What is the history of Hyderabad?

What is a realistic alternate unfolding of history if the Roman Empire never rose?

• I am in the beginning stages of writing a novel. The world history is based the real world but with a significantly different history. Specifically, the Romans Empire never became a thing, because the Greeks did not lose against them. I have not yet ironed out the details just yet, but this is the primary turning point. There is a lot of variables in history and this story changes quite a few, but it is all resultant from this point in history.   The Jews, never having the "They killed Jesus/ Kill the Jews!" stigma attached to them were never pressured into moving as a cohesive group of people. In real life, moving around as an identified and (somewhat) isolated group bred solidarity and, for a lack of a better word, brotherhood amongst them. It also made misinformation rampant about them, and with distrust about them similar in most parts of the world, they became heavily stigmatised, highlighted in the Holocaust.   In this story, the Jews never "migrated", instead staying around the middle eastern area's of the world. On one side, what would separate the Jews from Africa is a port, and on the other side is Eurasia (this of course also applies to everyone else in the area). Mixed marriages and some degree of multiculturalism dilute their culture, and without urgency many grandchildren may simply ignore their history. Most of this happens close to the B.C./A.D. divide. Early Christianity does not happen, and by extension, neither does Islam as the Jews became less and less different from everyone else (I would hope this doesn't sound bigoted, but it probably does).   Without the auspices of the catholic monarchs of Spain, Christopher Columbus never set sail to America. In the story, it is eventually later discovered, but without the colonisation. This being, exchange between America and Europe never happened (or at least to such a degree). The major difference is one 1) the potato is not introduced, and 2) tobacco and sugar exports do not happen. America does not become the economic powerhouse it is today. The Sioux people retain ownership of the land.   African slave trade also does not happen. The Songhai people native to Africa maintain their powerhouse status, but without much growth until later. Coffee, and by extension, caffeine, also never becomes a widely established concept (without the major use and trust of coffee, caffeine, while known, is severely restricted and probably a novelty). I would imagine this would have an effect on the economy, particularly non-laborious sectors. Now, back to the Greeks. Though they did not lose against the Romans, it was a Pyrrhic victory... They did not become an alternative version of the Roman Empire, and instead are roughly equal in power to Gothic people of East Germany, and the Vikings. The Vikings spread significantly before their dilution left them to a similar legacy of the jewish people, though their seafaring nature, combined with the still strong (and weaker, eager for growth) (ancient) Greek populace, connected much of the world. The America's are discovered, by Eurasia being influenced by the Greeks, Vikings, Goths, and the Huns as separate groups, do not colonise the continent, though communication does become established at a later date. Tobacco still does not become an established drug across Europe, and aside from the fact that people are not smoking, the tobacco companies (amongst others) are not, and never were, playing their current day part in deforestation.   The Vikings and Greek's eventually find Egypt (close to the time as the Jewish dilution). The Vikings, having significantly better seafaring abilities, reached Africa first, and, because of cultural and political differences, somewhat separately then the Greeks. I would imagine the Vikings met the Songhai people; the Vikings, being unused to the African climate and with significantly less less advanced at Metallurgy than the Songhai people, intermingled as a group and to some extent mixed. It is around this time that the Viking influence starts to diminish, though they still play their part in Ireland. They don't quite fair as well against the Celts as they did in real life, but they still have a devastating effect (in effect, there is simply more Celts who, having integrated with the Vikings and having learnt many of their seafaring technology, have a greater influence in Eurasia, and do not become as diminished). (Also, because their was no potatoes in Ireland, the population is sparser, but also unaffected by the Potato Famine).   Due to the relatively high amount of communication within Africa and Eurasia (helped by the Huns), communication technology is pressured into advancing (also helped by the Huns, who had postal service), especially as the Visigoths and Ostrogoths (both subdivisions of the Gothic people) become more firmly separate in identity. Science and technology picks up sometime after, and with the communication between many cultures being widespread, they were not as inhibited by religious or cultural significance, though what effect they did have is markedly different from modern day science and technologies history.   The America's remain primarily under the ownership of the Sioux people in  the North and the tribes of the South. The entire strip of land is primarily tribal in regards to human activity. The edges of Eurasia and Africa are primarily ports, and due to pressure, technology to make salt water drinkable becomes widely spread (somewhat more sophisticated than evaporation tents and the like of today), and the general communications and transport powers reduce the damage of droughts in Africa, helping to maintain it's significance. Africa is maintained largely by the descendants of the Songhai people. Oil is still a known and relied upon commodity. The borders of continents are populated primarily by labourers; sailors, fishermen and the like. The closer to the centre of Africa and Eurasia the more work that resembles modern day lower-middle class work today is widely in place. Islands are primarily used for more intellectual work; scientists, engineers, politicians, artists and the like are primarily here (very few people are actually born there, and their ports are separate from other affairs). Madagascar, Ireland, Britain, Iceland and Greenland are the primary islands for this.   Then, bird flu breaks out (the story is actually set a little in the future), due to somewhat poorer medicinal knowledge (the catholic church wasn't around to keep as strong a grasp of scientific knowledge), it causes something close to an apocalypse (humanity still survived the Black Death, but treated Bird Flu (and Swine Flu) somewhat similarly). I would imagine that human history did not have a large impact on whether or not those epidemics actually began, and more on how they were treated. I knows that is lot. How feasible is this?

• Answer:

  Interesting synopsis and obviously one you have thought a lot about.  I have a couple of questions for you however.  A lot of what you have written appears to hinge on Christianity never having happened.  What is your basis for this?  How have you connected your main thesis (the Greeks are never conquered by the Romans) to the life and death a prophet named Jesus of Nazareth in Palestine? Because as far as I can tell, regardless of who governs Palestine, Jesus will still be born.  There is no reason presented as to why he does not become a prophet and in turn why he wouldn't upset the Jewish establishment.  His death is still likely because it was a Jewish religious leaders who wanted it.  The subsequent writings about his life are still likely to give birth to Christianity.  Without the Roman empire to surpress Christianity for 300 years there is no reason why it should not grow.  The main difference I can imagine is that the Church never becomes based in Rome because there is no Constantine to establish Roman Christianity.  So where does the Church centre itself?  And why does this not lead to Christian Westernised Europe? Love to hear your thoughts.