dumuzi
10-19-2007, 15:36
First of all, thanks for turning out such a great product EB team! One can really see the love and dedication that went into it, and this may be the best computer game ive played. Ever.
OK down to the meat.
By the beginning of EB, Ptolemaic Egypt is like two countries coexisting. The Macedonian conquerors have encouraged the immigration of Hellenes to fill their armies and government. Although using native administration extensively, they essentially have imposed a foreign ruling and military elite and a foreign high court culture. Its often been argued that with the success of native Egyptian machimoi in the battle of Raphia, the Ptolemies were forced to start to adjust more to Egyptian traditions. After this one can see a change in royal stelae, titles, the relationship to the priesthood etc. I myself would argue that equally as responsible was a blurring of ethnic identities that made the maintenance of two separate cultures more difficult and encouraged a new koine. It was at a particularly high point of native identity that Ptolemy IV was forced to reconcile his pretension towards being a legitimate Hellenic monarch with native ideas of rule.
You can probably see where i am going with this.
I think it would be interesting to model this in EB through some sort of reform. I would not (personally) recommend simply imposing "if something like Raphia occurs then you get a Hellenic-Egyptian reform." Its true that in history the Ptolemies were in large part forced to reconcile with native Egyptian traditions. But what if they (like eg the Seleucids or Bactrians) voluntarily adapted to new circumstances. The erosion of Hellenic identity as often been ascribed to the weakness of the central court, but it was probably due as much to a natural blending of the two cultures.
It could be an interesting "what if?" to give the Ptolemaic player the option assimilate Egyptian traditions into his court. This could be modeled by a few stages representing the introduction of Egyptian cultural institutions, the process of drawing (more) native Egyptians into the government (and more interestingly for us: into the army!), and finally encouraging the Egyptian language. Of course the Ptolemies had a good reason for holding onto their Hellenic identity. By becoming more Egyptian they risked loosing out in the larger cultural war going on between them the Seleucids and the Macedonians for who was the most legitimate successor state. But i think that by assimilating they could have made a more viable state in the long term. None of the Ptolemies would have agreed with this statement, but history could easily have gone differently.
If anyone is interested i have ideas for how this could be implemented.
Just an idea.
PS I havent given sources, but i would be happy to defend any of these claims.
OK down to the meat.
By the beginning of EB, Ptolemaic Egypt is like two countries coexisting. The Macedonian conquerors have encouraged the immigration of Hellenes to fill their armies and government. Although using native administration extensively, they essentially have imposed a foreign ruling and military elite and a foreign high court culture. Its often been argued that with the success of native Egyptian machimoi in the battle of Raphia, the Ptolemies were forced to start to adjust more to Egyptian traditions. After this one can see a change in royal stelae, titles, the relationship to the priesthood etc. I myself would argue that equally as responsible was a blurring of ethnic identities that made the maintenance of two separate cultures more difficult and encouraged a new koine. It was at a particularly high point of native identity that Ptolemy IV was forced to reconcile his pretension towards being a legitimate Hellenic monarch with native ideas of rule.
You can probably see where i am going with this.
I think it would be interesting to model this in EB through some sort of reform. I would not (personally) recommend simply imposing "if something like Raphia occurs then you get a Hellenic-Egyptian reform." Its true that in history the Ptolemies were in large part forced to reconcile with native Egyptian traditions. But what if they (like eg the Seleucids or Bactrians) voluntarily adapted to new circumstances. The erosion of Hellenic identity as often been ascribed to the weakness of the central court, but it was probably due as much to a natural blending of the two cultures.
It could be an interesting "what if?" to give the Ptolemaic player the option assimilate Egyptian traditions into his court. This could be modeled by a few stages representing the introduction of Egyptian cultural institutions, the process of drawing (more) native Egyptians into the government (and more interestingly for us: into the army!), and finally encouraging the Egyptian language. Of course the Ptolemies had a good reason for holding onto their Hellenic identity. By becoming more Egyptian they risked loosing out in the larger cultural war going on between them the Seleucids and the Macedonians for who was the most legitimate successor state. But i think that by assimilating they could have made a more viable state in the long term. None of the Ptolemies would have agreed with this statement, but history could easily have gone differently.
If anyone is interested i have ideas for how this could be implemented.
Just an idea.
PS I havent given sources, but i would be happy to defend any of these claims.