das
Regeneration In Process
BT Update III - Years 500-200 BC
New World:
In the central region, a new era of warfare has followed the previous deterioration of Danipaguaches hegemony. The Lords of Teotihuacan were now carving out their own empire, gradually subjugating and assimilating the ill-defined neighbouring tribes. Zapotecs tried, without success, to rebuild their empire, and after 465 BC were largely on the defensive, which didnt stop the Olmecs from conquering and looting Danipaguache itself on several occasions. Olmecs also bickered amongst themselves, which helped the Zapotecs regain their independence. Likewise the Mayans; Lakam Has hegemony was destroyed by the rising powers of Kaan and Mutal, which then entered a drawn-out struggle over the central Mayan area. The southern area fell into decline, though reviving in the 3rd century BC thanks to the revival of coastal trade, while in the north, Yucatan was gradually being colonised and city-states emerged there as well, though they were no match for the great cities of the centre.
By the late 4th century BC, Teotihuacan has become obscenely powerful; its armies had not only defeated the neighbouring tribes, but also managed to systematically conquer the Olmec lands; the Zapotecs were subsequently intimidated into surrendering and accepting vassal status. While Teotihuacan pressed into Mayan lands with (usually) very limited success, the Zapotecs regained their maritime focus and explored the Pacific coastline, establishing trade contact with assorted peoples there and disseminating Teotihuacanan and Zapotec culture.
Paracas, under the dynasty of the Sons of Inti, was predominant in the Andes for much of this era. With the help of a fairly complex central government system, the Sons of Inti reorganised their empire and expanded northwards, while Cahuachi suffered from misrule and rebellion. It was in the 3rd century BC that balance shifted once again; under the genial Sun-Emperor Viacha, Cahuachi was revitalised, the imperial court was reformed and superior infrastructure was created. A Paracan invasion in circa 370 BC captured the Cahuachi-held coastlines, but the Cahuachi fought off an attack on the shores of the Lake Titicaca and went on a counteroffensive, where their use of atl-atls proved decisive in shattering the Paracan armies. After two more decades of fighting, the two primary Andean states were reunited, and a renaissance commenced, albeit some hard-to-support fringe territories had to be abandoned. As for the northern Andes, there was not much change, although while certain inland centres declined, new ones arose on the coast, most notably the city of Moche.
Mediterranean and Europe:
In the Mediterranean, this was a time of war and consolidation, as empires new and old carved up the region. In the more barbaric parts of Europe, meanwhile, younger states and civilisations were on the rise.
Tartessos has entered this era stumped and frustrated by the Italic Wars, and shaken domestically by the Lesser Civil War. Both were to prove to be merely the beginnings of two series of conflicts that would plague Tartessos for much of this period (and especially the 5th century BC), external and internal respectively. With social and political tensions growing in the lead-up to the Greater Civil War and the myth of Tartessian invincibility apparently broken by the Italic Wars, Tartessian colonies, as well as the great trade network, had come under the attack of predatory interested parties. Much of the 5th century BC was spent by Tartessos fighting on numerous fronts, against rebels, barbarians and lesser states. As more and more such fronts opened up, new taxes had to be levied and new armies had to be raised; alas, this did not seem to have much of an effect on the military fortunes of the overstretched Demarchy. To a large extent this could be blamed on the insidiousness and sheer numbers of the enemies; certainly the Romans were formidable opponents, for instance, and the combination of that and their logistical advantages explains the way the newly-republican and very Tartessophobic Roman League overran all the Tartessian and Arecomician holdings in Italy during the Second Italic War (453-425 BC). But it would not be wholly wrong to pin some of the blame on the Sophetora-Magus, which has grown corrupt, and paralysed by bickering and intrigue and on the practice of faction struggles in the aforesaid assembly spilling out into the field of strategy, courtesy of the political generals. The truth was that the Demarchy has simply become rotten in many regards since the Lesser Civil War, and so was less and less able to stand its ground.
In 430 BC, a particularily dreadful disaster struck; while the Tartessians were fighting off a brutal incursion of the Luak tribe in northeastern Iberia, a catastrophe occurred in Liguria an attempted invasion of northern Italy was betrayed by the Ligurians and the Tartessians found themselves trapped between Ligurians, Romans and Athanids, in the middle of the Alps. A large army, complete with commanders, was slaughtered in the ensuing frenzy; and the Romans, having taken huge casualties, have simply brought up more and more men and, linking up with Ligurians, proceeded to march west. First fell the Tartessian colonies in Liguria, then northeastern Iberia, and then the multiethnic army led by League General Marcus Dacchus routed another Tartessian army. Shocking and terrifying the Tartessian civil population and government alike, Dacchus brought the war to Tartessos itself, and though his army melted overtime with the League being unable to provide additional reinforcements or supplies, he still managed to score victory after victory, on several occasions threatening the city of Tartessos itself. Great damage was also brought to the Tartessian agriculture and viniculture. Fortunately, around 425 BC Marcus Dacchus was finally defeated, but he managed to escape back to Ligurian-held lands with some retainers. In the meantime, ingenious use of fireships by the Roman and Sardinian combined fleet decimated the Tartessian armada and thwarted the attempted invasion of vengeance. With their economy badly damaged and their trade network in shambles, the exhausted Tartessians had no choice but to recognise the Ligurian conquests in Liguria and the Roman conquests in Italy.
The trauma of this defeat had further struck Tartessian morale; the nation was now at its nadir, and so about to either fall or be revived. At first, it seemed that the former was more likely. In 422 BC, a new series of urban uprisings erupted, and this time attempts to deal with it by force had failed, as the old professional armies were stationed in border and colonial provinces, while the cities were mostly guarded by fresh recruits, who had much more sympathy for the rebel movement. A political adventurer and opportunist of a Magus, named Thalanthios, had maneuvered to ally with the lower-class rebels and the local generals (many of whom were his own allies) and so ensured the triumph of the revolution. The Sophetora-Magus was disbanded; a plebeian and military Concilea was assembled instead, under the presidency of Thalanthios; the Regus was stripped of his title; proscription was introduced and Thalanthios political enemies were executed in a spectacular fashion; radical social and land reforms were introduced, and the property of the aforementioned enemies was repartitioned amongst the people, especially Thalanthios own allies. The True Demarchy was in full control over southern Iberia, but the colonies that is, northeastern Iberia and North Africa were under the control of conservative forces and quite loyal. The Greater Civil War began, as the regrouping conservatives launched counterattacks against the Demarchy, while the Demarchy struggled to reunite Tartessos. The Demarchy successfully seized control over the navy and defeated the North African and Arecomician fleets at Cape Gata, but the conservatives managed to ally with the Celtiberians and Lusitanians, forcing the Demarchists back to southern Iberia itself. Mass conscription, combined with growing bickering amongst the enemies, gave Thalanthios the initiative once again in 419 BC, and his forces pushed the enemy back to the Tagus and beyond, Lusitania being ravaged and forced to submit. To this point Thalanthios had thwarted numerous conspiracies and attempts on his life, but now he let his guard down, and so was quickly slain by an assassin; soon, the True Demarchy fell to a civil war within a civil war. Its enemies were themselves weakened and so unable to press this advantage properly, though they had tried. Tartessos was left divided in three, and the largest, central part was plagued by infighting.
However, beginning in 404 BC its fortunes began to increase drastically. Haponthios, a rising star general in North Africa, has defeated a major Berber uprising/invasion, and probably also thanks to his familial connections - was approached by an oppositionary coalition in the Fourth Demarchy, by then in control over the Tartessian heartland. Transportation was arranged and a military coup detat was carried out; attempts to use Haponthios as a puppet dictator failed, however, as instead he and his lieutenants quickly and energetically asserted power and instituted the principate, with himself as princeps de facto an absolute ruler, though Haponthios still retained or reinstituted local and central councils, using them for the more mundane and/or ceremonial tasks. Then he set about to restore the economy, decrease the social tensions and rebuild the military, all with much success. The Tartessian Principate was soon on the march to reunite the lands of the Old Demarchy, through diplomacy and warfare; fortunately, most of the warlords and their militaries joined before too much damage was done, though others had to be defeated more thoroughly. By 394 BC, Tartessos was once again in the ascendant. Iberia was now fully united, Lusitania and Celtiberia retaining great internal autonomy but providing their auxiliary troops. A new Luak invasion was fought back and the Caeon were forced to flee beyond the Garumna [1]. Now came the time for wars of revenge.
Fed up with the Sardinians, Haponthios led a new invasion of their main island, defeating their navy in a series of engagements and occupying the cities; as the more fanatical of the Sardinians fled into the mountains, they placed themselves in a prison, unable to break out and eventually running out of provisions (by then, the same was done in Corsica). Growing desperate, the Sardinian leaders finally agreed to negotiate and were forced to accept Tartessian government; Sardinia was to retain internal autonomy, but was to cease pirate raids and to attach its entire navy to the Tartessian fleet, as well as to allow the use of its ports for military operations. Then, with the help of Sardinians and Arecomicians, an invasion of Italy began; fortunately, by now the multiethnic Roman League had itself fallen on hard times, with civil wars and rebellions provoked by Romes attempts to consolidate its power. Tartessian and Arecomician forces landed in several key positions and quickly moved to secure good bases of operations. Seven cities in various parts of Italy were soon persuaded to become allies of the Principate, retaining internal autonomy and assorted negotiated privileges in exchange for formal allegiance and military support; their assistance and the powerful military infrastructure created by Haponthios and his most famous advisor Argitibasar (a famous scientist and philosopher, as well as quartermaster and chief advisor) had allowed the Tartessians to operate quickly and efficiently, soon enough seizing Rome. While usually courteous to his enemies, Haponthios was of the opinion that Rome must be destroyed, and with this he followed through; the city was completely razed, the fields around it were salted, the male population was slain and the women and children sold into slavery, even though Tartessos itself did not have slaves. Although the remaining Italic forces had soon enough banded together again in the Pisan League, it was defeated easily enough and Pisa was likewise burned. While northern and northeastern Italy remained out of Tartessian reach for now, due to the very warlike and well-entrenched tribes that dwelled there, no truly organised trans-Italian resistance now existed.
In his later days, Haponthios also campaigned against the Ligurians, defeating them very badly and forcing the Priest-King to flee north along with his retainers. Also, a colonial program was introduced in Italy, and after a royal marriage Arecomicia came under Tartessian rule, though heirs of Suessus I were allowed to rule on as hereditary governors. As for the last independent king of Arecome, Suessus II, he and a large group of retainers had left for the greener pastures beyond the Horns of Tigranus, assisted in this suexodus by the Tartessian fleet. More on him later.
Before his death in 367 BC, Haponthios instituted some more reforms, most notably creating a new system of provinces and making the Principate hereditary; few dared oppose him, but the transition of power itself went not quite smoothly, as the new princeps, Luxinios, faced major opposition from some of the old lieutenants. A brief civil war ensued, but in the end Luxinios held on to power and worked to stabilise the empire, putting down rebellions, establishing a system of military settlements and fighting off the attacks of Illyrians and Paphlagonians. Under subsequent rulers, Tartessos stagnated internally, but also stabilised, as threats of rebellion were reduced. Magnificent building projects were undertaken during this time, and aqueducts were constructed. Further military campaigns occurred; while the Athanoi remained unconquered (though mostly having to move north of the Eridanos) and regained their independence, the native Italic tribes were finally finished off after centuries of national agony. However, by now Tartessos has grown seriously overstretched even more so than previously and the rise of both separatist movements and internal tensions bodes ill for the Principate.
In the Eastern Mediterranean, Karung, Paphlagonia and Eretria gradually rooted out their competitors, creating a tripolar system. Admittedly, only the latter of those powers was undividedly focused on the Mediterranean; indeed, for much of the 5th and 4th centuries BC Karung was far busier with wars in the Fertile Crescent and the Red Sea (see Middle East and Indian Ocean sections, respectively). Fortunately, it emerged from those wars triumphant and refreshed, thanks to the able leadership of King Zarek II, whose military reforms allowed Karung to fight off a wide range of enemies. Now, under Yarrashazar I (r. 359-304 BC), Karungs attention largely turned to domestic issues and the Mediterranean affairs. As far as the former went, great public works were in the order of the day; aqueducts, roads, canals and granaries were built. To help with both the geoeconomical and geopolitical situations, a canal was dug for much of Yarrashazars reign to connect the Red and Mediterranean seas. Despite natural disasters and the deaths of tens of thousands (according to some sources, hundreds of thousands) of slaves, the project ultimately resulted in success and Karungs commercial position was reinforced. Also, its naval power was much improved, allowing it to stand its own in great naval wars with Greeks and Paphlagonians; in the long term, few gains were made, but at times southern Anatolia and parts of Greece itself were occupied, and withdrawal was often dictated more by logistical difficulties than by enemy victories.
Paphlagonia had also participated in Middle Eastern conflicts, though it had firmly turned towards the Mediterranean after 435 BC. Already prior to that, the first conflict with Eretria occurred as the Paphlagonians put an end to the Greek control over the western Anatolian coast, making an exception only for the semi-autonomous republic of Hessonia, which was granted greater autonomy still in reward for the excellent service of its elite infantry in the Middle Eastern campaigns. The powerful Paphlagonian fleets had, between 435 and 295 BC (with interruptions), dominated the Eastern Mediterranean, often attacking and destroying competitors as already mentioned, they even attacked Tartessos, though without much success. Paphlagonian invasions of the Greek peninsula were repulsed easily due to sub par logistics, but nonetheless Paphlagonians did expand into Europe; their Hessonian vassals had conquered Ranopolis in 377 BC, and new trade outposts were established by both Paphlagonia and Hessonia in the Black Sea. Lastly, the Thracian kingdom of Odrysa, for long an ally and a trading partner, had sworn allegiance to Paphlagonia in exchange for a degree of political and cultural autonomy in 354 BC.
Eretria has undergone a very major evolution during this time; to a large extent this could be attributed to the Tarantine Diaspora that followed the Italic Wars, as many of the Tarantine exiles ended up in Eretria or its colonies, and had greatly influenced local political thought. This influence was further strengthened in 473 BC, when Cyrene a Tarantine successor state - was peacefully annexed into the Eretrian Hegemony. Said Hegemony was indeed quite hegemonic for much of the 5th century BC, with all the other Mediterranean powers in a state of disrepair; however, after in 442 BC its fortunes began to decline, after an opportunistic attack on Karung failed miserably and subsequent warfare saw Cyrene sacked and Crete ravaged. Though eventually the Karung agreed to withdraw and even recognised the Eretrian conquest of Cyprus, after 429 BC the Hegemonys pan-Hellenic ambitions annoyed a lot of nations great and small, and saw it attacked by a coalition of Greek city-states, Paphlagonia and Karung. Cunning naval tactics preserved Eretria, but it still was greatly weakened and lost numerous possessions. The early 4th century BC saw continued decline after the disastrous Ionic War with the Paphlagonians. These tides were turned in circa 350 BC, when the Iron Archon Alexandros gained de facto rule in Eretria, manipulating its increasingly decrepit and confused democratic system. He was an adroit diplomat, and used the Paphlagonian attempts to conquer Greece to unify the Greek city-states around Eretria. The Paphlagonians, along with their barbarian allies, were defeated on the land and the sea; and after additional campaigns against Tartessians, Illyrians, pirates and the Karung, Alexandros managed to transform the alliance into a Hellenic League, and later on into the Hellenic Republic a confederation of assorted Greek city-states (barring those subservient to Paphlagonia or Tartessos), governed by the representative governing body called the Demopolis, situated within the new, imperious Hellenic capital Hellenopolis, built on the ruins of the rebellious Athens. Naturally, the Republic was very much dominated by Eretria, but the lesser city-states were allowed a major degree of autonomy as long as the selected Autokrator and the elected Council of Archons retained control over the military and foreign policies.
The Hellenic Republic never did regain its hegemony over the Eastern Mediterranean; although the Aegean War of the early 3rd century BC saw the utter destruction of two Paphlagonian fleets and the subsequent Hellenic liberation/conquest of the Aegean islands, later in the century a Karung invasion of Greece in the support of dissenting cities has nearly undone Alexandros work. Still, in the end, the tripartite order in the Eastern Mediterranean seems to be holding well enough, with none of the three powers being able to overcome any of the others. However, this situations survival wholly depends on nothing else seriously upsetting the balance of power in the future.
Further north in the Balkans, other changes were unfolding. As already mentioned, Odrysa has gradually been drawn more and more into the Paphlagonian orbit. Odrysian mercenaries participated in the many Paphlagonian campaigns, and brought back with them wealth and Paphlagonian culture, as did the Odrysian and Paphlagonian traders. The vassalisation was no spontaneous process; from the beginning of the 5th century BC, at least nominal Paphlagonian authority was acknowledged as part of the mercenary and trade agreement. At the same time, the warrior-kings of Odrysa had campaigned westwards extensively; the greatest of them, Deospor (r. 420-382 BC), had conquered all the way west to the borders of Illyria, forcing virtually all of the Thracian tribes to submit to him, and finished with the conquest of the undergarrisoned Arecomician and Racadonian colonies, showing a mastery of siege warfare. He founded for himself a new capital, the mountain stronghold of Akurna, built around his fortress-palace, which was decorated with trophies and gifts from foreign sovereigns. Deospors court would be remembered in folklore and history, and particularily commemorated by Thracian bards to this day. It was, in short, a classical court of a barbarian chieftain/feudal monarch, receiving news, embassies and treasures from all over the world, and petitions and warriors eager to prove themselves from all over the realm. From there, Deospor would set out to defeat rebels and hunt down wild animals.
After Deospors death in a hunting accident, his realm fell to internecine strife; later reunited, it then once again disintegrated, only more slowly. While Odrysa itself, greatly Paphlagonised, now was firmly pulled into the Paphlagonian orbit, much of the rest of Deospors empire was divided between Deosporid principalities, united mostly by culture, Deospors law codes and a common descent political and economic ties were nearly nonexistent. By the very late 4th century BC, however, the rise of internal commerce and the growing military pressure from some neighbouring peoples and nations such as Illyria had allowed/forced the mightiest prince Skaris of Singidun to reunite most of the Thracian principalities into a semi-feudal empire, returning his capital to Akurna (which had previously been abandoned). While subsequent attacks on Greece had failed, so did the Illyrian and Dacian invasions of Thrace, and the Akurnian Thrace has retained a respectable territorial size to this day. It has retained and refined the old Thracian cultural traditions, including that of mercenary campaigns, on which most of the headstrong young men and other troublemakers are sent to preserve internal peace; there was scarcely a war in the whole of the Mediterranean in the last two centuries without at least some Thracian mercenaries involved on both sides.
The post-Tarantine Republic of Illyria had retained its independence for longer than Cyrene did, but by the mid-4th century BC it had largely disintegrated. The Tarantine-Illyrian city-states had however retained considerable ties with each other and with the native tribes, which were greatly influenced by said city-states, as well as by Celts, Romans and Odrysians; eventually, a syncretic Illyrian culture emerged. In the 430s-420s BC, the Kingdom of Illyria had emerged under the leadership of King Blodus of Salonae; it combined the Deosporid idea of a military feudal federation and the Tarantine republican traditions with Illyrias own ideas of divine kingship; eventually this evolved into a system where a sacred king played largely but not solely ceremonial functions, while much of actual government was done by an aristocratic senate, which also elected a supreme military commander, the warlord. The coastal cities had considerable local autonomy, but the rural areas were mostly dominated by the feudals. The system was not dreadfully efficient, but it kept things running, while Illyria prospered from trade and campaigned extensively against its neighbours.
The beginnings of urban civilisation have also been noticed in Dacia, largely thanks to Paphlagonian commerce.
In Western Europe, there was much violence besides what happened in relation with the fall and rise of Tartessos. As already mentioned, the Caeon and the Ligurians were pushed northwards. While Ligurias contact with Mediterranean civilisation was virtually destroyed, its new mountainous location and various tribulations had encouraged a great religious revival, and its people were hardened, defying further Tartessian attacks and fighting the divided Celtic tribes to their north. A far direr enemy of the Gauls was the semi-Celtic confederacy of Caeon; denied Iberia in the 5th and early 4th centuries BC, the Luak tribe has finally decided to go by the path of least resistance and cut a fiery swathe through most of Gaul, devastating many would-be kingdoms and civilisations, of which only Armorica survived, even then taking major damage. The Caeon themselves were then pushed back by the rising tides of Britannic Celts and Scandinavian Germans migrating southwards; between them and a resurgent Armorica (reviving largely thanks to Tartessian support), the Caeon were beaten back southwards, but the damage has already been done and eastern Gaul was lost to Germans and Ligurians. The Caeon regrouped in the southwestern regions, where a somewhat more sophisticated and peaceful kingdom was established by them, while to the north a more civilised and Tartessianised Kingdom of Armorica emerged, uniting almost all of the surviving Gaelic tribes. In the northeastern Gaul, a Germannic tribal confederacy headed by the Frisii emerged, though it had stopped short of uniting all of the West Germans that migrated beyond the Rhine.
Lastly, Britannia had become the destination for the suexodus of King Suessus II and his Arecomician retainers. Though not very numerous, they found the Britannic tribes to be primitive and disunited, as well as not always hostile; establishing their capital in the southwest, the Arecomicians had by 200 BC established a somewhat backwater, but still fairly advanced and prospering kingdom, having intermarried with local tribes.
New World:
In the central region, a new era of warfare has followed the previous deterioration of Danipaguaches hegemony. The Lords of Teotihuacan were now carving out their own empire, gradually subjugating and assimilating the ill-defined neighbouring tribes. Zapotecs tried, without success, to rebuild their empire, and after 465 BC were largely on the defensive, which didnt stop the Olmecs from conquering and looting Danipaguache itself on several occasions. Olmecs also bickered amongst themselves, which helped the Zapotecs regain their independence. Likewise the Mayans; Lakam Has hegemony was destroyed by the rising powers of Kaan and Mutal, which then entered a drawn-out struggle over the central Mayan area. The southern area fell into decline, though reviving in the 3rd century BC thanks to the revival of coastal trade, while in the north, Yucatan was gradually being colonised and city-states emerged there as well, though they were no match for the great cities of the centre.
By the late 4th century BC, Teotihuacan has become obscenely powerful; its armies had not only defeated the neighbouring tribes, but also managed to systematically conquer the Olmec lands; the Zapotecs were subsequently intimidated into surrendering and accepting vassal status. While Teotihuacan pressed into Mayan lands with (usually) very limited success, the Zapotecs regained their maritime focus and explored the Pacific coastline, establishing trade contact with assorted peoples there and disseminating Teotihuacanan and Zapotec culture.
Paracas, under the dynasty of the Sons of Inti, was predominant in the Andes for much of this era. With the help of a fairly complex central government system, the Sons of Inti reorganised their empire and expanded northwards, while Cahuachi suffered from misrule and rebellion. It was in the 3rd century BC that balance shifted once again; under the genial Sun-Emperor Viacha, Cahuachi was revitalised, the imperial court was reformed and superior infrastructure was created. A Paracan invasion in circa 370 BC captured the Cahuachi-held coastlines, but the Cahuachi fought off an attack on the shores of the Lake Titicaca and went on a counteroffensive, where their use of atl-atls proved decisive in shattering the Paracan armies. After two more decades of fighting, the two primary Andean states were reunited, and a renaissance commenced, albeit some hard-to-support fringe territories had to be abandoned. As for the northern Andes, there was not much change, although while certain inland centres declined, new ones arose on the coast, most notably the city of Moche.
Mediterranean and Europe:
In the Mediterranean, this was a time of war and consolidation, as empires new and old carved up the region. In the more barbaric parts of Europe, meanwhile, younger states and civilisations were on the rise.
Tartessos has entered this era stumped and frustrated by the Italic Wars, and shaken domestically by the Lesser Civil War. Both were to prove to be merely the beginnings of two series of conflicts that would plague Tartessos for much of this period (and especially the 5th century BC), external and internal respectively. With social and political tensions growing in the lead-up to the Greater Civil War and the myth of Tartessian invincibility apparently broken by the Italic Wars, Tartessian colonies, as well as the great trade network, had come under the attack of predatory interested parties. Much of the 5th century BC was spent by Tartessos fighting on numerous fronts, against rebels, barbarians and lesser states. As more and more such fronts opened up, new taxes had to be levied and new armies had to be raised; alas, this did not seem to have much of an effect on the military fortunes of the overstretched Demarchy. To a large extent this could be blamed on the insidiousness and sheer numbers of the enemies; certainly the Romans were formidable opponents, for instance, and the combination of that and their logistical advantages explains the way the newly-republican and very Tartessophobic Roman League overran all the Tartessian and Arecomician holdings in Italy during the Second Italic War (453-425 BC). But it would not be wholly wrong to pin some of the blame on the Sophetora-Magus, which has grown corrupt, and paralysed by bickering and intrigue and on the practice of faction struggles in the aforesaid assembly spilling out into the field of strategy, courtesy of the political generals. The truth was that the Demarchy has simply become rotten in many regards since the Lesser Civil War, and so was less and less able to stand its ground.
In 430 BC, a particularily dreadful disaster struck; while the Tartessians were fighting off a brutal incursion of the Luak tribe in northeastern Iberia, a catastrophe occurred in Liguria an attempted invasion of northern Italy was betrayed by the Ligurians and the Tartessians found themselves trapped between Ligurians, Romans and Athanids, in the middle of the Alps. A large army, complete with commanders, was slaughtered in the ensuing frenzy; and the Romans, having taken huge casualties, have simply brought up more and more men and, linking up with Ligurians, proceeded to march west. First fell the Tartessian colonies in Liguria, then northeastern Iberia, and then the multiethnic army led by League General Marcus Dacchus routed another Tartessian army. Shocking and terrifying the Tartessian civil population and government alike, Dacchus brought the war to Tartessos itself, and though his army melted overtime with the League being unable to provide additional reinforcements or supplies, he still managed to score victory after victory, on several occasions threatening the city of Tartessos itself. Great damage was also brought to the Tartessian agriculture and viniculture. Fortunately, around 425 BC Marcus Dacchus was finally defeated, but he managed to escape back to Ligurian-held lands with some retainers. In the meantime, ingenious use of fireships by the Roman and Sardinian combined fleet decimated the Tartessian armada and thwarted the attempted invasion of vengeance. With their economy badly damaged and their trade network in shambles, the exhausted Tartessians had no choice but to recognise the Ligurian conquests in Liguria and the Roman conquests in Italy.
The trauma of this defeat had further struck Tartessian morale; the nation was now at its nadir, and so about to either fall or be revived. At first, it seemed that the former was more likely. In 422 BC, a new series of urban uprisings erupted, and this time attempts to deal with it by force had failed, as the old professional armies were stationed in border and colonial provinces, while the cities were mostly guarded by fresh recruits, who had much more sympathy for the rebel movement. A political adventurer and opportunist of a Magus, named Thalanthios, had maneuvered to ally with the lower-class rebels and the local generals (many of whom were his own allies) and so ensured the triumph of the revolution. The Sophetora-Magus was disbanded; a plebeian and military Concilea was assembled instead, under the presidency of Thalanthios; the Regus was stripped of his title; proscription was introduced and Thalanthios political enemies were executed in a spectacular fashion; radical social and land reforms were introduced, and the property of the aforementioned enemies was repartitioned amongst the people, especially Thalanthios own allies. The True Demarchy was in full control over southern Iberia, but the colonies that is, northeastern Iberia and North Africa were under the control of conservative forces and quite loyal. The Greater Civil War began, as the regrouping conservatives launched counterattacks against the Demarchy, while the Demarchy struggled to reunite Tartessos. The Demarchy successfully seized control over the navy and defeated the North African and Arecomician fleets at Cape Gata, but the conservatives managed to ally with the Celtiberians and Lusitanians, forcing the Demarchists back to southern Iberia itself. Mass conscription, combined with growing bickering amongst the enemies, gave Thalanthios the initiative once again in 419 BC, and his forces pushed the enemy back to the Tagus and beyond, Lusitania being ravaged and forced to submit. To this point Thalanthios had thwarted numerous conspiracies and attempts on his life, but now he let his guard down, and so was quickly slain by an assassin; soon, the True Demarchy fell to a civil war within a civil war. Its enemies were themselves weakened and so unable to press this advantage properly, though they had tried. Tartessos was left divided in three, and the largest, central part was plagued by infighting.
However, beginning in 404 BC its fortunes began to increase drastically. Haponthios, a rising star general in North Africa, has defeated a major Berber uprising/invasion, and probably also thanks to his familial connections - was approached by an oppositionary coalition in the Fourth Demarchy, by then in control over the Tartessian heartland. Transportation was arranged and a military coup detat was carried out; attempts to use Haponthios as a puppet dictator failed, however, as instead he and his lieutenants quickly and energetically asserted power and instituted the principate, with himself as princeps de facto an absolute ruler, though Haponthios still retained or reinstituted local and central councils, using them for the more mundane and/or ceremonial tasks. Then he set about to restore the economy, decrease the social tensions and rebuild the military, all with much success. The Tartessian Principate was soon on the march to reunite the lands of the Old Demarchy, through diplomacy and warfare; fortunately, most of the warlords and their militaries joined before too much damage was done, though others had to be defeated more thoroughly. By 394 BC, Tartessos was once again in the ascendant. Iberia was now fully united, Lusitania and Celtiberia retaining great internal autonomy but providing their auxiliary troops. A new Luak invasion was fought back and the Caeon were forced to flee beyond the Garumna [1]. Now came the time for wars of revenge.
Fed up with the Sardinians, Haponthios led a new invasion of their main island, defeating their navy in a series of engagements and occupying the cities; as the more fanatical of the Sardinians fled into the mountains, they placed themselves in a prison, unable to break out and eventually running out of provisions (by then, the same was done in Corsica). Growing desperate, the Sardinian leaders finally agreed to negotiate and were forced to accept Tartessian government; Sardinia was to retain internal autonomy, but was to cease pirate raids and to attach its entire navy to the Tartessian fleet, as well as to allow the use of its ports for military operations. Then, with the help of Sardinians and Arecomicians, an invasion of Italy began; fortunately, by now the multiethnic Roman League had itself fallen on hard times, with civil wars and rebellions provoked by Romes attempts to consolidate its power. Tartessian and Arecomician forces landed in several key positions and quickly moved to secure good bases of operations. Seven cities in various parts of Italy were soon persuaded to become allies of the Principate, retaining internal autonomy and assorted negotiated privileges in exchange for formal allegiance and military support; their assistance and the powerful military infrastructure created by Haponthios and his most famous advisor Argitibasar (a famous scientist and philosopher, as well as quartermaster and chief advisor) had allowed the Tartessians to operate quickly and efficiently, soon enough seizing Rome. While usually courteous to his enemies, Haponthios was of the opinion that Rome must be destroyed, and with this he followed through; the city was completely razed, the fields around it were salted, the male population was slain and the women and children sold into slavery, even though Tartessos itself did not have slaves. Although the remaining Italic forces had soon enough banded together again in the Pisan League, it was defeated easily enough and Pisa was likewise burned. While northern and northeastern Italy remained out of Tartessian reach for now, due to the very warlike and well-entrenched tribes that dwelled there, no truly organised trans-Italian resistance now existed.
In his later days, Haponthios also campaigned against the Ligurians, defeating them very badly and forcing the Priest-King to flee north along with his retainers. Also, a colonial program was introduced in Italy, and after a royal marriage Arecomicia came under Tartessian rule, though heirs of Suessus I were allowed to rule on as hereditary governors. As for the last independent king of Arecome, Suessus II, he and a large group of retainers had left for the greener pastures beyond the Horns of Tigranus, assisted in this suexodus by the Tartessian fleet. More on him later.
Before his death in 367 BC, Haponthios instituted some more reforms, most notably creating a new system of provinces and making the Principate hereditary; few dared oppose him, but the transition of power itself went not quite smoothly, as the new princeps, Luxinios, faced major opposition from some of the old lieutenants. A brief civil war ensued, but in the end Luxinios held on to power and worked to stabilise the empire, putting down rebellions, establishing a system of military settlements and fighting off the attacks of Illyrians and Paphlagonians. Under subsequent rulers, Tartessos stagnated internally, but also stabilised, as threats of rebellion were reduced. Magnificent building projects were undertaken during this time, and aqueducts were constructed. Further military campaigns occurred; while the Athanoi remained unconquered (though mostly having to move north of the Eridanos) and regained their independence, the native Italic tribes were finally finished off after centuries of national agony. However, by now Tartessos has grown seriously overstretched even more so than previously and the rise of both separatist movements and internal tensions bodes ill for the Principate.
In the Eastern Mediterranean, Karung, Paphlagonia and Eretria gradually rooted out their competitors, creating a tripolar system. Admittedly, only the latter of those powers was undividedly focused on the Mediterranean; indeed, for much of the 5th and 4th centuries BC Karung was far busier with wars in the Fertile Crescent and the Red Sea (see Middle East and Indian Ocean sections, respectively). Fortunately, it emerged from those wars triumphant and refreshed, thanks to the able leadership of King Zarek II, whose military reforms allowed Karung to fight off a wide range of enemies. Now, under Yarrashazar I (r. 359-304 BC), Karungs attention largely turned to domestic issues and the Mediterranean affairs. As far as the former went, great public works were in the order of the day; aqueducts, roads, canals and granaries were built. To help with both the geoeconomical and geopolitical situations, a canal was dug for much of Yarrashazars reign to connect the Red and Mediterranean seas. Despite natural disasters and the deaths of tens of thousands (according to some sources, hundreds of thousands) of slaves, the project ultimately resulted in success and Karungs commercial position was reinforced. Also, its naval power was much improved, allowing it to stand its own in great naval wars with Greeks and Paphlagonians; in the long term, few gains were made, but at times southern Anatolia and parts of Greece itself were occupied, and withdrawal was often dictated more by logistical difficulties than by enemy victories.
Paphlagonia had also participated in Middle Eastern conflicts, though it had firmly turned towards the Mediterranean after 435 BC. Already prior to that, the first conflict with Eretria occurred as the Paphlagonians put an end to the Greek control over the western Anatolian coast, making an exception only for the semi-autonomous republic of Hessonia, which was granted greater autonomy still in reward for the excellent service of its elite infantry in the Middle Eastern campaigns. The powerful Paphlagonian fleets had, between 435 and 295 BC (with interruptions), dominated the Eastern Mediterranean, often attacking and destroying competitors as already mentioned, they even attacked Tartessos, though without much success. Paphlagonian invasions of the Greek peninsula were repulsed easily due to sub par logistics, but nonetheless Paphlagonians did expand into Europe; their Hessonian vassals had conquered Ranopolis in 377 BC, and new trade outposts were established by both Paphlagonia and Hessonia in the Black Sea. Lastly, the Thracian kingdom of Odrysa, for long an ally and a trading partner, had sworn allegiance to Paphlagonia in exchange for a degree of political and cultural autonomy in 354 BC.
Eretria has undergone a very major evolution during this time; to a large extent this could be attributed to the Tarantine Diaspora that followed the Italic Wars, as many of the Tarantine exiles ended up in Eretria or its colonies, and had greatly influenced local political thought. This influence was further strengthened in 473 BC, when Cyrene a Tarantine successor state - was peacefully annexed into the Eretrian Hegemony. Said Hegemony was indeed quite hegemonic for much of the 5th century BC, with all the other Mediterranean powers in a state of disrepair; however, after in 442 BC its fortunes began to decline, after an opportunistic attack on Karung failed miserably and subsequent warfare saw Cyrene sacked and Crete ravaged. Though eventually the Karung agreed to withdraw and even recognised the Eretrian conquest of Cyprus, after 429 BC the Hegemonys pan-Hellenic ambitions annoyed a lot of nations great and small, and saw it attacked by a coalition of Greek city-states, Paphlagonia and Karung. Cunning naval tactics preserved Eretria, but it still was greatly weakened and lost numerous possessions. The early 4th century BC saw continued decline after the disastrous Ionic War with the Paphlagonians. These tides were turned in circa 350 BC, when the Iron Archon Alexandros gained de facto rule in Eretria, manipulating its increasingly decrepit and confused democratic system. He was an adroit diplomat, and used the Paphlagonian attempts to conquer Greece to unify the Greek city-states around Eretria. The Paphlagonians, along with their barbarian allies, were defeated on the land and the sea; and after additional campaigns against Tartessians, Illyrians, pirates and the Karung, Alexandros managed to transform the alliance into a Hellenic League, and later on into the Hellenic Republic a confederation of assorted Greek city-states (barring those subservient to Paphlagonia or Tartessos), governed by the representative governing body called the Demopolis, situated within the new, imperious Hellenic capital Hellenopolis, built on the ruins of the rebellious Athens. Naturally, the Republic was very much dominated by Eretria, but the lesser city-states were allowed a major degree of autonomy as long as the selected Autokrator and the elected Council of Archons retained control over the military and foreign policies.
The Hellenic Republic never did regain its hegemony over the Eastern Mediterranean; although the Aegean War of the early 3rd century BC saw the utter destruction of two Paphlagonian fleets and the subsequent Hellenic liberation/conquest of the Aegean islands, later in the century a Karung invasion of Greece in the support of dissenting cities has nearly undone Alexandros work. Still, in the end, the tripartite order in the Eastern Mediterranean seems to be holding well enough, with none of the three powers being able to overcome any of the others. However, this situations survival wholly depends on nothing else seriously upsetting the balance of power in the future.
Further north in the Balkans, other changes were unfolding. As already mentioned, Odrysa has gradually been drawn more and more into the Paphlagonian orbit. Odrysian mercenaries participated in the many Paphlagonian campaigns, and brought back with them wealth and Paphlagonian culture, as did the Odrysian and Paphlagonian traders. The vassalisation was no spontaneous process; from the beginning of the 5th century BC, at least nominal Paphlagonian authority was acknowledged as part of the mercenary and trade agreement. At the same time, the warrior-kings of Odrysa had campaigned westwards extensively; the greatest of them, Deospor (r. 420-382 BC), had conquered all the way west to the borders of Illyria, forcing virtually all of the Thracian tribes to submit to him, and finished with the conquest of the undergarrisoned Arecomician and Racadonian colonies, showing a mastery of siege warfare. He founded for himself a new capital, the mountain stronghold of Akurna, built around his fortress-palace, which was decorated with trophies and gifts from foreign sovereigns. Deospors court would be remembered in folklore and history, and particularily commemorated by Thracian bards to this day. It was, in short, a classical court of a barbarian chieftain/feudal monarch, receiving news, embassies and treasures from all over the world, and petitions and warriors eager to prove themselves from all over the realm. From there, Deospor would set out to defeat rebels and hunt down wild animals.
After Deospors death in a hunting accident, his realm fell to internecine strife; later reunited, it then once again disintegrated, only more slowly. While Odrysa itself, greatly Paphlagonised, now was firmly pulled into the Paphlagonian orbit, much of the rest of Deospors empire was divided between Deosporid principalities, united mostly by culture, Deospors law codes and a common descent political and economic ties were nearly nonexistent. By the very late 4th century BC, however, the rise of internal commerce and the growing military pressure from some neighbouring peoples and nations such as Illyria had allowed/forced the mightiest prince Skaris of Singidun to reunite most of the Thracian principalities into a semi-feudal empire, returning his capital to Akurna (which had previously been abandoned). While subsequent attacks on Greece had failed, so did the Illyrian and Dacian invasions of Thrace, and the Akurnian Thrace has retained a respectable territorial size to this day. It has retained and refined the old Thracian cultural traditions, including that of mercenary campaigns, on which most of the headstrong young men and other troublemakers are sent to preserve internal peace; there was scarcely a war in the whole of the Mediterranean in the last two centuries without at least some Thracian mercenaries involved on both sides.
The post-Tarantine Republic of Illyria had retained its independence for longer than Cyrene did, but by the mid-4th century BC it had largely disintegrated. The Tarantine-Illyrian city-states had however retained considerable ties with each other and with the native tribes, which were greatly influenced by said city-states, as well as by Celts, Romans and Odrysians; eventually, a syncretic Illyrian culture emerged. In the 430s-420s BC, the Kingdom of Illyria had emerged under the leadership of King Blodus of Salonae; it combined the Deosporid idea of a military feudal federation and the Tarantine republican traditions with Illyrias own ideas of divine kingship; eventually this evolved into a system where a sacred king played largely but not solely ceremonial functions, while much of actual government was done by an aristocratic senate, which also elected a supreme military commander, the warlord. The coastal cities had considerable local autonomy, but the rural areas were mostly dominated by the feudals. The system was not dreadfully efficient, but it kept things running, while Illyria prospered from trade and campaigned extensively against its neighbours.
The beginnings of urban civilisation have also been noticed in Dacia, largely thanks to Paphlagonian commerce.
In Western Europe, there was much violence besides what happened in relation with the fall and rise of Tartessos. As already mentioned, the Caeon and the Ligurians were pushed northwards. While Ligurias contact with Mediterranean civilisation was virtually destroyed, its new mountainous location and various tribulations had encouraged a great religious revival, and its people were hardened, defying further Tartessian attacks and fighting the divided Celtic tribes to their north. A far direr enemy of the Gauls was the semi-Celtic confederacy of Caeon; denied Iberia in the 5th and early 4th centuries BC, the Luak tribe has finally decided to go by the path of least resistance and cut a fiery swathe through most of Gaul, devastating many would-be kingdoms and civilisations, of which only Armorica survived, even then taking major damage. The Caeon themselves were then pushed back by the rising tides of Britannic Celts and Scandinavian Germans migrating southwards; between them and a resurgent Armorica (reviving largely thanks to Tartessian support), the Caeon were beaten back southwards, but the damage has already been done and eastern Gaul was lost to Germans and Ligurians. The Caeon regrouped in the southwestern regions, where a somewhat more sophisticated and peaceful kingdom was established by them, while to the north a more civilised and Tartessianised Kingdom of Armorica emerged, uniting almost all of the surviving Gaelic tribes. In the northeastern Gaul, a Germannic tribal confederacy headed by the Frisii emerged, though it had stopped short of uniting all of the West Germans that migrated beyond the Rhine.
Lastly, Britannia had become the destination for the suexodus of King Suessus II and his Arecomician retainers. Though not very numerous, they found the Britannic tribes to be primitive and disunited, as well as not always hostile; establishing their capital in the southwest, the Arecomicians had by 200 BC established a somewhat backwater, but still fairly advanced and prospering kingdom, having intermarried with local tribes.
. The others assimilated lesser local tribes such as the Parthians and the Bactrians, and struck into Ur.
