Hey guys, Spirit of the Law here. This video we're gonna take a look at the Age of Conquerors and Age of Kings' wonders.
This won't have the HD expansion civilizations since I know not everyone plays the expansion,...
...and researching all 31 wonders at once is a little intimidating for a non-historian such as myself.
Some of them are also ambiguous, and I'm not 100% sure on all of them,...
...so you're welcome to throw your own ideas in the comments as well.
So there's a lot to look at in this one. So let's check it out.
Spirit of the Law's theme playing
We'll start things off with the Aztecs.
Their wonder is the Great Pyramid of Tenochtitlan or Templo Mayor as it was called by the Spanish.
Unfortunately, it was destroyed by the Spanish just after Tenochtitlan was conquered,...
...but there's enough info about it around that we still know roughly what it looked like,...
...and archaeologists have even found where it was located in modern-day Mexico City.
The two temples on top were dedicated to the Aztecs' Gods of War and Rain,...
...and we know the building was used for important events like coronations and, of course, plenty of human sacrifices.
For the Britons, I'm not positive about this one.
It looks a lot like the Aachen Cathedral which is important as the oldest catherdral in Northern Europe.
The only issue is it's in Germany, not Britain.
It was actually Charlemagne himself that ordered the Aachen Cathedral's construction,...
...and it was also the most common church for the coronations of German kings and queens for almost six hundred years.
So it is obviously a famous enough building and has a lot of significance in German history.
The layout doesn't look exactly the same, but it's close enough, I think, that's what they're going for.
My guess is the building was directly used as the Cathedral in the Scenario Editor...
...and then modified into a smaller building and given to the Britons as their wonder.
For the Byzantines, the obvious choice is what they went with, and that's Hagia Sophia.
It's one of the oldest wonders chronologically, and it's still standing today,...
...mostly thanks to the Byzantines' extra building HP bonus.
You might not recognize it right away because it's missing the four minarets,...
...but those were actually added after Constantinople was conquered by the Ottomans.
So strictly speaking, as the Byzantines' wonder, it is more authentic to keep them out.
Hagia Sophia was significant because it's where the new Byzantine emperors were crowned...
...and where the most important Orthodox Church councils would meet.
The Celts' wonder is the Rock of Cashel in Ireland, as known as Saint Patrick's Rock.
The distinctive round tower gives this one away.
According to legend, the castle was built on the site of that Saint Patrick converted the king of Munster to Christianity in the 5th century.
Originally, it was the castle for the king of Munster,...
...but later was expanded considerably and given to the Church to be used as a cathedral.
For the Chinese wonder, the choice wasn't to go with the Forbidden City or something in that style,...
...and it's instead the Temple of Heaven; specifically, it's the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests.
It's one of the more recent wonders built in 15th century and was an imperial temple...
...which meant common people wouldn't have been allowed to enter.
Every year, on the winter solstice, the emperor of China would visit and pray for good harvests in the upcoming season.
Apparently, in Age of Empires, he also prays for all of his allies as well.
It's actually a pretty high-pressured thing for the emperor, and if the year's harvests didn't go well,...
...it would be assumed it's because he had made a mistake during the ritual.
For the Frank wonder, you would think they would have gone with Notre Dame,...
...but to me, it looks more like the Chartres Cathedral.
That is until you look at the details, like the symmetry of the towers, and even the stained glass and the triangle don't match up.
Bordeaux Catherdral looks a bit better but still not quite right.
In the end, I think it is actually based on Saint Vitus Catherdral in Prague...
...or Saint Patrick's Cathedral in New York.
If you look, it shares lots of major features with both of those but not exactly every detail.
Either that, or it's just an amalgamation a few different catherdrals to get the Gothic architectural aesthetics...
...without being based on any one French cathedral.
Speaking of Gothic architecture, let's instead look at some actual architecture made by the Goths,...
...specifically the Ostrogoths in this case.
Their wonder is the Mausoleum of Theodoric in Ravenna,...
...which Theodoric the Great had constructed to become his tomb.
Theodoric is, of course, best-known as establishing the short-lived Ostrogothic kingdom in Italy,...
shortly after the fall of the Western Roman Empire.
He was buried in the mausoleum but his bones were later scattered when it was converted into a church...
...after Belisarius retook Ravenna for the Byzantines.
The building itself is considered an interesting piece of history, given its mix of Gothic and Roman architectural influences.
Moving on, the Huns weren't exactly famous for building things. Kinda the opposite, actually.
The building they chose, therefore, is actually a Roman triumphal arch and with what looks like piles of blunder below it.
This specific arch looks like the mix of the Arch of Constantine and the Arch of Septimius Severus,...
...which may have been the inspiration for the chariot on top.
Severus' Arch was to commemorate a Roman victory over the Parthians in 3rd century,...
...and Constantine's was built in the 4th century after he defeated the other Western Roman Emperor at the time, Maxentius, at the battle of the Melvian Bridge.
The Huns weren't directly involved in anything to do with either arch,...
...and it's a little weird to think the Huns would try to build one from scratch,...
...but once it's built, I think it does a nice job symbolizing the Huns' relationship with the Western Roman Empire.
Next is the Japanese wonder, the Todai-ji, also known as the Great Eastern Temple,...
...which was built during Japan's adoption of Buddhism during the 8th century.
According to an official record at the time, over 2.6 million people were directly involved...
...in constructing the building, whether be donating materials like bronze for the statue or actual labor,...
...and 350,000 people were directly involved in the construction of the enormous Buddhist statue.
The statue used up nearly all of the bronze that was available in Japan at the time.
The giant hall containing the statue is also one of the largest wooden structures in the world...
...which is even more impressive considering it's a reconstruction,...
...and it is estimated to be only 70% of the site that it originally was.
Obviously, they were only able to build it thanks to all their cheaper camps and mills.
It is really an underated bonus.
GO JAPS!
Originally, the temple also had two pagodas that were over 100m tall...
...making them at the time the second tallest structure in the world,...
...after the Great Pyramid of Giza.
And speaking of pagodas, that's exactly what the Korean wonder is.
Aside from being one of the best follower belief choices in Civ 5,...
...in real life, pagodas are towers with dinstinctive large curve eaves on each floor,...
...often built in Buddhist temple complexes for different reasons.
They come with a variety of sizes, with the ingame wonder having five stories.
That's actually not especially tall with one pagoda in the 7th century reaching 9 stories.
That particular one was burned down by the Mongols.
There are any number of five-level pagodas that this one could have been inspired by...
...though the combination of pillars and lion statues isn't a feature of any famous ones that I could find...
...and makes me think that the wonder is capturing a style rather than reproducing any particular one.
For the Mayan wonder, you might have expected that they go for Chichen Itza...
...or Chichén Itzá if you prefer the Spanish pronunciation,...
...but that is definitely not the case just looking at the stairs.
To me, it looks the most like the cross between the Tikal Temple I,...
...also known as the Temple of the Great Jaguar, and Tikal Temple II, also known the Temple of Masks in Guatemala.
The temples were part of a great complex in Tikal...
...and were the funerary pyramids for the local ruler and his wife in the 7th century.
Tikal is regarded as one of the superpowers in the Mayan world,...
...and the ruler at the time is best remembered for winning a war against...
...another neighboring Mayan superpower state, called Calakmul.
Speaking of superpowers, the Mongols.
Their wonder is a large golden tent.
Now while there are reports of some large golden Mongol tents,...
Overall, there just isn't enough info out there to really judge how accurate this one is.
If the Mongol empire did commit to building a world wonder of some kind,...
...it is reasonable that it would be some kind of giant homage to their nomadic root.
Next, for the Persians, the wonder is a slightly-distorted version of the Arch of Ctesiphon in Iraq.
It's actually the only structure still standing from the old Parthian and Sassanid capital...
...with the building being originally part of the imperial palace complex.
After being captured by Arabs, it was briefly used as a mosque but fell into disrepair...
...when most of Ctesiphon's ruins were removed for building material.
Before the flood in 1888, surviving structures were considerably larger,...
...and there have been a few efforts to restore it to boost Iraq's tourism.
Speaking of which, the Saracens' wonder is also from Iraq, and it's the Great Mosque of Samarra,...
also referred to in Civ4 and elsewhere as just the Spiral Minaret.
At the time it was built, the tower was beside the largest mosque in the world,...
...though the mosque was destroyed in 1278.
The spiral isn't just for looks though, and it's actually a ramp that you can walk up to the top.
Just try not to get dizzy; there aren't any guard rails, and it's a roughly 30 foot drop between levels.
Next up, and not to take anything away from it,...
...but the Spanish wonder in reality is not quite as impressive as the version in Age of Empires.
The wonder looks like it's the scaled version of the Tower of Gold in Seville.
Funnily enough, it wasn't built by the Spanish but actually by the Almohad Caliphate as part of their city walls.
Its main function was as an anchor point for large chains that can be used to stop boats...
...from freely entering or leaving the city's port.
It didn't do its job very well though, and the chain was broken by Spanish ships when they reclaimed the city.
Now the Teuton wonder looks like a truncated version of the real Maria Laach Abbey in Germany.
The building is mostly noted for its Romanesque architecture which is characterized...
...by a lot of semicircular arches as opposed to the Gothic pointed arch.
That's even more impressive considering Teutons don't have Architecture.
Somewhat ironically though, it has a lot less significance in German medieval history...
...as the Aachen Catherdral, and my guess is that it was probably chosen for aesthetic reasons to...
...prevent all European wonders from looking the same.
Now for the Turks, their wonder is either Sultan Ahmed Mosque or Selimiye Mosque.
The Ahmed or Blue Mosque is just down the road from Hagia Sophia,...
...and has some a lot architectural similarities but was actually built by the Ottomans...
...over a thousand years later.
It has the wrong number of minarets though,...
...and the front looks like it could also have been intended to look like the Selimiye Mosque,...
...which was another imperial mosque built around the same time.
Either way, it's definitely in the correct style of an Imperial Ottoman mosque of some kind.
Now, to finish off the original civilizations, we have the Vikings.
This is my personal favorite and looks like it might have been inspired by Borgund...
...but also shares general features with other churches like Hedal and Hopperstad.
The particular style is called a stave church,...
and has a distinctive multi-layer roof and some other architectural features.
It's a cross between the simplicity of a Viking longhouse...
...with the Romanesque and Gothic churches from Western Europe.
So overall, I think it's really cool how many wonders in the game are based on real buildings
...and the ones that weren't still tended to be stylistically appropriate,...
...or maybe I just can track them all down.
That's all for this one though. Thanks for watching guys, and I'll see you next time.