassal state as a heroic quest to liberate the Persians from a dangerous cult.

Odaenathus, and the Armenian King Tiridates II, would gather their forces as they prepared for their campaign in Persia. Odaenathus’ forces would meet Shapur’s at the ancient city of Niveneh. During the course of the battle, Odaenathus was fatally shot by one of his own legionary’s stray arrow. The Battle of Niveneh is considered to be one of the most decisive battles in history. Had the Palmyrenes won, it is very possible that Christianity would not have survived as the religion of the Persians, as the new faith was in a very volatile position during the years after Shapur’s conversion. It was Shapur’s victory at Niveneh that truly solidifpied the position of Christianity in Persia, as Odaenathus’ death at the hands of a stray arrow made it seem to the Persian people that God was rewarding them for their conversion. The death of Odaenathus would also force the Palmyrenes to turn inwards and postpone any ambitions of conquest until Odaenathus‘ son Vaballathus would make himself known to the world.



[1]Armenia at this point is still pagan and likely won’t become Christian ITTL, since they converted IOTL partially to escape Sassanid influence

 

[Kurd Gossemer]

Nice chapter, hopefully Shapur can both spread the religion further outside of Persia as well as manage to conquer the Holy Land, not only for religious symbolism, but also taking control of trade into the Mediterranean and splitting Palmyra in half would very much help his empire.

 

[Merovingian]

Nice chapter, hopefully Shapur can both spread the religion further outside of Persia as well as manage to conquer the Holy Land, not only for religious symbolism, but also taking control of trade into the Mediterranean and splitting Palmyra in half would very much help his empire.

That’s Shapur’s goal. Wether or not Zenobia approves of this is a different story…

 

[PecuTheGreat]

[1]Armenia at this point is still pagan and likely won’t become Christian ITTL, since they converted IOTL partially to escape Sassanid influence

I mean, I get the point of Parallels to OTL with states that became Christian in OTL, largely not and being part of a Irano-Hellenic religious sphere but if it's just about avoiding Persian Influence, they could just do like OTL and adopt and independent national Church. With its own mass, liturgy and liturgical langauge(Armenian), maybe even adopting some slightly different theology like they did in OTL in relation to the Romans.

 

[PecuTheGreat]

Marcionism - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

Is kind of interesting, in OTL, all the way to the tenth century they existed from the Near East to all across Northern Persia to Khorasan and Khwarazm

 

[Merovingian]

I mean, I get the point of Parallels to OTL with states that became Christian in OTL, largely not and being part of a Irano-Hellenic religious sphere but if it's just about avoiding Persian Influence, they could just do like OTL and adopt and independent national Church. With its own mass, liturgy and liturgical langauge(Armenian), maybe even adopting some slightly different theology like they did in OTL in relation to the Romans.

I wasn’t going for parallelism, although it is possible that they will adopt a different church.

 

[PecuTheGreat]

Marcionism - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

Is kind of interesting, in OTL, all the way to the tenth century they existed from the Near East to all across Northern Persia to Khorasan and Khwarazm

So Gnostics existing that far into Persia provides and existing for so long in significant numbers is quite interesting.

 

[Merovingian]

From “History of the Sassanids” by Yohanan Khanzadeh

Following his decisive victory at Niveneh, Shapur continued to expand westward. The Christian Shah would set out on a campaign to liberate Jerusalem from the murderers of Christ[1]. Along the way, he reached the capital city of Palmyra. The Palmyrenes fought to the very end to protect their city, although by the time Shapur had arrived, Queen-Regent Zenobia and the young new King Vaballathus had already fled to Alexandria. After a long and casualty siege, Shapur’s forces took the city. After his victory at Palmyra, Shapur would take most of the Levant, briefly stopping in Jerusalem where he ordered the creation of a Church at the site of Jesus’ exection[2], before setting his eyes towards the Palmyrene remnant of Egypt.

Shapur would gradually but surely trudge his way through Egypt before reaching Alexandria. He would take the city, and capture Zenobia in the process. Zenobia was brought before Shapur’s court in Ctesiphon. Even as a prisoner, Zenobia was reportedly indignant. Shapur, however, offered Zenobia: “accept the noble teachings of Christ, submit before the King of Kings, and I shall make you the Satrap of Ctesiphon. You will continue to rule over the lands of Palmyra and Egypt, but under the suzerainty of the crown of Eranshahr.”

Zenobia is said to have initially replied “who are you, o King of the Persians, to give such demands to me, whose lineage is of Ptolemy and of Alexander”, to which Shapur replied “I am Shapur, son of Ardashir, descended from Pabag’s son Sassan, whose lineage is of the Achaemenians and the Kayanids. My ancestors have been kings long before the Accursed’s[3] hordes first crawled out of Greece. Your fathers have usurped mine, they have executed the Son of God, and now He has sent me as punishment for their crimes. Repent, sinner, and you shall be given your rightful place.” Zenobia then acquiesced to Shapur’s demands, reportedly forever bitter about her defeat. She would raise her son Vaballathus to avenge her and his father, but for now, Shapur had accomplished what had been the dream of every Persian ever since Gaugamela; he had restored Persia to the glory of the Achaemenids.




[1]The deicide canard used against the Jews IOTL is instead applied to the Romans and their successor states

[2]The site of the OTL Church of the Holy Sepulchre

[3]Name by which Alexander is known in Iran ITTL and IOTL

 

[Kurd Gossemer]

Small chapter but I enjoyed it, hopefully Persia can hold the Levant and Egypt, maybe get an alliance with Axum going so they have full control of the region

 

[SavoyTruffle]

Persian Egypt for the first time since the Achaemenids. Shapur is proving himself to be one of the greatest Iranian monarchs.

[1]The deicide canard used against the Jews IOTL is instead applied to the Romans and their successor states

This is significant. This means Christianity has far less anti-Semitic baggage ITTL, if at all.

 

[PecuTheGreat]

he had restored Persia to the glory of the Achaemenids.

Might be his propaganda but he still hasn't retaken Anatolia or Thrace.

 

[SavoyTruffle]

Might be his propaganda but he still hasn't retaken Anatolia or Thrace.

He could one-up Darius by taking Greece too, but I'd hazard it's too much of a strain on his logistics to do so.

 

[Radek]

Rome the city and in large part thus Rome the empire was dependent on Egyptian grain to feeds its population. That grain is now gone.

Food riots when?

 

[PecuTheGreat]

Rome the city and in large part thus Rome the empire was dependent on Egyptian grain to feeds its population. That grain is now gone.

Food riots when?

I mean, Persia can always continue selling to Rome and make alot of money that way. After all, Egypt's been in the hands of the Palmyreans for a while now. So either the Riots were already ongoing or Rome already found a way to compromise with a different power holding Egypt.

 

[Merovingian]

This is significant. This means Christianity has far less anti-Semitic baggage ITTL, if at all.

Applying the deicide cannard against the Romans makes sense from a propoganda standpoint(”the Romans killed our Messiah”). TTL’s Christians still probably view the Jews as misguided and as having had rejected Christ when he was given to them, but “misguided brethren” is still a step up from “murderers of our Lord and Savior.”

Might be his propaganda but he still hasn't retaken Anatolia or Thrace.

Parts of Anatolia were under Palmyrene rule, but the Romans have probably taken it back in the confusion.

He could one-up Darius by taking Greece too, but I'd hazard it's too much of a strain on his logistics to do so.

Some future Sassanid ruler might try that for propaganda reasons(“we accomplished what the Achaemenids never could!”) but, as you mention, there’s a reason the Achaemenids never managed to take Greece IOTL despite all the times that they tried.

Rome the city and in large part thus Rome the empire was dependent on Egyptian grain to feeds its population. That grain is now gone.

Food riots when?

I mean, Persia can always continue selling to Rome and make alot of money that way. After all, Egypt's been in the hands of the Palmyreans for a while now. So either the Riots were already ongoing or Rome already found a way to compromise with a different power holding Egypt.

Rome can still keep trading with Persia, but relations won’t always be the best with their ancestral rivals. In general, it seems like Rome’s days as a hegemonic empire are numbered.

 

[Kurd Gossemer]

Rome can still keep trading with Persia, but relations won’t always be the best with their ancestral rivals. In general, it seems like Rome’s days as a hegemonic empire are numbered.

This, Romans were already on shaky grounds when they had the empire unified during the crisis of the coming centuries as the East was always the most populous and wealthy part of the empire, now that they have lost Egypt and the Levant and are vunerable to an attack on the extremely important Anatolia, the Romans are gonna cut their losses even harder than otl to keep the important parts of the empire inside, meaning Britain will be dropped earlier as well as no incursion into Germany as they're sorting themselves out.

 

[Ambassador Huntsman]

Rome the city and in large part thus Rome the empire was dependent on Egyptian grain to feeds its population. That grain is now gone.

Food riots when?

They still have North Africa, which is suitable for a much smaller Roman Empire.

Parts of Anatolia were under Palmyrene rule, but the Romans have probably taken it back in the confusion.

Just double checking, so the continuing Roman Empire is basically Italy, Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, North Africa, Anatolia, the Balkans, Dalmatia, and the Alpine provinces, correct?

 

[Merovingian]

This, Romans were already on shaky grounds when they had the empire unified during the crisis of the coming centuries as the East was always the most populous and wealthy part of the empire, now that they have lost Egypt and the Levant and are vunerable to an attack on the extremely important Anatolia, the Romans are gonna cut their losses even harder than otl to keep the important parts of the empire inside, meaning Britain will be dropped earlier as well as no incursion into Germany as they're sorting themselves out.

Britain is controlled by the Gallic Empire, but, yeah, things aren’t looking too good for the Romans and the chances of an Aurelian analogue bringing them out of the Third Century Crisis are much lower ITTL.

Just double checking, so the continuing Roman Empire is basically Italy, Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, North Africa, Anatolia, the Balkans, Dalmatia, and the Alpine provinces, correct?

Yeah, these are the Empires’s borders(if it can still even be called an “empire” at this point), although Anatolia’s vulnerable to attack.

 

[Kurd Gossemer]

Britain is controlled by the Gallic Empire, but, yeah, things aren’t looking too good for the Romans and the chances of an Aurelian analogue bringing them out of the Third Century Crisis are much lower ITTL.

Yeah, these are the Empires’s borders(if it can still even be called an “empire” at this point), although Anatolia’s vulnerable to attack.

I feel like Anatolia would be the next possible Target for the Sassanids, it has a large population, is very rich thanks to it's large trade focused cities, it's a strategic choke point that allows for easy access to the Balkans as well as further control of the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, it would isolate Armenia and close off the East for the Romans.

Also, because no Constantine The Great, it means Byzantium is not the defensive monster it would be famous for, but rather a small fishing village, but who knows, maybe the Persians can do that instead, call it "The Gate of The East"

 

[Madhukar_Shah]

Based on otl, I think Isis is gonna quickly supplant Mithras as the most popular deity in rome- she's more linked to the Olympian religion, her worship is widespread across gender and social lines, it's already established doctrine that all goddesses are manifestations of Isis, including Venus Victrix, the mother of Rome, it's attractive to the Roman elite as Egypt was Roman for so long and should return to Rome fairly quickly.

I also think rumours of the death of Rome are exaggerated- the palmyrene empire, especially without Egypt, seems destined to very quickly return to the imperium, especially as they've lost Egypt now- the best case I see for vaballathus is being manouvering politics in Rome so he gets the support of the aristocracy there, or otherwise just waiting for the central Roman government to eventually make use of their better strategic position to reincorporate the breakaway provinces. But being the restitutor orbis would definitely allow vaballathus/athenodorus to claim the title the great. The absolute mess that seems to have happened in Hispania only means it'll be even easier for the central Roman government to retake the west as well- it seems insane to imagine that Rome is done for.

In the east, the Indo-Sassanian dynasty might take this opportunity to distance themselves from the Sassanids by claiming the position of being the true heirs of Zoroastrianism, which could lead to a survival of Bactrian as a Zoroastrian religious language.