I've always thought Sounis was analogous to Turkey, given the cultural and geographical differences between Sounis and Attolia/Eddis. One of the first things that stood out to me when I started the series was that Attolia sounded like it stemmed from Anatolia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anatolia). The initial notion of similarity has stuck around, but it has altered and clarified since then as I have gotten to know the QT world better.
The western half of Turkey (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:AnatolieLimits.jpg) was historically known as Anatolia and as Asia Minor, and it had a lot of Hellenistic influence, especially in the coastal areas. It's just across the Aegean Sea from Greece, so it isn't global-geographically analogous to the Little Peninsula, where the countries are contiguous. However, the cultures and the local geography still seem analogous (Sounis and Turkey have plains and a somewhat arid climate, Attolia and Greece have mountains that lead into coastal plains and have a more verdant climate). Here (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ethnicturkey1911.jpg) you can see how close Greece (blue) and Anatolia (red) are. I've associated Sounis with the Aegean and Mediterranean regions of Turkey (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geographical_regions_of_Turkey) more than with Anatolia as a whole. Sounis's history seemed to have some similarities to the Hittite and Byzantine empires with perhaps a touch of Assyrian, while the Mede empire seemed closer to the Medes, the Persians, and the Assyrians with perhaps a bit of Egyptian, and the Attolian/Eddisian history seemed Grecian. Sounis's lion motif is one reason for that association. The Hittites and Assyrians liked their lions. Doesn't this gateway (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lion_Gate,_Hattusa_01.jpg) make you think of the lion statues that Gen mentioned in The Thief?
If you don't have time to read the whole Wikipedia article, the sections about the Greek West and Classical Antiquity (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anatolia#Greek_West) are the ones most relevant to the parallels.
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Anatolia
Date: 5/30/17 01:03 am (UTC)The western half of Turkey (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:AnatolieLimits.jpg) was historically known as Anatolia and as Asia Minor, and it had a lot of Hellenistic influence, especially in the coastal areas. It's just across the Aegean Sea from Greece, so it isn't global-geographically analogous to the Little Peninsula, where the countries are contiguous. However, the cultures and the local geography still seem analogous (Sounis and Turkey have plains and a somewhat arid climate, Attolia and Greece have mountains that lead into coastal plains and have a more verdant climate). Here (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ethnicturkey1911.jpg) you can see how close Greece (blue) and Anatolia (red) are. I've associated Sounis with the Aegean and Mediterranean regions of Turkey (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geographical_regions_of_Turkey) more than with Anatolia as a whole. Sounis's history seemed to have some similarities to the Hittite and Byzantine empires with perhaps a touch of Assyrian, while the Mede empire seemed closer to the Medes, the Persians, and the Assyrians with perhaps a bit of Egyptian, and the Attolian/Eddisian history seemed Grecian. Sounis's lion motif is one reason for that association. The Hittites and Assyrians liked their lions. Doesn't this gateway (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lion_Gate,_Hattusa_01.jpg) make you think of the lion statues that Gen mentioned in The Thief?
If you don't have time to read the whole Wikipedia article, the sections about the Greek West and Classical Antiquity (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anatolia#Greek_West) are the ones most relevant to the parallels.