PROLOGUE

Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon river on January 12, A.V.C. 705 (49BCE). As he moved south, both sides sought to reach a compromise. Pompey offered to retire to Hispania if Caesar disbanded his forces. Caesar refused but suggested that he and Pompey met.

By January 20, the consuls, their armies and much of a Senate had fled to Achaea, but Pompey himself stayed behind in Italia. He returned to his homeland of Picenum, where he met Caesar. The egos of both men would not let either make a complete about face. Finally, however, Pompey realised that he had little chance of defeating Caesar, especially with the dissension awaiting him in Apollonia.

Not wanting a devastating civil war, Pompey and Caesar agreed not to fight each other and Pompey went to Apollonia to plead for peace in the Senate. A stalemate ensued as the Republic would not negotiate with Caesar. Pompey is disgusted by the senatorial divisions and when they overlook him as dictator, he upped sticks and returned to his loyal troops in Hispania, hoping to force the Senate to beg him to return.



IN THE PROVINCES

After Pompey left, Italia declared for Caesar and more recently Caesar met with Cicero over a proposed reconciliation. The two have also spoken of the dividing of Caesar's Gaul into serviceable provinces

The independent city of Massilia, under their archon Leander Callicrates, realised that he may have to take a side in the current stalemate. After a meeting with Caesar, the archon has apparently sided with Caesar

In Hispania, Pompey and his commanders have to deal with a possible revolt of the Vasconi in unconquered Hispania Incognita. Rumblings of unrest in Hispania Ulterior proved to be true as Lucius Cornelius Balbus Minor declared himself governor of the province. Cnaeus Pompeius Minor is currently besieging Balbus in Gades but there has been some negotiations between Pompeius Magnus and Julius Caesar over the treatment of Balbus

In Apollonia, the Senate continues to prove its division. Many, including Marcus Porcius Cato, hope to maintain Republican values while others realise that Rome has changed. The exiled Republicans have decided to move to Ephesus, closer to the Parthian front

In the Levant, open war between the Republic, in the guise of Quintus Caecilius Metellus Scipio, governor of Syria, and the Parthians has broken out. The Parthian King keeps a bodyguard of Roman soldiers captured at Carrhae in A.V.C. 701 (53BCE). Recently, the Roman forces have endured hardship and defeat in skirmishes. Their water and supplies are running low and to make matters worse Scipio himself has been taken ill. To help alleviate the problem, Sextus Pompeius has been dispatched as a legate to hire mercenaries from the Republic's allies in the Levant, including Egypt, Nabataea and Judaea before marching to the aid of Scipio

In Africa, the King of Numidia, Juba I, nominally a client king of the Republic, appears to have sided with Caesar and has invaded another Republican client kingdom, Mauretania and incorporated it into his kingdom. Juba has gone further as to send raiding parties into the Republican province of Africa. The Exiled Senate has yet to respond even though the African governor has asked for money and aid

In Egypt, the dynastic squabbles between Ptolemy and Cleopatra came to a head when Sextus Pompeius arrived to procure funds for the Republic. The Egyptians forced Sextus to choose a ruler and he at length sided with the Queen. In the subsequent double siege of Alexandria, Pompeius and Lucius Afranius, Pompeius Magnus's lieutenant newly arrived from Hispania with the XXVth Legion, defeated the Ptolemy's men, delivering all of Egypt to Cleopatra. The alliance between the Senate and the Queen gave the Republic control of the island of Cyprus. Now in full control of Egypt, Cleopatra has undertaken to rebuild Alexandria and to make contact with many of the states both major and minor throughout the Meditterranean


CAESAR'S PROVINCES

Transalpine Gaul (all of Gaul up to the English Channel)
Cisalpine Gaul
Provincia Romana
Italia
Illyria
Sardinia
Corsica
Sicily

REPUBLICAN PROVINCES

Macedonia
Thrace
Achaea
Asia Province
Pontus
Bithynia
Cilicia
Cyrenaica
Africa
Syria
Hispania Ulterior (Pompeius Magnus)
Hispania Citerior (Pompeius Magnus)

ROMAN CLIENT KINGDOMS

Numidia/Mauretania (Caesar)
Egypt
Judaea
Nabataea
Rhodes
Colchis
Bosphorus
Massilia

THE PARTHIAN EMPIRE AND HER CLIENT KINGDOMS

Palmyra
Edessa
Armenia
Atropatene