Percy:   The Persian and Hellenic takeovers of the Western Metals Trade Circuit were pretty definitive.  Rome's was more nuanced, so this date may require adjusting.  For now, we will plant Screen D's Quadrant in the Jezreel Valley circa 63 BC -- which marks a definitive shift in imperial influence over our trade circuit's constriction point.  Here it is on the Big Screen.

Red:  What's the Hasmonean Dynasty?  Is that Hellenic?

Percy:  The Wiki entry says it was a Jewish dynasty based in Jerusalem that carved out an independent state between Hellenic Egypt and Syria in 140 BC.  In 63 BC, Roman Emperor Pompey intervenes in a Hasmonean civil war and annexes the coast and region around the Jerzreel Valley up through the Golan Heights to modern Syria.

Red:  That's the trade lane between the Nile and Syria.

Percy:  Yep.  The Romans call it the Via Maris.

Red:  I suppose if we had travelled behind the Screen, via 3-Space, we would have a better idea of the events surrounding the rise and fall of this kingdom?

Percy:  Yeah.  And we will.  But for now let's put Rome's M3 Power Supply up on the Big Screen.

Red:  Everything is new...

Percy:  Yeah.  But very much the same...Let's start with the medium of movement.  In shipping, the Roman name for the Mediterranean says it all.  Mare nostrum.  Our sea.   Apparently by this period they have eliminated all state-based rivals, as well as pirates.  Overland, Rome builds a system like the Royal Roads -- but on steroids.  Here's the Wiki intro to the roads on your Tablet. 

Red:  Got it....and that system connects directly to the medium of the message. 

Percy:  Yep.  Just like in the Persian Empire, the Roman roads deliver rapid messages across the Empire.  Their postal service is called the Cursus Publicus -- the public way.  I've added another note on your Tablet that contains details about the road through the Jezreel Valley.  The message software under them changes from the Greek to Latin Alphabet.  And the hardware has a new medium in addition to papyrus: parchment made from animal skins.  Much more durable and portable than papyrus, it can be folded into a booklet-like codex. 

Red:  Durability?  Does parchment have something to do with what writing survived to today? 

Percy:  I would think so.  Jewish law required that the Torah was written on parchment.  Papyrus was more plentiful but more fragile.  I think of it as the writing medium for space, while parchment is the writing medium for time.  Another way of looking at it:  the propaganda of space is political and the propaganda of time religious. 

Red:   Huh.  I need to contemplate that idea...

Percy:  I cribbed it from another major influence on my thinking, Harold Innis.   We will be meeting him soon as well.

Red:  But I can see that most writing today is designed for rapidity, not durability...I wonder if that's because it costs almost nothing to produce and distribute. 

Percy:  Good point.  Writing was very expensive back in the day.  Something we will also explore...Now, the medium of money.   I've included some interesting background from the Wiki page on Roman currency on your Tablet.  Also on there is a map, from the page on Roman metallurgy.  The Iberian Peninsula is the richest source of silver and gold, but the map also references several other mining regions.  

Red:  It appears that the mines are on the periphery of the Empire. 

Percy:  Invert that observation, and you can say that the Empire's borders expanded to incorporate those mines.  Irrespective, we have identified the primary mine and the location of the HQ, which is the city of Rome on the Italian Peninsula.  We have the coordinates for a 3-Wheel.  Which is up on the Big Screen.  Now let's get three-dimensional.  Here are the Trade Grid and Map on the Big Screen.

Red:  From modern Iraq to Spain, spanning... well...wow, just over 75 years -- at least from the 63 BC change events.  Oh.  Except for the mines, which go back almost 150 years. 

Percy:  Clearly we need to pedalo through the early history of Rome, for it appears we've entered its third long cycle, and those past cycles have connections to actors on Screen B and C.  For example, the Iberian mines were conquered from Carthage, which was a Phoenician colony in modern Tunisia. 

Red:  What really caught my eye, and is almost within the 75-year scope of the GTM, are all the changes in the 140's BC.  Rome conquered mainland Greece in 146.  A new Persian Empire grabbed Mesopotamia in 141 BC.  The Jewish Hasmonean Kingdom carved out independence from both Egypt and Syria in 140. 

Percy:  Clearly something went down in those years, leading rivals and vassal alike to grab Hellenic territory from all directions. 

Red:  Then Rome made its move to conquer the eastern Mediterranean around 63 BC.  The final key node, Egypt, fell about thirty years later.  What about the new nodes out there?  Alexandria, Antioch, Myos Hormos?  Clearly port-related.  

Percy:  Both Antioch and Alexandria were trade cities -- or entrepots -- established by the new Greek rulers, who had strong maritime components to their trade game.  Antioch concentrated the overland transition on the coastal metals trade route.  Alexandria created a maritime capital for Egypt's trade in its own natural resources and manufactured goods.  And under Rome it serves as an inlet to Europe for Asian goods, which come on boats riding the monsoon winds from India to the Red Sea.  The port of Myos Hormos is a primary transition between land and sea for this trade route.

Red:  That's why the Asian Goods Intake Valve is now co-terminus with the African one?

Percy:  Yeah.  It moved south.  Rome's eastern frontier settled on the Euphrates River, with the Persian Empire of the Parthians on other side.  The original "silk road" from Mesopotamia became a frontier.  So it appears the main trade artery sailed along the currents of the Indian Ocean.  Bottom line is that Western Metals Trade Circuit 1 underwent a three-decade transition before settling into full Roman control in 31 B.C.  We will recalibrate Screen D to that date and create a Plotter's Wheel, which is up on the Big Screen.

Red:  Do we have any Biblical propaganda for this transition?

Percy:  From what I can tell, the Old Testament's historical stories end at least century before.  The New Testament is the century after...

Red:  We can't turn around and consider it?

Percy:  Sure we can.  Well, we can back into it by crossing through the Gateway into 3-Space.   But this time we are only popping our heads in, and returning. 

Red:  Why?

Percy:  You know the proverb "All roads lead to Rome?"

Red:  Sure.

Percy:  Well, so do all sentences...

Red:  Really?

Percy:  Not literally. But if we want to visualize the four dimensions of Abstract Space then we must grasp how Rome transformed the use of writing in imperial rule.  For it appears to be the ancient world's consolidator and replicator of abstract energy.  Like when a niche brand is bought by a large corporation, which transfers production to China and markets the products worldwide. 

Red:  The original imperial propagandists?

Percy:  The Roman written record contains evidence of powerful propaganda -- the merging of abstract and physical energy by a literate elite.  And its propagandists appear to have edited the historical memory of what came before their conquests and certainly shaped our perceptions of its actions and the legal structures we live in today.

Red:  Yeah.  Rome looms large today, especially in America.

Percy:  And the more I ponder how to map the Abstract Space of Rome, the more it looks like the coastline paradox.

Red:  Coastline paradox?

Percy:  Contained in a 1967 paper by Benoit Mandelbrot, the stepping stone to his fractal geometry.

Red:  Oh, the recursive magic mushroom thing...

Percy:  Yeah.  It's called "How Long is the Coast of Britain? Statistical Self-Similarity and Fractional Dimension."  See Sidebar: How Long is Rome's Propaganda Coast?

Red:  So how do we ponder Rome without getting sucked into a rabbit hole to infinity?

Percy:  Over the course of this mapping we will do forays with the GTM, look for patterns, follow them, until one day we land at the backside of Screen E.  Ready to cross through for our first glimpse?

Red:   Let's go.