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Ancient Greek references in StarCraft - Page 5

Forum Index > SC2 General
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Attican
Profile Joined October 2010
Denmark531 Posts
April 06 2011 19:32 GMT
#81
Did anyone catch the reference to Alexander the Great? Valerian Mengsk's ship is called the Bucephalus, the same as Alexander's war horse. I thought that was kinda cool.
drooL
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
United Kingdom2108 Posts
April 06 2011 19:55 GMT
#82
On April 06 2011 23:45 Jombozeus wrote:
Unfortunately for you:
1. Chrono- is a prefix to many words involving time, such as chronology
2. Pylon is an english word meaning the exact same thing
3. Archon is an english word
4. Proto- is a prefix for many english words involving firsts, such as prototype
5. Agriculture

As already mentioned, you will find links like this in ANY random essay or even scientific paper because english has inherited a lot from greek anyways.


my thoughts exactly ~.~
@nowSimon
Xadar
Profile Joined October 2010
497 Posts
April 06 2011 19:57 GMT
#83
In singleplay, theres this roboter named A.R.E.S. i think Ares is some god of destruction.
Not 100% sure though
TimeSpiral
Profile Joined January 2011
United States1010 Posts
April 06 2011 19:58 GMT
#84
On April 07 2011 03:42 TimeSpiral wrote:
Show nested quote +
On April 07 2011 02:29 Typhon wrote:
On April 06 2011 23:22 AdunToridas wrote:
Hi there TL,

I noticed over the years while I played Broodwar and now SC2 that Blizzard uses many Ancient Greek words for their alien-ish style.
I list some up which I remember atm, I just wondered if some of you also got a few.

  • πρώτος - prótos: first, first of a kind => Protoss
  • χρόνος - khrónos: time => Chrono boost
  • ἀρχόν - arkhon: (which) ruler, leader => Archon
  • τήν Πύλον - tén pylon: (which) place => Pylon
  • άγρια - ágria: wild, uncultivated, uncivilised (feminine): => Agria


Pylon is the english word for the towers used to hold up power lines... that seems pretty obvious that the towers that emit protoss power are called pylons:
+ Show Spoiler +

[image loading]

And it's pretty obvious that Protoss culture is derived from various historical civilizations.

Zealot: militant jewish sect that revolted against the Romans
Dragoon: generic term for mounted infantry/light cavalry/armored recon (more modern use)
Templar: Christian military order from Middle Ages
Archon: Greek magistrate
Praetor: Roman magistrate/commander


You beat me to it. No one had mentioned the Zealot or the Templar yet, which are pretty obvious.

Also ... Starcraft seems to be purposefully blatant with its similarities to other games or pop-culture elements.

Banshee

[image loading]

LEFT: The Orca from the Command & Conquer series.
RIGHT: Banshee (SC2)





Stargate

[image loading]

LEFT: The infamous Stargate from the aptly titled Stargate series
RIGHT: Stargate (SC2)




Colossus

[image loading]

LEFT: The "Tri-Pod" from War of the Worlds
RIGHT: Colossus (SC2)




Goliath

[image loading]

LEFT: AT-ST Walker from Star Wars
RIGHT: Goliath (SC2)




Hellion

[image loading]

LEFT: Flame Tanks from Command & Conquer
RIGHT: Hellion




Nexus
[image loading]

LEFT: A Goa'Uld Ha'Tak from, yet again, the Stargate franchise
RIGHT: Nexus (SC2)

NOTE: An alien race of ancients known as the Asgard also had a ship specifically called the Science Vessel.




The C&C throwbacks are pretty obvious as some of the development team came from C&C but it is clearly obvious that our beloved SC2 was heavily influenced by the greats like Star Wars and Stargate!


No comments? I thought this was relevant AND interesting :p
[G] Positioning, Formations, and Tactics: http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=187892
Slakkoo
Profile Blog Joined October 2010
Sweden1119 Posts
April 06 2011 20:01 GMT
#85
There are vikings and thors!! Norse mythology? :O
da_head
Profile Blog Joined November 2008
Canada3350 Posts
April 06 2011 20:03 GMT
#86
how about zealot (if it hasn't been mentioned). a religious warrior full of zeal.
When they see MC Probe, all the ladies disrobe.
MaestroSC
Profile Blog Joined August 2009
United States2073 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-04-06 20:16:55
April 06 2011 20:04 GMT
#87
lol it is already known by any/all blizzard fans that Blizzard is not known for having the most original ideas. 90%of their content is based off of other creative works...

Basically everything I wrote was already previously stated. so i took it out.


lol this thread is full of laughs... kinda disturbing what somepeople have pointed out... "ARES" i THINK was a greek god of war.... how is this not common knowledge who Ares is... im officially abandoning this thread

lol at post above me, did you seriously just recognize that zealot is a word be4 it was a SC2 unit. (spoiler- so is Dragoon, probe, corsair, scout, carrier, and pretty much EVERY UNIT IN SCBW AND SC2... people are giving them way too much credit with their naming.)
Yoshi Kirishima
Profile Blog Joined July 2009
United States10366 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-04-06 20:12:13
April 06 2011 20:09 GMT
#88
Yeah Chrono probably the most obvious one,

didn't know about Protoss and Archon, but they sound epic now xD

Lol Pylon

"We must construct additonal Places [Pylons]"


You beat me to it. No one had mentioned the Zealot or the Templar yet, which are pretty obvious.

Also ... Starcraft seems to be purposefully blatant with its similarities to other games or pop-culture elements.


Some of them might be directly inspired, but pop culture always copies each other if you look at it like that. To me though it's not close enough to say, for example, two bipedal robots with 2 guns on the side are directly copied (AT-T thing and Goliath). Most of them are generic and pretty basic ideas. But then again, you can say they are generic because they copy each other.
Mid-master streaming MECH ONLY + commentary www.twitch.tv/yoshikirishima +++ "If all-in fails, all-in again."
Duoma
Profile Joined March 2011
United States396 Posts
April 06 2011 20:10 GMT
#89
Not entirely sure why this thread exists. As had been said before language is derivative. There are no"finds" here... only statements of the obvious. Forgive me if I sound annoyed, but the meaning of the prefix chrono should be common knowledge.....
"I have stared a horse in the eyes.... there is only black... only darkness..."
MaestroSC
Profile Blog Joined August 2009
United States2073 Posts
April 06 2011 20:15 GMT
#90
On April 07 2011 05:10 Duoma wrote:
Not entirely sure why this thread exists. As had been said before language is derivative. There are no"finds" here... only statements of the obvious. Forgive me if I sound annoyed, but the meaning of the prefix chrono should be common knowledge.....

completely100% agreement... only wrote first post because I was disgusted at the lack of... knowledge in this thread but then realized there were people already trying to help these poor lost people...

kind of embarrassing to read what some people have pointed out lol.

Command Center = term be4 SC?!?!?! NO WAI

User was temp banned for this post.
TimeSpiral
Profile Joined January 2011
United States1010 Posts
April 06 2011 20:20 GMT
#91
On April 07 2011 05:09 Yoshi Kirishima wrote:
Yeah Chrono probably the most obvious one,

didn't know about Protoss and Archon, but they sound epic now xD

Lol Pylon

"We must construct additonal Places [Pylons]"


Show nested quote +
You beat me to it. No one had mentioned the Zealot or the Templar yet, which are pretty obvious.

Also ... Starcraft seems to be purposefully blatant with its similarities to other games or pop-culture elements.


Some of them might be directly inspired, but pop culture always copies each other if you look at it like that. To me though it's not close enough to say, for example, two bipedal robots with 2 guns on the side are directly copied (AT-T thing and Goliath). Most of them are generic and pretty basic ideas. But then again, you can say they are generic because they copy each other.


I wasn't implying that it is a bad thing, lol.

But the Goliath and the AT-ST Walker are certainly related ideas!
[G] Positioning, Formations, and Tactics: http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=187892
chenchen
Profile Joined November 2010
United States1136 Posts
April 06 2011 20:21 GMT
#92
On April 07 2011 04:22 dapanman wrote:
Show nested quote +
On April 07 2011 03:46 chenchen wrote:
On April 07 2011 03:02 FreezerJumps wrote:
On April 06 2011 23:32 awha wrote:
whats the movie where a guy (the dad?) keeps insisting that everything was originally from greece?


My Big Fat Greek Wedding

And it's true, just about every English word is rooted in ancient languages, so this thread is redundant. It would be impossible to make a game without using any words that have no ancient roots. For example, "chrono-" is an English suffix for time. Yes, chrono comes from the greek, but chronoboost is more directly based on English words.

Dumb thread imo.


English is a Germanic language. Vocabulary borrowed from Greek and Latin is actually rather rare.


The words: 'language', 'Vocabulary', 'actually' and 'rare' all derive from Latin. Rare indeed...


And everything else comes from Old German? I don't get your point. Greek vocabulary in everyday English is minimal and Latin only influenced about 15% of commonly used English words.
powerade = dragoon blood
m!DniGhT
Profile Joined November 2010
Germany34 Posts
April 06 2011 20:23 GMT
#93
No one Figured out the Phoenix?? pretty obvious


But in that other Post where someone compared SC Units with other Games and Movies.
Their is the obvious one with the Terrans and Warhammer 40k.

But one question isnt the Starcraft franchies older then Stargate??
I'm on a horse - meewwww - Cow!
Parnage
Profile Blog Joined February 2010
United States7414 Posts
April 06 2011 20:33 GMT
#94
On April 07 2011 05:23 m!DniGhT wrote:
No one Figured out the Phoenix?? pretty obvious


But in that other Post where someone compared SC Units with other Games and Movies.
Their is the obvious one with the Terrans and Warhammer 40k.

But one question isnt the Starcraft franchies older then Stargate??



The series on tv, yes. The movie? No.
-orb- Fan. Live the Nal_rA dream. || Yordles are cool.
ZeromuS
Profile Blog Joined October 2010
Canada13389 Posts
April 06 2011 20:35 GMT
#95
On April 06 2011 23:33 DoubleReed wrote:
Goliath is obviously from the Bible. I don't know where Banshee and Wraith come from (though obviously we know what they are), but obviously Thor, Odin, Loki come from Norse Mythology (along with Viking).

I dunno, it's pretty common for videogames to use things like that. Gotta make things sound cool, latin, greek, and mythologies are good for that sort of thing.



Banshees and Wraiths are mythological creatures from Ireland and they originated with Celtic mythology iirc.
StrategyRTS forever | @ZeromuS_plays | www.twitch.tv/Zeromus_
Tschis
Profile Joined November 2010
Brazil1511 Posts
April 06 2011 20:37 GMT
#96
The look of Kerrigan is based on the Medusa.

Also she mentions "my stare could turn you to ashes" or something to Zeratul, I believe that's clearly an apology to Medusa's power of transforming men into stone.

//tx
"A coward is not someone that runs from a battle knowing he will lose. A coward is someone who challenges a weak knowing he will win."
AdunToridas
Profile Joined December 2008
Germany380 Posts
April 06 2011 20:45 GMT
#97
On April 06 2011 23:22 AdunToridas wrote:
Hi there TL,

I noticed over the years while I played Broodwar and now SC2 that Blizzard uses many Ancient Greek words for their alien-ish style.
I list some up which I remember atm, I just wondered if some of you also got a few.

  • πρώτος - prótos: first, first of a kind => Protoss
  • χρόνος - khrónos: time => Chrono boost
  • ἀρχόν - arkhon: (which) ruler, leader => Archon
  • τήν Πύλον - tén pylon: (which) place => Pylon
  • άγρια - ágria: wild, uncultivated, uncivilised (feminine): => Agria


Guys... What the heck.

I just participated in Ancient Greek classes and was amazed on how many parallels you can see to SC names and Greek vocabulary, and I just wanted to share this because it made me giggle and I hoped it would make you too. THOUGH it's clear that the prefix "chrono" is obvious, and the most terms are common in English, my surprise was how Greek words are exactly identical to SC proper nouns.

So please forgive my attempt, I'm just a bit shocked on how much hate is in this thread.

« People say I'm strange, does it make me a stranger that my best friend was born in a manger? »
Blackk
Profile Joined November 2010
South Africa226 Posts
April 06 2011 20:46 GMT
#98
On April 06 2011 23:45 Jombozeus wrote:
Unfortunately for you:
1. Chrono- is a prefix to many words involving time, such as chronology
2. Pylon is an english word meaning the exact same thing
3. Archon is an english word
4. Proto- is a prefix for many english words involving firsts, such as prototype
5. Agriculture

As already mentioned, you will find links like this in ANY random essay or even scientific paper because english has inherited a lot from greek anyways.


Chronology does not use a suffix. It is used practically verbatim from greek. In any case both chrono- and -logy are respectively a greek prefix and suffix.

Proto is a greek suffix (type is a greek word too) , archon and pylon are greek words just the same as burrito is a spanish word. I dont suspect greek people consider "hamburger" a greek word when they say it.

Here is the thing. If you wanna make something sound cool you use words from another language (latin and greek are the most suitable). That is a fact. My understanding is that the interest of the OP is sharing knowledge. Whats your reason for being a total party pooper? Why don't you let the people who wanna know shit discuss this while people like you who don't wanna know shit ignore the topic?

p.s according to this zealot is greek http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zealotry
p.s.2 the agriculture thing was just dumb. using a different word using the greek word to prove that its an english word is at least silly.
hah.
lololol
Profile Joined February 2006
5198 Posts
April 06 2011 20:57 GMT
#99
On April 07 2011 04:01 PlosionCornu wrote:
Show nested quote +
On April 07 2011 00:57 lololol wrote:
On April 06 2011 23:33 Eishi_Ki wrote:
On April 06 2011 23:27 naamis wrote:
Helios was a greek god of the sun. Hellion probably gets his name from him.


Hellion is actually an upstart or rebellious person


It most likely just comes from hell, they are armed with an infernal flamethrower and inferno means hell/large fire, which fits both the name of the hellion and it's purpose.


Helios = sun?

And right, Vespene might come from the latin's term for evening (vesper).


Doesn't have the double L and isn't connected with infernal.
I'll call Nada.
Carkis
Profile Joined August 2010
Canada302 Posts
April 06 2011 21:03 GMT
#100
This is interesting, but a lot of english is based off greek/ latin so you can say that about most words, but some of them are still intersting good work!!
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