Crusader Kings: Prisoners of War.

Chapter 311 Night Banquet
The confusion or fusion of Aphrodite and Isis did happen in history. After all, when the Greeks came to Egypt, they certainly brought with them the gods they believed in.

Just like the Romans designated the gods of the Gauls as Roman gods, this was an order issued by the conquerors, and the civilians below also knew what was going on at the beginning. There is a world of difference between the two.

But as time went by, the ruling class's control and distortion of cultural rights showed its effects, and quite a few people actually believed this statement. The figures of Aphrodite and Isis overlapped a little bit.

Later, the situation was even more outrageous - the identities of the Virgin Mary, Aphrodite and Isis overlapped, forming some kind of abstract belief in the "Trinity".

This was mostly a missionary need. In order to expand in Egypt, Greek beliefs used the name of Isis. On the other hand, the name of Isis was also more widely spread in Greece. It is hard to say whether this situation is good or bad.

The same thing happened to the Virgin Mary later. The earliest Christian missionaries claimed that their beliefs had some connection with the native beliefs of Greece and Egypt. This was ultimately a more acceptable localization approach and a compromise that had to be made in order to preach.

Orwell has an idea about how to unify thoughts under existing conditions. The Aeneid can be regarded as a logically self-consistent narrative structure, which has gained some recognition in the Greek and Roman cultural areas. Orwell wants to continue writing this structure and promote this logic to all places.

Rather than asking the Egyptians to hastily accept a new ruler, it would be more appropriate and acceptable to say that this ruler, like the old pharaoh, was a descendant of the goddess Isis and that there was some similarity between the two.

But there is obviously a problem with this matter - the god of love and beauty obviously cannot be elevated to the core god of a country, so the main god that countries generally worship grandly is Jupiter (Zeus), and at most there are the Roman goddess (the deified god of the city of Rome) and Juno (Hera, the queen of gods, the god of marriage) and the like.

In fact, Aphrodite did not receive a unified and fanatical belief in the Roman Empire. The final result of Orwell's plan was likely to be awkward - after several generations of unremitting efforts, the Egyptians finally recognized the emperor's rule over them, but they still did not recognize the Roman Empire at all. The logic of rule was not the Egyptian province of the Roman Empire, but the Roman emperor serving as the Egyptian pharaoh ruling the Egyptian kingdom.

It was not Orwell's original intention to rule the country through such a weird religious idea, but things have to be done step by step. Let's take Isis as the entry point and have a logic that sounds reasonable.

As for how to transform the people here from Egyptians into Romans, this is a troublesome matter that still needs to be thought about, step by step. Orville does not expect to accomplish everything in his lifetime.

Listening to Orville's story, Cleopatra was silent for a while, and finally showed a subtle smile: "How should you put it? It's really imaginative. But it seems that this matter is not impossible, but it seems a little dangerous for Egypt."

She was obviously referring to the Kingdom of Egypt, not the Egyptians or the province of Egypt.

“I know this, too.”

Cleopatra stopped him from continuing: "I don't care about this. I also said at the beginning that it's okay to give this country to you. But I have conditions. How and when to give it to you is up to me. You don't need to ask. This is the agreement between us, right?"

"That's right." "So, do whatever you want to do. Tell me in advance if possible. As long as I don't object, it's within my bottom line."

Cleopatra was always very generous to her friends, and even more so to Orville, which made Orville feel relieved and touched at the same time. It seemed that Cleopatra was a little too good to him.
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The fleet did not expand in size, and there were no major accidents while sailing on the sea. The only thing that could be called an accident was probably that Sigurd's crew members drank too much and were delayed for a while in replenishment, but it was still within acceptable limits and did not cause too much trouble.

During this period, the news that Orville and Cleopatra had arrived in mainland Greece gradually spread. In ancient times, the speed of information flow was relatively slow. Due to the existence of a special intelligence network, many dignitaries from all over the country soon knew the news.

After confirming that Orville would stay in Athens for a period of time, they organized a grand welcome party for Orville in Athens. Orville did not refuse them and brought the fleet's executives to attend the party.

There was not much worth mentioning about the banquet itself. Apart from the fact that the Germans made some jokes due to their lack of understanding of the local culture, there were no unexpected situations. It was just a standard social etiquette banquet.

The venue of the banquet was chosen to be the residence of a wealthy businessman, and the time was chosen to be at night, which is also a time period that can demonstrate wealth. Those who hold banquets at night at this time must be rich or noble, because nightlife is a very luxurious thing and the price of firewood fuel is high.

The other party chose to hold the banquet at this time, and also wanted to show their strength to Orville and Cleopatra. The result was quite good. The whole mansion was brightly lit and looked quite grand.

The ordinary soldiers and the Vikings found it quite surprising, but it was not the case for the protagonists - Cleopatra had seen big scenes, and Orville had not only seen big scenes but also experienced the prosperity of modern society, so they were even less affected by this.

Of course, the courtesy work still had to be done, and the banquet was a great success for both the host and the guests. Orville did not go back until very late.

Orville and Cleopatra both have some properties here, and Orville even runs a hotel, so they have a place to stay. However, after much consideration, they decided not to stay in their own hotel.

There are no such things as luxury hotels in this era. Accommodation only accounts for a small part of travel expenses. Correspondingly, the living environment of hotels is not very good. It is more back to people's core needs, that is, rest and sleep.

Cleopatra didn't seem to have any objections, but Orville still chose a nice suburban villa as their resting place.

It was very late, and the two went to bed. However, when Orville woke up the next morning, he got the news that someone was waiting for him at the door, and claimed that he would not leave until he saw him.

(End of this chapter)