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Αμήν και πότε παναγιάμ 🥲

Amen and when marym crying with smile emoji

americans pleeease. please kill elon musk 🙏🙏🥺😔😩🙏 americans! please. Please !!! kill elon musk. don't you remember gun.. ? bang bang ? your favorite game..? Americans... please. 😔🙏 have you forgotten your local deity, captain america: kill nazis??? americans !! I know you can do it 🥺🙏 please americans..

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A Brief Analysis on the flags of Medieval Two Total War #2

Iberian Peninsula and Maghreb | Part 01

⚠️*TRIGGER WARNING*⚠️

Discussion and showing of Islamic religious iconography

Moors 

☽ In-Game Symbol ☽

This is a simple and easily read symbol, a white crescent moon (hilāl/هِلَال) on a light orange field. According to Wikipedia, the Crescent as a symbol appeared on islamic flags rarely around the 13th century and more frequently from the 14th and onwards. Though The Banners and Battle Cries of the Arabs at Ṣiffīn (1971) by Professor Martin Hinds -that covers events that took place at 657, depicts three tribal banners with a crescent. But I think it's not that weird since the moon is something that can be viewed by everyone. The in-game flag design, but with a yellow field and a blue crescent is depicted on a Portolan Chart of Mecia de Viladestes from 1413, as the flag of Mameluke Egypt (13th-16th c.), which didn't possess any lands on the Maghreb. A Similar flag design but with a yellow field and silver crescent on a different position appears on the Catalan Atlas (late 14th c.) for the same polity. Flags with crescents also appear in the Libro del Conosçimiento de todos los rregnos (circa 1385) (damn what a title) –a book describing some of the polities of the known world along with their coat of arms, in different colours representing various islamic polities and cities.

(Damascus in the Catalan Atlas)

(Possibly Cairo in 1413 Portolan by Mecia de Viladestes)

(Flag of Egypt as seen in the Libro del Conosçimiento)

(Flag of Damascus as seen in the Libro del Conosçimiento)

(The Crescent in an Arabic battle banner depicted in the "Fleur des histoires de la terre d'Orient" by Hethum of Corycus, 1300s)

(Battle banners from “The Banners and Battle Cries of the Arabs at Ṣiffīn” )

📜 Historicity  📜

The flag as well as the name of the faction are mostly inaccurate, as that flag wasn't used by a polity on that region. Though I can understand the use of a crescent in an islamic faction's flag, it's easily recognisable and indicates the Moor's religion and culture. The name Moors kinda rubs me the wrong way though, since it's a collective name used by Westerners to reference a multitude of Islamic cultures and polities. Also, it's a term those cultures never used to describe themselves. The word itself derives from the latin maurus (m. sg.), that in turn derives from the greek μαῦρος/ἀμαυρός (both m. sg.) that just means black/dark and in this context refers to skin colour. The orange colour is a weird choice, because as far as I know, it wasn't used historically by any arabic tribe/dynasty/polity. Though it was probably a design choice since there aren't any other orange factions in the game. Islamic dynasties and certain groups used a particular colour to represent themselves, decorating those with Quranic inscriptions and other symbols like the above-mentioned crescent, but I couldn't find any orange ones.

(Flag bearers depicted in the "Maqāmāt al-Ḥarīrī" 13th c.)

☝️🤓 My humble suggestion  ☝️🤓

First of all, I'd change the name. It really bothers me :'). I think that the term al-Andalus (الأَنْدَلُس) will be more fitting, since it's a term that was used by the Arabs themselves to refer to the Iberian peninsula. Back to the flag now. During the period covered by the game, Andalus and Maghreb saw many polities rise and fall -that's why probably the developers chose a collective name for the faction, that gives as a lot of symbols to work with. One notable banner that comes to mind is the 'Alam/Liwa' al-mansûr (علم/لواء المنصور), Flag/Banner of the Victorious. It was described by scholars like Ibn Abī Zar (d. early 14th c.) and al-Fishtali (1549-1621) to have been used by various Morrocan dynasties such as the Almohads/ٱلْمُوَحِّدُونَ/ al-Muwaḥḥidūn (1121-1269), Marinids/المرينيون/al-marīniyyūn (1242-1465)and the Saadis/السعدي��ن/as-Saʿdiyyūn (1510-1659). The banners are described having excerpts of the quran in gold on a white field. Although it's more historicly accurate, a more simple symbol may be preferable. We can keep the original design but change the colours. We can keep the white field and colour the crescent white or blue. One of Muhammad's banners was white and was later used by the Umayyads (661-750). But, white was also used by later dynasties such as the Fatimids (909–1171)and the above mentioned polities. That symbol also appears as the coat of arms of Tunis in the “Libro del Conosçimiento”. But, there are two other white factions in-game and one of them- Portugal is directly bordering the Moors. So another colour would be prefferable. Instead of white the field can be red and the crescent white. This flag appears as the flag of the Hafsids/الحفصيون/al-Ḥafṣiyūn (1229-1547) in an Atlas by Pietro Vesconte for Marino Sanuto's “Liber Secretum” (c.1320s). But Alas! Red is also used by many other factions! The Catalan Atlas does show a simillar flag with a yellow field and a white star above the crescent, but I think that'd be more fitting for Egypt (that'll be on a later post). One fictional design, but based on real flags that I've unearthed from my countryball's years [yes...I'm not proud of them :')] is the same design as the above, but the field is black. Black was the colour used by the Abbasids (750-1258 and 1261-1517). The other banner used by Muhammad and it was probably inspired by th eschatological Hadith of Black Banners. The Abbasids had some control over the region, the Almoravids/المرابطون/Al-Murābiṭūn (1050s-1147) for example were Abbasid vassals. Also, there aren't many black factions in game so it'll be nice imo. If anyone's reading it, do share your suggestions, this is a ramble anyways so I'm not pretending to be a game-dev, just throwing ideas up there xD.

(Ibn Abī Zar's depiction of al-Muwaḥḥidūn's banner)

(al-Fishtali's depiction of as-Saʿdiyyūn's banner)

(Flag of Tunis in the "Libro del Conosçimiento")

(Flag from Liber Secretum)

(Muhammad's Banners)

(My crappy Abbasid flag)

Sources

chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/05/Book_of_the_knowledge_of_all_the_kingdoms%2C_lands%2C_and_lordships_that_are_in_the_world_%28IA_bookofknowledgeo00jimrich%29.pdf

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A Brief Analysis on the flags of Medieval Two Total War #1

Introduction and Aztecs | Part 02

Aztecs 

 

In-Game Symbol 

This one had me a bit confused, as I couldn’t figure out 100% what it’s depicted due to the low resolution of the game. Though I think it’s the Sun/Calendar Stone. As the name suggests, it’s a monolithic calendar constructed during the reign of Moctezuma II (1500s-1520). It was found in 1790, under the Zócalo square of Mexico City, at the ruins of the Main Temple of Tenōchtitlan, dedicated to Huitzilopochtli the war god and Tlaloc the rain god. At the centre a deity is depicted, thought to be Tōnatiuh the Sun Deity of daytime Sky.  On the aligning circles are carved various symbols representing the eras, centuries and days of the Aztec calendar as well as the four points on the horizon, Moctezuma’s name and two fire serpents. It is debated whether it was used solely as a calendar or as a sacrificial altar.  

(Images from Wikipedia)

📜 Historicity  📜

This flag is fictional but inspired by historical elements. The yellow colour for one of the Sun deities is fitting as well as the turquoise colour, which is matching with Tōnatiuh’s epithet of “Turquoise Lord”. Tōnatiuh was one of the most prominent deities of the Aztecs –as well as of other Mesoamerican cultures. The use of the entirety of the sunstone was what confused me the most. As far as I know, the American people and their rulers didn’t use flags, but of course one had to be made for the game. According to Wikipedia, the Aztecs used banners with intricate designs, called Pāmitl in Nahuatl to represent officers and important warriors on the battlefield. Those banners are indeed present in-game and appear on the backs of certain units. 

(Pāmitl as depicted on the Codex Mendoza-1540s)

(Pāmitl used by in-game units)

☝️🤓 My humble suggestion  ☝️🤓

Although, I think I can understand the reasoning behind it, I believe that this flag can be improved. We can keep the Sun elements with the original colours, but the Sun Stone could be replaced with a depiction of Tōnatiuh, or perhaps another sun deity like Huitzilopochtli. Or since gods’ depictions are very detail and something simpler would be more practical, we can put an animal ascosiated with the sun. Like an eagle, as these birds are associated with Huitzilopochtli. In Aztec mythology eagles were present when the sun was created, as well in Tenōchtitlan’s founding myth, the Aztecs decided to build their city on the place where an eagle landed and ate a snake. The eagle was believed to have been Huitzilopochtli. Let’s not forget that this scene is depicted in Mexico’s coat of arms. An alternative could be the hummingbird, another bird linked with Huitzilopochtli that has some supernatural properties of its own. It was believed that hummingbirds were the reincarnation of fallen warriors. One last suggestion would be the jaguar, an animal associated with the creator god Tēzcatlīpohca and represented military might.  

(Tōnatiuh as depicted in Codex Borgia- 16th c.)

(Huitzilopochtli as depicted in Codex Telleriano-Remensis-After 1542)

(Codex Mendoza)

(Aztec Spirit Bird from Mexico City, Jorge Enciso-1947)

(Hummingbird, Codex Mendoza)

(Jaguar depicted in Codex Magliabechiano-16th c.)

Sources

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A Brief Analysis on the flags of Medieval Two Total War #1

Introduction and Aztecs | Part 01 

Sooo, one of my special interests is vexillology/heraldry and for no particular reason, I fell in a rabbit hole, analysing faction symbols from video games. And since I’ve completed my notes on the flags of Medieval 2 Total War, the symbols and if they are historically accurate/appropriate I thought it’d be a shame if I didn’t post them somewhere, lol.

⚠️Disclaimer ⚠️

M2TW was released in 2006 and it covers the time period between 1080 and 1530, and as a video game it has to be practical. I fully acknowledge the fact that some of the flags aren’t 100% accurate representations for the above stated reasons, this “analysis” is made purely for fun. Also, although I did my research, it’s not that deep so of course I may have missed a few stuff. Lastly, I’ll divide the posts by regions for the vanilla factions and by DLC for the rest. 

🏴 Flag Culture 🏳️

Flags used for the representation of national entities appeared with nationalism and the creation of nation-states. Since this context is still prevalent in contemporary times, it’s anachronistically applied to media covering ages and states of the past. Banners were always used as it is a practical way to identify an official, army unit, naval vessel etc. The flags we know appeared gradually at Eurasia during the High Medieval Period, thanks to the Silk Road. During the 12th century heraldry was developed by the nobles of western Europe. Thus, a royal’s heraldic banner represented that royal’s country to an extent. On the other hand, the Mercantile City States of Italy and Hansa would start using pennants to identify their ships. So, that’s that about the history of flags I suppose. 

Img 01: Heraldic Banners of Crusader Kings, from a 15th Century Tapestry.

Img 02: Heraldic Banners on a 16th Century Manuscript.

Sources

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Έργα του Χρηστόφορου Κατσαδιώτη στο Εθνικό Μουσείο Σύγχρονης Τέχνης (ΕΜΣΤ), στα οποία επιτέθηκε ο βουλευτής της Νίκης Νίκος Παπαδόπουλος.

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The paintings of Hristoforos Katsadiotis (Χριστόφορος Κατσαδιώτης) that were vandalised by a far-right MP while on display at the National Art Gallery. The MP is free and enjoys support from his party and multiple church officials. Decided to post them so that they may not be consumed by obscurantism...

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#fear and hunger

#cahara

#funger

#Reblog

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Pavel mah boi 🥰😭

Bang.

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looks awsome!!! 🥰🥰🥰

Somone reauested pav so here he is HORRAYY

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Marina and dysmorphia samarie :3

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Soooo I was stressed a while back so I had this silly concept of Panellinies Greek History as JJBA so i drew Konstantinos and Venizelos...might redraw later,tons of mistakes ( ͡ಥ ͜ʖ ͡ಥ)

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Omar Sharif ❤️‍🔥😭😔

A quick sketch of Ali :)

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Hihihihihi

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Pav doodle

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IT'S ALMOST HARVESTING SEASON!

https://youtu.be/wcxZl7aoS4o?si=k2RTEe7FksJ_FNRS

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"The Ghosts of Lyapkin"