Original Faction names

[Ludens]

Egypt are the Ptolemaioi.

Alexander the Great conquered Egypt and it was a part of his empire. When he died his empire was torn up between squabbling generals. Ptolemy took Egypt, therefore it is called Ptolemaioi.

[Nitpicking-mode on] Egypt was still called Aegyptus in EB's time. Ptolemaioi refers to the dynasty, not their possessions. It also isn't entirely correct to say that Egypt became Greek: the Ptolemaioi were not very successful at importing Greek settles (at least, compared to the Seleucids) and the original Egyptians mostly clung to the old ways. In fact, the Ptolemaioi kings went partially native.

To a lesser extent, this also applies to the Seleucids and Bactrians. They had a Hellenic ruling class and their subjects were influenced by Greek culture, but the population never became Greek, despite the presence of large colonies of Greek migrants. Nor was the cultural exchange entirely one-sided.

I am not certain the Greeks of Alexander's own time would approve of your description of him as Greek, to them he was but a barbarian with a sheen of Hellenism as far as I know.

It depends upon who you would ask. The Athenian orator Demosthenes considered the Macedonians and their king as semi-barbarians. However, one of his political rivals called the Macedonians "fellow Greeks". Whether or not the Macedonians were proper Greeks, their culture was certainly Greek (or Hellenistic, if you want to be exact). Once the Macedonians generals were in charge of most of the civilized world, the Macedonians-not-Greeks argument muted somewhat: if you can't beat them, join them, the clever Greeks must have thought. Still, there was quite a bit of rivalry between the "proper" Greeks, as the original inventors of the culture, and those that were responsible for expanding it to include most of the civilized world. In EB, this is reflected by Macedonian faction members becoming "mishellens" or "pro-hellenes", depending on their attitude to the "original" Greeks.

[Dayve]

[Nitpicking-mode on] Egypt was still called Aegyptus in EB's time. Ptolemaioi refers to the dynasty, not their possessions. It also isn't entirely correct to say that Egypt became Greek: the Ptolemaioi were not very successful at importing Greek settles (at least, compared to the Seleucids) and the original Egyptians mostly clung to the old ways. In fact, the Ptolemaioi kings went partially native.

To a lesser extent, this also applies to the Seleucids and Bactrians. They had a Hellenic ruling class and their subjects were influenced by Greek culture, but the population never became Greek, despite the presence of large colonies of Greek migrants. Nor was the cultural exchange entirely one-sided

Oh i know... I've only recently started learning ancient history, EB awoke a dormant fascination for ancient history within me, so most people here know infinitely more than i do. I was just giving the guy a brief history of that area of the map... hopefully he'll follow suit and raid amazon everytime he has some spare cash for books on the subject like i do every week.

I know that when i first started playing RTW i had no idea what the Seleucid empire was or who made it, and i didn't even think twice about Egypt being pharaoh-ized still. In England, all they ever teach us about history is how Rome was good and the light and civilized an otherwise totally barbaric, savage and cultureless world, and about how awesome ancient Egypt was.

Heh, imagine that... Ancient Roman propaganda is still as strong today as it was 2000 years ago. Hate them all you like, but that's damn impressive.

[Megas Methuselah]

So wheres Egypt?

Ah, don't worry, little bro! All those factions are still in the same place in EB as they were in RTW vanilla. Egypt is still in Egypt, Carthage still in north-western Africa, Seleucids still in mid-east, Romans still in Italy, Gauls still in Gaul, etc.

The only difference is the name changes and unit rosters of the various factions for realism and historical accuracy. Don't make it any harder than that for yourself.

Heh, imagine that... Ancient Roman propaganda is still as strong today as it was 2000 years ago. Hate them all you like, but that's damn impressive.

I wanted to make clear that, just because their rulers became Hellenic, not everyone donned togas and took an interest in philosophy.

[annoying mode on] Is not the toga a Roman/Italian garment?

[Zues!]

Ah, don't worry, little bro! All those factions are still in the same place in EB as they were in RTW vanilla. Egypt is still in Egypt, Carthage still in north-western Africa, Seleucids still in mid-east, Romans still in Italy, Gauls still in Gaul, etc.

The only difference is the name changes and unit rosters of the various factions for realism and historical accuracy. Don't make it any harder than that for yourself.

Well put! Thanks

[Megas Methuselah]

No problem, friend. All I demand in return for my services is a balloon, thank you very much.

[Olaf Blackeyes]

Have you been getting high offa balloons AGAIN meth?

[lenin96]

No problem, friend. All I demand in return for my services is a balloon, thank you very much.

Have a , anyway I wonder why other mods don't try to give factions there native names.

[Mulceber]

Yeah, I still don't understand that. It adds so much authenticity to the whole thing when they're referred to the way they would have called themselves. -M

[Ludens]

[annoying mode on] Is not the toga a Roman/Italian garment?

I know that when i first started playing RTW i had no idea what the Seleucid empire was or who made it, and i didn't even think twice about Egypt being pharaoh-ized still. In England, all they ever teach us about history is how Rome was good and the light and civilized an otherwise totally barbaric, savage and cultureless world, and about how awesome ancient Egypt was.

It was pretty much the same when I went to school here. Most of my knowledge about the classical age also comes from EB. Still, I get the impression that historical eduction is improving in this country. The analysis of Rome, and other parts of history, has become more critical. Now if only the government would stop trying to make education more efficient .

[antisocialmunky]

Yeah, education sucks except for that teacher that rented out the computer lab and had his students play civ 3.

We could learn so much more just playing EB.

[Tellos Athenaios]

Briefly skimmed this thread, but like to note a few things:

(*) All internal names can be found in descr_sm_factions.txt
(*) Internal carthage is in fact Pontos, internal pontus is Saka, internal numidia is Ptolemaioi, internal armenia is Sauromatae, internal egypt is Carthage.