>
> In message <324584.83905.qm_at_...> Jane Williams writes:
>
> >I still don't care what was "intended", but yes, one of the major
> >things Lunars and Romans have in common is taking recruits from every
> >area they conquer, and doing a superficial homogenisation. Same uniform,
> >an attempt at a common language, but keep their "native" ways of doing
> >things if they're better.
> >
> >I have no idea if the Persians did the same thing, nor who their
> >conquered areas would have been: anyone want to enlighten me?
>
> They didn't. The various provinces kept their own identities.
>
> Persia itself is now called Iran. Their Empire stretched from western
> India to the Mediterrean Sea.
>
> I can't remember all the various conquered peoples from that time
> but a few I remember are the Assyrians, the Jews and Greek city
> states in what is now Turkey.
>
> --
> Donald Oddy
> http://www.grove.demon.co.uk/
>
In very broad strokes, the Persian Empire was spread so wide through threat of arms, mitigated by their preparedness to accept peaceful submission followed by inclusion and conditional autonomy i.e Satrapies. By offering order they created a largely voluntary Empire. However they were fully intent on expansion as the invasion of Greece demonstrates.
However the vast nature of the Empire created massive logistical problems for the military. The troops were ethnically diverse and Persian Generals had to know how to use troops who were massively diverse in tactics, language and loadout.
What I have always understood about the romans is that they tried as far as possible to Romanize everything and make it conform to a model. Citizenship was the prize and had its privileges. The Roman army, epitomized by the Legions were like the French Foreign Legion in mentality. You become a Legionaire, absorb and embrace its values and culture and tactics and are gifted with French citizenship at the end of your service. It's like extreme citizenship training. Maximus in Gladiator is a Spaniard but also a Roman and an important one at that, for example.
Rather than accept diversity like the Persians and deal with the consequences, the romans created a clear dividing line between roman and other. Whilst there was clearly a hierarchy in the Persian Empire, they didn't offer the chance to 'become Persian', as far as I understand.
This to me seems to suggest that the Lunars have elements of both rome and persia in there, but surely the model for the Lunar army is the Roman army? Use of spear and scimitar doesn't make them un-roman, it makes them Lunar.