Flag Challenge 98: A Modern Roman Flag
Your challenge is to create a flag representing a modern continuation of the Roman Empire. It can be a direct continuation of the Empire, a successor state such as the Byzantine Empire or an alternate thereof, or even an overseas colony where the glory of Rome still persists.
Addendum: The term "modern" here is being used to refer to the period immediately following the historiographical "Modern Age". Hence, the flag can be dated any time from 1500 CE - Present Day.
Voting begins: Tuesday, August 27
Voting ends: Tuesday, September 3
Dates are PST (GMT -8).
Entry One
Your challenge is to create a flag representing a modern continuation of the Roman Empire. It can be a direct continuation of the Empire, a successor state such as the Byzantine Empire or an alternate thereof, or even an overseas colony where the glory of Rome still persists.
Addendum: The term "modern" here is being used to refer to the period immediately following the historiographical "Modern Age". Hence, the flag can be dated any time from 1500 CE - Present Day.
Voting begins: Tuesday, August 27
Voting ends: Tuesday, September 3
Dates are PST (GMT -8).
Entry One
Entry TwoIn this TL Christianity never developed and instead was replaced by more mainstream, if really keen on conversions and less concerned with dietary taboos, branch of Judaism.
Similarly to Christianity it started to gain popularity across the empire and finally became it's official religion.
When Migration Period occurred int this ATL it was somewhat less drastic than in OTL. Because of that Roman Empire never completely fell, but just waned and waxed through the ages. It never managed to reclaim even the territories it held at the height of Republic but even in worse times it managed to keep hold of greater part of Italian peninsula.
New revitalization came to Rome in late 14th century when new ambitious emperor managed to gained enough political power to reorganize and modernize the legions and to conquer many territories believed to be rightfully Roman(Illyria and OTL South France among others).
However after the successors of this exceptional Emperor were nothing like him. They benefited from almost absolute power whiteout actually doing anything for the sake of the Empire. Their behavior led to growing dissent among the Roman citizens which in turn raised the popularity of republican ideas. All this finally came to an end in what would be OTL year 1603 when excesses of latest emperor and growing taxes led to republican revolution.
The newly established Second Republic of Rome adopted this flag to show both their republican creed and their faith in the Almighty.
Entry ThreeHere's my entry, the Tarantine Empire, featuring an overlong backstory that I'll add later.
Abstract from A Brief History of the Roman Empire: from Rome to Constantinople to Taranto; Part III Taranto; by Michael Vicenzo
[Notes added by the translators]
Our Current Empire has its roots in the Latin Roman Empire, those parts of the Greek Roman Empire taken by the Crusaders in 1204 and added to the other Crusader States.
Latin Romania appeared heading for dissolution with the death of Emperor Baldwin II Courtenay but the Court wisely elected his former Regent Amalric Comnenus Lusignan, King of Jerusalem, current Regent of Cyprus (being 2nd son of King Amalric). Amalric restored relations with his vassal Crusader States, Cilicia, and Venice, obtaining recognition as their Emperor. Though he lost his life and Constantinople to the Nicenes in 1267, his heroic exploits mean he is often regarded as the greatest of the mediaeval Emperors.
Amalric the Great was succeeded by his grandson Baldwin III [1] who established a Court-in-exile in Achaea by marrying the Principality's heiress Isabella Villehardouin. Baldwin was determined to uphold his title against the restored Greek Empire and obtained support from King Manfred Tarantino of Sicily and his sons. Imperial support for House Tarantino in the Hungarian Succession won King Laurence of Albania, Prince of Taranto, the crown of Croatia [2] and the Emperor an important source of trade. This alliance eventually resulted in the near unopposed inheritance of the Latin Empire [3] by King Laurence III.
Emperor Laurence's extension of the imperial tolerance of its Greek Orthodox citizens onto his other subjects [4] resulted in not a little papal opposition but his smashing of the Venetians and securing the Apulian inheritance led to Pope John XX fleeing Rome and the election of the more friendly Celestine V [5]. The Empire's tolerance of Greek Orthodoxy enabled it to welcome the Greek Imperial Family when the Turks took Constantinople.
The marriage of young Emperor Anthony II Tarantino to Princess Anastasia and her imperial father's untimely death enabled Anthony to declare himself the unopposed Emperor of Rhomania [6]
[1] his son Baldwin of Tyre also died in that battle
[2] actually awarded to his son Laurence by Princess Catharine Arpad
[3] Queen Sybil of Cilicia-Cyprus was actually of the senior line but mostly discounted as male qualification was still in force
[4] as part of his integration of them into the Imperial administration
[5] The German Roman Emperors were happy enough with their captive Popes at Vienne to provide no more than nominal support towards ending this schism until it was rendered mute by Reformation's establishment of the Cardinal Synod
[6] if one discounts the claims of the Bulgarians and Serbs under the current "Empire of Slavic Rhomania"
The current civil flag of the Tarantine Empire is a simplification of the Imperial Standard and was adopted in the early 1700s. The Imperial Standard itself allegedly dates from the time of Anthony II and features a black 2headed Tarantine Eagle between shields of the Latin and Greek Roman Empires; the eagle bears a ring of smaller shields of the imperial territories.
The current civil flag shows a black 2headed Tarantine Eagle on white between the Latin Roman Cross, gold on red, and Greek Roman Cross, gold on red.
Entry FourFlag of the Mauretanian Empire
The Western Roman Empire, rather than completely dissolving as IOTL, evolved into the Mauretanian Empire ITTL in much the same way as the Eastern Roman Empire became the Byzantine Empire.
By the mid-C5th, imperial control in the west had been reduced parts of Gaul, Italy and Mauretania*. With the Ostrogoth barbarians bearing down on the capital Ravenna, the Emperor Julius Nepos fled to Caesarea, the capital of the province of Mauretania Caesariensis. From their exile in Africa, Julius Nepos and his successors successfully resisted incursions from the Vandals crossing over from Hispania, securing imperial rule in Africa. Various reconquest campaigns followed with only partial, temporary success. Instead the Mauretanian Empire became the leading Christian power in Africa, bringing Muslim western expansion to a halt and playing an important part in the Christian campaigns to reclaim Jerusalem for Christendom.
The flag of the Empire features an Aquila, the old symbol of the Roman military, holding a Christian crucifix, reflecting both the Empire's Roman roots and it's strong Christian identity.
*OTL modern Algeria and Morocco
Entry FiveROMAN IMPERIAL REPUBLIC
Following defeat in the Bellum Magnum and the resultant loss of territories to the empires of Serehan and Taprobania, the Roman Emperor Anthemius XXXIV was deposed and the Roman Imperial Republic proclaimed (2672 AR), with a "Praeses" at its head of government. Within 6 years, power was seized by the followers of Quintis Crispis Barrius (known as the Corsican Centurion), who in 2681 AR was proclaimed Consul Generalis.
In his avowed aim of restoring the ‘lost’ Roman territories, Barrius forged an alliance with the Chimu Empire and embarked on an ambitious updating and expansion of Roman armed forces. He also initiated the Imperial Republic’s highly secret work in developing nuclear weapons in contravention of the Treaty of Tarsus (2412 AR).
The flag of the Roman Empire, as used from 2391 AR:
https://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showpost.php?p=8077570&postcount=2099
Under Barrius, a flag for the Roman Imperial Republic was introduced in 2682 AR. [COMPETITION ENTRY]
Note re dates: “AR” means “Anno urbis Romae”, based upon the mythical founding of Rome. 2672 AR equates to OTL’s 1919 CE.
People's Republic of South Rome
During the beginning of 11th century the Italian lands of Byzantine empire declared Independence as Republic of South Rome....
and from 1922 Republic of South Rome has been a communist state as People's Republic of South Rome.
Latin is used as state language.
and flag:
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