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Sumerian video games?

Rakovsky

Active Member
This thread is not about people playing video games in Sumer.

Rather, I wanted to see if there were video games that were about Sumer. I understand that this may not be a serious subject to some, but in another way, i think that documentaries, fictional movies, and even video games help in a way to bring back to life the culture or virtual environment of the times and place. Are there any you may know of?

I found:

Sumer
It is considered a "digital board game" where you collect supplies to grow an empire.
YearlyFavor_Sumer.png

http://www.sumergame.com/

A Tale of Three Merchants
Choose your own adventure story
http://www.mesopotamia.co.uk/trade/story/sto_set.html

Age of Empires I
This is an RTS game like Red Alert and has multiplayer online play
latest

ageofempires.wikia.com/wiki/Sumerians
ageofempires.wikia.com/wiki/Sumerians/Strategy


Civ III: Conquests, Civ IV, and Civ 5(Wonders Scenario only)
latest

Gilgamesh from Civ III
This is a Turn Based strategy game

Rapid Sumer
This is a simple math game about feeding an empire
rapidsumer_playmarket_240x135.png

https://sites.google.com/site/piggybanksoftwarehomepage/

Trade Empires
Trading strategy game, 2001
http://www.ign.com/articles/2001/07/02/trade-empires-screens
2343452351-300x225.jpg


Jericho
A First Person Shooter with a section where you go to Sumer
hqdefault.jpg

Some more screenshots: http://portforward.com/games/walkthroughs/Clive-Barkers-Jericho/Sumeria-3000-B.C.-Flesh.htm
It's very fictional
 

GoodbyeDave

Well-Known Member
The last Pagans of Mesopotamia lived in Carrhae (Harran). The neighbouring Muslims destroyed the city and its temple in 1032/3 (surprise, surprise).
 

Rakovsky

Active Member
The last Pagans of Mesopotamia lived in Carrhae (Harran). The neighbouring Muslims destroyed the city and its temple in 1032/3 (surprise, surprise).
I understand. Maybe that's true as an independent pagan power.
But then there are the Yezidis, Zoroastrians, and Sabians/Mandeans.

Mandaens are monotheists and claim to be from John the Baptist, so it's debatable if they are pagan, but I think their origins probably predate John the Baptist. Their origins are debated.

There also seems to be a major pagan aspect to Yarsanism, which is in Iran and Iraq:


Shabaks


There are about 60,000–400,000 Shabaks in Iraq. They are an ethnic and religious minority, retaining their own distinct Pre Islamic religion. They are an Indo-European (Aryan) people and speak an Indo-European language with elements of Turkish and Arabic infused. Despite having their own language and culture unique from other groups, Kurdish authorities have attempted to Kurdify the Shabaks by occupying Shabak villages and referring to them as "Kurdish Shabaks".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minorities_in_Iraq#Shabaks
 

Rakovsky

Active Member

Rakovsky

Active Member
The Assyrian Church of the East is basically Assyrian, that is, Aramean. And it uses "East Syriac" as its language, which has some Akkadian.
The Assyrians had a major cultural influence from Sumer and were at least mostly under Sumerian rule for a time. (eg. 2000 BC).
The Assyrian Church of the East is not only Assyrian though, as it covered the Persian empire in Byzantine times, especially modern Iran and Iraq. So the ACE is not Sumerian, it's Assyrian, but has a partial Sumerian element culturally.

Mandaenism is a dualist religion with a major focus on ritual bathing. It is from south Mesopotamia and its language is like East Syriac. It sounds to me like it may have had roots in Manichaenism, the movement started in Iraq by Mani (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mani_(prophet) ), which in turn seems to me basically a vversion of or movement with roots basically in Zoroastrianism, although with Hindu and Christian influences. I think Mani himself was a gnostic Christian.


Yezidi religion is a bit scary to me because of its focus on Melek Taus, the Peacock god that sounds demonic. Anyway, it looks to be based also in Zoroastrianism and in pre-Zoroastrian Info-European religion like that of the Hindu Vedas and Hurrian Indo-Euro religion.

Here Wikipedia mentions a Babylonian (and hence Sumerian) influence on Yezidism:
 

MNoBody

Well-Known Member
this is an interesting idea, given the modding which is being done in some RPG game platforms..... there is a huge potential for people to use this gaming tech for other storylines
an RPG world in a box with an editor program makes you the dungeon master of that entire space...imagine that
does anyone wish to discuss this further??
 
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