Gazetteer of the Time of the First Triumvirate

This section wil provide a brief overview of the current state of affairs across the lands of Europe and the Near East. Each entry shall include as much information as possible on the major cities, culture, and current affairs of each region. This is by no means complete, but is sufficient for game purposes.

Syria
The vast Roman province of Syria was occupied until 63 by Tigranes I, king in Armenia. Pompey overthrew Armenian rule in Syria in 63, however, and established Syria as a Roman province, with supervisory control over the region’s city-states and client-kingdoms. The province remains this way until 40, when Parthian forces invade the region, initiating war against the Romans. Publius Ventidius drives them out by 38, however.
Syria is a huge region, running the length of the western coastal region along the Mediterranean and comprising several smaller regions at this time. These regions include:
Phoenicia, an archaic land from which the ancient Canaanites hailed. The Lebanus and Ati-Lebanus mountain ranges of this region provide bountiful wood for the ship-building trade. Phoenicia has also long been the source of a special purple die from murex (rock whelk) available nowhere else. The major city of the region is Tyre.
Galilee, divided by the hilly north and the southern fertile flat lands. This is decidedly the northern region of the Judean area, and Judaism is prominent, especially after forced conversion by the Seleucid John Hyrcanus I about forty years ago.
Galilee is currently a hot bed of civil war and conflict. In 53 and 54, the country revolts against the current regime to back Aristobulus II, dispossessed brother of John Hyrcanus II. Furthermore, Herod, appointed by Ceasar as governor of Galilee, brutally squelches rebellion in 47, and is forced in to temporary exile as a result. Antony reinstates him as tetrarch in 42, brining Galilee permanently into his kingdom.
Samaria, a small region which gets its name from the city of the same name, is a major watch-point on the north-south routes, and overlooks the plains of Sharon and Jezreel.
As with the rest of Syria, it was brought under Roman control in 63, and in so doing, the siege devestated the city. In 57, Aulus Gabinius became governor and set about to rebuilding the city into the Hellenistic mold, and not long afterwards it was reunited with the Judean Kingdom of Herod the Great.
Judea, sotuhernmost of Syria’s territory, was ruled by the Hasmonaean Kingdom until conquered by Pompey in 63. It remained under Roman control until 37, when Antony allowed it to remain a client under control of Herod the Great in 63, who sought to resist encroachment by Cleopatra.
The Judean people are strong here, and while Aramaic and Greek ar common languages, Hebrew is also common among the locals.
Idumaea, south of Judea, was also taken in by Pompey’s invasion, and the local people are predominantly Nabataean Arabs. The region was also occupied by Hyrcanus I, and like other regions he held around 129-104, forced conversion to Judaism was practiced. When Pompey seized the region in 64, the commercial centers of the region, Adora and Marisa, were removed from Jewish control and converted in to true cities.
Antipater, heriditary Judean chieftain of the region, retained political control during this time, and used his diplomatic influence to benefit his people in matters of Roman affairs (in 62 and 55). He further earned the favor of Julius Caesar by sending in the Arab troops to save him in 48 against Philopator at Alexandria.
South of Idumaea is Nabataea, which was also forced into becoming a client state of Rome by Pompey. This long-standing kingdom of Arabs has thrived for centuries on their ownership of the significant trade routes between Egypt, the Red Sea and the Mediterranean region.
The Nabataeans have their own principle deities, being Dusares, the god of vegetation, and Allat, the warrior-goddess who is possibly linked to Anahita in the north. Literate men of the land write Aramaic, and the common people speak a form of Arabic.

Arabia
The region of Arabia, reached by going beyond Syria, often through Nabataea, is divided into several small kingdoms, the most prominent and powerful of which is, at this time, the Sabaeans, who produce myrrh, frankincense, and cinnamon for trade. Little is known about the people of Arabia at this time, and not until a failed invasion by the Romans in 25-24 will there be any military effort at gaining the region.

Cyprus
This island in the eastern Mediterranean is known for its thick central forests which provided excellent wood for ship-building, and copper ores smelted from the inland mines. At this time, it is a dependency of the province of Cilicia, and Caesar at one point places it in the hands of Arsinoe IV and Ptolemy XIV, half sister and half brother of Cleopatra, who subsequently kills them and takes the island over.

Asia Minor
The vast territories of Asia Minor were united into the loose province of Cilicia at various times, but included a greater region under loose or no Roman control as well. We shall look at all groups clustered under Cilicia first, followed by the territories beyond.

Cilicia
This region, established as a province in 100, was rife with piracy until Pompey conquered Cilicia Pedias in 64, and attempted to eliminate much of the piracy as well. Though they had some success, pirates are still found in this area.
In 56, the provincial boarders are dramatically expanded to cover northward boarders with Asia, up to and including Phrygia, a largely lawless region or local people untouched by much of Hellenistic society. Local control was handed over to native dynasts.
Neighboring areas have a similar history, including Pamphylia, settled by Greek-Cilicians who plagued Rome with piracy right up to the present, even with the ominous presence of Pompey’s assaults in 64.
West of these regions is Lycia, a largely independent region at this time under rulership of the Lycian League, a collection of city-states which will not be truly Roman until 30-29. Lycians hold a strong local belief in the Apollo and his sister Artemis.
North of Lycia is Pisidia, a lawless, rugged region dominated by the Taurus mountains and comprised of a people staunchly against Hellenistic ways. The people speak their own language, and live their own lives.
Lycaonia, southward roughly of Phrygia, is another lawless region of bandits, a region of high plains with plenty of pasturage but with terrible weather and extremes of temperature at times. In 50, this region is ruled by a brigand chieftain named Antipater, and falls officially under the kingdom of Cappadocia.
Westward of these regions the Roman province of Asia extends into west-coast regions, and includes Mycia, A group of Thracian origins, Aeolis and Ionia. Between 88 and 84, many of the people in this region and abroad in the Province of Asia called to arms at the request of Mithradites VI and slaughtered 80,000 italians. Thisis because the governors of Rome ruthelessly exploited the region with arbitrary exactions, and both were and currently are sorely disliked by the local people.
This region is very Greek with Thracian influence, and many of the people have a mythic and cultural heritage tied in to the time of Helen of Troy.

Galitia
The northern kingdom of Galitia is identified by its division into three tribes, organized under a military aristocracy about 20,000 strong. The tribes include Tolistobogii of Blucium, Tecosages of Ancyra, and Trocmi of Tavium. Each tribe sends religious and political delegates to Drynemetum for interaction and discourse. Currently, the principle ruler of Galitia is Deiotarus, who uses his political savvy to keep allied with the winning side of each Roman civil war. He first backs Pompay, then switches alliances to Caesar, and later to Antony and Octavian before dying in 40.
The Galatians have celtic heritage, as the people of this region were settled in the third century b.c. by roving Gauls moving into the region.

Cappadocia
This region of sparse cities and backward culture has been a client state of Rome since 188, and suffered during the civil war with Pontus extensively. Pompey, in 64-63, saw to it that the region was rebuilt as a result of the warfare.

Bythinia-Pontus
This vast Roman province covers much of the Asian region of Rome, extending to the Black Sea (Euxine). It covers several regions of interest, including:
Pontus, with much Persian influence in its history, this kingdom posed a formidable threat to the Roman empire. In 120, Mithradites VI Eupator dramatically expanded his realm and came threateningly close to Roman interests. In 66-63 Pompey the Great defeated Pontus and Mithradites, and then incorporated the core of the kingdom into the provinces of Bythinia and Pontus. While Antony and Cleopatra will at one point begin to entrust the region to client princes, it remains for this period under careful Roman control.
Paphlagonia, covering a region of the coast along the Black Sea, was engulfed in the expanding empire of Mithradites VI until Pompey defeated him and brought it into the Roman province. The region is currently entrusted to a variety of client-princes of the region, which also has a certain Persian influence from the past.
Bithynia is the western-most region of the Roman province, and includes a people with Thracian influence. The last true ruler of this area gave up rulership in 75-74 to Roman control, and it has remained Roman ever since.

Thrace
The warlike tribes of Thrace at this period in time are scattered and without unity. Two major tribes are known at this time, including the Bessi, who came into conflict with Gaius Octavius in 60 but later became more loyal, and the Sapaei, ruled by Rhescuporis, who managed to sidewith the losers every time (Pompey in 49-48 against Caesar, and Brutus and Cassius against Antony and Octzavian in 43-42). Nonetheless, Rhescuporis survived and assumed the royal title.
Thrace itself has a long history, and the Thracians as a people have always resisted outside influence. Greeks moved into the region long ago, and about four and a half centuries ago the Odrysae tribe of Thrace proved to be a major force.

Crete
At the time of the campaign, Crete is enjoying a new period of prosperity and peace, as it is joined to the province fo Cyrenaica. The Cretan League is the local authority uniting the cities of the island, and its days of piracy for king Mithradites VI of Pontus ended in 68 after it was annexed by general Quintus Caecilius Metillus ‘Creticus’. Grotyna is the administrative capitol now.
Crete has long been a center of piracy and warfare for two hundred years at least, and while it is now experiencing peace and prosperity, many mercenaries hail from Crete, plying their trade elsewhere in the never ending conflicts of the Roman empire.