King of Kings by the Grace of God: A Christian Persia TL

[Kurd Gossemer]

“Shapur… Shapur my son, I ask of thee to once again free my flock.”

It was that same ethereal voice again that Shapur had been hearing louder and louder in his dreams, it was a powerful but still very gentle voice and it reminded the monarch of the archery lessons with his father Ardashir, where his simples mistakes were gently corrected until he had gotten it right where upon would proudly smile at him and himself feel like he had the sun in his belly from seeing his father beam at him like that.

So the fact the voice of such a stranger could cause such a feeling in him was already enough cause for some alarm.
But the interesting thing this time was that unlike the other dreams, he could actually move around and feel his body, even better that he now had something to look at instead of a formless void, the scenario was a easy to recognize well: the parts of upper Mesopotamia where Eranshahr and the Empire of the Romans met and where he was leading his troops, or rather his troops and that of his vassals who were interested in the quick booty that looting Syria had brought[1], the plains in their wild and vast expanses that were simply perfect for his cavalry to essentially decimate their opponents and indeed, his armies and that of his father had already inflicted severe defeats on them in this exact place and he would do so again.[2]

Yet instead of just looking ahead into the endless plains, he found himself drawn towards a new visage: the city of Urhai[3] itself, with its mighty walls and access to fresh water from the rivers made it nearly unassailable… But it had been done before and Shapur knew he could do it, he just needed to find a way to undermine it and finally would Armenia and Adiabene be safe from severe Roman incursions.

“Do not attack if your heart is wavering.” There was that voice again as Shapur was finally able to see the owner of such soothing voice: it was a man dressed in what, if he was going to be honest made him look like a beggar: the clothes were seemingly old and well used, a chitōn with only one piece of cloth which contrasted heavily with Shapur’s own well crafted cloth, especially the tallit that had definitely seen better days and sandals that were seasoned in the way only a pair belonging to a wanderer could. Even his appearance didn’t inspire much as Shapur saw his short curly hair alongside a beard that while large was nowhere near size, length or care to his own magnificent one, it truly was like a King of Kings meeting with a regular man.


But the thing that truly made him feel unease was the aura around the man, it was powerful but soothing, loving but imposing, it once again reminded Shapur of being in his father’s arms, of being held by him with all his musculature and physique that made him intimidating most of the time yet the way his face simply shone like the sun whenever he picked up his son made all of that irrelevant in the face of his love. It was that sort of energy that truly gave him pause as he did not stop to face him but merely pointed to the sky and saw a shining star that flew across towards the southwest, more importantly however was the symbol he saw and despite not recognizing it, he was somehow able to read it… Who was Yeshu?

“Carve it on the shields of thy soldiers and thou shall be victorious like you never were before.” As the man pointed up to the sky, Shapur could only notice one last detail before he felt himself wake up: the hands of the man were pierced in such a forceful manner it had made large holes in the middle of them.

He woke up with a startle as he felt the sweat sticking to his body, both because of the dream that was already slipping away from his memories and due to the heat of Mesopotamia, even during the first few sun rays that spooked away the cold of the night to bring down the oppressiveness of its heat, yet as he put on his clothes and armor there was one vivid thing he kept remembering: the inscriptions that were seemingly carved into his brain as not matter what activity he found himself in, those words kept coming back.

“Carve it on the shields of thy soldiers and thou shall be victorious like you never were before.”

He had found Arshab, a Wuzurgan of the Karen clan if he recalled correctly, much like his other men of the high nobility, his hair and beard were as well taken care of as his quality clothes and his shiny armor, yet he threw an easy smile towards his Shahanshah as he saw him approach.

“Your highness, to what do I owe the honor?” Arshab bowed deeply as he saw the Shah approach, he was not particularly familiar with the son of Ardashir but he was his vassal and a noble and therefore he had a duty to him in the same way his men had towards him, even so he was still slightly baffled when he was presented with white paint, loads of it as he saw the men of the supply train bringing them over.

“Tell your men to paint this on their shields, I have already spoken with Parham and I am looking for Borbak so that he will do the same, we will need it for our next battle.”[4] With those commands, Shapur was off and leaving Arshab all alone as he looked over his equally confused men before he regained his composure and went into Noble Leader mode.

“Your heard your Shah! Start painting!” Arshab had no particular idea who in blazes Isho was, perhaps a symbol of luck from Pars? A shout of victory from one of the many nomadic infantry of the realm? Truly he did not know but he had no reason not to do it… Plus it could be used later as leverage to get some favors from the Shah, something that put a more devious smile in his tanned face as he got to painting faster.

Soon, all of the camp would be celebrating such a symbol.

So, I have foolishly decided to start another TL while I already have one ongoing, don't worry for the fans of l'Antarctique, that story isn't abandoned and I am already working on the new chapter but lately I have been doing some reading on Persia that is very detailed(on a Paradox game forum of all places) and I just got it into my mind and I always wanted to do this scenario so I cranked this up last night before bed, a proper chapter will come soon. Also, I know, the dialogue and character stuff is shit but I'm gonna try and have a bit of them and breath some personality into the TL.

This TL is very much inspired by A Light Shines East: The World of a Christian Persia from @Merovingian as well as The Darling of the World - A Persian TL by @Vinization, not to mention The Two Eyes of the World: A bigger Sassanid Persia by @Collondi who was thank to them and their TL that was I was able to find the Paradox forum in the first place that grew my interest and desire to make this TL in the first place.

[1]: One of the things mentioned in Collondi's TL but I feel that is important to put it in here as well, Iran didn't have the same centralized army that Rome had with it's citizen levies and such, instead the armies the Persians fielded were a mixture of the King's own army(which The Immortals were part of) mixed with the armies of the nobles under him, which were always the cavalry and the cream of the crop of their armies, alongside some levies of light infantry that were essentially fodder and things like horse archers, extra cavalry and heavy infantry that came from the nomadic groups within Iran or were provided by subordinate kingdoms and peoples(Turks, Armenians, Iberians, Arabs, etc.) or were outright mercenaries. This information is key to know as the Shah had a delivery table to return the armies after a certain amount of time as they had their lands to look after and didn't exactly feel like conquering places that would only benefit the King... Unless there was loot of course, in that case they were more compliant.

[2]: True from OTL as Ardashir and Shapur both had inflicted severe losses on the Romans they had fought there, it was so bad the Romans actually thought the place cursed, no wonder given it was also the place where Crassius had been decimated by the Parthians a few centuries before.

[3]: Persian name for Edessa and the POD for the next chapter.

[4]:I couldn't resist making it a ref to the Battle of Milvian Bridge and Constantine's vision

 

[Radek]

Christian Persia means adherents of that faith can expect only terror and death from the Romans, forming a large segment of the population in the East or not. This will have consequences.

Also, what does the faith even look like with official sanction in the Iranian lands?

 

[Kurd Gossemer]

Christian Persia means adherents of that faith can expect only terror and death from the Romans, forming a large segment of the population in the East or not. This will have consequences.

Also, what does the faith even look like with official sanction in the Iranian lands?

Indeed, the religious butterflies will have some effects on the beliefs in both the Roman Empire and Europe in general.


We will get to that eventually but I can say it will have influence of not only some Zoroastrianism but some other religions too as the Roman influence will still be there given many of the early bishops will come from the empire fleeing persecution.

 

[Collondi]

Thanks for the shoutout, and I’m glad I could help provide some inspiration

Anyway I’ll definitely be watching this, it looks super interesting! I especially like the idea of the battle of Edessa being analogous to the battle of the Milvian Bridge, those battles were similar in a lot of ways now that I think about it. Side note, I think Shapur would have a bit harder time promoting Christianity than Constantine OTL, with him being a relative newcomer and Zoroastrianism being so engrained in Persian society

 

[Kurd Gossemer]

Thanks for the shoutout, and I’m glad I could help provide some inspiration

Anyway I’ll definitely be watching this, it looks super interesting! I especially like the idea of the battle of Edessa being analogous to the battle of the Milvian Bridge, those battles were similar in a lot of ways now that I think about it. Side note, I think Shapur would have a bit harder time promoting Christianity than Constantine OTL, with him being a relative newcomer and Zoroastrianism being so engrained in Persian society

Of course, I gotta show proper appreciation for those who inspire me.


The battle of Edessa will definitely go in a different way here that's for sure and indeed, I am aware at how harder it will be but I will both attempt to provide both a look into the importance of Zoroastrianism in Persian state and society but also the changes Christianity will need to go through in order to be accepted by the common folk, which will be it's own challenge given how many of them are mountain people who are loyal to their local noble first and foremost or hell, even the fact that essentially half the population is made up of nomads wandering about the empire but honestly I'm looking forward to it.

 

[Amon34]

Interesting, I can't wait to see what you have in store for us next.

 

[Kurd Gossemer]

Interesting, I can't wait to see what you have in store for us next.

Thank you, I'll try and deliver it

 

[Xenophonte]

Interesting TL and indeed most interesting opening...

Christian Persia means adherents of that faith can expect only terror and death from the Romans, forming a large segment of the population in the East or not. This will have consequences.

Well, while it from OTL perspective, it would seem so... I would argue that of the contemporaneous Roman Empire growing Christian Communities perspectives, it, at least at short or middle term, would make little difference.
Particularly for all those still relenting from Emperor Decius's persecution edict and the ones still to be put into effect from Valerian also aiming/targeting to high ranking Christians in the imperial administration.

Indeed, the religious butterflies will have some effects on the beliefs in both the Roman Empire and Europe in general.

While, ITTL, if Shapur possible personal/ household royal favouritism towards the Christianism would probably turn Persian Mesopotamia into a safe heaven for the persecuted Middle Eastern persecuted/forced to flee Christians. It might make more probable the conversion to the Christianism among the Persian and Arsacid elite and, perhaps, some vassals or nomadic chieftain would deem advantageous to either patronize or even eventually to convert to it.
On the other hand it, an as one of the biggest changes from IOTL, here it would probably make harder for the Roman Christianism to reject/get rid from the Roman labeling them as an impious/foreign cult like religion.
Without mention that it being symbolically associated with an enemy army victory over the Imperial Eagles would make it being, (even more than OTL) rejected/mistrusted by the Roman Armies and its legionaries.
Still, even so, I don't think that, barring that a future Shah issuing their version of the Thessalonica edict, that it, at this stage would affect, both the spreading of the Christianism, in the European provinces, in Roman Africa or beyond the imperial borders to Germania.
Or that it by itself would stop the growing of their communities, even if many of their number would have to go into hiding/internal exile.

 

[Kurd Gossemer]

Interesting TL and indeed most interesting opening...

Glad you're interested and I hope to keep that interest alive!

Well, while it from OTL perspective, it would seem so... I would argue that of the contemporaneous Roman Empire growing Christian Communities perspectives, it, at least at short or middle term, would make little difference.
Particularly for all those still relenting from Emperor Decius's persecution edict and the ones still to be put into effect from Valerian also aiming/targeting to high ranking Christians in the imperial administration.

Especially when Diocletian comes into the play, I don't want to spoil things too much, but let's just say that a very friendly to Christians Persia will have some effects in the population.

While, ITTL, if Shapur possible personal/ household royal favouritism towards the Christianism would probably turn Persian Mesopotamia into a safe heaven for the persecuted Middle Eastern persecuted/forced to flee Christians. It might make more probable the conversion to the Christianism among the Persian and Arsacid elite and, perhaps, some vassals or nomadic chieftain would deem advantageous to either patronize or even eventually to convert to it.
On the other hand it, an as one of the biggest changes from IOTL, here it would probably make harder for the Roman Christianism to reject/get rid from the Roman labeling them as an impious/foreign cult like religion.
Without mention that it being symbolically associated with an enemy army victory over the Imperial Eagles would make it being, (even more than OTL) rejected/mistrusted by the Roman Armies and its legionaries.
Still, even so, I don't think that, barring that a future Shah issuing their version of the Thessalonica edict, that it, at this stage would affect, both the spreading of the Christianism, in the European provinces, in Roman Africa or beyond the imperial borders to Germania.
Or that it by itself would stop the growing of their communities, even if many of their number would have to go into hiding/internal exile.

Again, not wanting to get into too many spoilers but converting the nobles will be a key part here, especially the ones out in campaign with Shapur who will witness the "miracle" at full force, especially the one designed as his heir...


That's another thing too, Christianity wouldn't completely die off in the Empire and given the cross raiding from Germanic tribes, we could see some Barbarian kings justifying their assault via "you're not treating the followers of the Lord well" type

 

[Komnenos002]

I really don't have anything intelligent to say yet, but allow me to chime in and say this is a very fun premise.

 

[MagicalPhantom345]

Just wondering but how will a non Christian Roman Empire handle the migration periods in comparison to OTL?

 

[Kurd Gossemer]

I really don't have anything intelligent to say yet, but allow me to chime in and say this is a very fun premise.

I'm glad you'll be here for the ride! And don't worry, I sometimes don't know what to say in the comments too, we all can't post bangers all the time.

Just wondering but how will a non Christian Roman Empire handle the migration periods in comparison to OTL?

Probably in the same way given the issues were more due to the a failure in having a stable administration that never quite recovered from the Crisis of the Third Century even as the economy and military situation did, but that's something way into the future and butterflies are more likely to alter what their response would be than what I'm saying at the moment.

 

[King of the Uzbeks]

Here we go. This should be interesting. The priesthood in Persia will be something of a hurdle, perhaps more so than pagan temples were for the Romans.

 

[King of the Uzbeks]

Christian Persia means adherents of that faith can expect only terror and death from the Romans, forming a large segment of the population in the East or not. This will have consequences.

On the bright side “the Romans killed Jesus” is gonna eclipse blaming the Jews.

 

[Kurd Gossemer]

Here we go. This should be interesting. The priesthood in Persia will be something of a hurdle, perhaps more so than pagan temples were for the Romans.

Thank you for the interest and indeed, Shapur will not exactly have an easy time dealing with the increasingly more powerful priestly class but I already have some solutions on how he's gonna do that. Hint: it involves the magnates.

On the bright side “the Romans killed Jesus” is gonna eclipse blaming the Jews.

Very much so but there will still be some tension given Christianity at it's core essentially says that Judaism has been made "obsolete" so to speak given the Messiah is here already but that's for the future

 

[King of the Uzbeks]

Very much so but there will still be some tension given Christianity at it's core essentially says that Judaism has been made "obsolete" so to speak given the Messiah is here already but that's for the future

Ain't that the truth. Really, until modern ideals of freedom of religion come about, a religion like Christianity is gonna rub everyone the wrong way wherever it goes.

 

[Kurd Gossemer]

Ain't that the truth. Really, until modern ideals of freedom of religion come about, a religion like Christianity is gonna rub everyone the wrong way wherever it goes.

Given the tenets that came from some hippie carpenter who walked around with a bunch of men he said he loved, there will need to be some tweaking in the canons of the books in order to create something universal as to be better accepted.

 

[Kurd Gossemer]

To understand the situation that would develop in Edessa and arguably be the largest triumph of Shapur I, one must understand the situation the realm of Eranshar (or was it called by the Greeks and later Romans, Persia) as the last of the Arsacids had been dethroned by the ambitious Ardashir I, a king of Pars who had deep ties with the Magi given his family were also caretakers of the important Fire Temples there, who thanks to his innate charisma and battle prowess had managed to not only conquer the whole of Iran but also inflict a severe defeat to the teenage Roman emperor Gordian III.

This latter bit is especially important as it was this defeat that inflicted the harshest defeat of the Romans in the Orient ever since Crassus’ disaster in Charrhae, areas like Mesopotamia fell under further Persian control which only threatened the Roman East even more, something that was repeated under Shapur not only once as he trashed Philip the Arab and now was on his way to do the same to the quickly arriving Valerian. Already the Shahanshah had laid much of Syria to waste and his troops raided and looted as far as the southwestern Anatolian coasts, even with the apocalyptic situation that was the Third Century Crisis of the Roman Empire, the fact Shapur could cause such mayhem in once untouchable rich provinces was a sign that not only were the Sassanids cut from a different cloth than the Arsacids but that the Roman situation was horrendous enough that the Eastern provinces were left in such defenseless state.

Ardashir I "The Unifier" and his son Shapur I were two lightning bolts of monarchs who would heavily impact not only the Persian Empire but also the Roman one.​

Indeed, Valerian himself had to pull troops from Pannonia and Dacia even as they were being looted by the Goths, it shows how desperate he was to try and fight back against the Sassanian onslaught, while initially successful in driving away the Persian looters while bringing a much needed sense of relief to the citizens of Anatolia (who were suffering from naval raids from the Goths) but anyone looking into the situation would've noticed the battle ahead was already spelling doom for the Romans: the Cyprian Plague had spread its Stygian hand into the army and already many men were growing weaker by the day, the terrain the troops were going into was flat, on the wrong side of the river and with no mountains AKA the perfect territory for the famed Persian Cataphract to outmaneuver the Roman infantry and it was also in the wrong season as Mesopotamia was getting hot as usual, not to mention the troops being forced to fight after grueling marches and trekking through mountains. In other words, it was the perfect concoction for the disaster that was about to unfold.

Despite all the fanfare and how utterly important the Battle of Edessa turned out to be for both empires, there's actually few details about what exactly went down but what we do know about the previous Romans defeats in the region alongside the sufferings in Valerian's army, suffice to say that they were defeated. Unlike how the stereotype goes however, it wasn't a single battle that decimated the only functioning legion in the East but rather, the defeated Romans still managed to drag a sufficient number of troops into the fortified Edessa and under the pain of mutiny, Valerian was forced to make peace least the Sassanids forced their way in and slaughtered them all.

By now, you are already familiar with the tale of Valerian being captured by Shapur I mid negotiations while Edessa itself was left surrounded and upon realizing what had happened, the Romans began their quiet withdrawal in the hopes of at least stemming the Persian armies until Galianus could send a new army.[1]

That would never happen however, both because Galianus was dealing with the fallout from his father's capture as well as more Germanic marauders wrecking the empire and because the legion would never manage to leave Edessa alive or free.[2]

---

Arshab galloped as hard as he could, his mind blank save for the chaos of battle around him as he focused on both the enemy he ran through with his spear but at the same time he could hear the whistling of arrows as the archers rained death on the Greeks[3], the screams of pain and despair as warriors met their end, the overbearing heat that seemed to cook him inside out and only made him want to slaughter more of the enemies in order to drink just a handful of water, he could taste the salt and spit in his lips as he yelled for his fellow Catarphacts to ride against a fleeing platoon who broke rank and fled even as they were either trampled, impaled by spears or had their heads cracking open like melons in their maces, splatting against his shiny armor and dulling it with the coppery substance as the battle took it’s price of making an otherwise peaceful plain into a bloodbath.

Even beyond he could actually feel the earth tremble as hundreds of cavalry got themselves into a massive charge to finish the Greeks off, by this point he was pretty tired already but that wouldn’t mean he would stand by idly as he instead joined with his fellows alongside the archers in order to pick off any remaining enemies who escaped the charge, by this point the Greeks had lost so much heart that the ones not fleeing were throwing themselves into the ground alongside their weapons and despite speaking that weird language, the corporal expression of submission was universal enough that he could order his Paygān to start apprehending the defeated foes and soon enough, Arshab had quite the long line of Greeks that would surely be settled around the empire and by the looks of it, the other Cataphracts that had followed him into the rearguard were doing the same.[4]

This is what he lived and trained for, this rush of battle that got his blood pumping and his mind to focus on everything around him despite the chaos, moments like these were more sacred for Arshab than what any Magi spewed out.

But before he noticed, it was over, the adrenaline fading just as fatigue blanketed nearly every all of his senses, even with all the training he Arshab would be lying if he didn’t say that exhaustion after such a massive battle but he could at least look proudly at his men as they cheered and hollered after their victory, despite all the thirst and lassitude he was going through, the noble still had it in him to yell to the heavens, especially as it helped soothe whatever sickness he felt as he not only saw the corpses of the Greeks spread over the plain, seemingly endless like the ocean waves, but he could also smell the terrible scent of blood that was only made more nauseating by the intense heat, so he screamed even as his lungs begged for air as he drowned out the horrendous scene around him and became just one more of the crowd.

He had no idea who this “Yeshu” still was but if the soldiers and the Shah especially were ecstatic as they screamed his name to up and heaven, he supposed he was an impressive man! Definitely a mighty warrior of sorts! Of that he was sure.

---

To say say that the Battle of Edessa had titanic repercussions would’ve been like trying to nutshell the Biblical Flood as “It rained a lot”, this battle sent shockwaves throughout both empires and would have astronomical effects on not only these political entities but also in things like religion, culture and even commercial impacts.

For the Romans, it was a loss unlike anything else in their history except perhaps the Gaulish sack of Rome itself, even Charrae paled in comparison to the apocalyptic nightmare that had happened in Edessa: not only was the only army of the East that was reasonable to stop further Persian incursions essentially destroyed and enslaved, not only did key fortress and regions in the Roman East left essentially ripe for picking in a way that they had never be threatened before, not only were areas like the Balkans and the Rhine weakened in a time where they needed those faraway troops even more but the unthinkable itself happened, a Roman Emperor was captured in battle, not killed in a brave charge or betrayed by wannabe usurpers but simply captured as a common soldier by the Persians, something none of the enemies of Rome ever were able to do, until now that is. Combine that with all the general military anarchy going around as generals either murdered emperors or tried to, the plague ravishing towns in such a rate that the dead were not properly buried and just the crescent downward spiral that was the economy with debasement of the coinage and spiking inflation, the sense that this was the end of the world was truly felt in such a way that shook Roman society down to it’s core as nearly everyone was running around trying to assign blame while also acting like headless chickens.

Several illustrations showing the capture of Valerian, the first a more modern drawing, the second a sardonyx cameo and the last a rock relief all dedicated to the triumph of Shapur over his rival emperor, the last one has the interesting detail of also showing Phillip the Arab being manhandled by the Shahanshah showcasing it wasn't the first time a Roman Emperor had been humiliated by him.
​

This had severe consequences in the still ongoing Sassanid invasion as whatever militia or army in the field had their morale plummet as news of the disaster reached all over the empire, especially in the East where there had been a boost when the very respected Valerian had showed up to seemingly clean house yet had failed despite all his advantages and qualities, much more dangerous was the growing resentment against the Western parts of the Empire that had always been there in some way but now truly festered and grew as the citizens there felt abandoned and neglected as the greedy western generals were too busy trying to claim the purple and the emperors too fat and lazy to bother with the east, this was especially true in places like Egypt that the majority of the population were made up of natives being squeezed even harder than usual to try and fill imperial coffers while being ruled by a tiny minority of Greeks in Alexandria who held all the power, combine that with the plague and the growing number of Christians and Manicheists and the situation was ripe for exploding into revolts, not even mentioning places like Palestine where the still remaining Jewish and Christian population had never quite forgiven and especially forgotten what had happened to them under Hadrian and Nero, and even loyalists areas like Syria and Anatolia were not exactly thrilled as the empire seemingly left them at the mercy of the Persians.

Of course this is unfair considering the state the empire was in but emotional people aren’t exactly known for their capacity to react with logic, it was this growing anger against the centralized government due to the seemingly negligence of the western aristocrats and emperors[5] combined with the many success of Shapur I that would lead historians to consider the lead up era of the Roman Empire as the Gilded Age(6) as despite the return of stability under the following emperors and many victories both in the political and military sense, it still didn’t change the fact the Roman Giant was eroding gradually due to a variety of factors that were often so interlaced with Rome itself that even severe reforms were only able to slow down the failing boulder. This would not be the end of Roman influence itself however, especially considering successor states but THE Roman Empire would never be the same after Edessa.

For the Persians meanwhile, Shapur’s grandiose victory had been not only one of the highest points of his career of his already magnificent reign: A Roman Emperor and much of his army had been made prisoners and for the first time ever since the times of the Achaemenids, Iranian boots and hooves were occupying a significant chunk of Anatolia and the Levant as the only real resistance came from some cities like Palmyra(7) rallying whatever Arabian tribesmen they could find and using hit and run tactics in attempts to halt Persian advance, to little success.

There was also the religious impact as Shapur was not shy in telling his commanders and soldiers that victory had come of a result of the dream he had where Yeshu, Joshua the son of Joseph or as we know him, Jesus, came unto him and delivered the key towards his victory in a dream where he was guided towards the exact route where the Roman army would try to flee, the soldiers were quite excited to hear about this Jesus guy and if he could lead them into victory to the point it convinced the Shah to follow him, then surely his power must be great correct?

To this effect, several of the imprisoned citizens of places like Antioch and Anatolia were separated into those who were Bishops and priests and under the orders of Shapur, they would explain who this Christ was, something the men of the cloth were more than eager to do, especially one Gregory Thaumaturgus who had been captured during the siege of Caesarea and despite being in the last decade of his life, he was more than happy to do one final preaching towards the Persians and especially Shapur I who alongside his sons Hormizid the Great King of Armenia and Bahram I King of Gilan, were given special attention by the Bishop who in turn was to come back with them as a royal guest while he worked day and night to convert the royal family.

Gregory Thaumaturgus of Neocaesarea or Gregory the Miracle-Worker, the bishop who would get the chance of a lifetime to convert one of the most powerful kings around and for the next 10 years, would enjoy full backing of the Shahanshahs. ​

Of course, while learning on how to love thy enemies like one loves themselves, Shapur I continued his campaign across the whole of the Roman East, already he had seized the important Cicilian Gates and Armenian troops were advancing deep into central Anatolia, looking to bring the eastern parts of the region under Persian rule, all the while his cavalry used the flat terrain of the Levant to his advantage as he swept into Judea, a place where he was received warmly by the local Jews and Christians[8] who were more than happy to receive what they saw as liberators of the Roman Yoke, especially given Valerian’s anti Christian edicts, places like Galilee where most of the Jewish population had settled into after the ban of living in Jerusalem became not only a willing militia but also essentially gave everything save the colony of Aelia Capitolina(former Jerusalem) that was promptly put under siege where despite the resistance of the Latins there, the result was predictable as the siege engines made short work of the walls and as a gesture of good will towards his new subjects, Shapur I once again renamed the city Jerusalem, deported the colonists back into Persia and allowed the Jews to live there once again, with the only true settlers he left there were the local Christian gentiles as the Shahanshah was becoming more and more receptive towards the religion.

Despite this stunning victory and Egypt just across the Sinai peninsula, Shapur I held off from attempting to cross it for a variety of reasons: the main one being that despite the new faith of his Wuzurgans alongside the troops, the fact remained many of them needed to come back to their states, farms and offices as well as already having their lust for booty satisfied, not only that but Arabian cavalry aligned with Rome was doing damage to his supply train which would’ve been disastrous given how far he was already from Persia and atop a generally dry land to boot but given just how massive his conquests were, it was very likely that the Romans were preparing yet another army to fight against him and having grown a bit more cautious with age, Shapur preferred to keep what he had gained instead of taking a gambit that would have risked it all, thus he sued for peace with the current Emperor Gallienus.

Under the treaty of Tyre(one of the few cities that didn’t fall to Persian arms given it’s unique geography):

• The Persians acquired all of Judea minus Palestinia Salutaris alongside much of the Arabia province.
• The province of Syria in its entirety would be ceded minus the city of Tyre, it would be turned into a kingdom where it would be ruled by the collaborator Mariades who would become a vassal of Shapur I and marry one of his granddaughters in order to produce a Sassanid heir to eventually become it’s ruler.
• Armenia would be expanded and occupy the remnants that were still in Roman hands, the province of Armenia Maior, Armenia I and Armenia II being lost in their entirety.
• Anatolia would see the loss of Pontus Polemoniacus, the eastern and northern parts of Cappadocia(city of Caesarea included), the regions of Helenopontus east of the Pontus river and nearly the whole province of Cilicia with the city of Tarsus would be ceded to the Sassanids
• Mesopotamia and Euphrantesis were fully ceded to the Persians
• A payment of 10 thousand pounds of gold alongside some 2 thousand pounds of gold in order to “celebrate peace between the two nations” where they agreed to not fight one another for “A period of a lifetime” which roughly translates to some 50 years.
  
  
  

  

  

  
  Map for reference of the areas lost to the Sassanids ​
  To say this peace had been badly received by Rome would’ve been a underestimation: not even a full day had passed when Emperor Gallienus and his whole family were found slaughtered by their own troops and the troops had acclaimed Marcus Aurelius Claudius to the purple who despite the many troubles besetting the empire, would be preparing for a eastern expedition as soon as he managed to stabilize it in some way, he had to least he end up like the man he usurped.
  
  For the Persians meanwhile, they had not only captured key territories, massively expanded the empire, brought home loot like they had never before and captured several civilians and soldiers that would be settled throughout the empire in the brand new cities Shapur would be finding. Most importantly however, would be the fact the Sassanian court would have it’s new guest of honor be Gregory of Neocaesarea, sidelining both Mani and Kardir[9] who until them had been the most important religious figures in the court, combined that with the converting of the Seven Saints[10], The great Magnates/Wuzurgan who accompanied Shapur in campaign, alongside the sons of the Shahanshah Hormizid and Bahram and of course Shapur I himself.
  
  The conversion of such important men and their troops alongside the settling of Christian Romans throughout the empire would forever alter Persia.

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Okay so I am alive and writing and I finally managed to get this done. The next chapter won’t come soon given I’m also working on my other TL but it will come with time.

[1]: This will be covered in one of the updates but anyone who knows anything about Rome knows that the worst moments of the Third Century Crisis was exactly when Valerian had been captured and lost so many troops while Germanic raiders were marauding across the frontier provinces.
[2]: One of the main PODs as despite all the common sense about the battle, the Legions actually managed to mostly escape the Persians once Valerian was kidnapped and they were key in preventing the Persians from raiding even further into Anatolia and basically did all the heavy lifting in stopping Shapur from conquering more. Here the whole legion is lost with disastrous consequences for Rome.
[3]: An interesting thing about the Persians is how little they seemed to care for Rome, sure the loot was nice and they could be a threat but in general, the Persians were much more concerned with any attacks coming from Central Asian nomads(with good reason given how much trouble the Hephthalites would cause), to the point the oral traditions just referred to the Romans as if they were soldiers from Alexander the Great, thus the nickname of Greeks.
[4]: The classic Persian thing of settling captives throughout the empire and use their skill for good use, again the Valerian example where despite all the supposed gruesome fates, he was treated quite nicely(although likely mutilated in order to both humiliate him and remove a vital trait of needing to be king) and spend the rest of his days in Nishapur building bridges.
[5]: Of course this wasn’t true but it was one of the consequences of the Roman Empire being too big for its own good as one of the main reasons it started to decline was in part due to the massive military needing a boatload of money for it to function and becoming a power in their own right that would explode into military usurpations of the Third Century crisis, combine that with the growing regionalism of the provinces as they were left to fend for themselves and already the road to instability had been paved, all it was needed was for the Romans to start walking down on it.
[6]: Obvious spoilers but much like OTL, Rome won’t last forever but here it will be even worse, even if the DNA of Rome will endure like it did OTL.
[7]: Palmyra is often credited as having saved the Roman East… Only for them to occupy and rule it themselves but in truth, the “stopping of Persian troops” they did was more likely them fighting against soldiers meant to guard the Sassanid rearguard as they delivered their booty and captives into Mesopotamia, something they did well given the “cargo” was safely delivered.
[8]: This will be very important later but just remember Cyrus the Great, the fact the Persians keep the Jewish Exarch around(which most Jews saw as the true royal lineage) and general religious tolerance on their part, but this will be explained better in the next update.
[9]: This will also be very important later and better explained in the next update.
[10]: The number Seven has a big importance on Persian mythology even before Zoroastrianism given the gods were said to have created the seven kingdoms to form Iran and the original founder had been aided by seven clans to help him. Consider this one of the many borrowings the Christians will do in order to better sell their religion to the Persians.

 

[CastilloVerde]

Very interesting TL so far! Looking forward to read more! Interested to see how Shapur brings Christianity to the Persian court. I wonder if an (alt)Council of Nicaea can be done in Persia like Constantine in OTL Rome.

Under the treaty of Tyre(one of the few cities that didn’t fall to Persian arms given it’s unique geography):

• The Persians acquired all of Judea minus Palestinia Salutaris alongside much of the Arabia province.
• The province of Syria in its entirety would be ceded minus the city of Tyre, it would be turned into a kingdom where it would be ruled by the collaborator Mariades who would become a vassal of Shapur I and marry one of his granddaughters in order to produce a Sassanid heir to eventually become it’s ruler.
• Armenia would be expanded and occupy the remnants that were still in Roman hands, the province of Armenia Maior, Armenia I and Armenia II being lost in their entirety.
• Anatolia would see the loss of Pontus Polemoniacus, the eastern and northern parts of Cappadocia(city of Caesarea included), the regions of Helenopontus east of the Pontus river and nearly the whole province of Cilicia with the city of Tarsus would be ceded to the Sassanids
• Mesopotamia and Euphrantesis were fully ceded to the Persians
• A payment of 10 thousand pounds of gold alongside some 2 thousand pounds of gold in order to “celebrate peace between the two nations” where they agreed to not fight one another for “A period of a lifetime” which roughly translates to some 50 years.
  
  
  

  

  

  
  Map for reference of the areas lost to the Sassanids ​

My only criticism is that the map does not show the Roman East at the time of the Crisis of the Third Century. For one, the Arsacid kingdom of Armenia still existed and still controlled the province of Armenia Maior. Also Roman controlled areas in Mesopotamia were further East than what the maps depict (much of this was lost after Julian's campaign in 363). This may have an effect on the treaty, but should not be too bad in the grand scheme.

These maps by Ian Mladjov on his website better show the situation:
The Roman Empire 230
Third Century Crisis

 

[Kurd Gossemer]

Very interesting TL so far! Looking forward to read more! Interested to see how Shapur brings Christianity to the Persian court. I wonder if an (alt)Council of Nicaea can be done in Persia like Constantine in OTL Rome.


My only criticism is that the map does not show the Roman East at the time of the Crisis of the Third Century. For one, the Arsacid kingdom of Armenia still existed and still controlled the province of Armenia Maior. Also Roman controlled areas in Mesopotamia were further East than what the maps depict (much of this was lost after Julian's campaign in 363). This may have an effect on the treaty, but should not be too bad in the grand scheme.

These maps by Ian Mladjov on his website better show the situation:
The Roman Empire 230
Third Century Crisis

Thank you for reading and I hope you'll enjoy what I have planned! We'll definitely have our alt Christianity councils here, especially given how many major ones haven't happened and there's a lot of room for potential changes.

Thank you for the maps BTW, it's a bit hard to look for ones that go into detail but I'll update it once I get the chance.