The scenes from Cirra had several major inconsistencies from what we know of Xenaverse history: the sudden reordering of Callisto's family from mother-sister to mother-father-uncle; Xena's dubious possession of the Kronos Stone; Ares' physical presence at Xena's side, contrary to what she said in "The Reckoning" ("I always wondered what you looked like", to paraphrase); not to mention quite a few minor, inferential mistakes: Xena wearing her sword on her back, Ares in his Season Three outfit, and jewels on Xena's chakram (not present in the Herc Trilogy). This seems to have riled up many Xenites, especially the poor handling of Callisto's family. However, there is a very rational explanation for everything.

What you have to remember about all the past scenes, from the death of Alcmene onward, is that they took place in an *alternate universe*. As soon as Alcmene died, Iolaus began to follow Callisto forward into the present ... of a new and divergent timeline: that of A World Without Hercules. Here, everything is basically the same, but with Herc's disappearance/nonexistance spreading outwards like a ripple as his fame grew in "our" timeline. By the show's current time (about 30/35 years after Herc's birth, give or take), his nonexistance had resulted in Xena conquering the known world. By Cirra (25/30 years, give or take), perhaps his nonexistance had indeed affected the Xenaverse timeline, but in minor, indirect ways.

I mean, let's see: Herc is never born. He never grows into a hero, inspiring the people to defend themselves (Xena and Ares even complain of this at Cirra, that they almost wish a champion would come forward so that crushing people's spirits would be more fun; a distinct clue that this is the Cirra of a World Without Hercules). The now easily-defeatable populace is ruled over by Xena with a tighter fist, and so Ares decides to manifest himself to her earlier than in our universe.

Herc never stops a certain mugging on a certain day, and Callisto's sister loses her life. To support Cally's mother after that loss, her husband and brother remain in Cirra instead of going off to fight at, say, Troy.

Herc never stops a thief from stealing the Kronos Stone from someone else, diverting it from its "natural" fate of the Quallas Collection. It ends up in the hands of the king who begs for his life and kingdom with it, and Xena gets ahold of it.

The list of minor differences can go on and on, even rationalizing away Ares' early costume switch and Xena's weapons differences, if you tried hard enough. So I don't think that we should regard what we just saw in AN2 to be the hard-and-fast canon of the events at Cirra, but instead like a painting rendered in broad strokes: the intent, if not the details. "Our" Cirra, the real Cirra, happened a bit differently, and we haven't yet seen it completely.