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| ==Discovery Sites== | | ==Discovery Sites== |
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| |-|A | | |-|Lesbos Banner and Coinage |
| |-|B | | The banner of Lesbos, home of the famous poet Sappho, was |
| | inspired by one of the most interesting monetary types in |
| | antiquity. |
| | |
| | Unlike others cities, Lesbos changed monetary types from one |
| | issuance to another. This provided great variety - notably this |
| | unusual depiction of two female heads overlapping. |
| | |
| | Lesbos's cities were members of the Delian league from the |
| | start. They provided ships to the alliance, but then revolted in |
| | 428 BCE and the victorious Athenians sent clerouchs (settlers) |
| | to occupy the island. |
| | |-|Fortified Camps |
| | Field camps were built at the end of a day's march to provide |
| | protection in case of a surprise enemy attack. |
| | |
| | They were widely-used when attacking cities during sieges. |
| | The camps are where soldiers would eat, sleep, and store |
| | their weapons, food rations and spoils - often for months at a |
| | time. It's also where a soldier would take refuge when and if |
| | things went badly in battle. |
| | |
| | Building a good fortified camp or fortifying a village or small |
| | city in the enemy's territory may have meant the difference |
| | between victory and defeat. |
| | |
| | As sieges would stretch on, a good fortified camp meant that |
| | an army could safely remain in unfriendly lands and exert |
| | pressure on the enemy. This could be done by burning or |
| | taking their crops, by preventing resupply, or simply by |
| | exerting their demoralizing presence. |
| | |
| | Establishing a fortified position in enemy lands in order to |
| | constantly raid it was a common tactic in the Peloponnesian |
| | War. Athens employed it at Pylos from 425 to 409 BCE, and so |
| | did the Spartans with a more devastating effect over a |
| | weakened Athens when they fortified Dekeleia from 413 to 404 |
| | BCE. |
| | |-|A Soldier's Life |
| | Soldiers on the move mostly slept under the sky on beds of |
| | reeds, for in most cases tent materials were too great a |
| | burden. |
| | |
| | They ate two meals a day - one at mid-day [except when battle |
| | was expected), and then dinner. They usually cooked these |
| | meatls themselves. In most cases, the meal consisted of maza, |
| | a sort of barley porridge. The Spartans did things differently; |
| | they had dedicated cooks in their armies. |
| | |
| | When the soldiers need to relieve themselves, they simply |
| | went wherever they could outside of camp, as there was no |
| | special location for this act. |
| | |
| | There was little in the way of entertainment in military camps. |
| | The Spartans, however, did have some techniques for |
| | avoiding boredom. After their regular practice and exercise, |
| | they had a sort of contest of singing songs by the poet |
| | Tyrtaios, and the winner received a prize in meat. |
| | |
| | Even in a war camp, the gods had to be honored. Whenever |
| | possible, sacrifices were made and seers were consulted, |
| | often about the tides of battle. |
| | |-|Petrified Forest of Lesbos |
| | (Behind the scenes) |
| | |
| | Lesbos is an island situated in the north-east of the Aegean |
| | Sea. Lesbos rebelled against the Athenians, leading to its |
| | eventual surrender to Athens. Lesbos is notable in real life for |
| | its 18-million-year-old petrified forest, a UNESCO World |
| | Heritage Site, home to fossilized remains of a once vast |
| | swathe of vegetation and forest. The art team used their |
| | artistic license to grow the trees into dense forests of tangled |
| | roots and branches, a maze for our hero to navigate. The |
| | atmosphere of the forest is oppressive, with temple ruins |
| | appearing from the murky background, and a sense of dread |
| | lingering behind every corner. |
| | |
| | Finished concepts by Hugo Puzzuoli show the red and yellow |
| | accents in the rock of the petrified trees, caused by intense |
| | volcanic activity millions of years ago. |
| | |-|Medusa |
| | The Medusa has been portrayed in many different ways over |
| | the years, from a beautiful young woman, to a monstrous |
| | creature with a serpent's body and tail. The art team decided |
| | to move away from these depictions, concentrating on the |
| | details of her appearance. The snakes are based on actual |
| | Greek species found on the islands and mainland Greece. Her |
| | dress is made from targe swathes of snake skin, suggesting |
| | even bigger serpents once existed. “Medusa is represented in |
| | her Greek form, as a humanoid woman, rather than in the |
| | Roman version that would follow," explains art director |
| | Thierry Dansereau. She is, after all, a woman transformed by |
| | an ancient artifact, rather than the will of the gods. |
| | |-|Medusa and Perseus |
| | Perseus was the Greek hero who ultimately killed Medusa. He |
| | was the son of Zeus and Danai, and he promised to obtain the |
| | head of Medusa to King Polydektes. Medusa was a gorgon, a |
| | female monster that had living snakes on her head instead of |
| | locks of hair. Her gaze petrified all who locked eyes with her, |
| | and turned them to stone. |
| | |
| | Perseus went to the Hesperides to acquire the weapon that |
| | would help him defeat Medusa. They also gave him a sack to |
| | hold her head (kibisis). He received a sword [harpe) from |
| | Zeus, winged sandals from Hermes, a shiny shield from |
| | Athena, and the ability to hide from Hades. |
| | |
| | When Perseus entered Medusa's cave, he used the shield's |
| | reflection to avoid eye contact, and successfully decapitated |
| | her. |
| | |
| | Perseus used the head of Medusa as a weapon, but later gave |
| | itas a gift to Athena, who placed the head of the gorgon |
| | (gorgoneion) on her shield, or the Aegis. |
| | |-|Medusa's Temple |
| | Where better to have the home of the notorious Medusa, |
| | famous for turning her victims to stone, than in a petrified |
| | forest. As one of the most well-known creatures from Greek |
| | myth, featuring in countless books, movies, and historical |
| | records, it was a challenge for the development team to strip |
| | away the previous incarnations and start fresh. In mythology, |
| | Medusa was one of the three Gorgons, sisters with wings and |
| | snakes for hair, able to petrify onlookers. The Medusa in |
| | Assassin's Creed Odyssey is a woman, transformed by a First |
| | Civilization artifact into a creature of great power. As such, |
| | her temple features the classic geometry and architecture of |
| | First Civilization constructions, and is the only open-air First |
| | Civilization temple in game. |
| | |-|The Keryneian Hind |
| | The third labor of Herakles was to capture the Keryneian Hind, |
| | a beast notoriously faster than an arrow. |
| | |
| | This particular labor was not about strength, but about speed |
| | and patience. Herakles chased the hind on foot for over a year |
| | -in Thrace, and as far as Istria in the Adriatic Sea. However, |
| | there's more than one legend that tells of its capture. In one |
| | version, Herakles caught the hind when it was asleep with a |
| | trap-net or a thrown arrow. In another, it was Artemis - |
| | whose sacred animal was the hind - who helped Herakles |
| | after he told the goddess that he didn't intend on desecrating |
| | the animal. |
| | |-|C |
| | |-|C |
| |-|C | | |-|C |
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