Spartans
Achaemenids
Athenians
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I guess the Achaemenid one is one of Darius’ palaces, either at Susa or Persepolis.
The Athenian one is presumably the Parthenon (which, awkwardly, was built after the Greco-Persian Wars).
Not sure about the Spartan one – I didn’t realise they really built anything of note.
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I am guessing it’s a temple to Ares, to contrast Athens temple to Athena.
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Ugh I need these in regular AOE 2.
The Spartans just werent that impressive in general
I would have kinda prefered if we got just the Athenians named as “Greeks” since I feel like we didnt really need two diferent infantry Greek civs (despite their diferent societies, the Greeks just shared a lot of stuff)
Since the Grand Campaign begins with the rise of Persia it would have been nice to get a Babylon civ, but I guess two diferent Greek civs gives you more material to worn with in the Greco Persian wars which is the focus
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They are on regular aoe2. It’s not separate as ror
It looks like it. Was Sparta particularly associated with Ares? I thought their main cults were Artemis and Athena.
I agree – a society (supposedly) focussed primarily around war, and yet their overall success in wars was fairly mediocre. They’re best known for a battle that they lost, in which their role is significantly overstated.
If I was going to have two Greek civs for this, I’d call them Ionians and Dorians, rather than Athenians and Spartans. That way, the civ designs could take inspiration from other ionian and Dorian city states, and thus have a bit more depth to them. As it is, Spartans in particular seem very one-dimensional. From what I’ve seen they look quite underpowered, to be honest – like Goths if they had a bad unique unit and no infantry discount.
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iirc, they were one of the few places that worshipped him at all. As let’s just say he had a bad reputation.
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The fact that CA made all these amazing new models and the fact that every civ since LotW has had a unique castle makes the Athenians and the Spartans sharing their fort models make me irrationally upset.
On an unrelated note, shouldn’t the hippeus be a cavalry unit?
As we say around here, people who fuck other people’s partners die early.
Apparently no. The Hippeus was both a cavalry unit AND an elite guard for the Spartans. No idea why they called them that, but after looking into it, it turns out they had an infantry called “Horseman” running around. Strange.
I mean, that’s not exactly uncommon in Greek myth glares at Zeus.
It’s more that he was seen as a savage brutish god. Associated with military violence and the horrors of war. More someone who was necessary in the pantheon, but not one you would actively worship unless you were a psychopath.
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An Egypt (late period), Scythians, Thracians, Carthaginian and Etruscan civilisation plus Greek would have been good. But you give the Greeks an option to be either Sparta, Athens or Syracuse maybe with relevant bonuses.
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I don’t know why they were called that, but it seems similar to equites in ancient Rome and cavaliers in the English Civil War. Both literally mean horsemen, but weren’t actually necessarily horsemen.
If I’m not mistaken their main deity was Apollo, and it may be the one featured here considering he’s carrying a bow (though I don’t think Apollo is usually associated with spears and helmets). Afaik the Spartans despised Ares just as the other Greeks in the Classical Era. After all he was less the incarnation of the perfect soldier than the return to animality a warrior may experience on the battlefield. He was not just bloothirsty, he was also cowardly and fled crying whenever he was hurt. Not really the image Spartans wanted to reflect. Though I was told he was rehabilitated by the Macedonians and obviously benefited from his association with the Roman Mars.
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Oh I know Ares wasn’t their main deity. It’s more that Ares and Athena are contrasts, and there is some evidence that Ares was worshipped in Sparta (though not in a major way), so having one of the Greek civs have a wonder honouring Athena and the other Ares makes for good visual dichotomy. In fact, the two statues are facing in opposite directions with the wonders.
I think it’s almost certainly Ares. He is holding his iconic spear and is wearing his helmet (which Ares is always depicted with).
The bow I am not sure about. That could be the devs just wrapping him up in various images of war, but the Greeks at this time despised archery as a weapon of war. They considered it a cowardly way of fighting. So I’m not sure. He’s got no connection to hunting, which is what bows would be used for then, so that’s out.
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Zeus would have been fine as the Spartans’ god.