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It didn’t work out well for Alexander’s own empire, but the Hellenistic kingdoms it spawned survived for much longer - the Seleucid Empire endured for almost 25
by skissane 4y ago
It didn’t work out well for Alexander’s own empire, but the Hellenistic kingdoms it spawned survived for much longer - the Seleucid Empire endured for almost 250 years. And Rome, as I mentioned, was closer to Alexander in this regard than to the British. Twice, Rome even had a Syrian Arab as its Emperor (first Elagabalus and then Philip)-can you imagine the British Empire ever being ruled by someone from the colonies?
- telotortium 4y agoThe UK is now being ruled by someone from the colonies. Granted, Elagabalus became emperor during a time when the empire was past its peak but before entering real decline. The UK didn't get Sunak until at least its Crisis of the Third Century, if not later - post-Theodosius, after which the Roman Empire was permanently split into East and West. I hope we don't see a Sack of London soon at this rate.
- skissane 4y agoSunak didn’t come to power until 70 years after the British Empire had already officially been declared to be over, and ~50 years after the time by which the vast majority of its colonies had already been let go. If his great grandfather had been UK PM a century earlier, it would have been a very different history. An Indian as UK PM in the 1920s could well have killed off the Indian independence movement - it would have made British claims that “every subject of the Empire is equal” far more believable. The contemporary UK is not the Empire - it is like early mediaeval Rome, the Empire gone for good (at least in the West) but a lot of impressive buildings still standing, many more than today