Floating an idea.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Little what-if thing here.

Change from our timeline: The Roman Republic does not fall. Instead it inspires the "Rennaissance" along about 200 AD. Assume Chritianity doesn't "take" in Roman territory.

[Clinton Huxley]

Hmmm...

United Confederation of Roman States falls to the Chinese Empire in 1842?

[Thinking Aloud]

I love these alternative timeline ideas!

[Clinton Huxley]

The followers of the different gods morph into a variety of different political parties in the Roman Democratic system, leading to a civil war which shatters the Republic. As states splinter off, they are gobbled up by militant Islam.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Hmmm...

United Confederation of Roman States falls to the Chinese Empire in 1842?

There would be a clash somewhere near India, probably a three-way confrontation, but I don't think it would take 1600 years. And the Chinese didn't have a "renaissance", so they'd be at a disadvantage. Of course, they could be importing technology from the Roman sphere.

The technological aspect is most interesting to me, suppose the Romans went to Alexandria and said, "we'll give you an extra copy for each book we're allowed to copy." The Library sets up a second facility in, say, Carthage, and two of the three libraries could survive any disaster that takes out one of them. So science proceeds unbroken from the Greeks. We'd effectively be living in 3600 AD right now.

[klr]

Little what-if thing here.

Change from our timeline: The Roman Republic does not fall. Instead it inspires the "Rennaissance" along about 200 AD. Assume Chritianity doesn't "take" in Roman territory.

This was covered in one of the essay in the first book of the What If? series (ed. Robert Cowley). Basically, what might have happened if Varus and his three Legions were not wiped out in 9 A.D. at Teutoburg Forest (wherever that actually was), and if Roman expansion into Germany had not eventually been checked. It postulates that the course of European and indeed world history might have been quite different.

Quinctilius Varus, give me back my Legions! - Augustus

And don't we have a what if? thread already?

[AshtonBlack]

The burning of the Great Library at Alex is quite simply the single biggest mistake any humans have made. It makes me so sad to think of the lost knowledge.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Little what-if thing here.

Change from our timeline: The Roman Republic does not fall. Instead it inspires the "Rennaissance" along about 200 AD. Assume Chritianity doesn't "take" in Roman territory.

This was covered in one of the essay in the first book of the What If? series (ed. Robert Cowley). Basically, what might have happened if Varus and his three Legions were not wiped out in 9 A.D. at Teutoburg Forest (wherever that actually was), and if Roman expansion into Germany had not eventually been checked. It postulates that the course of European and indeed world history might have been quite different.

Quinctilius Varus, give me back my Legions! - Augustus

And don't we have a what if? thread already?

Actually, who cares if we have another thread. We're not getting charged by the thread here.

[Clinton Huxley]

Hmmm...

United Confederation of Roman States falls to the Chinese Empire in 1842?

There would be a clash somewhere near India, probably a three-way confrontation, but I don't think it would take 1600 years. And the Chinese didn't have a "renaissance", so they'd be at a disadvantage. Of course, they could be importing technology from the Roman sphere.

Well, around 200 AD I reckon the Chinese would have been way ahead of the Romans, technologically speaking.

The technological aspect is most interesting to me, suppose the Romans went to Alexandria and said, "we'll give you an extra copy for each book we're allowed to copy." The Library sets up a second facility in, say, Carthage, and two of the three libraries could survive any disaster that takes out one of them. So science proceeds unbroken from the Greeks. We'd effectively be living in 3600 AD right now.

Would have been amazing to see the Library preserved but on the hand maybe we would have seen enviromental meltdown in the year 1000....

[klr]

Hmmm...

United Confederation of Roman States falls to the Chinese Empire in 1842?

There would be a clash somewhere near India, probably a three-way confrontation, but I don't think it would take 1600 years. And the Chinese didn't have a "renaissance", so they'd be at a disadvantage. Of course, they could be importing technology from the Roman sphere.

Well, around 200 AD I reckon the Chinese would have been way ahead of the Romans, technologically speaking.

The technological aspect is most interesting to me, suppose the Romans went to Alexandria and said, "we'll give you an extra copy for each book we're allowed to copy." The Library sets up a second facility in, say, Carthage, and two of the three libraries could survive any disaster that takes out one of them. So science proceeds unbroken from the Greeks. We'd effectively be living in 3600 AD right now.

Would have been amazing to see the Library preserved but on the hand maybe we would have seen enviromental meltdown in the year 1000....

... just after we'd colonised Mars.

IIRC, Carl Sagan suggested the same sort of thing in Cosmos, as in accelerated technological progress by the Greeks.

[Clinton Huxley]

The burning of the Great Library at Alex is quite simply the single biggest mistake any humans have made. It makes me so sad to think of the lost knowledge.

Worse than allowing women to vote?

[Clinton Huxley]

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Ooooohhhh!!!!! Gimme.