All roads DID lead to Rome

New DNA analysis has found that Roman satirists may have been right when they spoke of Greeks and Syrians taking over their city. Things started to change however from 900 BCE to 200 BCE, as Rome grew in size and importance, and the diversity shot up from 27 BCE to 300 CE, when the city was the capital to an empire of 50 million to 90 million people, stretching from North Africa to Britain to the Middle East.

Understood - but they later instituted a larger scale dole to support artists/musicians and such...I was disappointed that part of history doesn’t seem as readily available these days....so much is being erased even as so much other data is being gathered about us by those who would rule...

The grain dole is the first recorded system Rome put into effect - even though it’s hard to find info, they got much more ‘liberal” before the end.

The Cura Annonae was technically available for all citizens living in the capital - I’m not aware of any specific dole for artists/musicians.

Artists / musicians since at least neo-Assyrian times were supported by dole/King’s largesse in any case.

Do note that the Grain dole continued even AFTER the capital city Rome “fell” - the Visigoths like Theodoric continued the grain dole.

In fact we read of it as late as 537 AD when Belisarius beseiged Rome in the Gothic wars.

They definitely did

Tang dynasty China —> the scientific developments were numerous that spread as far west as europe and down to India

The Chola dynasty which spread indic culture to south east Asia — all of south-east asia became hindu and then the spread of Buddhism came about the same way. They also created unified polities that later became the Srivijaya and other thalassocratic.

The Ummayyad dynasty of Caliph — massive, this pushed Islam to Iberia and India. They changed the world. Prior to them, “Europe” was essentially the Mediterranean. After them, this was forever separated rather than united by the Mediterranean Sea

The Mongols - destroyed the Caliphate, brought China and Europe in contact again - spreading ideas, culture and technology

The mughal empire - united India after 1800 years and set it up as a common polity, laying the path for the British to take over - as a note, the British were only able to take over because the Mughal empire collapse in 1723 and the succeeding Maratha confederation was too disunited to put up a united front when the British gained their first foothold in India in 1756 Battle of Plassey (the Raj really only began in 1810 when they defeated the Sikh Empire)

Timur e langs empire - he committed genocide against Christians in Iraq, Syria and Iran. Before him Christians were the majority in Iraq and Syria and a large minority in Iran. He also delayed the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople

Manchu dynasty China - they created the China of today by merging Chinese, Tibetans, Uighurs and Mongols into one entity. They were too powerful for any european polity until the 1800s. Their cultural influence was vast.

The Spanish
Tye Portuguese
—> these two were more influential than the British in some ways

Until the French and English empires

I am reminded of a time when I was 18, living in Philadelphia, receiving my driver’s license for the first time, itching to go to the New Jersey Shore and asking my Dad, which road should I take, Dad, his answer:

All roads lead to the Jersey Shore. We laughed.

We are miles and miles away from that now, but a great memory.

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