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Hellenistic royal courts - VALUABLE


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Seems interesting and worth the read... Funny, because I was collecting some visual references for Hellenistic palaces, to help differentiate them from the Hellenic Civic Centers in-game.

I like the two storied facade of the Macedonian palace of Aigai in particular, which could be a very useful ref for @LordGood. Since you've done such an amazing work, on everything really, but especially seen the latest updates to the Athenian and Spartan civs, this could help you along a little further. 

I'm not an expert though, and I find it difficult to assess the accuracy of the refs (on account of the variety in interpretations), maybe @Anaxandridas ho Skandiates or @Nescio could discuss them a little more in depth. 

The Macedonian palace at Aigai (Vergina), https://www.aigai.gr/en/explore/museum/palace/aiges/vergina 

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Slightly different interpretations. 

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Macedonian palace at Pella, http://pella.virtualreality.gr/en.html

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The Tobiad palace of Qasr al-Abd, in Iraq al-Amir, Jewish Hellenistic architecture in Jordan. Some kind of governors residence under the Ptolemaic Dynasty. May have fallen into disuse after the Seleucid conquest of the region. https://books.openedition.org/ifpo/4894

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Another thing I've been meaning to bring up. The Seleucids are one of my favourite civs in game. Their building models looks gorgeous! My problem with them is that someone who's unfamiliar with Seleucid history, will be unable to even guess where in the ancient world they were located. There are very little hints about the Middle Eastern empire they ruled. I suggest adding the "Bit Resh" as a special building to their building roster. The Bit Resh was a large temple complex dedicated to Anu and Antum, and featured magazines and "administration and scientific archives", apparently attached to a scribal school. It was built by Anu-Uballit Nikarchos, governor of Hellenistic period Uruk. Yes, that 5000 year old city was also an important centre under the Seleucids. It's built in a revived classical Sumerian/Babylonian architecture in 244 BC, which makes it rather special, and emphasises the complicated cultural context of the Seleucid Empire. 

http://www.artefacts-berlin.de/portfolio-item/uruk-visualisation-project-the-seleucid-period/

uruk_seleucid_001-1500x800.thumb.png.9c865f2f3a6d6cb0a8afe8cfcab6da0f.png

 

Edited by Sundiata
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3 hours ago, Anaxandridas ho Skandiates said:

Actually, the Macedonian wonder should be the gigantic Alexander-capital of Mount Athos that was never built - his short life prevented him from making Macedonia the leading state of the world, imagine the wonders that could have been built if he had conquered the West like he planned to before he died!

I think we're avoiding alternate history timelines. Do you have other examples of monumental Macedonian architecture, like the Philippeion, for example?

Spoiler

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3 hours ago, Anaxandridas ho Skandiates said:

She is a solid archaeologist, but again I am afraid that these reconstructions are often "too-great-to-be-true". You will notice that behind the headlines in popular "civilization" and "history" magazines etc. - there is in the actual work always a disclaimer saying "loose reconstruction" or "where evidence is missing, we have attempted to fill in" etc. etc.

I grant that this is the only way that this can be done, and it is valuable. They have to engage the public with headlines and fancy images. But I do wish that these scholars would start every article or image description of reconstructions with the words "x% of what you see is what we found, xx% is our conjecture and we actually have no real idea what these structures look like".

The ground plan of the temple is known, and "the brickwork is preserved to 7m in height, but has only been excavated in a few places". They used the inclination of the stairs as an indication of the original height. Glazed bricks in the ruble were used to provide information for the reconstruction. Sumerian architectural traditions are also well studied... Check video with a little info:

https://vimeo.com/62772222

Pretty sure it's as good as it gets.

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  • 1 year later...
On 1/4/2019 at 6:31 AM, Sundiata said:

thing I've been meaning to bring up. The Seleucids are one of my favourite civs in game. Their building models looks gorgeous! My problem with them is that someone who's unfamiliar with Seleucid history, will be unable to even guess where in the ancient world they were located. There are very little hints about the Middle Eastern empire they ruled. I suggest adding the "Bit Resh" as a special building to their building roster. The Bit Resh was a large temple complex dedicated to Anu and Antum, and featured magazines and "administration and scientific archives", apparently attached to a scribal school. It was built by Anu-Uballit Nikarchos, governor of Hellenistic period Uruk. Yes, that 5000 year old city was also an important centre under the Seleucids. It's built in a revived classical Sumerian/Babylonian architecture in 244 BC, which makes it rather special, and emphasises the complicated cultural context of the Seleucid Empire. 

http://www.artefacts-berlin.de/portfolio-item/uruk-visualisation-project-the-seleucid-period/

uruk_seleucid_001-1500x800.thumb.png.9c865f2f3a6d6cb0a8afe8cfcab6da0f.png

Perhaps this can replace the "Library" for the Seleucids.

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