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Martin has obviously been using Europe in the Middle Ages as a general framework. I have been working on the assumptions that the Ironborn are more or less equivalent to the Norse, the Dornish are supposed to be vaguely representing Spain, and the Dothraki are pretty clearly inspired by the Mongols. The crumbled Volantis is the defunct Roman Empire.
I'm unsure about the free cities of Essos...do they represent the world of Islam or maybe the surviving Eastern part of the Roman Empire?
Meanwhile, maybe all of Gendry's rowing will land him on Dragonstone. I don't believe he is a Targaryan but his father was a Baratheon? Does that still make him from royal blood and maybe a candiate for Dany's husband?
Martin has obviously been using Europe in the Middle Ages as a general framework. I have been working on the assumptions that the Ironborn are more or less equivalent to the Norse, the Dornish are supposed to be vaguely representing Spain, and the Dothraki are pretty clearly inspired by the Mongols. The crumbled Volantis is the defunct Roman Empire.
George RR Martin is on record as saying that the Dothraki are a potpurri of various horse cultures, from both Eurasia and North America.
As for the Northerners, they've always come across to me as Scotsmen.
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I'm unsure about the free cities of Essos...do they represent the world of Islam or maybe the surviving Eastern part of the Roman Empire?
The Free Cities always reminded me of the Italian city-states.
Here's a couple of maps to help. One of Westeros, showing the old Kingdoms. The other a stylized graphic of the world.
It's been pointed out elsewhere that the map of Westeros seems to be a mash-up of the British Isles.
Take Britain, cut it in half between England and Scotland, flip the England/Wales part to a mirror image (left to right), invert Ireland and glue it to the top of mirrored England/Wales, and then stick Scotland on top of inverted Ireland.
The Free Cities always reminded me of the Italian city-states.
I had thought of that, but had been thinking that perhaps the Dornish were supposed to be a mashup of the Spanish and the Italians....the Latin races. The Italian city-states might have been represented by the Slaver's Bay communities. There is a better one to one equivalency between the free cities and Venice et al.
If we accept the free cities/Italian city states representation, what then would the Slaver's Bay cities represent?
I had thought of that, but had been thinking that perhaps the Dornish were supposed to be a mashup of the Spanish and the Italians....the Latin races. The Italian city-states might have been represented by the Slaver's Bay communities. There is a better one to one equivalency between the free cities and Venice et al.
If we accept the free cities/Italian city states representation, what then would the Slaver's Bay cities represent?
The Free Cities were colonies/outposts of the Valyrian Empire, making them newer than the founding of Valyria.
The cities of Slaver's Bay claim to be much older than Valyria. There are fan wiki's that claim that the Slaver cities were outposts of the Ghiscari Empire, which was old when Valyria was founded. It would seem that the Ghiscari Empire was Carthage to Valyria's Rome. I'd like to say that makes the Slaver Bay cities equivalent to cities in the Eastern Mediterranean prior to Christianity, but it might also be a mash-up of all societies based on a slave economy...and Yunkai always struck me as sounding a little too much like 'Yankee'.
The Free Cities were colonies/outposts of the Valyrian Empire, making them newer than the founding of Valyria.
The cities of Slaver's Bay claim to be much older than Valyria. There are fan wiki's that claim that the Slaver cities were outposts of the Ghiscari Empire, which was old when Valyria was founded. It would seem that the Ghiscari Empire was Carthage to Valyria's Rome. I'd like to say that makes the Slaver Bay cities equivalent to cities in the Eastern Mediterranean prior to Christianity, but it might also be a mash-up of all societies based on a slave economy...and Yunkai always struck me as sounding a little too much like 'Yankee'.
Going with the "older than Valyria" idea, might the Slaver's Bay cities represent the former empire of Alexander after the Islamic conquest? Despite the slave culture, those cities are represented on the show as being more advanced in architecture and education than are the Westeros communties ..save the Citadel in Dorne..which in itself could represent the legacy of the Moors in Spain. Alexander's empire included Egypt, which would account for the Meereen pyramids.
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