07-08-2009, 11:00 AM
Maybe if Syria and Egypt had been governed like the other provinces and not simply exploited as a resource, things would have been different. The wrangle over monophysitism further angered the populace in Egypt. Without these conditions, the Arabs would have at least found these provinces more loyal to Constantinople, and a lot harder to conquer and convert.
Reducing Ostrogothic Italy to vassalage / protectorate status rather than outright conquest would have been a good move IMHO. After all, the ruling Ostrogoth were fast converting to Roman ways and speaking Latin, and 'real' Romans sympathetic to Imperial interests still abounded. This would also have ensured an Italy strong enough to withstand the Lombard invasion, thus preventing the final demise of Roman material culture in the West.
Reducing Ostrogothic Italy to vassalage / protectorate status rather than outright conquest would have been a good move IMHO. After all, the ruling Ostrogoth were fast converting to Roman ways and speaking Latin, and 'real' Romans sympathetic to Imperial interests still abounded. This would also have ensured an Italy strong enough to withstand the Lombard invasion, thus preventing the final demise of Roman material culture in the West.
R. Cornelius hadrianus, Guvnor of Homunculum, the 15mm scale Colonia. Proof that size does not matter.
R. Neil Harrison
R. Neil Harrison
