I've got an idea for a de-Latinized world puttering around in my head, but I don't think I have the energy or the will to make a full TL out of it (aside from which I still have some stuff for my computer industry TL that I'll eventually put up).
There's basically a double/triple/quadruple POD, relating to the Romans in the 60s-70s AD:
First, the Battle of Watling Street goes the other way. Boudica and her forces are triumphant over the Romans. The Britons become such a problem that Nero decides to give up Britain (as he considered doing OTL - or was it Claudius?). Somehow (handwave) Boudica manages to establish a semi-unified Brittanic Kingdom ruling about half of England, passing it on to her most promising daughter. Although it isn't so simple, there are quite a few civil wars and rebellions and dynasty changes and such, there remains a semi-unified Brittanic kingdom controlling at least some parts of England for a few centuries.
Second, the Romans have another failure: Judea. OTL it was a pretty tough cookie, with an initial stalemate and years of bloody sieges including Jerusalem and Masada.
Let's say that after Nero's death there is an even more convoluted and bloody succession crisis, causing the Roman response to stall somewhat. Also, credit the Judeans with some more military luck than OTL. Judea quickly becomes a Vietnam/Afghanistan for Rome - a long and bloody mess. It doesn't help matters when, not far north, the Parthians leap into the fray, leaving much of the east in shambles. Throw in a few barbarian incursions from Germania and the Roman situation is a bit tricky, at best.
I'm not sure how to spell out exactly what happens, but throw in a few more political crises and rebellions and, by sometime in the 2nd century,
the Roman Empire is no more (although Italia, Dalmatia, Iberia, and parts of Africa and southern Gaul remain under a government ruled by Rome), with independent Greek states in Greece/Anatolia and Egypt. Judea flip-flops between independence, being a Parthian puppet, and being dominated by the Greek states.
Fast-forward a few centuries. The Parthians, much stronger than OTL and not falling to the Sassanids, expand northward into Central Asia, pushing even more barbarian tribes westward. They mostly carve into the western Empire, almost replacing them utterly. There's quite a bit of shuffling, the 'Germanic' peoples live in southern Europe and northern Africa, the 'Slavs' are in central/central-eastern Europe, and the 'Turks' and many other groups are in far eastern Europe. Latin culture is mostly assimilated or dismantled by the invaders - the majority of western Europeans pray to Wotan, people speak German languages, etc. Most of the Middle East is Grecophile and monotheistic (Following Judaism, Zoroastrianism, or some strange variants of Christianity). Most of the Scandinavian Germanics ended up in France or the low countries or western Germany, leaving most of Norway and Sweden under Suomi/Sami/Eesti control, with Finland being Baltic. (Basically, everything is jumbled). Britain remains largely Brittanic; the Jutes or someone manage to gain a toehold in northern England, but not enough come in to displace the dominant Celtic culture.
Latinate culture has had far less influence than OTL, "English" is spoken in Portugal if anywhere, there's no Islam whatsoever, Greek and Persian culture are preeminent in the Middle East, and the Turks never end up anywhere near Turkey. Is this in any way sensible?
There's basically a double/triple/quadruple POD, relating to the Romans in the 60s-70s AD:
First, the Battle of Watling Street goes the other way. Boudica and her forces are triumphant over the Romans. The Britons become such a problem that Nero decides to give up Britain (as he considered doing OTL - or was it Claudius?). Somehow (handwave) Boudica manages to establish a semi-unified Brittanic Kingdom ruling about half of England, passing it on to her most promising daughter. Although it isn't so simple, there are quite a few civil wars and rebellions and dynasty changes and such, there remains a semi-unified Brittanic kingdom controlling at least some parts of England for a few centuries.
Second, the Romans have another failure: Judea. OTL it was a pretty tough cookie, with an initial stalemate and years of bloody sieges including Jerusalem and Masada.
Let's say that after Nero's death there is an even more convoluted and bloody succession crisis, causing the Roman response to stall somewhat. Also, credit the Judeans with some more military luck than OTL. Judea quickly becomes a Vietnam/Afghanistan for Rome - a long and bloody mess. It doesn't help matters when, not far north, the Parthians leap into the fray, leaving much of the east in shambles. Throw in a few barbarian incursions from Germania and the Roman situation is a bit tricky, at best.
I'm not sure how to spell out exactly what happens, but throw in a few more political crises and rebellions and, by sometime in the 2nd century,
the Roman Empire is no more (although Italia, Dalmatia, Iberia, and parts of Africa and southern Gaul remain under a government ruled by Rome), with independent Greek states in Greece/Anatolia and Egypt. Judea flip-flops between independence, being a Parthian puppet, and being dominated by the Greek states.
Fast-forward a few centuries. The Parthians, much stronger than OTL and not falling to the Sassanids, expand northward into Central Asia, pushing even more barbarian tribes westward. They mostly carve into the western Empire, almost replacing them utterly. There's quite a bit of shuffling, the 'Germanic' peoples live in southern Europe and northern Africa, the 'Slavs' are in central/central-eastern Europe, and the 'Turks' and many other groups are in far eastern Europe. Latin culture is mostly assimilated or dismantled by the invaders - the majority of western Europeans pray to Wotan, people speak German languages, etc. Most of the Middle East is Grecophile and monotheistic (Following Judaism, Zoroastrianism, or some strange variants of Christianity). Most of the Scandinavian Germanics ended up in France or the low countries or western Germany, leaving most of Norway and Sweden under Suomi/Sami/Eesti control, with Finland being Baltic. (Basically, everything is jumbled). Britain remains largely Brittanic; the Jutes or someone manage to gain a toehold in northern England, but not enough come in to displace the dominant Celtic culture.
Latinate culture has had far less influence than OTL, "English" is spoken in Portugal if anywhere, there's no Islam whatsoever, Greek and Persian culture are preeminent in the Middle East, and the Turks never end up anywhere near Turkey. Is this in any way sensible?