bcAlthough one nowadays might wonder why the people of Florence never expanded beyond their city limits, one must take into account that the geography of ancient Tuscany was limited to a small clearing in the Great Forest that left little room for expansion. Besides, the city of Florence was built on very suitable land: there were deposits of precious jewels to the southeast, hills to the north and south and a wide grassland surrounding the immediate boundaries: the ancient Tuscans probably saw little reason to leave this paradise.
The earliest technological development in Florence was the working of Bronze from the limited deposits in the hills: because of its rarity, very little tools were developed from them, with the metal only being a luxury belonging to the Patricians. This marked a beginning between the have and have-nots, eventually leading to slavery:
In 3100 BCE, the earliest farms began to be built by early teams of
servi.
Later on in 2620 BCE, the earliest flint arrowheads began to be used by warriors:
Finally, in 2480 BCE, Florentine warriors made contact with the Quechas of the Incan Empire, ending their period of isolation.
However, less friendly contact came in the form of hostile Gothic warbands, who destroyed what little infrastructure that existed in the north of the city. Only when the Goths attacked Florence itself did they fall to the flint arrows of the city garrison.
Eventually, in 880 BCE, the Patriarch of Florence (Lucius Curis Caelestis) ordered the construction of a great Oracle to the gods, headed by the Sybil, a priestess that could foretell the future. Presumably, the Oracle would have been a magnificent site, had Patriarch Tiberius not ordered the burning of the site for unknown reasons in 560
BCE. Coincidentally, later writers reported that a similar project in the city of Londinium was completed the year that Tiberius torched the Florentine Oracle. This coincidence has sparked the interest of many writers and historians to this day.
In 160 BCE, Incan traders showed the Florentines how to smelt Iron from what little ores existed in the hills. Although it was not of sufficient quality so that weapons could be made, the most important development of this period were the new iron axes that could cut down the formerly impenatrable jungle.
In 1 CE, Florentine scouts would eventually discover the Quebecois, who lived on the far side of Mu. Later expeditions would discover the Norwegians, who conquered their capital of La Ville de Quebec in centuries previous.
. There are only 4 opponents to begin with (though that will be remedied with the BarbarianCiv option), and Raging Barbarians, New Random Seed on Reload, and Limited Religions options on.
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