Travel back in time to 600
AD when Antiochia was a Roman province of Syria and take a historical journey
through the 3rd largest Roman city in antiquity.
It is not a role play sim.
Curator AlexOlteanu Unplugged is the founder and chair of the Antiochia Scholarships Trust in the real
world and a knowledgeable leader in this virtual world project. Agora Polis Antiochia is a virtual world
educational facility in Second Life with a historical environment designed to
help students from the greater Middle East belonging to minorities or otherwise
in need to continue their education abroad. The goal of this project is to help
these students improve their English skills, guide them in managing projects,
build leadership skills, work with other students and prepare them to study at
universities in Canada, with the assistance of the Antiochia Scholarships Trust. Founded in November 2013, AST’s vision is the make a difference one student at a time. Derived
from an Arab proverb, AST ‘s motto is
“A Tree Starts with a Seed”. The Antiochia
Scholarship Trust strives to secure tuition-free scholarships and living
expenses costs from private corporations, individual donors and partner
universities in Canada.
In Second Life, students are
encouraged to develop virtual world skills at Agora Polis Antiochia to help prepare them for the transition to
education in Canada. There are over 44 information points throughout the sim,
each describing a virtually constructed replica of structures, statues,
monuments and landscaping of the time. Chief Architect Alexia Carnell is a real
world architect who takes pride in her work in both worlds. She successfully
recreated every detail in her builds through her research of ancient
transcripts and descriptions. She is best known for her Time Machine Studio and Shop, with builds that can be seen
throughout Second Life. The beautiful waterfalls, pathways, flowers, trees and
landscaping were skillfully recreated by visual artist Butterfli Summers, who
helped put the finishing touches on this project.
Upon landing at Agora Polis Antiochia (APA) you will
walk through the Porta Aurea
(Golden Gate) and enter the Cardo. This is the main North-South street leading
to the Nymphaeum Plaza and APA Info Center, where you can find information
about the people, projects and activities available on the sim. Other
features include various cultural layers such as Greek and Roman architectural
influences in the bridges, ports, arches, temples, lighthouse, ancient
underground sewer system and waterways navigable by boat. One can also visit
Phoenician ruins, a Byzantine cathedral and fortress, the long lost tomb of
Alexander the Great and Daphne’s Gardens. The Oval Forum and the Magnaura
building offer places for students and visitors to participate in lectures and
entertainment events.
About
the Antiochia build
Alexia Carnel shares, “Building
Antiochia has been a very positive experience for me. I had a perfect
"entente" with the sim owners: we shared concepts and ideas, and they
would let me free to interpret them and bring them to life. Eclecticism in
style, some historical quotations, a huge number of points of interest and a
gifted landscaper - Butterfli Summers - made this sim so beautiful”.
Alexia went on to say,
“Bagheera started terraforming ten weeks ago; the land concept was based on the
Golden Gate of Constantinople, with its Citadel - which is much more exciting
than a flat landscape. Then we started building the Citadel, based on early
Byzantine themes such as the Cathedral, the Senate.... and added some
Hellenistic and classical Roman style touches with the Forum, the Harbor, the
Termae and the Tyche Temple. There are some very realistic touches such as the
underground Cistern (which still exists in RL in Istanbul), and all the
Cathedral mosaic textures - which was a huge task. We couldn't miss paying
homage to the spirit of Alexander the Great, so we built a stunning Mausoleum
based on historical sources under the landing point, with a fun secret entrance
devised by Bagheera.”
Alexia’s love of
building is apparent as she shares her vision of building in Second Life.
“I started building in
SL in 2007; my main aim has been to re-create atmospheres lost in the long-gone
past. Walking in a reconstructed arena or in a Roman villa or in a Greek temple
has always been a strong emotion for me and I wanted to share it with people
who are fond of history in general, and the history of architecture in
particular, And yes, my main focus has always been on concepts and ideas, not
technology by itself. Many people in SL believe technology is almost a religion,
and mesh its last god. Mesh is just a tool, not a goal. In my creations I use
mesh components, sculpties, good old prims and many textures I personally
prepare on photoshop. I love to use all technologies for the best they
have to offer and build in world rather than on a 3d program, because when you
start building you HAVE to relate and adapt.”
The visual perspectives and
atmosphere in the virtual world is an important part of creating an environment
where people from around the world can come together, explore and contribute
something great in Second Life. The Antiochia team has accomplished that goal. AlexOlteanu
explained, “This is a platform in the virtual world that supplements and complements
what we do in the real world. We come
together and learn together to get students from the Middle East ready to study
in Canada”.
Interview
with Alex Olteanu (AlexOlteanu Unplugged)
Lanai:
Hi Alex, thank you for the tour of Agora Polis Antiochia. I was impressed by
the time and detail you and your team put into this project for Antiochia
Scholarships Trust. What inspired you to
found the Antiochia Scholarships Trust?
Alex: My students in Erbil,
Kurdistan. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to spend one year in
northern Iraq, in the capital of the Kurdish Region, and teach Business
Management and English to a variety of local students – Kurdish and Arab,
Christian and Muslim, from all parts of Iraq and the Middle East. All were very
excited to learn and improve their English skills. Many, especially those
belonging to local minorities, such as the Assyrian Christians, or those who
had come to Kurdistan from southern Iraq or Syria to find safety and security,
had few opportunities to continue their university studies. When I returned to
Canada, they told me how much they wished to continue their university studies
abroad. They asked me: “Please, don’t let our dream die!”. This is what
motivated me initially to set up AST
when I returned to Vancouver, in the Summer of 2013. Since then, we all know
that the Greater Middle East is now in greater turmoil than ever. Young people
throughout the region – but especially those belonging to minorities, live in
unsafe environments, with limited educational opportunities at the post-secondary
level. It is only by living in a multicultural environment abroad, obtaining
undergraduate and graduate degrees and some work experience, then returning to
their homes and contributing to the social, economic, and political development
of their countries, that these young people from various ethnic, religious and
social backgrounds will be able to work together to bring about meaningful
long-term change for themselves, their families, and their communities. AST aims to make a small contribution
towards this objective.
Lanai: How can donors and volunteers get involved
both in the real world and in Second Life?
The AST Website (http://home.antiochiatrust.org) provides
a lot of information on how anyone interested in our project can help. Donors
can, of course, make contributions to AST.
We are a registered Canadian non-profit organization and bank with Vancity - the biggest Canadian financial services co-operative,
owned by its 500,000 members and democratically controlled on the basis of one
member, one vote. Volunteers can help in the real world by assisting with
publicity and fund-raising, but also by helping newly-arrived students
integrate quickly in their new Canadian environment, assisting them to improve
their English skills, and being part of their support network. In SecondLife,
there are also many opportunities to help: new students joining SecondLife will
need assistance to overcome the steep SecondLife initial learning curve and get
their bearings in this unique virtual environment; once here, they will need
English-speaking tutors to help them improve their English and leadership
skills, and to develop their own SecondLife projects. My partner Bromo Ivory
and I would be happy to talk to anyone interested to contribute to AST, in both the real and virtual
worlds.
Lanai:
The virtual world can be used in so many ways. What are the benefits you see in
bringing AST and your scholarship candidates into Second Life?
Alex: The visual intensity
of social interaction and availability of a multitude of communication tools to
individuals spread out around the world. No other medium can offer the ability
to re-create a physical place in the space and time of one’s choice and transform
it into a place designed, managed and owned by its members, who end up
developing affective and emotional ties towards it similar to those they have
towards their real home environments. This ability to engage in stimulating
social interaction in a rich multi-media 3D environment motivates all
participants to invest extra time and effort into the project and to return
again and again to what has become their “virtual home”. Participants become
not simply students, but content creators and educators in their own right, and
improve their communication and social skills in a very diverse, multicultural
environment. This provides them with excellent preparation for their arrival in
Canada, and helps cement a spirit of community and solidarity and sharing of
ideas between individuals before they even meet in real life. On other levels,
SL provides AST with the opportunity
to interact with and develop synergies with other educational and cultural
projects, and of course to engage in fund-raising activities in support of its
students.
Lanai:
There is such a layering of cultures entwined at Agora Polis Antiochia, it
literally is a virtual look back in time. Can you tell our readers a little bit
about Antiochia’s history and some of historical elements that can be found on
the sim?
Alex: it would be my
pleasure.
The
first great civilization to settle at the mouth of this waterway was the Phoenicians,
around 2500 BC. They expanded the harbor and used the nearby mountains as
burial grounds. Phoenician ruins of the city of Meroe can still be found in the
forests and mountains in the northern part of the sim; they mark the sources of
the life-giving water theme that traverses the entire physical space and
temporal eras of the sim, from the waterfalls in mountains in the north,
through the great river Orontes flowing though it, and down to the port and
sea, to the south.
The
reason why almost all Phoenician vestiges have disappeared can be summed up in
a name: Alexander the Great. In 332 the great Greek conqueror took the city and
razed it all to the ground. But Alexander died, in 323 BC, and two of his
generals, Antigonus and Seleucus, fought over Syria, the province surrounding
what had been once a great Phoenician city. The long-lost tomb of Alexander can actually
be found hidden deep below the Main Gate of Antiochia.
When
Seleucus I Nicator finally defeated his rival Antigonus and consolidated
his rule over most of Alexander's empire by founding his own, Seleucid Empire,
he re-founded the city and named it after his son, Antiochus. Antiochia on the
Orontes soon became the Seleucid capital. The entire lower town of Antiochia,
from the lighthouse in the harbour, to the port, docks, marketplace, and ring
road around Mount Sylpius, all the way to the Fishermen’s pier and the small
temple of Tyche, located outside the city walls on the western side of the
hill, date from these Hellenic times. Tyche, the Goddess of Fortune, remains
the Pagan Goddess of the City, in front of whose statue burns an eternal flame.
A circular Temple of Poseidon situated at the extreme south-western point of
the land, also dates from these times.
The
original city of Seleucus was laid out in imitation of the grid plan of
Alexandria by the architect Xenarius. The citadel was on Mt. Sylpius and the
city lay mainly on the low ground to the north, fringing the river. A great
Colonnaded Street dating from the times of the Romans, who conquered Antiochia
during the time of Pompeius the Great, in about 60 BC, connects the Oval Forum
to the central Nymphaeum Plaza, where a beautiful Nymphaeum Fountain can be
admired, and the elegant Bridge across the Orontes (a replica of the Roman
bridge in Alcantara, Spain), with a Triumphal Arch at its entrance - all which
date from the times of the Late Roman Republic and Early Empire. A Sanctuary of
Orpheus was constructed underground by Diocletian, and is situated under the
Nymphauem Plaza, at the start of the underground sewer canal. Beyond the northern suburb of Heraclea lies
the Paradise of Daphne, a park of woods and waters, in the midst of which can
still be found the beautiful Phoenician ruins of the temple of Anat.
Antiochia
experienced a “third foundation” under Constantine the Great, who also built the
great city bearing his name - Constantinople, on the foundations of the old
Greek colony, Byzantium. The entire Acropolis dominating the city to this day,
together with its fortified walls, impressive aqueduct crossing the city and
connecting Mount Sylpius with the northern mountains, as well as the city gate
– Porta Aurea - date from his period, although an original aqueduct has
already been build a century earlier, by emperor Valens, which is why it is
still known today as Valens’s Aqueduct. Antiochia became the capital of the
Asian part of the Roman Empire, and one of its four major cities, with Rome,
Alexandria, and Constantinople.
Diana’s
Baths and the neighboring remains of Bucoleon Palace, today renamed AST Square, were also constructed during
Constantine’s time. Influences of the local, Arabic culture can be found in both
the exquisite mosaics of the Baths, as well as in the delicate water fountain
and mosaics still standing in the ruins of Bucoleon Palace.
The
final layer of the city was built by Justinian the Great in the middle of the
6th Century AD, as the transition from Rome to Byzantium was well underway. The
great Redemption Cathedral, modeled on the Hagia Sophia of Constantinople, with
its unique coupla and splendid mosaics and frescae, as well as its hidden
underground cistern, date from this time, as does the neighboring Magnaura,
which remains the seat of Government of Antiochia.
Antiochia
had by then become a chief center of early Christianity. The city had a large
population of Jewish origin in a quarter called the Kerateion, and so attracted
the earliest missionaries. Evangelized, among others, by Peter himself. Its
converts were the first to be called Christians.
The
story ends here, in the early 7th Century AD, during the time of Heraclius the
Great, who introduced Greek as the Eastern Roman Empire's official language,
which explains the name of the Community - Agora
Polis Antiochia. Heraclius himself took the title of Basileus of the Roman
Empire, re-conquered many of the territories lost to the Sassanids, whom he
finally defeated in 627 AD, at the battle of Niniveh.
Lanai:
Two of the most important features at
Agora Polis Antiochia are the Oval Forum and the Info Center. The Info Center
has information that provides great educational value and the Oval Forum is a
spacious outdoor lecture facility surrounded by great columns and beautiful
views. I can almost imagine ancient scholars standing in the center offering
words of wisdom or reporting news to the people. What types of lectures and
events do you offer at Agora Polis Antiochia?
Alex:
The sim’s opening
festivities will take place on Sunday, January 15, 2015, so everything is still
in the planning stages. We will start with the inaugural instalment of the AST Lecture
Series, to be given by European Professor David Orban, specialist in
Network Governance, entitled: “Infrastructures and Superstructures: The
Interactive Components of Our Lives”. We will also host a discussion panel on
the topic: “A decade of real governance in a virtual space”, with real life academics
and SL specialists Stephen Xootfly and Gwyneth Llewlyn. One of our students
from the Middle East, currently living in Beirut, who has been accepted to
study for a Masters’ in Global Management at a Canadian university and hopes to
be here soon, will also share his experiences. In terms of entertainment, we are
proud to present, as the opening event of our festivities, the virtuoso piano
player from France, Sandia Beaumont, who will be followed by SL’s most
accomplished Guitar and Latin music player, Joaquin Gustav, as well as
well-known SL performers such as Maximillion Kleene (folk/pop), Komuso Tokugawa
(rock) and Gweeb (blues). We plan to continue with such academic and
entertainment events on a regular basis and transform Antiochia into one of
SL’s most popular and most visited knowledge and cultural hubs.
Lanai: Is there anything else you would like to
share about Antiochia Scholarships Trust or Agora Polis Antiochia?
Alex: As beautiful and
attractive as Antiochia’s virtual environment is, the core of our project is
made up of the many people who devote their time, energies, and skills in
making it come to life – both in Second Life and, especially, in real life,
where we aim to help real young people pursue their actual dream to further
their education and bring peace, prosperity, and participative governance back to
their homes and communities. We hope to connect and develop synergies with
other educational and cultural organizations who share our vision and aims, and
expand Antiochia in SecondLife to a multiple-sim “micro-nation”, drawing on the
various cultural and educational layers already in place now in Antiochia. I
hope that such organizations, as well as individuals who wish to contribute in
some way, or just enjoy the sim and the events and experiences it has to offer,
will join us by contacting me or my project partner, Bromo Ivory, or joining
our SL group, Agora Polis Antiochia,
to stay informed of our events and activities. Building a real, vibrant
community in both the real and virtual worlds will be an ongoing, daily task of
communication, persuasion, and cooperation that is just beginning for us and
that will become our main focus after this Sunday’s Opening Festivities in
Antiochia.
Teleport to Agora Polis Antiochia
Group: Agora Polis
Antiochia – Free to Join
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