Undo

I simply think that 3D graphic technology was not advanced enough to make AoM the great game it should have been.

But AoM sucked completely...

All I know is that Bruno's movie will be out in 2008

Lusitania – HIST. 1. Lusitania was the name given, generally, to the territory situated in the occidental end of the Iberian Peninsula, and which started in the North after the Durius (according to Pliny) and with “its flank to the North and his front to the Atlantic ocean”, in the brief description by Pomponius Mela. The name “Lusitania” arose from Lusus (the root Lus was quite common in Celtic territories, as A. Schulten pointed out). Thus, the country name derived from the onomastic vocable Lusus, just like all consanguinity and tribe names – mainly the tribe leader – derived from this proper name: Lusitania means “tribe” or “people of Lusus”. However, Lusus does not appear in any ancient text, despite the multiplicity of other names with the same Celtic root: Lusa, Lusatia, Luseous, Lusoius, Luseu, etc, or even Lusones in the indication of Leite de Vasconcellos, who considers Lus as a theoretical common root to Lusus, Lusones and Lusitania. The imposing certainty is this: names with the root Lus are common in Celtic countries; the Lusitanians – people of autochthonous root in this peninsular nook – formed, through crossing marriages, a group of tribes with the Celts, with Celt-Iberian characteristics and language, after the Celtic and Iberian invasions, in the beginning of the Iron Age. This explains the frequency of Celtic names in the ancient Lusitania. Every text which refers to Lusitania, its name, territory limits, geographic, historic and ethnographic aspects are from Greek and Roman classic authors and also from some writers born in Iberia, as the already quoted P. Mela. After the wars between Carthage and Rome and the ones with Viriato and his successors, the Romans kept the name “Lusitania” in the administrative division they imposed in the Iberian Peninsula. 2. The geography of Lusitania originated a series of problems as to the exact limits of the territory. Strabo considered three well-determined regions in the West of the Iberian Peninsula: the Cineticum (Algarve), the Mesopotamia (area between the rivers Tagus and Guadiana), and the Lusitania itself or primitive Lusitania, between the Tagus and the extreme North of Galicia (Cantabria), thus occupying two wide areas, the Callaecia (Galicia) and the district between the rivers Tagus and Douro. Lusitania was split in two distinct zones: the southern one, soon dedicated to trading profits and contacts with the Mediterranean and the civilization; and the central and northern zone, the former rough and plain, the latter of a wrinkled orography, tortured by deep geologic eruptions, hard, mountainous and wild. As to limits, at the time of the castrum culture, the country was apparently situated between the river Guadiana, in the South, and the rivers Douro or Minho in the North. The Lusitanian homeland occupied the northern half, the mountainous region between Tagus and Douro (the current “Beiras”). Physically, the occidental area of Iberia not only shows a diversified physiognomy from North to South – divided by the valley of Tagus – but was also a rich area, as its rivers were praised because of their auriferous sands by classic writers like Strabo, Catullus, Ovid, Lucan, Silius Italicus, Juvenal, and others. Rivers were also important communication ways: Durius, Limia, Vacua, and Munda. Tagus, in the 1st century, was 20 stadiums wide (approx. 3700 meters) in its mouth. The river Minho could be sailed up to 800 stadiums. The southern region is plainer, and we can highlight the zones of Mesopotamia and Cineticum, the latter separated from the rest of the territory by two mountain ridges which establish the cut between the current Alentejo and the farthest meridional part of the country – mountains which are currently called Monchique and Loulé. The most important river was Anas, full of fish, which was the limit between Cineticum and Ager Tartessius. The Lusitania was a wide territory, which reaches the width of 3000 stadiums in the 1st century, as a country of many contrasts: promontories, bays, coves, wide beaches, rivers rich in fish. Strabo sincerely praised the fauna in every book he wrote about the Peninsula. The fauna was portentous in Lusitania: magnificent horses (similar to the Parthian ones), wild boars, harts, wolves, foxes, jennets, lynxes, goats, hares, rabbits, this latter so abundant that it brought grave consequences to Turdetania, destroying tree and bush roots. This is why the people called Hispania – that is Land of the Rabbit – to ancient Iberia. The Lusitanian west coast is described by authors like Strabo and Avienus, mentioning the indented littoral, rivers of wide and deep estuaries, protected coves and capes like Barbarion (currently “Espichel”), the Promunturium olissiponense, the Mondego cape, the Promunturium Sacrum and the Avarum. The territory was rich in ore: gold, copper, tin, silver and iron. In addition, there was the natural richness of equine, caprine, bovine and swine livestock; the medicinal waters which were the basis of the rude Lusitanian medicine. Quoting Polybius: “The well-tempered weather, the prolific animals and people and the fruits which never spoil the country.” The Romans, who established the administrative board of Iberia under Augustus orders, insert Lusitania in the Hispaniae Ulterior province. During the overcast times of the Low Empire, its name was not modified: Lusitania. 3. The map of the distribution of people and tribes in the Lusitanian territory in the proto-historic epoch shows a stirring and colorful miscellany. The Conii or Cinets, who had contacts with the North – that is, with the Lusitanians themselves – lived in the Cineticum region and used a language with Greco-Punic-Tirsenic influences. The Vetons, who were related to the Lusitanians and were their allies, lived in the occidental Lusitania; the Turduli Veteres lived near the river Munda and in the country of Vacua. This tribe probably built the cities Eburobritium, Collipo, Aeminium, Conimbriga and Talabriga. The Transcudans and the Igaeditans lived between the Tagus and the Douro (After, the Roman city Egitania; now Idanha-a-Velha). Pliny also refers the Paesuri in the Douro’s south. Furthermore, an inscription in the bridge of Alcântara refers the Interamnenses, Talori, Arnui and Colerui tribes. The Celts, who probably found the cities of Lacobriga, Mirobriga, Anobriga, Arandis or Arani and Baesuris, lived in the Mesopotamia between the Tagus and the Guadiana. The Callaeci or Calaics and other celtici like Grovii lived from the river Douro to the North, beyond of the Lusitanian border (end of Galicia). There were also the Bracarii – ethnic groupings who lived in the mountains – the Leuni and the Seurbi. The Turodi lived in the wild region which is now the region of Trás-os-Montes. We presented here just a few tribes among the ethnic variety of Lusitania, showing the weak social unity of the country. 4. The Lusitanians were the most important people, welded by abundant contacts and crossings with other tribes – invaders, most of the times. Concerning the archeological richness of Lusitania before the Iron Age, we can affirm that the history of Lusitania gains its originality with the Lusitanian people, although they had constantly been in contact with superior people and cultures of Mediterranean provenience: the Phoenicians of Tyro, who shored in the Mediterranean and Atlantic littoral of the Peninsula in the 12th century BC, sending their vessels to the mysterious reign of the Tartessians (South of Hispania); the Carthaginians, who occupied the area up to the North of the Tagus; the Greeks from Phocaea, with their characteristic littoral occupation or in the mouth of big rivers, in the way of the tinful areas of the northern Peninsula; the Romans, who intervene in economic businesses in the Peninsula after the wars with Carthage. During the 2nd Punic War, initiated in 219 BC, the Romans begin their fight to conquer Iberia and destroy Carthage. After a long period of fights, revolts, troop and population movements, the Lusitanians prepared their spectacular offensive. They advanced to the region of Betis, allied with the Vetons and other tribes. The Lusitanian war starts in 155 and the Viriatian war lasts from 147 to 138 BC. The Iberian Peninsula, which was a conquest desire for other civilizations since the early antiquity, suffered the harshest reverse of its agitated history: since 193 BC, the tribes of the Peninsula decide to initiate the war against the Romans in Betis. The Lusitanians, after the shameful treason of Galba (when 9000 Lusitanians were barbarously slaughtered and 20,000 were sold in Gaul as slaves), organized themselves around Viriato, and the following years were the hardest times for the Roman hosts: Galba, Lucullus, Vetilius, C. Plaucius, Fabius, Servilianus, Scipio, were defeated by the brave Lusitanian leader. The Lusitanians were the only Iberian tribe who maintained their freedom war for such a long time, with the peculiar characteristics we know. We call Lusitanians to the Iron Age group of tribes. They dedicated to hunting, a rudimentary agriculture (mainly the mountain tribes), shepherding, and fishing, but they also had an important economic life – which is proved by the existence of commercial cities like Moron – a rich agriculture in the low areas, an intense life of relation, an art, a bellicose and liturgical literature; they lived in walled cities on high cliffs for defensive reasons which are called castros or crastos, citanias or cividades (examples in Portugal: citania of Briteiros, Sanfins, Sabroso, Cividade of Terroso; castros of Santa Luzia, Castelo dos Mouros in Idanha-a-Velha, Monsanto da Beira, etc.). The houses were round, made of stone, covered with stems, some of them without windows and some of them rectangular. The circular houses sometimes reached a diameter of 5 meters (in the Citania of Briteiros). Walls reached 50 centimeters thick. The walls of big castros were polygonal or cyclopic – their circuit sometimes lengthened 50 meters to 1000 meters and was sometimes reinforced by a second defensive curtain. 5. Comforts did not miss daily life: clothing, manufacturing of flax and wool clothes, leather, esparto, metal and ceramic (doria) objects, artisans, blacksmiths, millers, warriors, farmers, priests, housewives taking care of their children, toasting acorns and milling them to make bread, grinding corn with manual millstones, and a typically Iron Age loom in each familiar aggregate. They had varied food and multiplicity in living styles. Lusitanians lived according at least three living styles: mountain life, plains life, and littoral life; these two more dedicated to trading between near settlements and external trading with the Mediterranean, Northern Galicia regions, Betica and Turdetania. They exchanged products directly and with pieces of gold or silver, like money. Even coins were used in some southern cities, like Baesuris, Ebora, Ossonoba, Sirpens, Myrtilis and Salacia. 6. The Lusitanian religion was polytheist. They believed in natural forces: they practiced physiolatry and magic impregnated by extraordinary beliefs, which are described by Strabo, Pomponius Mela, Pliny, Avienus, Diodorus and others. They worshiped the rivers: Tagus, Mondego, Lima (Limia, Flumen oblivionis that is, River of Oblivion), the woods, the big promontories, the Moon, the stars and the winds (the Serra of Sintra was the altar of the Moon cult; according to Martian of Heraclea and Ptolemy, it was called the Serra of the Moon). They also had the main gods: Endovelico, Ataegina, Macario, Revalanganiteco, Ilurbeda and Trebaruna. The Lusitanian pantheon is full of earth and fertility gods. The woman and the earth were united in the cult of the holy fecundity, as in any primitive tribe. Warlike tribes worshiped the god of war and the gods of metallurgy were also worshiped in the whole territory. They practiced human sacrificing, but only with prisoners and war enemies. The dead were cremated, and their ashes were buried in little clay urns: cremation, dancing and singing, and a funereal banquet in the end. 7. The auriferous richness of Lusitania originated the castro jewelry (*): brooches, bangles (**), pins, torques, bracelets, ear-rings and other rings, which were found in the castros of Lanhoso, Lebução, Paradela do Rio (Montalegre), Estremoz, Briteiros, and many other localities. Techniques: cold hammering and lamination, and the foundry; ornamentation techniques: the granulated, grained, or powdered, and ornamentation of pricks cut with chisel, with globules (spouting), as in the famous bracelet of Chaves. The following tools were found in excavations: hammers, anvils and chisels. The rude Lusitanian structures were modified with the Roman occupation. The Lusitanian-Roman epoch is a period of big agitation in social, economic and military life: mass migration of population who colonized regions outside the primitive Lusitania – like Valencia – and outside the Peninsula – like Romania; destruction of castros and annexed pathways; creation of roads, new urban centers over the remains of old settlements, monuments who attest the existence of a superior civilization. But what is remarkable is the predominant permanence of the Lusitanian facies in the Roman civilization of the Lusitania, although the history of the autonomous Lusitania ends in 45 BC. It becomes a Roman province in 25 BC, with precise borders in the river Douro, northward, and the Mediterranean, southward, with a wider territory than the one of Viriato’s epoch, and constituting an “imperatorial province”. With Claudius it was subdivided in Conventus: the Pacensis (seat in Pax Julia), the Scallabitanus (seat in Scallabis), and the Emeritensis (seat in Emerita Augusta). In Lusitania, Romans erect their essentially practical architectonical art, with monuments of big size, some of them beautiful and lasting: bridges, aqueducts, temples, construction of magnificent houses with marble, statuary, and inimitable mosaics – influenced by Roman and Greek artists who set foot on the Lusitanian land – which can be seen in many cities like Conimbriga, Vila Cardilio (municipality of Torres Novas), Torre de Palma, Pisões (municipality of Beja), Abicada (municipality of Portimão), Estoi (municipality of Faro), and greatly important cities like Olisipo [Lisbon], which was restructured, Egitania Emerida Augusta, Conimbriga, Pax Julia, etc. Concerning ceramic, we can notice that little plain or ornamented vessels and dolia in the Lusitanian castros. In the former, there is ornamentation in S’s, chess-pattern, and triangles, and also ceramic with stamped matrixes (rosettes, stylized palmipedes, etc.). Later, this ceramic was replaced by the magnificent arretine ceramic or with varied ornamentation of Gaulish or Italic importation. Not much later, Lusitanian potters managed to improve the manufacturing of terra sigillata, which was called Hispanic by convention. In jewelry, other examples of several origins cause modifications in the castro jewels. The Romans oppose their fine and perfect statuary – which can be seen in several museums – to the bellowers and rude statues of Calaic and Lusitanian warriors. In small-sized statuary, the quantity of ex votos and little worship figures exemplify the variety of Lusitanian cults and the perfect Roman assimilation of the polytheist religion of the Lusitania of castros (*). 8. Roman Lusitania – Lusitania was one of the territories which resulted from the administrative division of the old province of Hispania Ulterior, made by Augustus. Before this division Hispania was constituted by two big provinces: Hispania Citerior and Hispania Ulterior, consequence of the Roman conquering effort, each one ruled by a praetor since the beginnings of the 2nd century BC. In this first administrative organization of Hispania, it is not easy to distinguish the military purposes from the mere administrative ones. Anyway, this first administrative division modeled the future initiatives of organizing the territory; in fact, the old republican administrative divisions are the basis of Augustus’ new territorial board. It is also necessary to understand that Hispania was homogeneous neither in physic geography nor in human geography, and the living style of the different tribes who habited there were very different; the urban civilizations of the Mediterranean littoral were culturally very distant from the semi-nomad people of the mountains, mainly dedicated to shepherding. When Augustus reorganized Hispania he was certainly thinking about practical economic situations, which would allow the Roman dominance in the territory, and not in the interests of the several tribes who lived there. The division of the Hispania Ulterior in two provinces, Betica and Lusitania, corresponded to a alleged military necessity – the territories where the presence of military effectives was necessary for the complete control of the region belonged to the Emperor; the Senate was responsible for the administration of the southern territories, which were conquered by senatorial initiative, and where the eldest Roman urban nucleuses were installed and flourished, being the presence of the armies already unnecessary. The borders of the Roman province were the Atlantic Ocean, as West and South limits, the course of the river Douro, as the North limit, and eastwardly the course of the river Guadiana – which washed the capital city, Emerita Augusta (the current Spanish city of Mérida) – by the Spanish table-land up to the interior course of the Douro, and then down to the sea. The borders of this Roman province were kept until the Low Empire, and not even the administrative reform of Diocletian, in the end of the 3rd century, inflicted significant changes in both Lusitania and Betica. Authors are not unanimous either about the exact borders of Lusitania or the date when Augustus administratively remodeled the territory. Discrepancies are partially due to a confounding of the alleged “ethnic unity” – the Lusitanians – with the Roman administrative region, and due to the nationalist exploration that has been being ideologically implanted in the national [Portuguese] historiography since André de Resende. In the border controversy, the Portuguese territory in the left margin of the Guadiana has been attributed both to Lusitania and Betica, according to different opinions. As for the date when the province was created, it is known that it occurred somewhere between 27 BC (accepting the testimony of Dion Cassius), to 16 BC – 13 BC, when Augustus returned from his second journey to Hispania. *The Portuguese adjective used was castreja, which is an untranslatable word and means “belonging or referring to the epoch of castros”. A castro was, as said earlier, a fortified Lusitanian settlement. (Translator’s Note) **The Portuguese word is víria, which means “bangle used by ancient warriors”. Hence the name Viriato, which meant “warrior who used a víria”. I do not know the English translation of this word. (Translator’s Note)

I've made it too! But I think the other Iberian emoticons which were presented here were also excellent.

Oh, thank you... As I've said, it is a honor for me, I've always wanted to participate in a project like this. And I like to be helpful Tomorrow I'm going to post the last translation of the Portuguese-Brazilian encyclopedia that I have to offer. If you want me to translate some other entries, please tell me. This encyclopedia is very complete (but sometimes a bit confusing! ) Next in my "translation plan": my History of Portugal book.

Roger that.

MAXDDARK, of course that ideas are always welcome... But sometimes they're almost impracticable, mainly because (almost) none of the developers are professionals (I think!)

Yeah, but you are not actually working on the game, are you? In my opinion the economy is r8 good as it is now. I don't like complicated styles. This is not a sim city or a pharaoh or a caesar or whatever...

Something about Viriato: Viriato – Lusitanian leader (2nd century BC). According to Diodorus Siculus, “he belonged to the Lusitanians who lived near the ocean”, that is, not in the oriental Lusitania – the Lusitanians habitat which, as Strabo said, was “hilly and rough” – but in the occidental part, conquered by them – facing the sea and “plain, except for some low altitude mountains” (which apparently excludes Serra da Estrela from his birthplace). Still according to Diodorus, “he was a shepherd since a child and accustomed to mountain life, overcoming the other Iberians in strength, speed and agility”. He was elected leader by the Lusitanian people after the loss which was inflicted by praetor Vetilius in the valley of Betis (Guadalquivir) in 147 BC, and he soon revealed himself “as a man with a greatly sharp astuteness, who went from hunter to brigand, and from brigand to general and emperor” – says Florus. That is, he was a victorious military chief, who quickly rallied a bandits’ gang around him, commanded them “always covered by ferrous armor” – according to Diodorus – being mostly admired not only because of his strength, but also because of the command skills he proved to have. Thus, he managed to successively win over the Romans, applying the escaping stratagem in order to force them to follow his own way, and then taking them by surprise, unseen, darting iron javelins with harpoon-shaped ends, which caused extremely grave wounds. Romans could not defend themselves, because Lusitanians promptly ran away mounted on very quick horses. The cruelty of these fights leaded the Romans to take actions which they own condemned as harsh and even disloyal. War lasted 8 years (147 – 139 BC), with successive losses of praetors, pro-consuls, and consuls. However, Viriato was constrained by the peoples affected by extremely grave depredations, and he was forced to send three ambassadors to Scipio, pro-consul of Ulterior. These ambassadors betrayed Viriato, killing him, leaded by a reward promise; in vain, because the Roman Senate did not acknowledged the signed agreements. He was an unquestionable historical figure – his activities are clearly documented – but nonetheless the legend laid hold on him, transforming him in a national hero, who defended the independence of his people. However, the truth is that Viriato and the Lusitanians he commanded lived on robbery and booty, prejudicing the laborious population of the country, dominating it by terror, without any patriotic feelings. And in their turn, the Romans – who wanted the re-establishment of peace, an essential condition for economic development – acted as liberators of the indigenous population, favoring the resurgence of their agricultural and mercantile activities, severely affected by the bellicose actions of the Lusitanian. Thus, Viriato was the leader of an aggressively dominating people, who gravely prejudiced the indigenous population with his violence and arbitrariness, and was far from protecting it from the Roman invasion.

I can't wait for 30th November, that's the date when the movie arrives here in Portugal... I'm going to see it with my sister, she's the one who told me of borat... And no, she is NOT a prostitute... Hi 5!

I've just read it in the encyclopedia... Quoted from the "Luso-Brazilian Encyclopedia of Culture": "(...)The Lusitanians were the only Iberian tribe which maintained their freedom war for the longest time(...)" Yeah, I guess that doesn't mean they were the last tribe standing... But it was this I meant to say.

Oh don't thank me... It is a great honor to be helpful And this is only the beginning, there is more to come...

Yeah, they probably were too heavy... *sigh*

Awwwwwwwww why not??

Nobody has answered my question...

Meanwhile, let me post my first translation. Please excuse my inaccurate English: Note: for an easier reading, I've included subheadings Iberians - HIST. The tribes which lived near the estuary of the river Ebro (formerly Iber) were known as Iberians among the first Greeks who traded in the Hispanic Peninsula. This designation extended to the populations of the Spanish East seafront and limitrophe regions. Thus, the word "Iberians" lost its original ethnic meaning, and became a wider cultural concept. As a Mediterranean civilization of the 1st millennium BC, the Iberians showed some originality, mainly in what concerns religion, arts and writing. With an ethnic and cultural substratum, progressively enriched since the Neolithic, the Mediterranean people of the Peninsula showed an extraordinary skill to enrich their cultural process with elements handed down by the civilizations which dominated the Interior Sea. Geography The Iberian civilization extended in the coastal band which comprises the margins of the river Rhône, in Southern France, and Andalucía, with an interior prolongation in the valley of the river Ebro. The archeological testimonies confronted with written sources by classic authors allow one to consider that the Iberian civilization prospered for approx. four centuries, in the 2nd Iron Age, since the middle of the 1st millennium BC until approx. 133 BC. (fall of Numancia), with the perdurance of certain manifestations, like sculpture, until the epoch of Augustus. Artemidorus, Asclepiades, Diodorus, Strabo, Scimnus, Martialis, Polibius, Posidonius, Timeo, Titus Livius and other classic authors refer to the Iberians, pointing out trading-stations settled in their territories, their geographic limits, names of the tribes and even certain habits, institutions and historical happenings. The Phoenician, Punic, and Greek inscriptions collected in the Iberian area are fragmentary references which elucidate us little. The Iberian texts, despite being legible, are still untranslatable. The merit of having "revived" the Iberian civilization falls on archeology, completing the summarized reports which are contained in the classic sources. The problem of the Iberian origin had given worries to scholars since the 18th century, but only after the discovery of the Lady of Elche (1897) excavations were initiated in Iberian villages, cemeteries, and sanctuaries. These archeological explorations have become more and more systematic, and they have already reached a remarkable development. Anthropology The funerary custom of cremation, adopted by the Iberians, does not allow the study of their physical anthropology. However, the ethnic substratum of people in the same area which did not adopt cremation, associated with the classic authors' references and artistic human representation, allow us to know some of the physical features of the Iberians, who were dolichocephalic, gracile Mediterranean type, in their generality. Colonizing influences of Oriental Mediterranean occurred in the Iberian area during the 1st millennium BC, with regional variances according to the predominating contact type. Thus, Phoenician and Punic elements prevail in Oriental Andalucía; Hellenic ones marked the eastern and southern Iberian culture; from Cataluña to Languedoque, Greek influences integrate an Indo-european background; along the Ebro valley the Iberian culture had a Greco-Celtic basis. This diversification conditioned the social and political life of the Iberian regions, disturbed by continuous sea and land invasions and internal fights. Tribes and Society There was no political unity in the Iberian civilization. Groups of tribes - with their lands, ports, and villages - ruled their own areas: the Turdetans occupied the Oriental Andalucía; the Mastiens occupied the region of Murcia; the Contestans, Edetans and Ilercavones shared the territory of Valencia; the Ilergets habited the plains of Lerida and some part of the current province of Huesca, etc. The politic institutions were different from region to region: in Cataluña, people were ruled by representatives of family chiefs; in the Ebro valley, the politic power was exercised by military leaders who ascended by force; in the East the tribal assemblies and the council of elders ruled; in the South, mainly Andalucía, kinglets ruled helped by an aristocratic minority. The ancient texts are not prodigal with information about the Iberian social pyramid, but the interpretation of those references together with archeological testimonies and iconography allow one to consider the existence of superior classes, landlords and merchants, who ruled over a numerous multitude of workmen - some of them not free - with the help of foremen. Archeological findings revealed the existence of specialized craftsmen in several industries: metallurgists, potters, vase painters, sculptors, glassmakers, jewelers, coiners, etc. Flax weaving, fishing, fish salting, preparation of dyes, and ore exploration have become, in certain regions, industrial specialties. Warfare, writing, music, and some workmanship might have been other occupations. It is not known much more about the priest class than the sanctuaries reveal. Cereal, olive, and vine plantations, as well as livestock farming, were dominant activities among the majority of population. War and Fortresses The Iberians periodically dedicated themselves to war. Generally, the Iberian warriors fought on horseback, using spears and javelins as aggressive weapons, and the falchion as a melee weapon. They were protected by helmet, armor and shield. They mounted without saddle; instead, they used a counterpane made of leather or wool, seizing the reins with one hand and laying hold of their weapon with the other hand. They used spurs, they did not know stirrups, and they applied the guerrilla tactics in combat. The Iberian settlements went from little villages with a dozen houses to semi urban agglomerates with hundreds of habitations. These settlements were divided in two main types: the littoral nucleuses on low lands, sometimes isolated by natural accidents; and the interior fortresses. The interior settlements were fortified precincts on steep hills or difficult access ones. They were protected by a curtain of walls with square towers near the entrance, encircled by ditches and palisades in more vulnerable parts. Walls were made of faceted stone paring, and doors were also protected by sheds. These settlements had irregular-drawing streets, which gave access to separated groups of houses. Dwelling and Clothing The Iberian house was architectonically poor. The rectangular or square habitations were erected on a stone socle, approx. 1 meter high, and had adobe walls. Roofs were made of branches or canes, overlaid by a clay layer, and were supported by wood beams. The Iberian clothing is known. Men used a tightened short tunic with sleeves; sometimes they used shorts, held by suspenders which crossed at the chest. To protect themselves from the cold or in certain ceremonies, they covered themselves with a cloak tied at the shoulder with a buckle. They usually wore leather or esparto sandals and they wore a kind of buskins when riding horses. Women wore a shirt down to their feet, covered by a belt-tightened tunic. They covered their shoulders with a cloak and wore a veil over their tall hairdressing. Like men, they wore leather or esparto sandals and wore, as embellishment objects, buckles, brooches, rings, bead necklaces, bracelets, etc. Economic Activities The Iberian economy was mainly based on agriculture and shepherding. Other resource exploration ways, like hunting, fishing, mining, handicrafts, and trading, achieved a high regional or local development, due to several conditionings and a more or less influence from the colonizers. The Iberians widely planted wheat, barley, rye, and broad beans, mainly in the plains of the rivers Ebro and Guadalquivir, with a progressively maturing agricultural experience during the Bronze Age. They also dedicated to vine and olive plantation in highly Hellenic-influenced regions. They gathered natural fruits, like walnuts, acorns, and pomegranate, and they used some textile plants, like esparto, known in the Peninsula at least since the Neolithic, and flax, introduced by Phoenicians. Iberian peasants bred pigs, goats, sheep, donkeys, mules, horses, and oxen. Horses played a relevant role in the Iberian life: they used the little ones as aiming animals and they used the bigger horses in war. They hunted harts, wild boars, rabbits, hares, and several fowls. Along with piscatorial activities exercised in the meridional coast of the Peninsula, the southern Iberians dedicated themselves to fishing and preservation of tuna, mackerel, and other abundant fishes, originating a flourishing salting industry. There were three main types of preserves: simply salted fish; a paste obtained with the viscera and blood of tuna fish, called muria; and a preserve prepared with small fish, mixed with viscera of other fishes and salt, called garum, which was later greatly appreciated by the Romans. Handicrafts Mining mainly fell upon gold, silver, copper, lead, iron and cinnabar extraction, in mines situated near the coast. Tin no longer had value, due to the diffusion of iron metallurgy since the 6th century BC, through Greek and Phoenician colonizers. Among Iberian handicrafts, we can consider the following activities: potteries, weaving, hide tanning, metallurgy and preparation of dyes. Phoenicians colonizers introduced the potter wheel in some areas of the Peninsula. The first Iberian experiences of vase manufacturing on the wheel originated a utilitarian pottery of dark clay and thick grease cleaners. After that, a thin-paste ceramic appears, also made on the wheel, of light clay and without decoration, followed by an identical one, with painted decoration based on oxides. During the Iberian civilization apogee, when vases were painted, it is almost certain that pottery was a workshop activity, rather than a simple domestic job. Phoenician and Greek pottery started to be imitated in their models and decoration by Iberians, who manufactured and painted vases with manifest originality since the middle of the 1st millennium BC. Iberian pottery shows the usage of yellowish and rosy argils, with a porous texture and thin layers, made on the wheel. Vase painting decoration, of a reddish wine color, was based on iron or manganese oxides on a whitish background. The appearance of pottery furnaces with manufacturing and prop residues allow us to know technical features of indigenous productions. Weaving was the essential activity in the Iberian society, where clothing is quite developed regarding the standards of the Mediterranean world. Iberians widely used tanned hides, using them to make helmets and shields, and pack-saddles, harnesses, reins, etc. for animals. The diffusion of metallurgic techniques originated a flourishing workshop workmanship. Iberian blacksmiths made good tempered weapons and agricultural implements. Falchion handles and baldric bolts were decorated and overlaid with a silvered layer. The predilection for lively colored clothing originated the development of dye industry. In order to color their clothes, they used several mineral, animal and vegetal products, such as saffron to obtain yellow and purple to obtain red. In the end of the 2nd millennium BC, Oriental Mediterranean merchants established trading-stations in the southern littoral of the Peninsula, in order to obtain metals, colorants, cereals, horses, salt, etc., giving necklaces, weapons, ivory, ceramic vases, jewels, ostrich eggs, buckles, perfumes and other articles in return, in a pre-monetary exchange. Progressively, by influence of the colonizers, the indigenous society developed handicrafts and started to produce the majority of those products, establishing exchanges in a progressively monetary economy, especially in the 7th century BC, when the Greek coin circulated, then replaced in the middle of that millennium by colonial coinage and from the 3rd century to Romanization by indigenous coins. Economy and Trading One can consider, within a typically Iberian economic scene, the following exportation products: metals (gold, silver, copper); agricultural products (wheat and barley, along with some wine and olive oil in a more advanced phase); hides, flax and wool; colorants; salted fish and fish preserves; honey; horses; salt; slaves. Iberians imported, along with other products, glass objects, ostrich eggs, jewels and other embellishment objects, alabaster vases, ivory, etc. This product circulation developed a monetary economy. Mercantile activities depended on transport facilities and access ways. Facing the Mediterranean front, the Iberian civilization was essentially a maritime one. Their boats, at first sheathed with leather, started to be built with lumber, with a characteristic prow carved as a horse head. They used horses and carts to go about in their territories and to reach distant lands. Remains of car wheels found in archeological stations and the iconography of bronze ex votos proves the existence of vehicles, and these vehicles prove the existence of primitive roadways, linking settlements. They used a weighing system which gets inspiration from the Hellenic one, with a unity, multiples, and submultiples in a conical shape and a central orifice in the pieces. Religion Iberians worshiped their divinities in sanctuaries which were situated on the top of hills or near water-springs, or on other occasions, near subterranean cavities. Sanctuaries were constituted by wide platforms or terraces, with access stairways, where some modest constructions were placed. The faithful deposited there innumerous ex votos: these were generally statuettes with human representations, in a praying position, with animal representations or even personal embellishment objects, models of some human body parts, etc. There was a space in the sanctuary, called the thesaurus, where these offerings were deposited. The Iberian religion is inserted in the Mediterranean beliefs scene at that time and reveals Oriental, Hellenic and Celtic influences. The Iberians believed in the survival of the soul and a big journey after bodily death. They burnt the dead bodies and kept their ashes in urns; near these, they deposited the weapons of the dead - folded, in order not to be used again - and fragments of ceramic vases, intentionally broken. They prepared several types of tombs, according to the religions: simple graves, little monuments covered by earth mounds and rectangular structures. The Oriental Mediterranean civilizations progressively introduced writing in the meridional seafront of the Peninsula, bringing the syllabic symbols at first and later the alphabet. Since the middle of the 1st millennium BC, this originated a complex graphic reproduction of the thinking, where archaic elements were combined with letters. Arts and Culture During the 2nd Iron Age, writing assumed original aspects in the Peninsula diversified in three wide geographic areas: one from the low Guadalquivir to the Sado, with bigger density in Alentejo and Algarve; one of the Southeast, from the high Guadalquivir to the provinces of Alicante and Almeria; and one last which comprised the East and extended to Languedoc and along the Ebro. Iberian writing, which was deciphered by Gómez-Moreno, registered a language which is supposed to belong to a linguistic pre-indo-european family. It is impossible to translate it, since the value of each letter is unknown. According to Gómez-Moreno, the Iberian alphabet is constituted by 29 symbols, in which 5 vowels were identified and several consonants, and many occlusive syllabic symbols. The currently known inscriptions revealed us that the Iberian writing was written left to right, while the other indigenous languages were written backwards. This writing is inscribed in coins, tombstones, copper, bronze or stone objects, painted or graphited on ceramic and lead objects. It is believed that the Iberian semi-syllabic system was constituted in the 5th century BC, and achieved a wide diffusion since the 4th century. The Iberian art sprouted in the littoral settlements of the southern Peninsula because of incentives and influences from the exterior, and achieved an original expression. The habit of depositing artistic objects in tombs and worship places and the aesthetical worry of manufacturing ceramic pieces with figurative paintings favored the conservation of Iberian art testimonies. Sculpture manifested itself, prolixly, in human and animal representations of different sizes - from the monumental statuary to statuettes - and in rare elements of architectonic decoration. The latter appeared, in reduced quantity, in the extreme South of the Iberian area, in door-posts with interlaced volutes and in decorated capitals with semicircles inscribed within rectangles. Statues, carved in rock, are typical from the Southern regions and were made from the 5th century to the middle of the 3rd century BC, epoch in which they suddenly disappeared, supposedly not because of expression exhaustion. Bas-relieves and engraved drawing were also made out of stone. Statuettes, most of them ex votos collected in sanctuaries, were made in an industrial quantity, as they were used by every population stratum. This popular-taste serial production originated an obvious artistic sclerosis. Typically votive, statuettes were generally manufactured in bronze, and sometimes in stone or ceramic. Bronze statuettes, despite being difficult to date, are from the period comprised between the 4th century BC and the Romanization. In their iconography, one can find human and animal figures, being warrior representations and feminine statuettes in offering position the most quality works. Popular art is more visible in rude but expressive ceramic statuettes. Iberian human sculpture rarely represented nudity; on the contrary, it usually showed conventional figures with rich clothing embroidered by embellishment objects. Zoomorphic sculpture, which geographic distribution comprised high Andalucía up to Sagunto, revealed the following evolution: firstly, by oriental influence, monsters and hybrids appeared; then, Hellenic-inspired sphinxes and griffons; finally, typically indigenous figures of wolves, bulls and bears. This sculpture in its whole, since the middle of the 5th century BC, went through three phases: the Greco-oriental inspiration phase, the Iberian and the Romanized one. Besides what was referred about houses, fortresses and sanctuaries, it must be noted that architectonically there were some high dimensioned sepulchers and rare columns and capitals, from which we can conclude that almost every Iberian structure was utilitarian, erected with poor materials and with no decorative worries. In the 6th century BC, ceramics of the Iberian area were copies of Attic pottery of dark figures. The following painted vases were used since the middle of the 1st millennium BC until far 1st century AD and turned up to be a rich and numerous testimony of aesthetical worries of society at that time. These ceramics flourished during the 2nd Iron Age, with the following chronology for their three types: geometric decoration - characterized by parallel lines and bands, circles, concentric circular sections and wavy lines - was made during the referred period; vegetal decoration - combined with geometric patterns - is typical of the 3rd century BC; sometimes, those patterns were accompanied by a heraldic thematic of animal figures and winged goddesses; the typically zoomorphic decoration - in which human and animal representations conform geometric and vegetal patterns, in narrative friezes depicting hunting, dancing, worshipping or war scenes - is characteristic of the beginning of the 3rd century BC and the middle of the 1st century AD, and distinguishes itself as a relevant dating element, both in what concerns iconography and in epigraphic elements. It is probable that painted ceramic was of common use, although it was not applied in the cooking utensils. In a so beautiful pictorial whole, having pottery as its basis, vases which were manufactured in big urban centers reveal a more delicate artistic treatment than the ones made in rural areas, where popular taste is evident in naïve and rude representations. One type of reddish-colored and oriental-influenced ceramic coexisted with the Iberian one until beginnings of the 2nd century BC, epoch in which it starts to be replaced by bell-shaped ceramic. Jewelry from the meridional band of the Peninsula belongs to a tartessian-iberian complex, where the techniques of spouting, granulating and soldering can be seen in a spectacular style that reveals Celtic, Hellenic, Phoenician, Punic and even Etruscan influences. The Iberian civilization, despite being culturally an extension of the flourishing Oriental Mediterranean communities, had the merit of giving an original expression to the received influences and approaching the Iberian Peninsula to the gates of History.

Hey, guys, I need to know if I can send in the parts of my work separatedly as soon as each one's ready, or if you want me to keep the work I do, then group it altogether in the end and send it to you. Also, files happen to be very, very big. Can I send them via MSN Messenger? If you think it's not a good idea, I can host them somewhere and then you can download them.

Oh, OK. I thought you were generally focusing the same period of time for every civilization. Are you going to include the Greek flamethrower?? Oh, I'd love to see one of it in-game...

But I thought you were covering 3rd century BC Greeks as well, because you are including Romans...

But Greeks used Indian elephants...

If there are no mercs, how will you give elephants to the Greeks, for example?

From the 2001 Luso-Brazilian Encyclopedia of Culture ("Enciclopédia Luso-Brasileira de Cultura"). But I can translate Wikipedia's articles, if you want...

I've started to translate some entries of the encyclopedia. I just want to notify and make clear that all this research and translation work is going to take several days, but I will keep you aware of the progress.

OK, then. I will research my personal library and provide you with all the information I can get. Just tell me where do you want me to post it, or if you want me to send it by email.