| abstract
| - The following is a timeline of the Middle East in the Saint Muhammad timeline, during 150 years from 750 to 900 AD.
* 751: Simeon decides to rename Yesû (a name which he often considered bland and which Afrêm had more than once called only a temporary name) into the name of "Maranatha" (meaning "Come, Oh Lord" in Aramaic). Abraham, Levantine king, noticing war has been averted in the Middle East, disbands most of his army and begins planning the building of a Third Temple of Jerusalem, claiming it will be "larger and more luxurious than any before, fitting only for God himself". He begins choking the Via Maris so to get higher prices and hence supply his building attempts and base resources. In Persia, the emperor Shapur II declares his intent to reduce the impact of levies in Persia by bringing in Chinese soldiers, mostly Sogdian-Turk soldiers, with their leader, An Lushan, (which was hired at a quite high price despite the Tang Emperors' favoritism for him) being granted a large palace in Nishapur.
* 752: Simeon, in an act angering many, declares his intention to re-write the Nestorian Bible based on what he claims to be the "true words of Patriarch Nestorius". Thousands of scribes are convoked to the city of Babylon so to begin work. The main changes on the Nestorian Bible are eliminating or modifying the passages advocating intolerance and violence in a "holy war" kind (something needed in a state where Christianity only formed slightly over half of the population, and its main cult was a plurality and not a majority) as well as any verses advocating iconoclasm (Nestorian society had developed into a highly anti-iconoclastic one) and stating that good deeds were not sufficient for salvation. This makes the Nestorian Church the vanguard of ethics in the Christian world. King Ptolemy of Egypt begins building heavily on temples for both main religions in his nation (Copts and Pagans) in Upper and Lower Egypt respectively. He divides several areas of Upper Egypt to be ruled "by Pagans for Pagans". He also arranges a royal marriage with Simeon, marrying his sister Hina.
* 753: Shapur begins work on rebuilding Persepolis. He also begins lifting the opression of minorities in the Empire, once again allowing the Mazdakists and Nestorians freedom of worship. Shapur also begins working on establishing a permanent, stronger army so to establish a strong infantry base. This is taken as a final, needed response not to the Byzantine army (mostly now standing on Europe) but to the adoption of the Parsi adoption of Rajput infantry, far more efficient than the old light Persian infantry.
* 754: The Arab queen Kadijah, tired of the period of peace, furiously mobilises her army in both the Straits of Eliat and Arabian Bahrayn, attempting to take the Allies by surprise. Shimun immediately stops the cultural building and begins drafting a large army, using the advantage of the best infrastructure routes in the world so to have better of a mobilisation time. Kimit and Iran also begin mobilisation but at a slower rate that the more threatened Aram and Axum. Simeon and Hina's child is name Duke of Damascus and heir to the Aramaic throne.
* 755: The Khazars turn the back from Sassanid-backed Uralic tribes in its north and east to launch a punitive strike in Sassanid Udistan. The War of Udistan breaks the twenty six-year old truce in the Middle East when An Lushan is sent by Shapur II to defeat the Khazars. Lushan's army marches north and with its now heavy divisions of infantry and aided by Arabian Gombrooni tribes defeats the Khazars in the Caucasus. The following stalemate will prove to be a great strain in both Persia and Khazaria (in the second going as far as forcing it to lose most of its territory) and last a long time. Afraid of a possible defeat, Khadijah begins to build a palace and fortified city in Rub al-Khali, both controlling all water and food in the area and establishing a nearly impregnable fortress.
* 756: Simeon declares the establishment of a new Aramaic set of laws, based on a semi-secular thought and Hammurabbi's Code (and helped to be built by Simeon's father Afrêm). Added to that was established the creation of administrative divisions (three Kingdoms, Damascus, Babylon and Maranatha, and several Duchies) which could each choose its official language (if it wasn't Aramaic) and a liturgical language. This set the bases for modern federalism (a still strong central government, but the provinces have heavy independences).
* 757: Seeing the opportunity to strike without the Persians being involved in the war, Arabia quickly strikes at Maranatha, knowing that, although it was more perilous, would provide to a more prestigious and physically closer conquest, as well as closing entirely the access of Mesopotamia to the Indian Sea and an opening to Kimit. Kimit sends a corps of soldiers to protect Maranatha as the Aramaic army drafts.
* 758: Aram's arm up continues at a very fastened rate while the stalemate in Udistan and a battle raging between the Kimit army and the Medinan one in Maranatha continues. Levantine armies send aid to Coptic ones in Nabatea, afraid of Aram (it's "buffer") falling.
* 759: Aram continues its mobilisation sending already-armed troops south into Bahrayn so to distract the Arabs in Maranatha. This causes the Siege of Maranatha to finally end as most Arab troops are sent down to meet the Aramaic armies in Awal while the rest is destroyed by the Coptic army. Khadijah herself also sends an offensive towards Saba.
* 760: The Arabs, trying to avoid a three-pronged attack from Sassanid and Aramaic forces, atack Gombroon and Awal during a nightly raid, attempting to eliminate all navies in the Persian Gulf. While it is somewhat of a success, both navies are not successfully destroyed and only flee up the Euphrates towards Babylon.
* 761: The Arabian navy, led by an incompetent leader after the old one's excecution after the fail in Awal, tries to block the Red Sea. Aramaic fleets just surround and destroy it, freeing Awal from any possibility of siege and leaving Arabia's coast undefended. Khadijah sends her son 'Umar and the Ali'id Fatimah to Rub al-Khali.
* 762: The Arabian army attempts to attack Babylon. However, the-badly outnumbered- Aramaic army intercepts them shortly after crossing the Euphrates (which was during high tide) some ten miles south of Babylon and burns the ships so to traverse the Euphrates. Several tribal lords yield and many thousands or soldiers are either slain or drown, causing an Aramaic poet to write that 'if fish could speak, they'd speak in Arabic, for all the Arabic blood they've drank'. With more than twenty thousand Arab casualties, the Battle for Babylon is considered among the heroic high points of Aram's military history.
* 763: Persia begins overrunning the Khazars thanks to Mordvin aid to the north and diverts troops south. Shapur sends his navy to land a small corps near to OTL Jidda. While it later pulls back to Saba, it proves the futility of Medina's army and has Axum send most of its army to attack Oman.
* 764: Aramaic troops launch an invasion of Bahrayn while at the same time local Pagan and Christian tribes, always pro-Aramaic after the First Arabian War, uprise.
* 765: Bahrayn's coast easily falls to Aram while a second offensive from Awal overruns Qatar. The Axumites launch an offensive into Hedjaz and Oman, attempting to cut off the near to impenetrable Arabian inland from its coasts. By November, all Medinan ports in Oman but Sohar, Muscat and Sur have fallen due to Allied military supremacy and the navy's blockade.
* 766: A large Persian amy lands at Dibba and lays siege to Julfar, the area's largest city.
* 767: Persia storms Julfar albeit with tragic casualties. Aramaic and Persian troops meet on the OTL Saudi passage between Qatar and the UAE, where the Persian fort of Shahafwāj (Shah's victorious army) would be built.
* 768: Axum marches north on Rub al-Khali where the Axumite army is defeated.
* 769: Peace is accorded: Medina would lose even more of Hadramawt to Axum while Kimit gained the forts and control of the Straits of Maranatha, Aram gauned a part of northern Hejaz and Bahrayn and Persia would gain Shahafwāj.
* 770: Shapur's building of Persepolis finishes but it becomes little more than a place of culture and retirement; Shapur begins his plans of turning Gombroon into the glorious Shapurabad (Shapur's city) or Abad-Shahr (Eternal City), a city that in Shapur's words will make Maranatha, Babylon, Constantinople and Pārsa all seem little more than sand towns. Simeon begins work ofmhis own royal palaces in Babylon, a huge complex destined to the arts outshining even the Hanging Gardens. Unfortunately for him, he would only use part of it before his death.
* 771: The Levantine court switches from Jerusalem to Jaffa as a way to content the underepresented Phoenicians and Copts. Ptolemy of Egypt dies and is replaces by his son Antonius II, who joins the cultural competence game by building more temples and chirches and a glorious caoital and necropolis near the Valley of the Kings.
* 772: The Coptic king Antonius requests Simeon and Agbar, Duke of Damascus and Maranatha, for Coptic soldiers that so wish to to settle in Aram and act as local soldiers in southern Nabatea in possible wars against the Levant and Medina. Simeon reluctantly agrees thanks to influence from Hina.
* 773: The Levant's building of the Temple of Jerusalem finishes and the Levantines begin building a new royal capital some ten km southeast of Jaffa.
* 774: Simeon declares he is not to rule the army anymore. He grants that power to Agbar of Damascus, his and Hina of Egypt's daughter. He also has him marry Princess Dido of Phoenicia in an act of good faith towards the Levantines.
* 775: Khadijah dies and is replaced by her son 'Umar, who kills both Fatim Ali'id and her son Muhammad, leaving two-year old Hussayn as the last member of the Ali'ids. Afraid of the much more pro-Aramaic Ali'ids dying out, Agbar demands for Arabia to hand over Hussayn so as a ward. 'Umar, knowing Medina is not yet ready for another war, reluctantly agrees.
* 781: The Levant's Hebrew-liderated monarchy dies off with the death of Alon I, who died without issue. Hamilcar of Tyre, a noble, father of Dido of Phoenicia and the leader of most of the Levantine army, rises to the throne and establishes a new building of more secular cultural icons, starting to turn Jaffa into yet another of the glorious "royal cities". The construction of Abad-Shahr is almost complete among the smallest parts of the city's buildings, and the huge palace, even larger than Simeon's Monument. Angered about this, Simeon begins declaring the building of a much larger palace.
* 782: Discontent over the weak claim Hamilcar has over the throne, Zimrida of Gebal, Danel of Sidon, Kanmi of Haifa, Haakon of Jerusalem and Chaviv, Prince of the Negev all rise as respective kings (all with claims to descend from either older Jewish and Phoenician nobilities, Biblical and early historical characters, or through the ancestor of Alon), starting the War of the Seven Kings. Agbar marches in with a small corps to protect his wife's heritage.
* 783: Hamilcar and his son Hasdrubal both die in a disastrous Battle for Judea against Chaviv, leaving a bastard son, Aqhat, as the only male heir to Hamilcar's heritage, after which the throne would go to Simeon and indirectly Agbar of Aram. Chaviv himself takes over Gaza after the battle leaving him with the strongest claim.
* 784: Agbar sends most of the armies stationed in the provinces of Damascus, Petra, Maranatha and Alexandretta (comprising of about thirty percent of the armies in Aram) to secure his claim over the Levant, turning the help into more of an invasion. He claims that Aqhat as a bastard is not able to be the King, and offers him princedom of Sidon in exchange for the claim to go to Dido of Phoenicia. Aqhat, knowing all his possibilities (and survival) rest upon the Aramaic army after the destruction of his father's army in Judea, agrees.
* 785: An army from Antioch invades Phoenicia; it easily secures the loyalty of Batroun and the inland Aramaic populations and lays siege to Tripoli, refusing to surrender.
* 786: The army besieging Tripoli is spit in two; the largest part (some three-fourths of the army) marches south to Gebal, where Zimrida is defeated and decides to bend the knee instead of being annihilated. He is pardoned and named Count of Gebal without further problems.
* 787: Tripoli falls after the death of the Castellan (who refused to believe Zimrida had bent the knee) and is given to the Count of Sidon, naming him Lord Protector of Phoenicia. The Aramaic army continues marching south, seizing Beirut and placing all of southern Lebanon into danger. Several lordlings abandon their local families and swear fealty to Dido.
* 788: Simeon dies suddenly, aged around 60, and Agbar has to return to Babylon to the coronation. Aqhat is placed in charge of the army, but, instead of Agbar's policies of dividing the army and continuing to move, he leaves all of the army sieging Beirut, leaving the six kings a chance to rest. Sidon, Haifa and Jerusalem join together in an attempt of triumvirate so to stop the Aramaic army. In Persia, Shapur falls ill and knowing that most of his goals remain unaccomplished he grants certain freedom of religion, as well as establishing a code of law based on Cyrus' Cylinder.
* 789: Beirut surrenders in July; however, by the time Aqhat begins moving south to Tyre the Triumvirate has established a new army. They establish a stalemate.
* 790: The stalemate is finished as a small division of the Aramaic army lures most of the Triumvirate's army into an ambush. Over 60% of the Triumvirate's army dies (together with Sidon), and the rest flees to Jerusalem together with Haifa and Jerusalem; soon afterwards, not only does Tyre and Sidon surrender to the Aramaic people but the prince of the Negev launches an attack north to defeat the Triumvirate.
* 791: Haifa leads his army north into the remains of Phoenicia as commanded by Jerusalem; however, trying to avoid more bloodshed in Phoenicia, he gives up. Attempting to appear as forgiving, Aqhat grants him the de facto countship of Gaza.
* 792: Aram marches south while a smaller army embarks and crosses the Dead Sea and lays siege to the Prince of the Negev's main non-economical fortress, Masada. Shapur dies and is replaced by his son Bahram VII. Bahram continues Shapur's works.
* 793: Masada falls and the Prince of the Negev decides to march east and defeat the Aramaic army. However, he is disastrously defeated and dies in the attempt.
* 794: Aram sends Jerusalem a letter that states "the writing on the wall is there, and you must surrender if you wish to survive" (something quite ironic, given the fact that the writing on the wall happened, according to the Bible, in Babylon). Jerusalem surrenders and is named Duke of Judea, and Dido finally comes in and finally is crowned in the royal citadel in Jaffa as Queen of the Levant.
* 795: Agbar bethrodes his six-year-old son Afrêm to Husayn's two-year-old daughter Khadijah.
* 796: Irene of Athens begins a pagan revolt seeking independence of Greece's more-pagan territories. Byzantium withdraws more troops from Anatolia.
* 797: A lord from Armenia, noting the weakness of the Byzantine regime, moves to Byzantine Cicilia and establishes a regime there, based on Tarsus, close to (or according to some maps inside) Aramaic territories.
* 798: Fouad launches an invasion of the Pentapolis but is assassinated on the way. He only leaves a bastard son, Shenouda, who is crowned among heavy controversy.
* 799: The Anno Domine counting method begins to be used amongst Nestorians, Levantine Miaphysites and Orthodox Christians, while some continue using either regnal years, the Assyrian calendar, or the Coptic one.
* 800: Byzantium moves east to contain the Cicilians while at the north the Turks and Uralics rebel and Irene's rebellion goes on. Byzantium raises a second army of sellswords led by Ser Drogo, a Poitevine knight. Brutally savage and entirely paid for by the Byzantine arks, they destroy and pillage the Turk and Uralic territories within Byzantium until nothing could live there according to a contemporary poet.
* 801: The sellsword army faces a Greek one off Thermopylae. Although outnumbered around 1.3 to 1, the Greek army is afraid into discipline and as soon as they retreat into the pass, they soon break and defeat the sellsword army. Most selswords die in the battle or in the fleeing while others (including Ser Drogo) return to Europe.
* 802: Armenian diplomats travel to Aram, Armenia and Persia to seek aid and recognition. They find success in Aram at least where Agbar agrees to give up the (mostly non-Aramaic) area of the Taurus and withdraw east of the Pyramus (in OTL the Ceyhan River) and aid Armenia in the war.
* 803: Aramaic and Armenian troops land on Zephyrion and move north to attack the Greeks. They cross the Armenian border and find the Byzantine army moving south from near OTL Konya. However, they do not yet engage in battle.
* 804: The Byzantine army is smashed in a disastrous defeat by surprising the Byzantines and outflanking them.
* 805: A second, stronger Byzantine army begins to be armed up to fight while Byzantium offers Aram gold for it to stop helping the Armenians. Aram, rich enough, feels bribed and offended, and denies. Agbar names his son Afrêm the Second, aged 16, Duke of Damascus and leader of the Aramaic army, and begins building his palace/monument dedicated to warfare.
* 806: Afrêm soon notes he is a man of war by once again smashing Konya's army and siege the city.
* 807: Iconium falls and is followed by a march southwest into Attalia (Antalya) which falls as well. Byzantium gives in and recognises Cicilian Armenia in its borders (see map above).
* 808: Afrêm marries Khadijah. At the same time, Umar in Arabia dies with only a bastard son called of all things 'Ali, who is not accepted by many Meccans (who start calling in Afrêm and Khadijah to rule Arabia). At the same time, Byzantium's destroyed army returns to the forts not under Armenian control east after being defeated by Irene's rebellion and the new Kingdom of Hellas. With this, Anastasius III, Emperor of Byzantium, is deposed and replaced by Basil of Pontus, starting the Pontian Dynasty.
* 809: Afrêm merges the Levant and Aram into one. He also sends a mildly large expedition south into Arabia so to aid the revolters and have Khadijah be crowned. The Arabian War of Succession
* 810: Aramaic armies sail from Awal and Maranatha and land in Sohar. They begin marching north so to take Rustaq and Ibri and hence cut off supplies towards Rub al-Khali.
* 811: Medinan armies march north trying to cut off Maranatha just to be crushed by a huge army coming from Judea.
* 812: Shenouda sends support to Aram and, noticing his own son was not a popular heir, names Afrêm's son Husayn heir to Kimit.
* 815: Aramaic armies continue marching south and at last reach the town of Yanbu', where Khadijah is coronated as Queen of Arabia. With the news, 'Ali is forced to relocate to the fortress in Rub al-Khali. His caravan however is extremely slow because of how big it has to be for enough water and food.
* 816: The demoralised Arabian troops flee from battles in the Hijaz, and Mecca surrenders to the Aramaic army. Khadijah is once again coronated. Bahram dies and is replaced by his son Kavadh III, who begins continuing Shapur III's works by granting rights to minorities once again.
* 817: Aram lands troops across Oman's coast, with most of the army taking garrison in Sohar.
* 818: With Aram incapable of properly occupying Rub al-Khali and the Muhammadids losing most of Arabia already, peace is signed; Khadijah would be recognised as Queen of Arabia if the Muhammadids would be allowed rule over all of Rub al-Khali and be allowed to return to Mecca.
* 819: Afrêm gives up his rule. the shortest in Aramaic history until that date, to his son Husayn (known as Husayn the Great). He soon inherits Arabia from his mother, who follows the Aramaic tradition and builds her palace in Medina.
* 820: Husayn begins establishing trade customs and defined routes across the nation so to control the Silk Route. This angers Persians and Byzantines alike.
* 821: An outbreak of smallpox affects Kimit and Nabatea. Several thousand dies, including much of the Coptic royal house (all except Ghobrial Throneless, Shenouda's child, Barseen Nestorid and his descent, children of a cadet branch of the Coptic house and Anyota Nestorid, Afrêm I's daughter die), which leaves Kimit leadless.
* 822: As the first signs of smallpox subsiding in the inlands (especially the large city of Bedhet, where the outbreak was slight to start with), Husayn marches with a royal guard into Bedhet and is crowned in a space between the local Miaphysite cathedral and the Temple to Horus, which are next to each other.
* 823: Noticing that he now controls most of the trade routes in the East Mediterranean, Husayn begins planning to block off the Mediterranean from Persia except through Aram by invading Iberia and (Arsacid) Armenia. He amasses troops in the Taurus.
* 824: Aram establishes official taxing and tariffs of Silk Route trading, causing furor upon the Persians, Carthaginians and Byzantines among many others.
* 825: Armenia is at last invaded by Husayn. The troops march across the Caucasus sustainiAng huge losses due to the terrible terrain and bad weather. However, they continue advancing, destroying the local armies, outgunned and outnumbered.
* 826: The Aramaic March on Armenia finishes after Dvin's downfall. Armenia is turned into an Aramaic puppet with the taxes and customs from trade routes. The Aramaic leave troops in northern Armenia, preparing to invade Iberia.
* 827: Trade routes are heavily defined by Husayn, taking the most popular routes and placing guards around them. They also establish customs places in large cities, necessary for trading.
* 828: The Persian population in Ctesiphon-Veh Ardashir rebels. Responding to this, they start encouraging Greek and Aramaic population, which revives the names Seleucia and (New) Opis.
* 829: Basil declares he is no longer to follow Husayn's "petty" trade quarrels. He mobilises amongst the Taurus and both of the Armenian borders. Aram does the same.
* 830: Kavadh III, who created several liberalising reforms in Persia, dies and is replaced by the foreign diplomacy-oriented Khosrau VI, who tries to bargain with Aram so to get lower tariffs.
* 831: Basil of Byzantium attacks Aramaic positions, who fight them back easily through knowledge and control of the Taurus mountain passes. The First Byzantine-Aramaic War begins.
* 832: Through diplomacy Husayn is able to get Cicilia and Armenia into the war, while Basil gets Iberia to join in. Fighting breaks out into the Caucasus while Aramaic-Cicilian troops make a run for Iconium so to cut east Anatolia's resources off.
* 833: Byzantine forces attempt to cross the Taurus through the Karahan Geçidi (In ATL now known as Husayn's Gates), where a host led by Husayn the Great himself defeat and destroy a host that in Arabo-Aramaic historial Muhammad Emoo's words "was enough to protect five Byzantine themata in times of war" (while the losses were huge, this is most likely an exaggeration). Under the threat of his homeland, the Pontus, falling and the shock of the news, Basil I might have suffered cardiac arrest and is replaced by his young son Leo V. Aram's troops march west and north attempting to get to Trebizond and Cesarea.
* 834: A mildly large Byzantine army sails from Attalia and lands in Antioch, which falls due to lack of preparations. The garisson withdraws to the Amanian and Cilician gate fortresses so to not entirely lose control over that area.
* 835: The Byzantines defeat the Aramaics off Cesarea and both armies retreat to both Husayn's Gates and Antioch. At the same time, Persia's emperor is killed and is replaced by his very warlike brother Peroz IV, who begins arming up in the east. Husayn arms up troops (mostly cavalry and lightly-armed pikemen to face the cavalry Persian army) based in Egypt and Arabia and leads them east to Mandaestan and Khuzestan.
* 836: A large attack by the former garrison, Cicilian troops and a small Phoenician navy retakes Antioch, leading to the recovery of Cicilia. In Khuzestan, troops continue to face each other.
* 837: A large Persian army launches a huge attack into Mandaestan. The cavalry withdraws to Susa while the pikemen, at the rear of the army, have time to entrench themselves and stop the cavalry with certain difficulties. A large Judean army is also levied and packed into ships, to land near Abad-Shahr and strike a fatal blow to Persia. Husayn ordains a large palace to be built in Ctesiphon-Seleucia (-Veh Ardashir-New Opis) as well as walls covering the city. He also begins drawing stone from the unsightly monuments of Agbar and Afrêm so to begin building a huge monument to his rule.
* 838: The war in Cicilia goes into a stalemate, while at last in the Caucasus Iberia falls to Armenian forces. The Iberian government is replaced by a heritary monarchy loyal to Aram. In Persia, cavalrymen attack Persepolis/Istakhr and Shahafwāj, and are both successful. This deals a huge blow to Persia.
* 839: Persia's armies try to make a comeback by attacking Istakhr. They are successful and around half of the army is destroyed. The rest of it marches south into the smaller fortress of Bishapur, where they could mount a more efficient defense. The army heading for Gombroon is thrown off route and lands at the mouth of the Indus. They march east due to obsolete information stating it is still part of Persia until they find a Parsi scouting party. The Parsi (who are already in decline and whose Persian lineage was already being replaced by Rajputs converted to Zoroastrianism and Perso-Indian mestizos, now mostly Hindu and Jain) are convinced into attacking Turan and Baluchistan through the east.
* 840: Parsi troops march west and seize several Buddhist areas. However, the desert to which troops are unaccustomed stops them in Baluchistan. Throughout the west, the Aramaic army after reuniting returns to Istakhr and begin large-scale fighting in the Sassanid area of the city. In the west, fighting evolves into naval warfare with both nations trying to land troops and surprise the opposite's main ports; the Aramaic and Byzantine navies, at that time the two best in the world, are quite fit to each other.
* 841: Troops in Aram gain the upper hand over Byzantine navies around Cyprus. After seizing Famaugusta, bitter naval fighting resumes. A new threat also arises through the north; A Mordvin-Slav-Swedish Viking raid calling themselves the Rus (probably because of how in the first place where the Finnics came under Swedish Viking influence, Sweden was referred to as Ruotsi) begun attacking ports throughout the Pontus, Moesia and Iberia. The fighting of Istakhr subsides after an Aramaic victory.
* 842: In deep crisis, Byzantium begins looking for support from their Western citizens by looking for a communion between the Western and Orthodox churches. They are partially successful. Byzantine navies are forced to lure Aramaic ones into the Aegean Sea so to be close to the Pontus. However, they soon regret this when Aramaic troops defeat a garrison at Rhodes.
* 843: The Aramaic hold of the Aegean's isles ceases suddenly after a Rus' navy lands on Rhodes and Cyprus and declares the Lordship of the Aegean. Several Parsi armies flee Persian Sindh, leaving only an occupied coast behind in Makran, and try to sail up the Indus instead.
* 844: Persia summons slave Uzbekh cavalry so to attack the Parsi while it concentrates west. This is a complete success as troops establish a bloody stalemate just 50 km east of the Aramaic border.
* 845 Aram's resources begin overstretching as Vikings begin to pillage Aram as well. They send a last huge attack trying to take Cesarea and Trebizond so to end the Byzantine front. They also send trade expeditions so to buy slave-soldiers in Morocco and Africa. Soon, a close to 75,000 men strong slave and African army (one among which claims to descend from Bilal, an Ethiopian-Arabic companion of Muhammad's) is trained in Mesopotamia.
* 846: Troops in Persia break and flee to Ctesiphon. Wth Khuzestan taken, Sassanid armies move west. They are faced by the remains of the army and the black soldiers. The different fighting techniques surprise the Persians, which are defeated. In the west, Caesarea falls and the Lordship of the Ægean is spreading, so at last Byzantium accords a peace treaty paying a large tribute and agreeing to follow tariffs in Aram.
* 847: Aram moves its professionally armed soldiers east while the slaves go on training. They are offered freedom if they become full-out soldiers and fight bravely, which convinces many. In the east, after several repercussions from the heavy Afghan and Uzbekh attacks, the Aramaic army (having learned a lot of the east's tactics) withdraws down the Indus and back to Oman, where they rest.
* 848: After a bloody stalemate in Khuzestan ends and once again Persian soldiers flee east, Persia attempts to convince Ethiopia to join the war in their side, stating that "Aram's hunger will not be sated until the world is taken. You, sir, could be next". However, the Ethiopian emperor, stating he has no feud with Emperor Husayn, does not join in.
* 849: For the second time in the war, Istakhr falls, as does the important Zoroastrian temple in Sarvestan. The Aramaic armies also launch a second attack, northwards from Khuzestan, and seize Ectabana.
* 850: The Patriarch of Alexandria, Cosmas II, attacks the Nestorian leadership of Aram, calling for Miaphysite leaders across the world to attack it. The Ethiopian emperor does pay heed this time and amasses troops in Saba and southern Kimit. To this, Aram replies by sending off the African slave troops into the two threatened areas. Tibetan troops begin to be imported by Persians.
* 851: War at last breaks up when skirmishes (allegedly started by Aramaic troops, something quite likely) are mistook by Aramaic troops who march south and seize Aswan suddenly.
* 852: Troops march south from Arabia and take Najran in the border before marching south.They attempt to gain control over the (Ethiopian controlled) Gulf of Aden by seizing Saba and Djibouti. Soon enough, Sana'a is on the brink of falling.
* 853: A strong Aramaic army sails down the Nile, seizing the Nubian cities in their path. Emperor Dil Na'od notices the Ethiopian army, relatively backwards in regards to technology, does not have a chance, and decides to strike a deal with Aram. Leo V dies in Byzantium and is replaced by the king Constantine IV.
* 854; The Treaty of Bedhet is signed; in it, Ethiopia is forced to hand up "all those territories populated with the children of Shem" (officially, all lands populated by Semitic or Beja peoples; in reality, near to all the Amhara territories are left in Ethiopian territory, leaving only Beja Tigray, South Arabian and Ge'ez territories partially or entirely in the Aramaic gain). Emperor Dil Na'od is so disprestiged that his family, the Solomonid dynasty, is deposed and exiled to the Ethiopian highlands. In Ethiopia the Cushitic Zagwe family arises.
* 855: Aram celebrates its 200th aniversary by according white peace with Persian Emperor. The provinces of Makran, Paratan, Persis and Sakastan in Persia and Mandaestan (Susiana), Elam (Anshan), Sumer (Maishan), Syria, Adiabene and Osroene in Aram, Armeniakon and Anatolikon themes in Byzantium and Nobatia and Makuria in Axum are left behind with varying levels of devastation and left behind to rebuild. Husayn begins this immediately, establishing tariffs in Hormuz and Aden to gain money to finance building efforts.
* 856: Aram begins rebuilding Mandaestan and Elam, establishing fortifications in the border as well as building new cities or rebuilding ancient or destroyed ones; Anshan in Elam, Susa and Ahvaz in Mandaestan and Babylon-on-the-Zagros (OTL Ilam, Ilam Province) in Khuzestan. Persia does something similar, building new forts and cities across the destroyed areas.
* 857: Husayn continues his building in the east, while sending a focus west so to bring up his African provinces to the level. So to control the Red Sea trade to a larger extent, he builds the triple cities of Arbāiubīrtu (Arabian Fortress), Meluḫḫabābu (Door to Ethiopia) and Pušqukāraḫtānti (Strait Seaport). The towns' names would eventually be shortened to Arbai, Meluhha and Pusqukara.
* 858: Babylon-on-the-Zagros begins to be populated by the hitherto rural Luri and Kurdish local, after Aramaic incentives. So do Anshan, Susa and Ahvaz. Realising the huge success of the new cities and buildings, Husayn begins building cities in the South Mesopotamian coast and the Aramaic River (OTL Shatt al-Arab) so to control the large Mesopotamian trade and date palm production areas. Most cities continue to grow at a fast rate. CSAO (Ctesiphon-Seleucia-Ardashir-Opis) once again becomes the largest city in the world according to some archeologists, reaching close to 900,000 inhabitants. Alexandria and Bedhet also continue to grow, Alexandria reaching its Ptolemaic record of 300,000 people. Byzantium, noting the positive effects of the mild urbanisation, begins building cities in Anatolikon and Armeniakon, as well as around the Hellan borders.
* 859: Heavy urbanisation continues, spreading into Arabia (in Aram), Moesia and Dacia (in Byzantium) and northern Iran (in Persia). In Aram, the Qallu (African soldiers, now serving as servants and guards) continue to gain prominence as do the Tibetans in Iran.
* 860: Peroz IV dies and is replaced by his son, Siyavash I. In Aram, heavy urbanisation continues, while Husayn's palace, well on its way of being completed, spreads into a whole complex. The Qallu begin becoming one of the main factions in the Aramaic court after many of them get the emperor's trust.
* 861: Husayn's firstborn son, aged around 50, dies due to an infected hunting wound; it is alleged that in his death throes a physician and a peasant both went to cure him, but the peasant (who claimed to use "simple, proper medicine used by the ancients of Mesopotamia") wasn't allowed in. Husayn begins to believe that more ancient and simple medicines might have saved his son, and thus begins to obsess over ancient Middle Eastern cultures.
* 862: In a rather strange twist of fate, with the Mordvin parts of the Novgorodian Rus' threatening Khazaria (since the War of Udistan, a Sassanid vassal), An Lushan's descendants are sent north to lead a Sassanid army against the Rus' and their Viking overlords. In the west, the also-Viking Lordship of the Ægean sails through night and lays siege to unprepared Constantinople and Antioch, both of which's lesser districts fall. Husayn and Basil are both forced to pay the Vikings off.
* 863: Husayn begins to divert money from archaeology so to pay for the building of a Mediterranean galley. Several Armenian and Lebanese trees, which had been given some rest from shipbuilding, are pulled down so to build large galleys. In the west, a rich trading Romano-Moor republic arises from the unclear background of Morocco.
* 864: Emperor Basil of Byzantium leads a large fleet against the Vikings. While able to destroy a large Viking fleet off Rhodes, Basil dies in the battle. His nephew Anastasius ascends to the throne.
* 865: Aramaic navies defeat a large contingent at Cyprus, seizing the Lord of the Ægean. They force him to agree to fiefdom to the Aramaic government.
* 866: The Aramaic government goes into rebuilding the Ægean Isles, establishing a similar campaign of citybuilding like in mainland Aram.
* 887: With things returning to normal in the west, Husayn once again begins looking for ancient culture, now also centered in Greece. In the east, the war in Khazaria rages on.
* 888: Anastasius begins to look across Thessaly to recover Hellas, which begins developing a mocking view of politics after Emperor Demosthenes I begins to take ancient Greek satirist Aristophanes' plays more in serious.
* 889: Husayn, already 75, and who had suffered from mild attacks of gout between the ages of 35 and 50, gets hit with his worst gout attack yet.
* 890: Husayn, thinking his death is near, begins writing his will so to declare the state of all his heirs. His second son, Hozal, is named heir to the throne while the remainder of his six sons are given lordships and governorates (the third son, Kelaya, becomes Marquis of Elam, his fourth son, Lazar, becomes Duke of Sumer, his fifth child and first daughter, Samiyya, becomes Duchess of Nabatea and his sixth son, Yanal, becomes Marquis of Cicilia. Bishoy's son Kyrollos is made Duke of Thebes and Barseen [Afrêm I's grandson]'s grandson, Abanoub, is made Marquis of Ethiopia). With the birth of the new duchies and marches, the inheritary duchies (Damascus and Maranatha) are made Archduchies. This is the first of several administrative reforms of Aram.
* 891: At the old age of 77 and his 62nd year of reign, Husayn dies after he suffers an attack of influenza. His son, Hozal, aged 55, inherits the throne.
* 892: Persian emperor Siyavash I dies and is replaced by his son Siyavash II, who sets up to rival Aram. He begins a series of military building in Abadshahr as well as new cities, controlling several Silk Route outposts. He once again begins to modernise the army.
* 893: Siyavash finishes his planning of the army and puts it into action. The Royal army will be ordered with heavy infantry from Tapuria and Bactria in the front, light infantry/archery from Media and Udistan just behind, and the flanks being composed of cavalry from all of Persia's upper classes (the heavier cavalry having such heavy and well-protected armour that an arrow could barely lodge in them). In the case of war against a settled territory, each army was given two catapults and four trebuchets. In the east, Abadshahr grows in culture with several musicians and artists flocking to the very supportive Sassanid court. Hozal in Aram begins doing the same.
* 894: The Mordvins begin to war eastwards, crossing the Caspian Sea. So to protect Transoxiana (Bukhara), Xvairizem (Khwazrem, Khiva) and Khurasan the Persians begin to recruit several Turkic tribes to protect the regions. These slowly become the de facto rulers of Central Asia. Uyghurs emigrate en masse to the southern coast of the Jaxartes and the sometimes-wet mouth of the Amu and Syr Darya in the Caspian coast, establishing an autonomous fœderati kingdom in parts of Central Asia. Not all of Uyghuristan (OTL Xinjiang), however, is abandoned.
* 895: A visit from Zoroastrian, Oriental Orthodox, Chalcedonian and Jewish envoys from different states are sent to the north to try convert the mostly-pagan states in both the Mordvin Rus' and with the Slavs in Kiev, encouraged by their success with the Balkan Slavic tribes (which converted to Eastern Orthodoxy). They attempt to establish a more pro-local government so that raids stop.
* 896: Another tribal group, calling themselves the Tokwar or Tokar, come out from western China. Claiming to be the last of a group of tribes and the last of their language group. They soon settle down after the building of their capital, Sasñom (in their language, "one voice"), becoming the most settled of the new fœderatis in Persia. In the west, Emperor Anastasius of Byzantium begins amassing troops in the southern borders of Thessaly, where mockerry and satire are now outright common in Hellan politics.
* 897: News reach Persia that the Tang Dynasty has begun to collapse. The descendants from An Lushan's original army flee to eastern China so to establish their own state there. While Siyavash II, more interested in a project to build The Largest Temple to Ahuramazda the World Has Ever Seen and an even larger royal palace in Abad Shahr, makes a feeble attempt to stop them by force, they are able to pass through the fœderati into Tarim. The Tokwar start an era of really quick growth, as their state begins to expand through Transoxiana.
* 898: Hellan politicians begin to desert their country by the flock and flee into the Empire of the West and Libya. Anastasius begins to march into Thessaly without a formal declaration of war. The Hellan troops, utterly outgunned, are destroyed and flee.
* 899: Hozal of Aram dies after an unremarkable reign. The Qallu coup the government, exiling the remains of the senior Nestorids of Aram into Istakhr and Abad-Shahr and the junior branches into Meluhha, where the Kingdom of the Straits was established, while the Antonids of Egypt flee to Cyrene, the Ali'ids flee to Abad-Shahr and the Muhammadids flee to Constantinople. The first of the Qallu dynasty, Bilal I, is crowned and names his son Musa I Archduke of Damascus and Maranatha.
* 900:' Bilal marries the Zagwe princess Gudit and marries Musa to another Zagwe princess, trying to annex Ethiopia to his realm.
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