Okay, be warned this response is long, so I hope you enjoy reading whomever you are. I just got the two expansions for CIV 5, Gods and Kings, and Brave New Worlds. And Wow! I'm impressed. I played on your map for a good few hours in my first game. And the Starting locations were not true at all, assuming all I had to do was subscribe and play. I played Egypt, a first for me. But Egypt was way over where Persia should have been. I saved my game on the first turn before even settling anything and then went ahead and played for a while, until I could see where I was on the map. And damn, I discovered that the Arabian Peninsula was to the Southwest of my first city, when it should have been to directly East, across the Red Sea, and that wasn't even the biggest surprise. Spain's capital was sitting proudly on the Nile right where I should have been.
So I exited the game and reloaded my saved version of this map scenario, where I was just a settler and a warrior again, back in time at 4000 BC. Now that I knew where I was, I hiked my warrior and settler as fast as I could over to the upper Nile river directly above where Madrid (Spain's capital) was misplaced in this world. It took about 15 turns to get there, avoiding barbarians and having to lose the gold from discovering city states for the first time and walking through some ruins, losing that gold too. I finally I reached the upper Nile River and no one was there yet. (stressful sigh) I used my settler to build Thebes on the Nile River but way North from where it was historically with my settler in 3520 BC. Madrid had the historically accurate spot for Thebes in this game. And on top of all that, I had to build my first city just two hexes away from a Barbarian Encampment! My City Archers had to shoot at the Barbarians immediately after building the city. I mean it was the very first thing I did. And my lone Warrior finished it off and I got 30 gold. I was sure this game was going to suck, having such a late start and all. But I was happily surprised.
I was able to catch up to Spain who was the Lower Nile Empire to the South and I was this primitive desert upstart to the North on the Nile. I settled my second city Southeast of my capitol in the dessert mountainous region on the coast of the Red Sea. Spain was none to pleased that I did so. I got a message telling me that Spain considered these areas theirs and for a good long time, I was sure that Spain of the Lower Nile would go to war with me after I settled my third city directly west of my second and purchasing a wheat tile that bordered Madrid. This resulted in upsetting Spain even further. I Knew I would lose any military conflict because I had three cities and only one warrior between them for defense. But I pressed on and decide to go west and northwest for any more expansion because I had Spain to the south, and two City Sates to the North East where Historically Israel and Canaan would have been historically. So West and possible North west toward the Mediterranean Coast were the only two possible options for future settling. I was surprised that after a while Spain became more congenial to me, since I stopped going south, (as if I could). My only guess is that Spain had other issues with her other borders which were unknown to me. I never really send out scouts so much of the worlds I play in Civ 5 remains unknown to me until much much later. I like to concentrate on my own little area. I don't care about the rest of the world and tend to ignore it until I go to war. I'm an ancient noob at all civ versions and I always play it like RISK. That's the way I roll. I usually play a military conquer the world game. But I find myself really liking this new version with all new features and fine tunings of religion and all that. Anyway I've played up to about 150 AD before I had to save and quit for another time. But I founded a new Religion based on the desert folk stories options they give, where you get + 1 faith for every desert tile you own. I owned a lot of desert. I used my initials, and called it “DAW – The Desert God” And I get money for spreading my faith, and happiness for gardens. I also I have 4 cities not much bigger than about 5. Spain's Capitol is about the same size as mine. It's starting to get pretty cool. So I have a little Egyptian empire that is growing and holding their own. Not really historically accurate, but close enough. Not bad, for a tribe dessert vagabonds who had been wandering in the wilderness like ancient Israelites, but from 4000 bc – 3520 bc, which 480 years, not 40. So I got the Israelites beat. HA! But anyway, I enjoyed it and I will keep playing this current scenario and see where it leads, perhaps I won't conquer the world with my military this time. So there it is. Hope you enjoyed my long-winded tirade.