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Carthage on the Nile

The arrival of Carthage and the death of Smendes

Alias

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The Bronze Age Collapse saw the end of many nations, civilizations and great empires such as Mycenaean Greece, Hittite Empire, the Ugarit and the Amorite states in the Levant among others. While others survived though weakened and some fell into terminal decline such as the 20th Dynasty of Egypt. Wars with the Sea Peoples and the Libu and other tribes in the lands west of Egypt drained the state's treasury and resulted in the shrinking of Egyptian territory in Asia till the utter loss of those lands. Further crippling the Egyptian nation was that it was increasingly beset by droughts, below-normal flooding of the Nile, famine, civil unrest, and corruption of officials while the power of the Pharaoh power of had declined so much during the final part of Ramesses XI reign that in the south the High Priests of Amun at Thebes became the de facto rulers of Upper Egypt while the northern part of Lower Egypt was ruled by the rogue governor Smendes. Smendes territorial control would expand to include much of Lower Egypt though said control was rather lacking but Smendes was working to consolidate control over his expanded realm though before he could see this to completion the arrival of the Carthaginians would see these plans terminated.

Rather bloodily as the gods saw a very confused King Hamilcar finding himself stabbing Smendes through the heart while his army mostly composed of mercenaries was scattered through Tanis and rapidly chaos consumed the city as the Tanis garrison attempted to repel this sudden foreign invasion but were no match for the far larger Carthagian army who then proceeded to ransack the city until Hamilcar was able to regain control over his rampaging army. With his army once more under control he would set his army to gathering loot and patrolling the city while translators were dispatched to gather information from the remaining inhabitants. The information they presented to Hamilcar and his generals made no sense and did not match up with what they knew of Egypt and none of the locals had not heard of Carthage. Various options were put forward but with the very likely reality that Carthage seemingly never existed in this Africa and so only left one option, build a kingdom here in Egypt though plans were made for an expedition in the near future to the west. King Hamilcar first steps were to repair relations with the people of Tanis after the very unfortunate first contact between them and his soldiers including repairing damage to the city, returning loot to the still living and giving restitutions to the families that had suffered at the hands of his warriors.

Offerings as well were made to Amun to curry favor with the priests and finally the surviving nobles that resided in the city were integrated into the new state that Hamilcar was building serving in newly re-established government bodies such as the Adirim, Blm and the Council of 104.[1] With a new administration established to oversee Tanis and who in turn would be kept in line by the new city garrison while Hamilcar would depart to conquer nearby lands in order to secure various resources and farmlands for his new domain. Though there would be little combat as few dared to try to resist an army numbering in the tens of thousands and so would see Hamilcar to bring a good size chunk of north eastern Egypt and some of the center of Egypt under his control. In the midst of this campaign unexpectedly contact would be made with a squadron of Carthagian ships seeking to establish relations and official trade with Smendes. At this point far too late to do that but the finding of their missing King was a joyous discovery for the Carthagens and who brought him up to date on events in Carthage when they had departed. The transportation of Carthage to the Bolbitine branch of the Nile had caused a brief panic in Carthage[2] before order was restored while scouts were dispatched so they could figured out where they were and soon enough began to learn from the local Egyptians that they had never heard of Carthage leading them to increasingly suspect that one or more of their gods had flung their city into the past.

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To provide a bit of geographical context

More hesitantly they informed him that his son Gisco had ascended the throne on the assumption Hamilcar had been presumed gone forever and asked for his instructions and messages he wished them to carry back to Carthage. They brought word back to Carthage that they had by accident discovered King Hamilcar who had conquered a new kingdom for himself with the army he had departed with to defeat the tyrant Gelo who was threatening Carthage interests on Sicily. Hamilcar would as well relinquish his crown to Gisco having great faith in his ability to rule while he would oversee the new Kingdom of Tanis and whose crown would pass to Gisco upon Hamilcar death. He would request financial assistance to continue funding his mercenary army as he began releasing them from service while building up a new Egyptian army. The sailors bringing word back to Carthage would have the discovery of their formerly missing king and his exploits would see spontaneous celebrations erupt across as word of this spread with the most shocked being his son Gisco who upon learning of this collapsed to his knees and shed tears of joy as he had been struggling with the possibility that he would never see his father again.

Carthage was prompt in providing in financial aid to Tanis in order to aid their former king and to limit the instability in Egypt as Smendes realm fractured while hiring some of the growing number of mercenaries being released technically back into the service of Carthage and finding themselves patrolling nearby lands which Carthage had begun to to brought under its control while manning forts to protect its expanding borders. Despite concerns that the mercenaries would go on a rampage across Egypt upon their contracts being completed, this did not come to be. Though the lack of mercenaries going on a spree of looting was due to the poor economic status of Egypt that was gradually improving due to Carthage growing trade across the formerly united nation. Most of the mercenaries would choose to settle in the Kingdom of Tanis with the wealthier ones joining the growing merchant class of the new nation though most of them partnering with far more experienced merchants. The remainder would be split between those offering their services to those able to afford them as they took part in minor wars as the new city states competed for valuable lands, others turning to banditry and some conquering their own little fiefdoms.

Carthage trade focus would not be solely on Egypt as their trade ships would head north but mostly finding devastated regions though finding some pockets of prosperity for example in Greece. A positive exception to this being Phoenicia who had rather successfully weathered the decline that afflicted the Eastern Mediterranean and till the arrival of Carthage stood as the sole mercantile and maritime power of the region. Carthage especially took an interest in Phoenicia with it being source of the colonists that would have eventually founded their city and so Carthagian scholars would travel to their peoples homeland seeking to learn as much as possible from their ancestors while the Phoenicians were as equally fascinated by their descendants and their grand city that now resided on the Nile. Five years[3] after their arrival to this past world, Carthage has firmly established itself in Egypt and trading across Egypt and re-establishing trade routes across and while its economy has not yet recovered to its former peak, it remains strong and with this opportunity they seek to dominate the Mediterranean to an even greater extent they did before.

………..

  1. Adirim is body of advisors,Blm made up of nobles responsible for all important matters of state, including religion, administration, and the military while the Council of 104 judged generals and the military, who exercised a great deal of independence from the goverment.

2.The ASB also making sure Carthage not lacking for food and certain other necessities
3. The present in the timeline is now 1071 BC.
 

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*blinks*

Well.

Well indeed.

When the Carthagenians finally figure out how far in the past they dropped they gonna have kitten fits.

Other than that barring some sort of natural disaster or rather some sort of turboplague brought by or upon the visitors from 700 years in the future I can see Carthage dominating much of the Med at least.

Ofc there is always the posibility their new position forces them to recalibrate their ambitions and strategy to the East.
 
There was some minor outbreaks of plague but nothing major. But at certain points there will be major outbreaks.

Plague outbreaks were simply a part of life in the ancient world or rather the world period right up to the 18th/19th century.

As long as no mutated superbugs with something like 80% mortality rate did not make the transition they are golden.
 
Plague outbreaks were simply a part of life in the ancient world or rather the world period right up to the 18th/19th century.

As long as no mutated superbugs with something like 80% mortality rate did not make the transition they are golden.
I know. Just saying no mutated superbugs came along.
 
Wonder how they will decide to deal with the cuncorpia of Empires that are destined to pop up in the wider vicinity.

Babylon and more importantly Persia.

Depending on how the priests decide to spin it the new Carthagenian Egypt may try a drive to the East
 
Wonder how they will decide to deal with the cuncorpia of Empires that are destined to pop up in the wider vicinity.

Babylon and more importantly Persia.

Depending on how the priests decide to spin it the new Carthagenian Egypt may try a drive to the East


Meh. I'd say go north first. You want Sicily, maybe Sardinia and the boot and heel of Italy. Make the Med a Carthagenian pond.
 
Meh. I'd say go north first. You want Sicily, maybe Sardinia and the boot and heel of Italy. Make the Med a Carthagenian pond.
If your starting point is Egypt the Levant and then Mesopotamia, perhaps Asia Minor Anatolia is where its at.

Grab Greece as well now thats its collapsed and you are golden
 
If your starting point is Egypt the Levant and then Mesopotamia, perhaps Asia Minor Anatolia is where its at.

Grab Greece as well now thats its collapsed and you are golden

Oh yeah. That makes more sense, grab the Fertile Crescent and the cooler lands of Anatolia first. Yes, yes, go with that.
 
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