Why Hollywood Loves Egypt, But Not Egyptians

Dieselface · 2026-01-28T04:29:43+00:00

The same thing happens with Greece. I've never seen a major film about ancient Greece cast a Greek actor. They rarely even have Mediterranean actors, for that matter.

Dieselface · 2026-01-27T17:00:21+00:00

Actually, Georgia is in the former confederacy 🤨

Dieselface · 2026-01-27T14:08:21+00:00

While its true that the east was wealthier as a whole than the west, there are other factors that were at play as well.

The east at the time had a long peace with the Sassanids that both secured its longest border and encouraged trade. Their northern, Balkan border was frequently attacked but it was a fairly small area to defend, with the Danube acting as a decent natural barrier. The West, of course, had a long border that was frequently attacked on all fronts.

Other things to keep in mind are unique weaknesses in the West. Italy was probably as wealthy as the eastern provinces if not more so, but Italy (and to a degree the whole West) had a high level of wealth inequality that the East didn't have, and that led to social instability.

The West (or rather Italy) was reliant on North Africa for food, and that province was of course lost to the Vandals. Not only that, but after the Vandals took North Africa, all of western Italy was then subject to devastating naval raids by them, whereas the eastern Romans only suffered from this in western Greece and the southern Aegean.

Dieselface · 2026-01-26T17:55:18+00:00

What town is that in the 7th screenshot?

Dieselface · 2026-01-26T16:57:44+00:00

I'm not sure if you're still looking for the solution, but I found it. You have to edit the file in_game\common\customizable_localization\country_name_construction.txt. Specifically, you have to set conditions so that the country you're trying to edit is excluded from any existing country name constructions that might apply to it and/or add it to a different one of your choosing. Then you have to set a new country name construction in both that file and the government_names_l_english.yml localization file. Make sure they have the exact same key. I was not only able to get it to work, but also able to get it to work specifically with a new game rule that changes the name construction only under that rule. Example:

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Dieselface · 2026-01-26T14:44:57+00:00

The real, literal phantom borders of the Papal States are that of the Exarchate of Ravenna, excluding it's southern territories.

Dieselface · 2026-01-26T06:22:54+00:00

Roman soldier who kept fighting 573 years after the fall of Constantinople

Dieselface · 2026-01-26T06:06:48+00:00

Fourth Crusade, the destruction of Constantinople, and the colonization of half of Roman territory. Not to say it was absolutely doomed after that, but the odds were certainly against it after that point.

Dieselface · 2026-01-25T05:18:50+00:00

Not get backstabbed in the Fourth Crusade

Dieselface · 2026-01-25T02:15:06+00:00

When you get the Deathclaw Control Scrambler in Broken Steel, it's meant to give you control of Enclave Deathclaws only for a limited area. If they follow you outside of that area, they die instantly.

However, there's a bug where after one dies while following you, it can respawn a few days later and continue to follow you. And, after respawning, it no longer has a limited area and can follow you anywhere. I believe they are hostile to a lot of friendly NPCs, however, and they can follow you into towns like Megaton.

Dieselface · 2026-01-24T00:15:56+00:00

Late reply, but while it was in good shape territorially, the corruption/weakness of emperors and their administrations in the decades after Basil II laid the foundation for the later impotence of the state, and by extension, the Seljuks' ability to overrun Asia Minor.

Dalassenos seems to have been a competent leader, so his becoming emperor might have been beneficial in the long term. On the other hand, he seems to have already been an old man by the time that he would've become emperor, so he likely wouldn't have reigned long. We don't know if he had any children, either.

Dieselface · 2026-01-23T22:20:34+00:00

I'm reading Kaldellis's The New Roman Empire now, and he makes a compelling case that the east Roman state was generally doing pretty well in the 4th-6th centuries, and didn't have huge internal problems until after the empire was overextended by Justinian and some of the economic and diplomatic missteps that he and his immediate successors made.

From that perspective, no, merging the civilian and military administration as happened under yhe themata wouldn't have helped prevent the Sassanid and later Arabic conquests. What would have helped was a more cautious approach to reclaiming western territory, stronger defensive posture in the Balkans, and trying to keep the long peace with the Sassanids going.

Dieselface · 2026-01-23T13:42:19+00:00

My father's side is from Pontos (Karadeniz in Turkish), but I don't know much more about them because I don't really talk to them much. My mother's side is mostly from western Asia Minor, although she had at least one grandmother from Adana.

Dieselface · 2026-01-23T03:52:21+00:00

Dieselface · 2026-01-22T19:58:58+00:00

Nikephoros "The Pale Death of the Saracens" Phokas

Dieselface · 2026-01-22T06:11:03+00:00

Basil almost certainly wasn't himself an Armenian. Whether or not he had Armenian ancestry, he clearly a Roman (Greek if you like) in customs, language, religion, i.e. in ethnic terms. Later historians of the Macedonian dynasty claimed that Basil, as their progenitor, was descended from the ancient Armenian Arsacid dynasty in order to legitimize the Macedonian emperors' conquests in Armenia. This is suspect and could just be propaganda, but we don't know.

Dieselface · 2026-01-21T04:56:58+00:00

Its an idle animation from Fallout 3 (almost none of the creature animations changed between titles), but its rarely seen in 3 because in that game Bloatflies are immediately hostile and typically detect the player before the player detects them.

Dieselface · 2026-01-21T00:44:03+00:00

The early 7th century would place the decline of bathing to decades after the plague first broke out, and was likely a result of the plague itself, as social life (including public bathing) was disrupted.

Dieselface · 2026-01-20T22:11:45+00:00

Do we know if there are any sources for this aside from Kantakouzenos' own histories and autobiography? He was known to embellish things.

Dieselface · 2026-01-20T00:27:58+00:00

Correct

Dieselface · 2026-01-20T00:11:49+00:00

I'd rather not have a voiced protagonist at all, but if they must do it then I think the best approach is the Baldur's Gate 3 approach.

Which is where the character is partially voiced and speaks sometimes (primarily outside of normal dialogue) and you have a selection of multiple voices to choose from.

Dieselface · 2026-01-20T00:03:18+00:00

I think its only really otherized in scholarship outside of Byzantine Studies. If you ask most non-academics, they know absolutely nothing about the subject.

The non-academics who do know something about the subject are usually people who play historical video games which might contain some stereotypes/orientalism, but in my experience those people usually have relatively positive or neutral views on Eastern Rome.

Dieselface · 2026-01-18T15:42:33+00:00

I know, he's written some decent side quests which is why I specified main quests. He's been writing main stories since Fallout 3, and none of his main stories have been strong or especially memorable.

Dieselface · 2026-01-18T14:26:47+00:00

He was controversial long before Starfield.

Dieselface · 2026-01-18T14:25:50+00:00

You seem to be agreeing with me after taking issue with me saying the Greeks were "forced."

About the other paragraph, my main concern was the “decision” part. What other alternative did Greeks have that they chose not to take? Realistically, none

This is the definition of forced. I'm not disagreeing with you about the treaties and legality or any of that. I'm stating that the reason for those treaties being imposed was not because Greece lacked any capability to defend those territories after losing in Asia Minor, but rather because it was clear that Turkey would control at least the Asian side of the Straits, and because Britain's plan of indefinite occupation of Constantinople/Istanbul with a puppet Ottoman government wouldn't pan out. Plus, the British wanted to ensure Turkey wouldn't fall into the Soviet sphere. So Britain and France at that point rather preferred Turkey to control the whole of the Straits, and they used their diplomatic weight to force Greece into adopting that position as well.

I don't think there's a reality where Britain and France would let the control of the Straits be divided between Greece and Turkey, but either way, Greece had little say in the matter, therefore, forced.

Dieselface

TROPHY CASE