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Authentic City Names - Grand Campaign

Inspired by the "Better City Names" mod for Rome II by SilentResident, I present: Authentic City Names for the Grand Campaign! And if you like this, I have made versions for The Last Roman and Age of Charlemagne as well.

This mod is pretty much what it says on the tin: better, more authentic city names for the campaign map and battles. While trying to come up with suggestions for Augustusng's "Authentic Faction Names" (which this mod should work well with), I got interested in the names for the cities themselves, and so I started trying to see how many of them were accurate. For the Grand Campaign, most of them were, but a number used names that were either too old or too new, not appropriate for the faction, designated a more minor city, or described an area rather than a specific city. The list of changes and my explanations for each of them is below (most recent additions/updates in bold):

• Eudaemon -> Adan: Arabic/Semitic version of Greek name
  
• Duin -> Dvin: Armenian version of Latin name
  
• Arbela -> Arbaira: Sassanian version of Greek name
  
• Ctesiphon -> Tesifon: Sassanian version of Greek name
  
• Meshan -> Bahmanshir: Actual port city for the region of Meshan
  
• Tuesis -> Uerteru: Brythonic/Celtic version of Greek name
  
• Kotais->Tsikhegoji: Georgian name for Archaeopolis, actual capital of Lazica
  
• Apulum -> Balgrad: Early Slavic name
  
• Angulus -> Treva: Angulus seems to be anachronistic or possibly a medieval invention, whereas Treva (ancient Hamburg) is an attested historical site
  
• Aregelia -> Leufana: Leufana is described as a major settlement and likely capital of the Langobards
  
• Oium -> Aujum: Germanic name (probably from Goths, but should work for Venedi)
  
• Gothiscandza -> Rugium: Due to errors in Ptolemy's maps, it is believed Rugium (Rugion) was further west
  
• Rugion -> Laciburgium: See above
  
• Nitrahwa -> Singona: See above
  
• Abarshahr -> Nishapur: Actual capital of Arbashahr (region)
  
• Merv -> Marw: Sassanian version of Bactrian name
  
• Harmosia -> Hormuz: Sassanian version of Greek name
  
• Phra -> Zaranj: Actual capital of Sagastan (region)
  
• Pura -> Para: Matches Sassanian name of province (Paradan)
  
• Ecbatana -> Ekbatan: Sassanian version of Greek name
  
• Ganzaga -> Ganzak: Sassanian (from original Median name) version of Greek name
  
• Rhaga -> Rag: Sassanian version of Greek name
  
• Nisibis -> Nasibin: Sassanian version of Greek name
  
• Arheimar->Kyevu: Since it's roughly in the area of Kyiv/Kiev, I'm using the Old East Slavic version of the name
  
• Leopolis -> Turris: Attested as a city given to the Antes
  
• Palteskja->Poletesku: Reconstructed Proto-Slavic version of Norse name
  
• Kariskos->Kurisku: Reconstructed Proto-Slavic version of Greek name
  
• Moramar->Murom: Slavic version of Norse name
  
• Tamousiga->Amaqdul: Berber version of the nearby large port of Essaouira
  
• Cydamus->Adamis: Berber version of the Latin name
  
• Bolghar->Palkhar: Chuvash (a language closer to Proto-Turkic) version of Latin name
  
• Sarai->Atil: Earlier Turkic version of Mongol city
  
• Samandar->Balanjar: Capital of Hunnic tribe that settled in the area around 370CE
  
• Hrefnesholt->Hrabanashulta: Reconstruction in Proto-Norse of Anglo-Saxon Hræfnsholt (trans. "raven's wood")
  
• Hafn->Hleithraz: Reconstructed Proto-Norse name for modern Lejre, site of a large Danish settlement
  
• Alabu->Alhsburgz: Reconstructed Proto-Norse version of modern Aalborg (trans. "temple-fort")

• Encyclopædia Iranica[www.iranicaonline.org] (Middle Persian names for Sassanids and other eastern factions)
  
• Ian Mladjov's Maps[sites.google.com] (Middle Persian names and major cities for the WRE and ERE)
  
• Der Spiegel article on modern topography techniques correcting geographic errors in Ptolemy's maps[www.spiegel.de] (Germanic and Slavic cities, with an interactive Google Maps interface[www.google.com])
  
• Wikipedia (both English and non-English)
  
• Wiktionary

This is for entertainment, as I am by no means a historian, archaeologist, or etymologist. These names came largely from online research, and as such could be subject to errors or biases found there. Neither changing a name nor leaving the vanilla version is meant to be a slight to any culture or nationality. That being said, if you have constructive criticism, feel free to let me know here and/or in the thread at TWC.