JGVW 8 (1) pp. 3- 20 Intellect Limited 2016

Journal of Gam ing & Virtual Worl ds Volume 8 Number 1 © 2016 Intelle ct Ltd Art icle. English language. doi: 10.1386/jgvw.8.1.3_1

JONATHANWESTIN Univ ersity of Goth en bur g RAGNARHEDLUND Uppsala University

Polychronia-negotiating the popular representation of a commonpast in Assassin'sCreed

ABSTRACT KEYWORDS Severalof the most successful large-scale digital simulations in recentyears a ref ound representation in the immensely popular gamese ries Assassin's Creed, developedby Ubisoft.A vari­ Assassin's Creed eh; of monuments and placesfigure prominently throughout th e series, but at different archaeology levels of detail and accuracy.Whil e not presenting a thoroughlyimagined re presenta­ tion of any time period or place, theserecreations empha size the epistemological impact cultural hetitage of particularvisua l modeswhen communicatingth e past, representingthe collective digital media idea of a placeor time, rather than archaeological or historicalfacts. The time and spaces presented in the game series give us an opporhmih;to study how represen­ :t tationsof the past can be assembled to be recognizable to a wide audience. This, in hm1, gives us insight into the mechanics of cultural memory.In orderto analyse these .' mechanics, we analyse the representation of the city of Rome created for Assassin's Creed 2: Brother hood, the third rnain instalmentof the series.Not only has Rome been the subject of several cenhtriesof archaeologicalr econstructions,b ut becauseof .r the countless popular representations available, the city holds a strong position in the public consciousness. In Ubisoft's versiono f Rome, the archaeologicalrecor d and ..'

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1 Byzantium 1200, www . popularimagination meet, are combinedand sometimescollide . We arguethat Rome things into communicative conventions drawn from established ideas of past byzantium1200 .com as we encounterit hereamounts to a conceptthat we call'polychronia', a placewhere cultures and people (Witrnore 2006: 268; Westin 2012). Furthermore, while Accessed 24 August being abstractions of reality, not reality, they present thems elves as such to 2015 severaltimelines exist simultaneouslyin an organizedmanner to appealto a common understanding.As a polychronia,the representationof Rome is made more recogniz­ the untrained reader, telling an incomplete story in a way that makes it seem 2. Rome Reborn: A digit al complete (Spicer 1988). As a growing number of virtual models of monuments model of ancient Rome, able to the recipientthan a representationsolely reflecting expert knowledge. http ://rome reborn . and whole cities are constructed and introduced to a large audience, these frischerconsulting.com . abstractions not only ensure their longevity through numb ers (Gill 2009) but Accessed 24 August 2015. are also increasingly becoming reference points that physical reality have to INTRODUCTION live up to, rather than the other way around (see Alsayyad 2008). Digital , http ://d lib .etc.ucla 'As Kant (1950) advised, it is not enough merely to show that something is Drawing from the science and technology studies'literature, frontmost the edu/projects/Forum an illusion . We also need to understand why the illusion is necessary' (Latour work of Callon and Latour (Latour and Woolgar 1979; Callon 1986; Latour Accessed 24 August and Woolgar 1979: 175). 2005), this study examines how a game studio negotiates a visualization of the 2015. Despite the proliferation of large-scale popular digital simulations of past. Often described as a sociology of associations, Actor-Network Theory 4. Musei Civici Reggi historic cities and landscapes this last decade, there have been relatively few (ANT) sets out to map out how actants are brought together into a network, Emilia , http://www . musei.re.it. Accessed historical studies on their role as mediators of knowledge and ideas (Chapman assembled and combined into a whole constantly challenged and confirmed 24 August 2015 2013a: 313). Though not in direct competition with scientific reconstructions through negotiations . In order to discuss the negotiable and formative aspects such as Byzantium 1200,1 Rome Reborn, 2 the Digital Roman Forum project3 and of cultural memory and reach a fuller understanding of how different actants Reggio Emilia,4 these popular reconsh ·uctions, primarily presented in interac­ are brought together by the studio, we make use of the ANT concepts of nego­ tive entertainment media, have in recent years nonetheless become influential tiation, enrolmentand translation.By employing these concepts, we acknowl­ platforms for the staging and communication of historical events, which helps edge that the making of any representation is as much a creative effort as an to collapse the boundaries between academic research and public understand­ und ertaking that is shaped by a host of actants, not least so earlier representa­ ing (see Rosenstone 2006; Chapman 2013b). One of the most prominent of tions and technological limitations . Our subject of analysis is the representa­ these is the immensely popular game series Assassin's Creed(hereafter referred tion of Rome in the late fifteenth century, made available to tenths of millions to as AC). This series by Ubisoft has over the last eight years seen just as many of recipients through the third main instalm ent of the AC series, Assassin's main instalments, with an additional four targeting handheld systems, each Creed2: Brotherhood(hereafter referred to as ACB). game recreating one or several historical events or spaces; from Aleppo, Tyre, In contrast to the other cities and milieus represented throughout the

Limassol, Kyrenia, Jerusalem, Acre and Damascus in the twelfth century, by . ) series, Rome has not only been the subject of several centuries of archaeo­ Florence, Tuscany, Flori, Venice, Rome and Constantinople in the fifteenth logical reconstructions, but does also, because of the countless popular repre­ and sixteenth century to Havana, Kingston, Nassau, New Orleans, Boston, sentations available, hold a strong position in the public consciousness. It is, New York, Lisbon and finally Paris in the eighteenth century. as Byron puts it, a 'city of the soul', a city overcoming its topographic real­ These places, as they appear in AC, are neither strictly historical nor present ity through the interpretation by generations of visiting artists (Norlander a thoroughly imagined representation of any time period or place. Rather, they Eliasson and Fogelberg 2015: 9). exist in a curious landscape situated somewhere between the two, emphasiz­ The historical reconstruction of Rome presented to the player in ACB can ing the epistemo logical impact of particular visual modes when communicat­ be argued to exist in a borderland between different phenomena - the archae­ ing historical times, events and places. The reconstructions in AC represent ological record, common understanding and recognizability - thus making a shift both farther away and closer to those primary sources they are built up a space created through the interplay and negotiation between expert upon: farther away since they are the result of an interpretation and are as and public knowledge . Hence, Rome in ACB is a representation of the collec­ such perceived by many scholars to lose the inherent validity of the material tive idea of the city rather than strictly archaeological facts, emphasizing the remains they are based upon (see Roussou 2008; Cameron 2007); and closer concepts and monuments related to Rome as a heritage site. As heritage is since a reconstruction can bring the primary sources to life and put them in a a series of attitudes and relationships to select objects and practices that are context where further theories can be explored (see Klynne 1998; Favro 2006: created in the present, not a static and non-negotiable representation of an 327; Frischer and Stinson 2002: 77). As scenes for story-driven narrative, the objective past (Harrison 2013: 14), a visual representation of heritage is neither settings of AC aim to communicate the activity surrounding an artefact or bound by the rules that a scientific measuring has to adhere to nor to even place, rather than simply establishing a definite visual simulacrum of material a strictly denotative visual grammar (Westin 2012: 24). In line with this, the remains. As such they rise to meet a key challenge in representing the past, to representation of Rome in ACB describes the milieus using a large set of tools bring to life not only materiality but also intangible traditions and social history to communicate a wider spectrum of information through images lent from (Silberman 2008: 81; Malpas 2008). Space and time are put in a context of narra - a collective understanding of the subject not limited to a single time period. tion, movement , sound and decay. However, as Chapman writes, assembling a As a variety of monuments and places figure promin ently throughout videogame-based history is a process where'meaning is produced even whilst the game, but at different levels of detail and accuracy, the time and spaces a duty of care is given to the referential nature of the evidence' (Chapman presented by Ubisoft give us an opportunity to study a representation of the 2013a: 315). This opens up for exciting possibilities, but also certain dangers as past assembled to be recognizable to a wide audience. This assemblage is a these representations translate the corporeality, specificity and multiplicity of shared image of Rome that constitutes an inroad to an analytical discussion

4 Jonathan Westin I Ragnar Hedlund Polychronia - negotiating the popular ..

s. Michael C. Carlos about what elements are part of the common knowledge about the ancient basilica, are absent. Other buildings, known to have existed but to have disap­ Museum: Antiquae urbis imago (Image city and its monuments, regardless of what time period these elements origi­ peared by the age of Constantine or known to have been radically rebuilt by of the Ancient City), nate in. Accordingly, by analysing the Rome of ACB, and putting this latest that age, such as the , appear as they looked when they were http ://carlos emory. rendition in relation to earlier reconstructions, we ask to what extent the constructed. Still other structures poorly known, such as the Templum Solis or edu/collections/ new-acquisitions/ representations of the past in popular culture cater to the expectationsof the the Baths of Constantine, are modelled as hypothetical reconstructions. Others antiquae-urbis-imago­ audience and the established image of the subject. are rendered as foundation walls, or are simply there to fill out the scene. There image-ancient-city . is no time, change or decay in this model: the Plastico di Roma Antica does not Accessed 24 August 201 5. show Ancient Rome; it shows a stone city that was built in one day. ROME:A HISTORYOF TOPOGRAPHICALREPRESENTATIONS The modem equivalent is the Rome Reborn model at the university of As a widespread reconstruction of a historical Rome, ACB is but the most Virginia, a VR-model largely based on the physical model by Gismondi and recent addition to a tradition with a venerable pedigree. An early and well­ Carlo. Scanned using Laser Radar, the plaster provided the Rome Reborn known reconstruction was the Antiquae UrbisImago by Pirro Ligorio in 1561. project with an instant urban context for their detailed virtual models (Guidi This bird's-eye view of the city is characterized, as Frutaz notes, by the interests et al. 2005). Favro writes that when giving presentations of the digital recon­ of this renaissance scholar in classical literature, archaeology and architecture struction they start the session with being extremely careful in pointing out (Frutaz 1962: 61-62); in an effort'to refresh and preserve the memory of ancient that this is not by any stretch truth or fact, but a knowledge model (2006: 333). things', Ligorio includes details from the ancient city known only from written This is true for all reconstructions above, from the earliest to the most sources and even fills the empty spaces in his representation with images of recent: none have depicted Rome, but rather the knowledge of Rome filtered houses, the designs of which were possibly taken from ancient reliefs, in order through the technological limitations of the chosen medium and coloured by to create an impression of the ancient metropolis.5 This mode of depiction was the scientific approaches of the time. The vision of Rome presented in ACB followed by other noteworthy works of the contemporaries Etienne du Perac in most closely resembles that of the Ichnographia,as it does not claim to be 1574 and Mario Cartaro in 1579, both inspired by Ligorio (Frutaz 1962: 67-69). scientifically accurate. This allows ACB to diverge from the expert knowledge Another landmark in the history of Roman cartography was the of the city: time periods can be mixed and the reduction in details can affect IchnographiaCampi Martii Antiquae Urbisby Giovanni Battista Piranesi, which whole city blocks - monuments removed in their entirety rather than just the was published in 1762 as part of his archaeo logical publication II Campo particulars of their appearance . While what remains may not hold up in a Marzio dell'anticaRoma (Frutaz 1962: 81). The Ichnographia, like the Imago, factual examination by archaeologist, what appears is a model that conveys offers the viewer a reconstruction in the form of a map trying to incorpo­ the primary characteristics of Rome as a concept. Which monuments can be rate all the known ancient monuments in the Field of Mars, regardless of the neglected and which of the included monuments can be presented as crude period they existed in. Thus, in a sense, the Ichnographia is to a greater extent abstractions? Which monuments have to be true in every detail, and true to a representation of memory than a historical reconstruction (see Dixon 2005). who or what? True to the time being represented, or true to the expectations In the nineteenth century, and especially following the Risorgimentoin the of the public? By reading the model of Rome presented in ACB as an answer second half of the century, the city of Rome virtually exploded . The expan­ to these questions, what comes into view is a representation that we argue sion prompted a number of excavations and archaeological documentations, can be read as a map giving us insights into the construction of the contem­ which resulted in an even greater number of publications of the archaeologi­ porary public's collective idea of late fifteenth century, put together through cal record, which are still of fundamental importance to the discipline. Such those symbols that make up the shared understanding of Rome. works include the Topographieder Stadt Rom im Alterthum by and Christian Hiilsen (1870-85), the Storia degli scavi a Roma by Rodolfo Lanciani (1902-1912) and Samuel Ball Platner and 's Topographical NEGOTIATINGTHE PAST: ACTANTS AND TRANSLATIONS Dictionan;of ancientRome (1929). The most influential work, as far as this study When assembling a historical representation, there are a number of advantages is concerned, is Lanciani's Forma Urbis Romae (1893-1901), which attempted in straying from the expert knowledge of archaeologists and instead working to incorporate all finds until that period in one coherent system of maps. towards a model set out to satisfy a more shallow understanding connected The maps of the Forma Urbis formed the basis for the great plaster-of­ to the idea of the subject. Not only does it take time to include every known Paris model by Gismondi and Carlo of 1932, the so-called Plasticodi Roma detail, thus presenting a costly process that may not even be feasible depending Antica (Frutaz 1962: 103). The model by Gismondi and Carlo has proved just on the technology, it may also be far from preferable. Indeed, it is by translating as influential as both the Imago and the Ichnographia. Though constructed reality through the use of conventions into a visual abstraction that the motive according to a modem approach to reconstruction, where the archaeological becomes clear and the primary characteristics of it can be communicated (Moser layers are separated and only those buildings that belong to the same histor­ 2014). This holds true for all representations presented above, as indeed for all ical moment are included, it nonetheless appears to a trained eye nearly as scientific illustrations, where the level of detail has been reduced both by neces­ hypothetical as the Imago and the Ichnographia . While it sets out to depict sity and by following conventions: done in pencils and engravings, the Rome of the city of Rome as it would have appeared in the age of Constantine the Ligorio is a compact city of outlines and the Rome of Piranesi, while detailed, Great in the early decades of the fourth century ad, most of the buildings are was limited to monochrome renditions aggrandizing the scale of the monu - based on little more than two-dimensional documentation of cellar-ruins and ments. The Rome of Gismondi and Carlo is to great extent an assemblage of marble etchings. Certain buildings known to have existed, such as the Lateran standardized boxes, lacking interiors, textures and unique details. Likewise, Jonathan Westin I Ragnar Hedlund Polychro nia- negot iat in g t he popu lar .

Rome Reborn, though a technological marvel, is frontmost a showcase of scale in detail, but one may note already here that, for instance, all of the famous and architectural ideals, rather than a representation of a living city with history. are accounted for. From the ancient city, eighteen city In our study, we have examined four aspects of the representation of Rome gates are known; here too, the game database comes close with listing four­ in ACB: the scale of both spaces and monuments, the exclusion of known teen gates (although not necessarily the same ones). Rome's three famous, monuments , the inclusion of elements from later time periods and finally well-preserved triumphal arches are all accounted for, as are the three most the level of detail of inilividual monuments. While far from being a complete well-known imperial baths, and a number of other familiar monuments. record of monuments known to have existed in the late fifteenth century, the This assemblage of ancient ruins is the result of a number of compromises. list of monuments and places through which Ubisoft assembles their repre­ Following ANT, any assemblage can be viewed as a network of actants where sentation of Rome is extensive (Table 1). In our analysis we will iliscuss the list influences are flowing in all ilirections. Not just left to right, from producer to target auilience, but also from auilience to artist and producer, influenced by both the realities of technological limitations and the use of efficient symbols Monumen ts Hills Gates Acqueduc ts Churches through which to communicate (Westin 2012). As a consequence, Ubisoft is and places not solely responsible for the ACB-version of Rome. Rather, the assemblage is the product of a series of actants, both human and non-human, deciding what Castra Pretoria Aventine Porta Aqua Santa Maria in to include and exclude. In addition to the auilience, artists, producers, earlier praenestina antoniniana Vallicella representations, technical limitations of the medium and the very grammar Castel Sant' Caelius Porta Salaria Santa Maria dei of the visual expression, these include time and budget restraints, as well as Angelo Miraclo considerations connected with the flow of the game play. Basilica of Capitol Porta Turrionis Aqua Marcia Sant' Antonio dei Hence, whether deliberate or not, the popular representation of Rome in Maxentius Portoghesi ACB is a product of negotiations between a series of actants . Negotiations Pyramide of Esquiline Porta Flaminia San Andrea della occur where controversies take place, before they are stabilized, deciiling Cestius Valle what the ingreilients are'out of which the one common world might be made' (Latour 2005: 135). However, such processes do not have to be intentional, Palatine Aqua Vergene (sic) Santi Apostoli planned or conscious. These negotiations establish a grid of parameters for Trajan's markets Viminal San Giovanni dei the representation; the result is that certain visual signifiers are put to use Fiorentini and others are made away with, the phenomenon that ANT refers to as Column of Trajan Quirina l Baths Santa Maria in Ara enrolment. Coeli This enrolment brings what can at first appear as a ilisparate set of actants Basilica Iulia Bridges Baths of Trinita dei Monti into synchronization, creating a momentum with the potentiality of attracting Basilica Emilia Ponte Emilio Church of St Peter an even greater mass of actants to the same cause. Thus,ACB offers up a repre­ Golden palace of Porta Ostiense sentation of Rome in the late fifteenth century, which, as we see in Table 1, enrols a certain set of historic moments and established representations part Ponte Sant' Angelo Porta Aurelia Santa Maria di of the idea of Rome. The result is a representation of the city that is more Montesanti recognizable and acceptable to a general auilience. Mohamed Gambouz, Art Mausoleum of Ponte Fabricio director on the latest instalment within the game series, refers to this as the 'postcard effect', meaning that people essentially have popular represen­ tations in their minds when thinking about popular places (Webster 2014). wall Ponte Cestia Porta Viridaria Temples Accorilingly, the signifiers enrolled for the visual representations do not show Palazzo Laterano Porta Appia Temple of us a past based on thoroug h and exact research, but rather a past that is care­ Antoninus pius fully articulated to appeal to a wide auilience. and Faustina The importance of imaging techniques and practices cannot be overesti­ Torre Milizie (sic) Triumphal arches mated when studying the formation of epistemic certainty (Watson 2013: 180). Arch of Temple ofVespasian As Moser has shown, the visual conventions within archaeology, where objects Constantine Pantheon were made mobile and both presentable and combinable through visual Palazzo dei Arch ofTitus abstractions, were developed in parallel to those within nature science (2014). Conservatori However, the use of conventions to make an image readable is not isolated to the practice of drawing objects but is also present when abstract ideas not visi­ Palazzo Senatorio Arch of Septimius ble to the naked eye are to be given form. In the interaction between producer, Severns artist, technology and auilience, a very active negotiation takes place, where Piazza de! Popolo symbols are enrolled to ease the communication . As the symbols enrolled are Piazza ili Spagna those that we all share, they help to bring the message into synchronization with the expectation of the auilience, all the while reinforcing their position as Table1 : Prominentmonuments, buildings and placesin Rome listed in ACB. efficient signifiers. As a consequence, they become even more connected with Jonathan Westin I Ragnar Hedlund Polychronia - negotiating the popular .

the subject, and thus even more important to enrol when communicating. Through such a process, the complexity of Rome in the late fifteenth century is Basilica Emilia displaced by a manageable representation that can be communicated. The signifiers enrolled are thus part of an agenda, as they are not being Arch of Basilica Iulia silent intermediaries, but rather mediators that stir things up and put form to Baths of Trajan thought, adding interpretation to that which is represented . Thus, through Castel Sant' Angelo Baths of Diocletian mediation, the re-presentation is presenting something new. Using the termi­ Church of St Peter Castra Pretoria nology of ANT, this could be described as a translation, a process where Circus Maxirnus various actants are linked in an effort of mediating goal, scope and result. Colosseum Temple of Antoninus pius and Faustina Furthermore, the translation, as the process of a negotiation, supplements Temple of Saturn the goals of individual actants with those of the other actants involved in the Column ofTrajan negotiation, making them all move in the same direction. Pantheon Temple ofVespasian As one can follow, a translation is not neutral, since it is coloured by Pyramide of Cestius Trajan's markets contact, expression and interpretation. Callon writes that 'to translate is to Torre Milizie (sic) displace' (1986: 214), an apt observation also for a visual representation. To be accepted as Rome, the visual representation of the city has to be built accord­ Table2 : Differentrenditions of Roman monumentsand buildingsin ACB. ing to the semantics known to the general audience and in accord with the idea - a series of signifiers put together into an exact grammar. Constructed by the city or they play a pivotal role in the game play mechanics . Turning to these common building-blocks, the representation is no longer-the product of specific buildings and places, monuments such as the Pantheon, Colosseum, a single actant but a hybrid created from the silent negotiation with all actants the Roman Forum and many more are all accounted for, while others have in the network, even those not physically present, such as the target audience, been deemed redundant. As an example, one nearly impressive building omit­ the technology through which the representation is transported and the very ted from the list of monuments enrolled is the , originally idea of Rome propagated through the ages. constructed during the age of Augustus, and in the post-Roman age rebuilt first into a fortress and then into a palace (LTURV : 32). This, too, goes for the column of Marcus Aurelius, which is similar to the column of Trajan (which is SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW, SOMETHING BORROWED... arguably more famous and, not surprisingly, included in Ubisoft's cityscape). Ubisoft has made use of an established palette of symbols when creating their Thus, the remains of the theatre of Marcellus and the column of Marcus representation of Rome. This palette encompasses artefacts, monuments, Aurelius join a long list of monuments Ubisoft has reasoned not necessary places and names that function as anchor-points for the communication and to enrol to their representation of Rome. For instance, as mentioned, a fair appear as recognizable objects (see Table 1). However, many of these are only number of city gates in the Aurelian wall are included (Table 1), but not all, the strong in their name and concept, but soft in their form - the details without most notable exclusion being the . Furthermore, at least two associations or enrolled stakeholders among the audience - and are therefore of those included, the Porta Ostiense and the Porta Appia, are situated in the bendable to the wishes of the artists. wrong parts of the city. If we first consider the scale of the monuments, as a whole, the ancient While there are a number of churches represented, the vast majority of city is shrunken. The shape of the city, inasmuch as the stretch of the ancient sixteenth Century Rome's approximately 300 churches are omitted from the walls constructed under the emperor Aurelian in the late third century AD, representation . The eleven churches that are present are spread out strategi­ is rendered true to expert knowledge. Likewise, the monuments in the left cally throughout the cityscape. Saint Peters church is arguably the most recog­ column of Table 2 offer, if not a one-to-one recreation of the physical monu­ nizable, with its famous dome, although this particular architectural element ments' dimensions, at least a passable resemblance. However, the monu­ was not yet finished at the time of ACB's setting. ments in the right column of the table have seen a noticeable reduction in The exclusion of monuments that are part of the expert knowledge is scale. Moreover, the spaces between the monuments are up for negotiation, contrasted with the inclusion of certain places and monuments that the and can be shrunk down or stretched out without coming in conflict with the general audience either is not likely to be able to see in real life or to have a idea of Rome. One may, for instance, note that the in ACB is detailed knowledge of, but still know by name or concept . The , in close proximity to the , or that it only takes three minutes to the legendary golden house of Nero, most notably, is famous enough to be walk from Colosseum to the centre of Circus Maxirnus, a fourth of the time included - although the player of the game would at most have very vague it takes in real life. Hence, the cityscape within the walls is condensed and ideas about it, as the Domus Aurea has been closed to the public for extensive contains only a certain subset of those reference points a trained historian periods of time, and there is only a subset of the structure documented and would expect. preserved. As a consequence, these places, which often are no more than a Considering the inclusionor the exclusionof historically significant places, name to the audience, can freely be filled with shape and meaning by the then, we find that while reduced in scale, as already noted, all the seven hills model of Rome in ACB, but still be true to the audience' expectations by of Rome are accounted for (Table 1), even in the limited geography. This making reference to a few known ideas. For instance, one may note that suggests that either they have been deemed indispensable to the identity of Nero's golden house plays host to the game's only instance of fire as a game

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play mechanic, an obvious nod to the widespread idea of emperor Nero being exterior, the facade featuring engaged columns and pilasters of Tuscan, Ionian responsible for the great fire in 64 AD (Figure 1). and Corinthian orders on top of each other, in four rows (Figure 2). However, As places that do not need to cater to an audience' idea about their physi­ the game compromises reality in another surprising way, as the overall shape cal shape, Domus Aurea - and to an equal extent Castra Pretoria - could be of the monument bends to the popular idea of it being circular (Figure 3), contrasted with the monuments in the left column of Table 2. Using a radial whereas the physical remains indicate an oval shape (LTUR I: 30-35 and scale, the model of Rome is shaped around these, allowing them to occupy 363-64, Figures 13-14). both a physical space and a narrative space proportional to the space they There are a number of well-known - and well-preserved - monuments occupy in the common knowledge . However, though these monuments all by whose representations in ACB are not true to the archaeological remains and themselves make for a convincing case that this is indeed Rome and no other instead appear as no more than'standardized'models. For example, the game, city, they are not above being mutable both by the collective idea of Rome and as we have seen, lists a number of city gates - but they all appear as one and by the other actants of the network making up the representation. the same, rendered in a standardized form (Figure 4). This standardization For instance, considering the final aspect - that of individual detail of the brought on by the negotiation in the network, once discovered, is suddenly monuments - many of the models presented in the left column of Table 2 apparent everywhere. The player, for example, similarly encounters a number are quite accurate. The Colosseum in particular, perhaps not very surpris­ of churches. However, aside from the named ones (see Table 1), there are only ingly, displays an impressive level of detail approaching expert knowledge. two unique models in ACB that are multiplied and spread over the cityscape: The constructions of the arches and vaults supporting the massive concrete one generic late Roman basilica and one renaissance-style domed church. structures are very well rendered, as are the architectural decorations of the A yet more surprising standardization awaits us in the represen tation of the

Figure1: The desertedDomus Aurea. Figure3: The interiorof the arena.

Figure2: Thefacade of the Colosseum. Figure4: One of the city's 'genericcity gates'.

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Figure5: The arch of Constantine(l eft, photo:RH) and as it appearsin ACB (right).

Figure7: One of the many 'column monuments' appearingin the ACB-versionof Rome.

the forum as it looks after excavations carried out centuries past the period represented in ACB; the appearances and wear of structures such as Basilica Emilia and Julia, and the temples of Vespasian and Saturn, are transported from later time periods into the sixteenth-century forum of ACB. These representations of actual ruins and monuments, which are manipulated and standardized in various ways, are joined by their conceptual counterpart- detailed monuments, which are on the contrary completely ficti­ Figure6: The templeof Antoninus Pius and Faustina(left , photo:RH) and its simplifiedACB-counterpart (right). tious. For instance, the player often encounters groups of columns, all with fluted shafts and corinthian capitals, that mostly seem to function as a game arches of Constantine and Septimius Severus (Figure 5). Although the arch play mechanic allowing the player to reach various heights (Figure 7). This of Septimius Severus had been incorporated into other structures since the generic ruin does not resemble one specific monument - on the contrary one Middle Ages and would in the sixteenth century be partially covered (see might argue that it represents them all - rather it seems inspired by the ruins LTUR I: 103-05), both of these monum ents are well preserved and thus depicted by Piranesi. Thus, yet another postcard from a different age, in this provide an excellent source material for the artists. However, in ACB they case the eighteenth century, is squeezed into the represen tation to make it are both represent ed through the same standardized model, a hybrid that is more familiar. generally well rendered but that features a dedicatory inscription taken from neither the arch of Constantine nor that of Septimius Severus, but from the arch of Trajan in Benevento (de Maria 1988: 232-35; Mommsen 1883, inscr. CONCLUSIONS:ROME AS A POLYCHRONIA no. 1558). We can draw different conclusions from these observations. It is (all too) easy Other places familiar to the viewer have also been manipulated in subtle to point out everything that is just 'wrong' - all those instan ces where the ways. The Forum Romanum, at first glance, looks familiar - which is exactly representation in ACB differs from the historical and archaeological record. the problem. If we look closely, we find that certain monuments have been However, this draws attention from the ways in which the model emphasizes simplified and rendered using standardized assets . For instance, the temple the epistemological impact of particular visual and non -visual elemen ts when of Antoninus and Faustina, which is depicted as tetrastyle reusing the often representing Rome. We believe it is more relevant to discuss the representa­ occurring fluted columns and Corinthian capitals that are seen all through tion of Rome in ACB in relation to conflicting knowledge models, belonging the game, while the physical remains are hexastyle and sport plain gran­ to both the experts and the public, and try to describe the representation as ite columns (Figure 6). More importantly though, it is raised on its podium, the result of negotiations. Visual representations of historical periods, monu­ which it was in Antiquity and is today - but not in the sixteenth century, when ments and places are not passive pieces of information; rather, they often the ground level was far higher. What we see is actually a representation of make use of the inherent properties of already established visual concepts to

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further their argume ntation (Westin 2012) . Hence, in order to describe the past, we model it using established conven tions . Like the Imago and the Ichnographia, and to a lesser degree the great plas­ ter of Gismondi and Carlo and its derivations, the Rome of ACB is thus not that of one historical period, but of one or several knowledge models, brought there by the different actants and negotiated into one coherent cityscape . Following Dixon in her analysis on Piranesi's Ichnographia, an analysis also applicable to Ligorio's Imago, we suggest that ACB amounts to several aspects of what she, after Renouvier, calls a Uchronia, 'a pastiche of all times' (Dixon 2005: 119), where buildings, street levels and ruins of different historical times are made to coexist and form a reconstruction that does not concern itself with representing a certain historical moment. The Ichnographia,in Dixon's read­ ing, is an attempt by Piranesi to represent all memory of the ancient city in one reconstruc tion. However, while he neith er discloses nor concerns him self with a specific historic moment , like Pirro Ligorio, Piranesi still respects the Figure8: The mausoleumof Augustus (left, photo:RH) and its similar,but smallerACB-counterpart (right). space of Rome . Dixon contrasts this with Freud's analogy between Rome and the hum an memory, where we are asked to envision the city with all buildings restoration by Valadier (for this restoration, see LTUR I: 111). In the Field of of different times juxtaposed, as if the city had a memory of place but could Mars, the representation of the Mausoleum of Augustus (Figure 8), while not not separate time (2005: 120). This Rome, where Colosseum shares the same at scale and facing the wrong direction, is a reasonable representation of the space as Domus Aurea, and Pantheon by Agrippa shares Piazza Rotunda with monument's present condition, a highly contested reconstruction done in the the Pantheon of Hadrian , could be referred to as a Synchronia.Wh ere the thirties, based on the plans by Guglielmo Gatti (see LTUR III: 236-37). Even Uchronia organizesmemory, the Synchronia simply presents. the lends its form from present day, enclosed as it is in the high banks it However, Ubisoft assembles its city from a different set of parameters from gained in the late nineteenth century. both of these: the date is set to the last few years of the fifteenth century, and, These monuments join a long list of enro lled actants that are needed in according to this study, it is not an all knowing scientific memory of Rome, but Ubisoft's negotiation with the audience about the idea of the city (see Table a popular one, which has governed what to be included and how space should 1). While most of the individual monuments includ ed do indeed belong in be organized. Being a representation of a specific historical mom ent, 1455- the time period represented - like the Colosseum, the , the 1510 AD, Rome in ACB strays from the strict definition of Uchronia as coined Church of Saint Peter and the - the details of their appearances by Renouvier, which dictates that time or age remain uncertain. How ever, like made to harmonize with the expectations of a present day audience mark the the Ichnographia,and as a result of Ubisoft's negotiations with the actants of representation of a Polychronia. the network , ACB presents a representation where time is folded. Imagining As much as the list of included areas and monuments tells us about what time represented in a linear mann er on a horizontal axis, by folding this chron­ is part of the common idea of Rome, so does the monuments and details ological represen tation of time in various ways historic moments far apart can excluded from the time period represented . For instanc e, Rome is still Rome appear close or simultan eous. By folding time, the different stages of the city without the theatr e of Marcellus, or Porta Maggiore and countless other monu­ are allowed to coexist side by side and form a whole. ments that are part of the knowledge model of experts. These have not been This gives us aspects of several time periods in the same setting, something deemed essential to be includ ed in the synchronization with the common idea that sooner would amount to what this article would like to coin a Polychronia, of renaissance Rome. As our examples have illustrated, where common a representation of an event, place or landscape at a certain historic moment, knowledge is lacking, the model of Rome in ACB is allowed to take short­ which enrols aspec ts and artefacts from later or earlier times in an organ­ cuts. The standardization of the arches of Constantine and Septimius Severns, ized manner to appeal to a common understanding. By using all of time as a the churches and the city gates suggests that the details of their shape and resource when assembling the representation, the Polychronia appears more decoration belong to the knowledge of archaeologists and art historians, not recognizable to the recipient than a representation solely reflecting expert the general public. In the negotiation with technical limitations - where every knowledge. unique model comes with a tax on the game engine - the economical aspects The representation of Forum Romanum in ACB, giving us a twentieth of putting resources into researching and mod elling the uniqu e arches, gates century excavated Forum Romanum shoehorned into the representation of and churches, and not least the time at hand , standardization of these monu - sixteenth century Rome, suggests that the monumental area's present condi­ ments was not considered something that would break the illusion of this tion is well established in the common knowl edge model of the city. To corre­ being Rome. spond to the common idea of Forum Romanum, the very topography of the As a Polychronia, Rome in ACB sets a different course than the historical city at the time has to be renegotiated and thus mad e to diverge from that Rome of factual knowl edge. By not shying away from exploring the resilience of expert knowledge into a more recognizable representation . Likewise, we of Rome - how far a represen tation thereof can stray from expert knowl­ recognize the Arch of Titus becaus e it is liberated from the structures it was edge and still be accepted as Rome - it becomes a model of the contempo­ enclosed in during the sixteenth century, and resembles its nin eteenth century rary public's collective idea of Rome in the late fifteent h century. In fact, as

16 17 "I Jonathan Westin/ Ragnar Hedlund Polychronia - negotiating the popular ..

presented above, in a number of instances by straying from expert knowledge Frutaz, A. P (1962), Le piante di Roma (a cura di Amato Pietro Frutaz), vol. 1, and includin g aspects that expert knowledge would consider anachronistic, Roma: Istituto di studi romani. the Polychronia has a greater chan ce of being accepted as Rome by a general Gill, A. A. (2009), 'Digitizing the past: Charting new courses in the modelling audience . As a cityscape where each monum ent has been weighed and its of virtual landscap es', VisualResources, 25: 4, pp. 313-32 . level of detail been negotiated, not according to their factual appeara nce but Guidi, G., Frischer, B., De Simone, M., Cioci, A., Spinetti, A., Carosso, L., rather the idea of their appearance and their place in public awareness, the Loredana Micoli, L., Russo, M. and Grasso, T. (2005), 'Virtualizing ancient Rome of ACB represents in some ways the most accurate reflection of Rome - Rome: 3D acquisition and modelling of a large plaster-of-Paris model of as we know it - to date. imperial Rome', SPIE proceedings vol. 5665: Videometrics VIII, http ://www. frischerconsulting.com/frischer/pdf/Plastico.pdf. Accessed 26 August 2015. Harrison, R. (2013), Heritage:Critical Approaches, London: Routledge. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Klynne, A. (1998), 'Reconstruction of Knossos: Artists' impressions, archaeolo­ We would like to thank Ph .D. Anna Blennow for providing us with informa­ gical evidence and wishful thinking', Journalof MediterraneanArchaeology, tion about fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Roman churches . We would also 11: 2, pp. 206-29 . like to express our gratitude to M.A. Andrew Reinhard, Ph.D. Adam Chapman Latour, B. (2005), Reassemblingth e Social,Oxford: Oxford University Press. and Prof. Jonas Linderoth for encouraging comments. Latour, B. and Woolgar, S. (1979), Laboraton;Life: The Constructionof Scientific Facts,Princeton : Princeton University Press. LTUR I-V (1993-2000), LexiconTopo graphicum UrbisRomae, vol. I-VI (a cura di REFERENCES E. M. Steinby), Rome: Quasar. Alsayyad, N. (2008), 'Consuming heritage or the end of tradition - the new Malpas, J. (2008), 'Cultural herit age in the age of new media' , in Y. Kalay, challenges of globalization' , in Y. Kalay, T. Kvan and J. Affleck (eds), New T. Kvan and J. Affleck (eds), New Heritage:New Media and CulturalHeritage, Heritage:New Media and CulturalHeritage, London: Routledge, pp. 155-69. London and New York: Routledge, pp. 13-26 . Callon, M. (1986),'Some elements of a sociology of translation: Domestication Mommsen, T. (ed.) ((1883] 1963), CIL IX: Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum,vol. of the scallops and the fishermen of St Brieuc Bay', in J. 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18 19 Jonat han Westin I Ragnar Hedl und

SUGGESTEDCITATION Westin, J. and Hedlund, R. (2016), 'Polychronia - negotiating the popular represen tation of a common past in Assassin'sCreed', Journal of Gaming& VirtualWorlds , 8: 1, pp. 3-20, doi: 10.1386/jgvw.8.1.3_1

CONTRIBUTORDETAILS Jona than Westin is an archaeo logist and historian at the Departm ent of Conservation at the University of Gothenburg. In his research he studies how we form our perception of culture through representations, and how these representations become part of our cultural her itage. By focusing on the communicative aspects of cultura l manag ement , he approaches the creation of visual representations as a negotiation pro cess between new resear ch and established images. Recent publications include articles in th e International Journal of Heritage Studies, Visual Anthropologi; Review and Convergence Magazine. Contact: Research er, Department of Conservation, University of Gothenburg , Box 130, 405 30 Gothenburg, Sweden. E-mail: jonathan.westin@gu .se

Ragnar Hedlund is a research er in Archa eology and Ancient Histo ry at Uppsala University. His research main ly focuses on visual culture, archae­ ology and numismatics in the later Roman empire. He has been a postdoc­ tora l fellow at the Swedish Institut e in Rome and is presently employ ed by Uppsa la University Coin Cabinet working with digitalization and databases. Other research interests include the uses of Classical heritage in later history and presen t day society, and museum collections. Hedlund is also involved in the Swedish archaeologica l excavations in Labraunda in southwestem Turkey (www.labraunda.org), and contribu ting to the publication of the Hell enis tic and Roman buildings from the sanctuary. Contact: Museum Gustavianum/Uppsala University Coin Cabinet , Box 256, 751 05 Uppsala , Sweden. E-mail: ragnar.hedlund@gustavia num.uu. se

Jonatha n Westin and Ragnar Hed lund have asser ted their right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the authors of this work in the format that was submitted to Intellec t Ltd.

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