This would have led to a quicker show down between the two, but could have resulted in a central force to whack down Mohammed (speculation, speculation, speculation...)
There would have been no Peloponesian War.
Jesus Christ would still have been born, Christianity would still have flourished and the Vatican would be in Tehran rather than Rome.
JMO...
I read a fun book that asked a bunch of questions such as this. I think this particular question was in the second volume. Real good reading if you like this sort of thing.
http://www.amazon.com/What-If-Foremost-Military-Historians/dp/0425176428
ping
The author loses some credibility when s/he conflates Julius with Augustus Caesar.
We’d have no olympics....or Greek weddings.
The Persian empire didn't care about the religion of the conquered. Cyrus the Great was the one who freed the Jews from captivity in Babylon. With a weaker Roman Empire, or at least one with serious competition, the spread of Christianity throughout Europe by preaching would have still flourished, but forcing it on the Germanic tribes by the sword probably wouldn't have happened. For all we know, some later ruler of the Persian Empire may have converted to Christianity too.
Here's the question I'd like opinions on: Would there be any Islam? IMHO, a powerful Persian Empire would have stopped the spread of Islam cold. It would be a religion few cared about except the sand rats.
By Alexander's day the Greeks had 30 million people in their own little empire, and the Persians were still down around 10 million people.
So, let's say that the Greeks totally mesed up and got conquered by Persia. With nearly 1/4 of the Persian population "Greek Speaking" already, if not entirely Greek, the addition of the far more numerous Greek Speaking Greeks and their numerous colonies, would have done little to stop ultimate Roman hegemony. Rome would have arisen anyway because of technological and agricultural advances peculiar to the Italian peninsula and adjacent areas such as Greek speaking Southern France and, of course, Scota (now known as Ireland). How quickly we forget their little tricks eh!
I can see the "industrial revolution" occuring a good 1800 years sooner under this scenario since the Latin speakers would have had better lines of communication with the Persian speaking "East" and it's trade connections to China!
Alas, this scenario also results in a the diminishment and destruction of Classical Israel even earlier ~ no Messiah, no Christianity, no West!
If the Persia took over Greece, then Rome would have taken over Persia.
The author doesn’t seem aware of the fact that empires, particularly pre-industrial ones, have increasing difficulty exerting power as they reach farther away from their core areas.
If Greece had been located where Babylon was, they would almost certainly have been conquered. Had Greece fallen, advancing beyond it would have been even more difficult.
I’m also unclear what her sky-god versus the Persian belief system is referring to. Zoroastrianism, at least in its later form, is just as much a monotheistic belief system as the Abrahamic religions.
I got a kick out of her deriving deep historical insights from the movie 300. Interesting movie, mostly for the images, but it has only a passing acquaintance with historical accuracy.
What the author omits [or doesn’t know] is troubling. Two quick examples: Carthage. He totally ignores it. Then there’s the Magyars. They don’t arrive in the Hungarian plain until much later, like 300-400 years after the Huns do -and the Huns didn’t arrive until the late 4th-early 5th century, AD. Indeed, except for the Scythians [who the Persians had been fighting since the time of Cyrus the Great [they killed him]in the southern Steppe, there weren’t a lot of people around up that way [the great migrations started later] for the Persians to fight. And not much [wealth, ports, etc] to fight over.
Still, going with the author, I propose a slightly different result. With Persia beating the Greeks, the Greek colonies in Sicily and along the Mediterranean littoral will seek alliance with Rome. Rome will occupy Sicily without the need for war with Carthage. The two may ally against Persia. Roman military reform [weapons, organization, tactics] brought about by conflict with the Gauls in the Po valley would accelerate.
If there was a confrontation,a Roman- Cathaginian Army: Roman Infantry, Libyan infantry and Numidian cavalry would clean the Persians’ clocks. And unlike Alexander, the Romans would have destroyed Persia in it’s turn [see Third Punic War].
One other note. Xerxes regretted burning down Athens as soon as he did it [as a reprisal for the Athenians torching a Persian provincial capital-kind of like the Brits and DC in the War of 1812]. He ordered it rebuilt the next day. He sought Greece’s submision, and incorporation, not its destruction.
That is Blasphemy!
That is MADNESS!!!!
Gerard Butler would have played Xerxes in 300......
Then People will Traffic and Riches Increase.
Riches Produceth Pride. Pride is War's Ground!
War Begets Poverty. thus we Go Round"!
History Is and What If Isn't!
In Harry Truman's Biography he states the basis for Presidential Decisions is a well founded knowledge of HISTORY!
The Communist Thesis states that History should be revised so that it can be a "club" to control the masses.
For example as we approach the 150th Anniversary of the Firing of the cannon at Fort Sumter and the beginning of the Civil War it's amazing that the freed slaves would become staunch Democrats.
Those evil Republican slave holders who formed the Ku Klux Klan and Voting taxes were put off by that Magnificent Democrat President Abraham Lincoln! And so we go 'round!
Then People will Traffic and Riches Increase.
Riches Produceth Pride. Pride is War's Ground!
War Begets Poverty. thus we Go Round"!
History Is and What If Isn't!
In Harry Truman's Biography he states the basis for Presidential Decisions is a well founded knowledge of HISTORY!
The Communist Thesis states that History should be revised so that it can be a "club" to control the masses.
For example as we approach the 150th Anniversary of the Firing of the cannon at Fort Sumter and the beginning of the Civil War it's amazing that the freed slaves would become staunch Democrats.
Those evil Republican slave holders who formed the Ku Klux Klan and Voting taxes were put off by that Magnificent Democrat President Abraham Lincoln! And so we go 'round!
I think we would be ruled by an oriental despot - a kind of guy who had an arrogant sneer, his chin sticking out like a counterfeit Mussolini, the kind of guy who felt there should be one rule for himself and his followers and another for everybody else, a man who considered himself some kind of messiah, the sort of ruler who would spend his subjects, money like water....... I guess there would be no difference.
There is a great deal more to recommend the Greek civilization than ouzo and pederasty - that representative government thingy, for one - however, the principal reason we regard them as the good guys in all of this is that they wrote the histories available to us: Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophon. A similar champion of Persian virtue is yet to arise outside of a brief mention in the Old Testament by Jews grateful for the rebuilding of the Temple. The Greeks had a better agent. It happens.