Old Persian language

[Chewbocca]

Hey all

I'm new to this mod actually and I like it very much. One of the reasons is the Parthian unit voices. I want to say that you guys have made a splendid job with the Parthian voice-overs, and I really want to know who are behind this particular voice-pack. As my parents are persian and I'm really interested in history (what would I do here else? ), I really want to know. I didn't hear a single arabic word, it was all pure old Avestan persian, and many of the words are so ancient that of all of my family who were present here, only my uncle (he's a pro at old Indo-European languages) could understand and confirm. This really shows how passionate and accurate you are with your mods. If only CA would be almost this good...

Thank you. Hope you will keep making good voice-overs like this. Take care D

[yuezhi]

Grarrrrrrwwrrr. Graup, Grarrrr gruhh gruarrrr. Grrruuuaaaaaguuuuu.
(Greetings. I think you should look for Shigawire. I don't know if he did all of the voices but the voicemod is his brainchild.)

[Chewbocca]

D thx Yuezhi GRAUURR AUUUR GRUUHH OUUURRRRGGH

[Floren d'Asteneuz]

Dorud Chewbocca !


I don't know if it is Avestan, for Avestan is (as I remember) pure written/classic language.
If the EB team did it correctly, it should be Arsacid Pahlavi ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parthian_Language ), which is Western-Iranian language (Avestan is Eastern-Iranian)

Khodahafez!

[Chewbocca]

Douroud bar tou!

You're correct, I think I made a mistake there. If I'm not wrong again, Avestan is the language that was spoken by the Persians (not Parthians) in the regions near Media, while Pahlavai/Pahlavani on the other hand was spoken by the Parthians As we know, the Parthians are regarded as the saviours of persian and/or iranian language and culture, and later during the Sassanid dynasty, there was a language called "Young Avestan" (correct me again if I'm wrong) that was used in Persia. Today, Pashto is the closest language to Avestan Iranian.
It's a very interesting topic , and one of the reasons why I chose EB over Roma Surrectum was because of the larger map with the whole Persian plateau, Arachosia, Hindu Kush and Northern India, and because of the voicepack which imo is just splendid and makes the mod really interesting and realistic. I hope they will do the same (if not better) in EB2. Thank you again EB team!

Khodahafez!

[athanaric]

Persians spoke Middle Persian at that time, Avestan is more likely a language spoken in or around Khorasan (I don't know if they were able to pinpoint its exact location of origin yet).


Speaking or Roma Surrectum, you should install the RS (II?) environment submod for EB (it is somewhere around here, I'm sure others will be able to help). That way, you'll get the RS battlefield vegetation in your EB campaigns, instead of the dreadful and hugely inaccurate vanilla RTW trees.

[Floren d'Asteneuz]

I must say my knowledge of indo-iranian languages is incomplete at best. I always thought Avestan was a language exclusively written, like Classical Arabic, but it makes no sense that a language would not be spoken before it is written... like Classical Arabic. I think ideed you are right, Chewbocca.

A little waring about Achaemenid and Parthian empires though : as I remember, the administrative language was Aramaic, as a tradition. Achemenids took a empire which was using aramaic language as an administrative language, so they did the same. Parthians restored that. It is strange to see an indo-european culture using a semittic language as an administrative language, but since semittics languages had a long history in the zone, it seems more logical.

The analogy would be like medieval europe. They used latin words even though they where more germanics (francs, goths, etc) than latin. But it must be difficult to change administrative language when it was used centuries before.

Coming back to Iran, only when Sassanids took power than a indo-european language (middle-persian I think ?) was used in an iranian empire as an administrative language.

That's the basic knowledge I have

I join you in the waiting of EBII and Pahlavan faction. Actually I was a medieval fanatic (I was a reenactor) at the time of Medieval II total war. I didn't even tried Rome Total war at the time. And one day I was doing a research on chivalry and heard about Savaran. So I searched deeper and my finger was sucked-in the wheels of knowledge of Ancient Iran. Man, when I saw those cataphracts on the Osprey magazines, I just understood that Ancient Iranians understood what it took so long for medieval knight to understand. Actually, contemporans medieval reenactors didn't undertsand either, they never beleived me when I told them about lamellar armors and kontos, and all that without spurs and all.

I played then Rome Total War but It was a deception. Parthians are really lame in the game, and the "cataphracts cammels" just finished me. Plus, the culture was not there. When I saw the EB map and units, and buildings, and all, I just understood that I had a lot to learn about Parthians and that EB will help me to it.
Since, I just played EB and read documentation about Parthians at the same time about technology, history and politics, and more and more this culture grew into me. I even dig a little deeper and fell on other cultures like Babylone/Ur/Assyrian/Medic/etc myth. I felt in love with Gigamesh/Enkidu epic tale and I can't advertise too mutch this epic. Then I went back to Indo-Iranians cultures with Sarmatians/Scytians.
And when I understood that the language was near mine too, due to the indo-european familly, I just lost it and decided to learn more and more abougt the language/s too.

I am not Iranian nor have I Iranian familly, but it is just a great passion that will never leave me.
Yeah, that was mylife.com, welcome :p And sorry for the long post. I just can't shut up about Iranian culture :p

For those who thought EB was just a mod, I think (and I hope I am not the only one) that this is a mod that changed my life and my knowledge and my interest to the world in general and for that I thank all the team from the depth of my heart.

[Chewbocca]

Athanaric: WOW is there a submod like that??? D: I have to download it right now then D Do I have to restart my current campaign then?

Floren: I didn't know about the Aramaic language thing and their administrative languages. You seem to know quite a lot in fact. Most people who are not into history (and even some that are into history) have a view of us Iranians as Arabs, but the thing is that we are close to Europeans and Indians (Aryans) while Arabs are Semitic. I'm glad and honored to hear that from a non-Iranian Me and my family are from Iran, but we live in Sweden.

I was also more into the medieval age before, used to spend hours and hours playing Age of Empires, Stronghold Crusader and other similar games But then my interest was aimed to the classical age, mainly because of the Roman Empire, and later my interest was fueled by most of all the history and culture of old Iran. I agree with you about vanilla RTW. They didn't really do justice for many cultures. Are they too lazy or what? xd Yeah, the armored camels were just weird!

Luckily we have a really dedicated and passionate EB team that gives many awesome hours to our lives

Bedrood!