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Assassin's Creed Odyssey: the Journey through Ancient Greece
Marco Chiacchiera, June 12th, 2018
Translated by: Sara Veggi Our coverage of Assassin’s Creed Odyssey at E3 is far from over and, quite similarly to what we did last year with Origins, we’re now back with a piece dedicated to all the locations of Ancient Greece that we might expect to visit in the new chapter of the franchise, based on the information that has been released so far. So put on your helms and armor and jump on our ship, we have a lot of information to sail through!
What you see up here is a map of all the locations that we were able to grasp (and in some occasions hypothesize) based on the material that has been shared from official sources. As you can see, the locations are 8.
So, without further ado, let’s try and have a look at them as we have a lot to cover! Lakonia (Sparta) THIS. IS. … the first location from our list and it couldn’t be otherwise as our two heroes Alexios and Kassandra come exactly from this area. Lakonia or Lacaedemon (now known as Laconia or Lacedaemonia) was the main region of the city-state where Sparta was located. Sparta’s history is a very long one, lasting from the 10th century BCE to 192 BCE when it was annexed by the Achaean League. In the Classical Period, which is the one that is most interesting for us, Sparta was famous because it was the de-facto leader of the Greek city states in the Greco-Persian wars of 499-449 BCE, with the famous battles of Thermopylae (the legendary last stand led by King Leonidas that ended with a Persian victory) and of Plataea (with a decisive and final Greek victory), but also because it led the Peloponnesian League, one of the two main powers in the Peloponnesian War, which is the setting for our new game. Attika (Athens)
During his work as stateman, Pericles promoted the arts and fostered democracy in Athens and that was also the period that that saw the construction of the Acropolis of Athens (including the Parthenon), as well as empire-building via the Delian League, the other main power of the Peloponnesian War which will feature prominently in Odyssey. Ah, needless to say, Athena (Minerva in the Roman Pantheon – and in the AC lore) is the patron goddess of Athens and the Parthenon is a former temple dedicated to her. This could prove to be a solid location for a First Civilization vault in the game. We hit the bull’s eye last year hoping for a vault in Siwa so… fingers crossed. Makedonia As mentioned by Wikipedia, during the Classical period, Macedonia or Makedonía outside of the area dominated by the great city-states of Athens, Sparta, and Thebes. A century after the setting of Odyssey, Macedonia would have risen to become the kingdom which dominated the entire Hellenic world, thanks to king Phillip II. Philip’s son was none other than Alexander the Great who, through several military campaigns was able to create one of the largest empires of the ancient world. And, by the way, founded Alexandria, visited Siwa and was pronounced Pharaoh of Egypt, owned a Staff of Eden (given to him by a group of proto-Templars), the Trident of Eden and possibly an Apple of Eden. Messara The Messara Plain is a plain on the island of Crete where, according to Wikipedia, olive trees, vineyards and horticultural crops are grown even now. What’s very interesting for hardcore fans about this location is that on a
Mykonos Mykonos is one of the two islands where the E3 demo takes place and is part of the Cyclades islands. In Greek mythology, Mykonos was named after its first ruler, Mykonos, the son or grandson of the god Apollo. Another interesting story is that the island, in Greek mythology, is said to have been the location of a big battle between Zeus and Titans and also the place where Hercules killed the invincible giants after luring them out of Mount Olympus.
Delos Delos is the other island appearing in Odyssey’s E3 demo, being it located right in front of Mykonos. It’s one of the most important historical, mythological, and archaeological sites in Greece as it has been inhabited since the 3rd millennium BCE, when it was established as
An interesting event that involves Delos during the Peloponnesian War was that, in an attempt to make the island fit for the proper worship of the gods and under instruction from the Delphic Oracle, the entire island was purged of all dead bodies. After that no one was allowed anymore to either die or give birth on the island due to its sacred importance and to preserve its neutrality in commerce. All this importance given to the gods and the fact that it has been a holy sanctuary for millennia make Delos another candidate for a First Civilization. Just saying. Lesbos Lesbos is an island located in the northeastern Aegean Sea and is the third biggest island in Greece. Inhabited since the second (some say third) millennium BCE, the island is famous for being the birthplace, in the 7th century BCE, of the lyric poets Alcaeus and Sappho. The island was governed, during classical times, by a quasi-democracy system and for a short period was a member of the Delian League during the Peloponnesian War. The term “lesbian”, in English and in several other languages, commonly used to refer to homosexual women, derives from Sappho' poems, which celebrated the beauty of women and contained strong emotional elements directed toward other women. As mentioned on Wikipedia, “due to this association, Lesbos and especially the town of Eresos, Sappho’s birthplace, are visited frequently by LGBT tourists.” Mount Taygetos Mount Taygetos / Taygetus is the highest mountain in the Taygetus mountain range, located in the Peloponnese peninsula in Southern Greece and overlooking Sparta. The name of the mountain is possibly one of the oldest recorded in Europe as it even appeared in the actual Odyseey. The Taygetus range was very important as a natural defense for Sparta, but what the mount especially is famously known for is that from its cliffs and more specifically from a ravine called Ceadas or Caedas the Spartans threw criminals and infants that were deemed "unfit" in terms of vitality (weak, sickly, deformed, or mentally retarded as mentioned by Wikipedia). As we already know this will tie directly in the story in the game, as we mentioned in our first article dedicated to Odyssey, so keep an eye on this location! And that's all for this article! Did you know about these places before reading it? Which are the other locations from Ancient Greece that you would like to visit in Assassin’s Creed Odyssey? As always, let us know in the comments below!
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