Vandal Thorne
Warlord
- Joined
- Mar 26, 2008
- Messages
- 164
I think a lot of people who see Italy as a continuation of ancient Rome are quite ignorant of history.
This was not only not the same political entity, but also one quite different ethnically and culturally - people of renaissance Italy were descendants of various "barbarian" tribes (Visigoths, Ostrogoths, Longobards etc.), bringing their own customs and interbreeding with the local Roman populace - so comparisons to Russia -> Soviet Union continuity are simply incorrect.
The best analogy I can think of is the Ottomans replacing the Byzantines (who in turn replaced Greeks) - and while Ottomans shared the same capital with the Byzantines and considered themselves inheritors of Byzantium, they were quite different civilization.
Aside: to extend your analogy ...who had replaced the Phoenecians who had supplanted the Hittites... ah, Anatolia...
On Topic:
Honestly, modern Italy has alot more in common with modern Germany since both were forged from smaller collectives of principalities (i.e., City States). That being said I think that any overarching Italy civ in CiV would probably need to focus on the history of Venice in order to make it distinct from Rome. This begs the question of why not just have a Venice civ.
IMO, like the German principalities that preceded the formation of Germany, pre-Italian principalities are all similar enough with regards to cultural traditions that an Italy civ should be able to encompass the culture and history of the Italian peninsula from the time period during which the Lombards overran it (i.e. post-Gothic Rome) onwards.