Alter The Outcome

[Honorius]

i would either prevent the sacking of Constantinople or preventing the disaster at Manzikert...

[Kosmo]

God like power to change history? I'll embark the newly united Egypt of 3000 BC in an expansionist policy in the Middle East from Anatolia to Elam. Adopt summerian improvements and spread civilsation on a huge area.

Or maybe not

[Primus Pilus]

I would change that night back in college where I thought guzzling a fifth of bourbon would be a fine idea...

 

Seriously though, I'm not quite sure I would change anything. I think I'd much rather be a 'fly on the wall' and learn the inner workings of an event rather than change it. I figure it this way... if we change one thing, what other potentially cataclysmic repurcussions might there be?

 

Now, if you forced me to change one thing, I would like to prevent the massive slave trading of the 18th century, but I suppose that wouldn't qualify as a singular event. But to keep it on a 'Roman' theme, I suppose I would agree with changing the results of Adrianople to favor the Romans. Perhaps said victory could've allowed a re-emergence of Roman military dominance? Unlikely I suppose, but at any rate it may have helped extend the life of the western empire. And who knows what other things fall in or out of line like so many dominos.

[Favonius Cornelius]

I would make it such that the old Star Trek series made it beyond the third season. Just imagine the implications!

[Neos Dionysos]

If it's really true that the Library of Alexandria was destroyed by Caesar's stay in Egypt, it's yet another reason to have hoped that Caesar had been defeated at Pharsalus.

 

Actually Cato, from what I have always been taught it was the conqeuoring Arabs in the 7th century that burned down the library because everything it held was "heretical" and against the teachings of the Koran. I have never heard the rumor that Caesar did it... because if had then I would agree whole-heartidily that he not get the chance.

 

 

As to what I'd like to have changed... hmmm... that Rome accepted Pyhrrus' offer of surrender etc and not continued to be the stubborn Romans that we know and love from history. Would love to see what would've happened then...

[Divi Filius]

History is as is. It occurs without reason, but for us it gives us the opportunity to make sure the mistakes of the past are never repeated, however often we fail in maintaning this. I wouldnt change a thing, because if I did, history would not be as fun if I knew th events afterwards were doctored, the irrational events that unfold throughout keep me interested.

 

Bah, Im so damn cliche and corny lol

 

I have never heard the rumor that Caesar did it... because if had then I would agree whole-heartidily that he not get the chance.

 

The accouts differ and the result is occasional finger pointing. Plutarch does comment that during the time when he was sieged in Alexandria, a fire did occur that got to the libraries.

 

I couldnt imagine the Arabs being so heavily against the pagan teachings since many Arab philosophers based their studies on ancient greek ones, imbuing Islamic teachings with it(like Ibn Sina).

[Pantagathus]

I would keep Caesar from annihilating the Veneti and convice him how important their naval technology could be to Roman engineers.

[Spurius]

Hmmm, I think I'll put down two events/actions that would have great history changing potential.

 

First the Roman: Go back and convince Sulla not to spare the divine Julius. Why? To see who might have ended up as the strong man to initiate the Roman Empire....or would the empire never have gotten off the ground and Rome never reach its heights of power? A collapse into endless civil wars and then what would modern europe and its history have been like?

 

Other history: Convince Henry the Navigator (Dom Henrique) of Portugal not to have pursued exploration. Would major focus have stayed on rounding Africa, or would there have been a Portuguese dominated new world and the treasure that made Spain into a powerhouse instead proping up Portugal and what difference that would have made to the west.

[Favonius Cornelius]

I would keep Caesar from annihilating the Veneti and convice him how important their naval technology could be to Roman engineers.

 

 

But....are you thinking of the Venetians of later naval dominance? Because the flow of history directly led to it happening. Who is to say that any native peoples in the area would help it?

[Tobias]

On the Alexandrian library; apparently, it's a bit cloudy. As was mentioned above, Plutarch blamed Caesar for damage to the library.

Gibbon states that Theodosius ordered the destruction of all heathen temples, and the Patriarch of Alexandria, Theophilus, took that so far as to mean destroying much of the Alexandrian Library.

An Arabic General named Amrouh was supposed to have destroyed the remaining books of the library on the orders of the Caliph Umar.

I think that in general; i'd just go back and take the whole contents of the Alexandrian library away before anyone could touch it

Alternatively, i think i'd go back and give a young Adolf Hitler a well-paying job as an artist, instead of allowing him to become a bit at odds with the world through poverty....

Edited March 7, 2006 by Tobias