Map shroud?

[jirisys]

Funny, I always thought the ancients had relatively good maps of their surroundings.

The world according to Hekatæus, 500 BCE:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The world according to Herodotus, 440 BCE:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Reconstruction of the Orbis Terrarum, 20CE:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Reconstruction of the world map according to Dionysius, 124CE:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Ptolemy's world map, 2nd century CE (after EB time period, but not that much tbh):

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Of course, tribal societies would probably have a lesser understanding of the geography of the world, but for example, it wouldn't be too much of a stretch for a Gallic tribe to roughly know the general landscape in Gaul, the location of the Pyrenées, the South(-East)ern portions of Britain, the Alps and Northern Italy and even possibly southern Germany (the "Hallstatt" region). They were ardent traders after all, and the Helvetii for example planned to migrate from the Swiss plateau across Gaul to the Atlantic coast.

I don't think the unlifted fog of war translates as comprehensive knowledge about the location of every little stream, rock or cops of woods in that particular area/province, but rather a general knowledge or familiarity with the landscape. Thus, I don't think it would be unrealistic for nations and tribes to have knowledge about "their" lands, the lands surrounding theirs (especially if not divided by, say, a mountain range or some other natural barrier) and the lands of their traditional allies, foes and trade partners. For me, the need for exploration would create immersion in the gameplay, as opposed to the current state where all nations have discovered all there is to know about the geography of the world.

Very true, but please spoil the images, they're quite big

~Jirisys (pretending to be a mod, AGAIN!)