Olympia: 11 Geocultural Provinces

The fabled land of Olympia is the focal point of this website and a microcosm of our whole world. Surrounding Olympian is Incognita. It includes forested Scandinavia to the north, vast Asia (Slavia, Persia, and Arabia) to the east, the forbidding Sahara to the south, and immense Oceania to the west.
Having distinguished Olympia from Incognita, we may also distinguish different areas within Olympia. We may regard these different areas as geocultural provinces.

A province is one distinct area or region within Olympia. The provinces identified are geographical in nature. Their boundaries are determined by permanent geographical features such as oceans, rivers, and mountains.

Each province, however, is also cultural in nature. In identifying each province, I have used religion and language as my primary criteria.

If we combine geographical and cultural, we get geocultural. When speaking of the different regions within Olympia, we may identify 11 distinct geocultural provinces: Britannia, Gallia, Iberia, Germania, Noricum, Latium, Hellas, Anatolia, the East, Egypt, and Africa.

Why those names? One, meaningful geocultural areas differ from countries—national states with their people and territories—both past and present.

Two, through the centuries, empires and countries have come and gone. Geocultural provinces are far more enduring realities.

Three, the name of each province carries cultural significance. Since almost all the land of Olympia was once part of the Roman Empire, Roman provincial names, such as Britannia, have been used for most. Other names associated with an area since ancient times, such as Iberia, have also been used.

Finally, keeping our geocultural boundaries the same will help us to observe significant variations in religion and language, as well as in politics, social class, and economies, as these have occurred over time.

Our goal is twofold. We will gain a clearer sense of the variations of meaning in history. Even more importantly, we will gain a clearer understanding of how we may witness more clearly in our own day to Jesus: the one odd god of truth, freedom, love, and vitality.

Copyright © 2013 by Steven Farsaci.
All rights reserved. Fair use encouraged.