Minas Tirith - Black walls!

[Damas]

ROMANI ITE DOMUM    

[Dr. The Viking]

Romanus aiunt domus 

cheers

James

Romanes eunt domus? People called Romanes they go the house?

[Mason]

And that, kids, is why Latin is a dead language - it's murdered on a daily basis.

ROMANI ITE DOMUM    

Romanes eunt domus? People called Romanes they go the house?

 

[Argonor]

My mistake, of course it's "tower" (fortress being "-ost"). And I, too, have always seen the title as referring to the two cities.

I have never seen Gondor (or Arnor) for that matter as representing Rome or Byzantium. But that's probably because for me (as a 12-year-old reading LotR for the first time) Rome had no positive conotation. It was "that decadent evil empire down south that enslaved the rest of the world". Even if I do see the Roman Empire under a different angle today the image of Gondor=Roman Empire has never had a chance with me (no matter what Tolkien might have written in his letters. Maybe he got it wrong!  ).

Of course I can logically see the point and there's a lot to it. But I remain the ignorant Little brat and for me it just isn't Rome.

I agree to the notion that it 'isn't' Rome, but there surely is a strong allegory in there. The Númenorians were far more than the heirs of Troy, and the whole mythical write-up makes Arnor/Gondor the last defenders of the lost utopia of Man rather than just a fallen empire. The whole feeling of familiarity based on historical likeness, though, is one of the things that make Middle-Earth so believable, I think. At least to me, it is  

[former user]

the problem is that Tolkien plays with european mythology and so do the Illustrators play with western visualizations. Apart from Tolkien, who in his sketches always had something exotic.

I actually find the Jackson/Lee Byzantine version fitting for the concept of a formerly powerful empire that is threatened from the east and has barbaric allies. The problem with the actual city was that it looked too uniform and sterile. Minas Tirith in the movie (as do almost all settlements in the movies) looks like what it is: something built from one concept from scratch that has not grown in thousands of years. It looks like something that was built many years ago and then upkept in the original state, just like the late 19th Century idea of a monument. Very much like most wargaming scenery is usually, style purified...

whereas a city is exactly not this  (apart from the Hausmann style modernizations of the belle epoque where whole cities were razed and rebuilt).
So while a general romanesque/hellenistic/byzantine style would be OK (let's forget Howe's Neuschwanstein rendition), it should breathe and have a bit of variation in style and building materials, show repaired damages, new buildings that attempt to copy the old style - etc.
These are things that Jackson did not need to do because noone would notice.
Plus, any city would also have settlement outside of the gates of course - this adds to the lived impression

[Mason]

Plus, any city would also have settlement outside of the gates of course - this adds to the lived impression

Depends how you see this project going, James, but this is a good point.
There are a few references to buildings on the Pellenor in the RotK as well.

[Skipp]

My suggestion would be to google for the dead cities of Syria, that will give you Byzantine buildings I think... Maybe not castles, but certainly architecture.

[Mr. Peabody]

Plus, any city would also have settlement outside of the gates of course - this adds to the lived impression

Depends how you see this project going, James, but this is a good point.
There are a few references to buildings on the Pellenor in the RotK as well.

The history of Osgiliath could provide some good ideas about a settlement beyond Minas Tirith.

Rich stuff.

[Emir of Askaristan]

Byzantine Ravenna, Thessaloniki and Greece......









Or Minas Tirith ?

[Red Orc]

I've had this argument before, but, I'll start it again...

'If' Hobbiton = Oxford, then the distance & direction to Minas Tirith is pretty exactly the real distance & direction to Ravenna. Ravenna (as any fule kno) was one of the late-(western) Imperial capitals.

Aragorn is composite of Charlemange, Augustus and King Arthur; northern lord with magic sword who conquers Rome; founder of an Imperial dynasty as heir of Numenor/Troy; reviver of a lost empire through beating evil eastern/southern hordes.

Osgiliath, Minis Tirith & Pelagir more or less represent (in somewhat jumbled fashion) Rome, Milan and Ravenna (capitals of the Western Empire in the last century or so of its existence).

There are mad 1800s texts (from Oxford, if I recall correctly) that claim that the Ancient British were Trojans too (via 'Brutus the Trojan'); so Arthur's 'return' to Rome is merely the northern branch of the descendent of the Trojans coming back to claim the 'lost' southern Trojan's kingdom.

This is what provides the background to the royal house of Arnor becoming the rulers of Gondor, I think.

Long and short ... 'Ithilien' = Italy. I know technically Minas Tirith isn't in Ithilien but that's not really the point.

[Argonor]

Wonderful pics! 

[Hammers]

Tolkien wrote in, I think it was Letters, that he upon visiting Venize got strong Gondor vibes.

[white knight]

Am I the only one who is somewhat reminded of the Mont St. Michel in France?

[former user]

You are right, but there were no tourist booths in Gondor  

[OSHIROmodels]

Am I the only one who is somewhat reminded of the Mont St. Michel in France?

This is probably closest to my mind and I think it inspired Jackson to some extent.

Now for the disappointing news... I'll be making it in 10mm 

Keep it going though chaps, it's a good thread so far 

cheers

James