Many have pointed out that the drink could have been coffee. I didn't even consider that option since that would be even more inaccurate. Coffee didn't exist until the 15th century.

The game will be focused on the Anarchy of Samarra period, and Basim the main character confirmed that he was tutored by Al Khwarezmi in the last game. One of the best things about AC is that you get to explore places that are lost to history. Exploring Baghdad before it was flattened by the Mongols will be very interesting.

Its a book about Astronomy. The text in red above the image of the bull says : " The image of the bull as it is seen in the sky", and below it in black its describing the directions and the order of the stars and comparing their size.

4:52 Would be Harmala tea or Saffron Tea, made from the Syrian Rue plant or Saffron. It's totally accurate. It was the drink of the wise in 9th century Baghdad. The color could be a result of drying and mixing with zafran.

if they have a Baghdad Discovery Tour, please consider an extended walkthrough with your own commentary!

Assassin's creed 2 opened the world of psychology and meta physics for me back in 2010s. Today I'm a research scholar. Thanks to assassin's creed franchise. It started with the concept of re-visiting your ancestors' (this is what past lives means, it means your parents and their parents; your past lives are your ancestor's) memories. Which got me interested. This idea is valuable because it explains natural selection as well as behavioral instincts, for example, a new born baby can survive/float in water, baby will not tred too close to a flame (maybe touches hot iron because kids don't know conductors/and heat-able objects), this is because thousand of our ancestors have made these mistakes and suffered, therefore these skills are now ingrained in us, they have become instinct. Then, there was "the bleeding effect" experiencing memories (somewhat physically), seeing people from the past.. Guiding and acting around Desmond. So, that lead to the discovery of "Outside-of-body experiences". Para-psychology. Past live regression etcetera.

Great video! Really looking forward to the game. The book at the beginning looks more like an astrology book. While it wouldn't be accurate, it reminds me of al-Sufi's work.

The AC franchise is my favourite of all time. It combines my love of gaming with my loves of history and architecture. Nothing for me compares to the gaming experience of scaling the buildings of Florence, Venice, Rome etc. The franchise introduced millions to various eras of history, and for that I'm really grateful. Thanks for the video!

i love the fact that you talk about the people and places being colorful and vibrant. it's like we sometimes disregard the fact that they were also humans back then, they also liked nice things and a good atmosphere! in fact i think that if someone of our age would be able to see a place like constantinople or baghdad at this time period they would be absolutely mind blown by it's opulence and grandiosity! i am not informed about baghdad but, for example, constantinople with its palaces of pure marble and porphyry and golden mosaics with gem stones from all kinds of places would be an absolute assault on the senses of a 21st century human. and i'm sure baghdad would be the same since those two were the two giants of the eastern world at this time.

Notice the "badgir", distincts from minarets, windcatching towers for natural air conditioning, still very common in Iran, especially in Yazd ancient city

I really love Assassin's creed and I love history! I remember asking about this game in your recent QnA... I'm so glad you made this video

I’m so glad you are reacting to this. I genuinely love your input, definitely the perfect person to respond to this

It could be a book on astronomy. Since there were color dots on the animal. That looks like constellation.

I don't think I could watch anyone else do a video game reaction and be this interested (honestly, never watched one either so you opened up my horizons once again) . Thanks for your insight on something that I would otherwise be uninterested in, Filip! Always love your opinions.

Haha i never thought you'd react to a game trailer! I do like it tho because this game is seemingly going back to its roots of what Assassin's Creed used to be. Hopefully it will be good.

Great idea for a video! It was amazing to hear you unpack everything we see in that trailer.

I stopped playing assassins creed about 10-12 years ago ( I'm 26) But from I can tell in retrospect is that especially Assassins Creed 2 was so good in terms of historic details as a teenager I learned so much stuff that I probably would have find boring if I had learned it through books or school. The accuracy of the architecture of cities like Venice, Rome or Florence was so amazing for me. You also mentioned this "Voice" which tells you about the historical context of the place you visit, I remember that too haha! I haven't played the game for so long I might actually buy the new one next year 😅

In that time period the 11th Imam of the twelver Shia was present in Samarra, as an adult he lived there basically under "house arrest", where his life and activities were monitored by authorities. The Abbasids deemed him too influential to Shia and saw him as a potential threat. He is a significant character to modern Shia, although I think ubisoft may not depict him in the game to avoid controversy.

One mistake from the trailer you didn't show is in the swords the soldiers were using. In the game they use scimitars, which wouldn't become common until the XI Century as a result of the arrival of the Seljuk Turks. Instead, Arabs and Persians mostly used straight swords at that time, and wouldn't adopt the scimitars until the XII-XIII Centuries.

I love this game as well as your content! If they do end up putting a lot of historical figures in this game I would love if you did another video on this game after it comes out! Would love to see you discussing the architecture, language, history, persons, and everything else

Although I never play videos games, I do admire your lectures on religions. I also love histories of the world and philosophy. Affectionately ❤️ Much love to all our world's peoples. Peace , Compassion ✨️✨️✨️✨️Suffism Mystics are incredibly interesting as are all others actually. Thank you for your expertise.

Stumbled upon this after watching your video on the historicity of Jesus. Given that I'm an AC ultrafan, you might be becoming my new favorite channel 🧐

Assassins creed in al andalus would have been better , they could have linked the kabbalah concept to the isu civilization

This was such an awesome, educational video, I don’t know much about Baghdad so I’m thankful for you giving this knowledge away, I’m excited to learn more once the game comes out 😊👍

whenever somebody talks about how accurate assassins creed games are, i keep thinking of that one guy who saved his class from being lost in venice by memorising all the side streets from one of the games.

Thanks for the awesome video. Been always a huge fan of AC and I'm pretty hyped for the upcoming ones especially Mirage. Would be nice to delve into details about the arms and inventions used or envisioned in the corresponding period, since the franchise sometimes integrates them in the story (as with DaVinci in AC2 or Brotherhood). Looking up for more 👍

I’ve loved the Assassin’s Creed series ever since I was like ten. It’s nice seeing you know about this beautiful series.

omg I'm a huge fan of both I never expected this crossover! I always wanted you to cover AC

It is truly admirable when Baghdad was a center of the period and then Islamic countries were so wealthy and powerful. Back when I was young I thought the Islamic world used to be poor and ignorant until now. Now I understand why they are in this catastrophic situation now. I bet if we Americans and Europeans hadn't colonized the countries, today's Middle East would be one of the greatest sciences and many corporations would be based there. It's just sad that we interfere everywhere and cause evil...

I’ve read in a few books about the assassins, that djinn have been mentioned in connection to legends surrounding the assassins. Most refer to accounts of djinn living in the mountain regions surrounding the fortresses of the assassins but others suggest that the assassins themselves may have even been referred to as djinn as well.

Your pronunciation for arabic words is soooo goood, that am unsure whether you are arabian or a foreigner! And I really loved how much knowledge you have regarding Baghdad.

[7:47] I am from Iran, so I would write what I heard from my father about this: "Assassin" comes from the arabic word "Hashashin", which means: "Consumers of Hashish (a type of drugs)". Muslims of Nizari branch of Ismaili Shia, in the Castle of "Alamut" (near Qazvin, Iran), were called "Hashashin's", because their leader, "Hassan Sabah", had his followers addicted to this drug. This addiction used to make them loyal to him, because they, obviously, wanted to receive more. Moreover, it was probably responsible for decreasing his soldiers' anxiety levels when killing his enemies, thus they performed so well, and earned a worldwide reputation for themselves. It is believed that "Seljuk Emipre"(Rulers of Iran (Persia) at the time), sent Hassan Sabah many envoys. They were either killed or reported the way to the castle to be impassable and very dangerous (which is true, becuase I went there and the way to the castle is horrendous. The valleys are as deep as I was extremely terrified, and didn't want to continue driving). My father said that the "jumping from tall buildings in a stylish way", has become the symbol of this game, is because once one of these envoys reaches the castle and Hassan Sabah accepts to meet him. The message from the central government (Seljuks) to Hassan Sabah was of course a threat that he should stop having his own country within their country! In order to show his power, Hassan sabah then asks some of his soldiers to stand in front of the windows of the castle, and asks them to jump down from the building and die for his cause in front of the envoy. The envoy would then go back to his masters with this terrifying message that Hassan Sabah followers are ready to die for their leader, no matter what! Though at the end of the day, members of the Creed were killers (and in Iran are known to be the first terrorists). I am glad, in English, the word "Assassin", which has its roots from the Middle East, is more being seen as something like "Ninja", and is not equivalent of Terrorist, just because they were from the Middle East! (Really...Why are Ninja's not being seen as terrorists?!) One more cool thing is that The Kehlsteinhaus of Hitler (known in English as the Eagle's Nest), has probably taken its name from Alamut, which also means "the Eagle's Nest"! As I said I visited the castle, and it is unfortunately destroyed. The remaining parts are also mostly covered by the Iranian government. But, if you ever go there, you can enjoy the amazing scenery of the scary, yet beautiful valley in front of the castle.

Can you look into the effect of Pop-Kabbalah, Pop-Sufism, and Pop-Eastern Spirituality on American culture and Theological concepts and how they influence modern new age religions in the US? Likewise how their influence in Hollywood affects the greater American pop-culture?

This was a really fascinating review

I came here for trailer reaction but found a great channel full of information. Subscribed!

Talking about accuracy though I remember reading about a guy who guided his schoolmates around on a class trip after they got lost in some Italian city based his experience playing in the city in Assassin’s Creed 2.

Its about 50 years after Harun al-Rashid so they better mention him

I cannnot overstimate how happy I am that you didn't include in the thumbnail a picture of your visage with a mouth wide open and eyes bulging beyond physical propotrions in a poor attempt to emulate the cancerous soyjack meme -- all in a desperate attempt to "appeal to the youth"; a habit which has sadly overtaken the entire internet, sweeping into its dismal depths even the most serious KZfaqrs. But you sir, you do not disappoint!

Awesome video Filip! I was happy to hear your comments on the colorful and vibrant depiction of the era. I had no idea whether it was historically accurate, but I found that very pleasing to the eye and also very interesting as a design decision. I do wonder what you think of the trailer music. I have mesmerized by it for days now!

I was quite shocked to find Al-Mu'alaqat in bookshops from Assassin's Creed Revelations along side more popular classics like the Odyssey by Homer and Ovid's Métamorphoses.

Great video! Very informative! I hope you plan to do some more in the future.

I really hope there will be calls to the five prayers, that would be cool.

Thanks for this video Filip, thoroughly enjoy all your videos, your scholarship and your music. Could you please recommend any books/material you can suggest to dive more deeply into the Egyptian era covered in Assassins Creed Origins and also the Abbasid era about to be covered in Assassins Creed Mirage?

I love your channel. You're my favorite channel and i shared many of your videos among my friends 😊

It would be wonderful to see you making a video from Bayyt Al-Hikma, or if you give a visit to Al-Hallaj or Al-Junaid tombs. Give a visit to Baghdad if you could, maybe it’s not like some things you described today, but surly the same spirit, will host you in my flat at Abu Nouass ST.😊

Baghdad was one of the most prominent city in history of human civilization. Exploring it would be wonderful experience. Yeah obviously the game won't be 100 percent authentic but we would see most of the historical events and places and this game will be a must try. Hope they include Tabari ( the famous historian) as he is contemporary figure of that time period in which game is proposed.

Was watching this video before release and came back now after playing it

Words are an inadequacy when it comes to how much I loved your insight. I will always love the Persians for preserving and advancing knowledge.

Thank you! Very interesting and unexpected review 👍

I'm so stoked for this one.

Thank you very much. Respect from Baghdad, Iraq.

Hello Mr. Holm Thanks for all your professioal, academic and highly informative videos that make in this channel which is one of the few channels that I'm subscribed to on KZfaq. As mentioned previously by the user حمزة the book that you've inquired about is an astronomy book as he kindly has explained it, I just wanted to add that I have done a quick google search in arabic and found out that the book is probably the one titled "صور الكواكب الثابتة" (in english: "Book of fixed stars") written by the famous 10th century muslim persian astronmer Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi. I hope you find this information helpful and thank you once again for all of your wonderful efforts .

Check out the section of the developer breakdown about Castle Alamut. There's a lot more to cover there

fun fact: al jahiz indeed appears in the game as a NPC and he gives basim a side quest to collect books and one of the books basim needs to collect is the book you mentioned!

You are correct about Mrage being some precursor here. The Assassin Brotherhood then went by the Name the Hidden Ones.

Excited for you walkthrough of the game.

Thank you. This is wonderfully interesting and entertaining. I have not been into gaming, but this has whetted my appetite. What is the really interesting image of the men in dance/musical devotion at 15 min 29 sec?

I always loved the Assassin's Creed franchise. It is the best franchise in the world, and that's a great idea. Assassin's Creed: Mirage shall be the only Baghdad in the world. A bunch of other games are well done in terms of the historical accuracy, but knowing that nothing is true and everything is permitted sets us before the great shell of the crossroads...

New to your channel, I find religion and spirituality interesting. I am not a gamer, but love the technology used and how amazing it looks.

The picture of the book in the beginning of the trailer is of the night sky stars and how to locate them.. you can see to left the name of the star Aldebaran.

A vid I was not expecting but I am in total compliance 😂

Very interesting analysis, and amazing channel! Glad I found it. One thing that I personally found interesting is that the leader of the guards wore black, which is historically accurate. The abbasids chose black as the color of their banners since they claimed to be cousins of prophet Muhammad, whose own banner was black (the hashemite clan banner) as opposed to the other major clan, umayya, which had white banners (usually with some text). Eventually black became a symbol of status, caliphs and high ranking officials would wear black colors, sometimes decorated with golden calligraphy. I don't know if Ubisoft had that in mind or if it's just a coincidence!

Fantastic video keep it up your doing amazing job

I am most interested in architecture and geographical features

The book is about astrology the animal is Torus the Bull constilation

Ac 1 took a place at my city ,masyaf city , the accuracy of details is unmatched, i hope they do the same with this one

they were so many AjayebolMakhluqat which 2 of them are most famous, Qazwini's and Tusi's which is older.

The game will be fascinating 🥺

For the manuscript, it's most likely an astronomy book. the drawing on the left page seems like the Taurus constellation (With all those yellow circles representing the stars). Maybe the book Kitab suwar al-kawakib ("The Book of Fixed Stars") by Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi (d 986) Being someone who studies the history and development of Arabic calligraphy and penmanship, the issue I see with that image is in the Arabic script used there. That script didn't exist in the 9th century. So, if we are aiming for accuracy, then the script used in that period's books would be the scribal version of a broken cursive script that was widely used before the calligraphy revolution that started from the tenth century.

Wow! Thank you man, great video ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

If that is the Mosque in the centre, it appears to be facing the wrong direction. The sun looks like it is setting, and the mosque is facing that direction (west) which doesn't make sense because it should face way more south in the direction of Mecca

I like the oud in the background.

It would be fun if you did a play through! Maybe on the second channel? It is supposed to be released sometime in 2023. I would enjoy a play through, although I'm not sure how feasible it is in reality :)

It looked like Sage tea, which was and still is very common around Arabia. The book seems to be an Astronomy book.

I remember watching a video with a historian reviewing the Odessey edition, and he hated it xD kept finding inaccuracies and got frustrated. Hope they've researched this one more deeply.

The first book looks like an astrology treaty. The picture of the bull represents the Boötes constellation.

You missed the Akkadian mask. It seems like Mesopotamia paganism is still alive in this setting. What happened to the ancient Mesopotamian religion after Christianity and Islam took over, were there still worshippers in secret at that time or would these religions have already entered the burial ground of history at that time? A video on the fate of these practices would be neat.

I’m so pumped for this. Baghdad is the perfect setting for assassins and that time period and location isn’t super popular so it doesnt come with all the same baggage and mythos as something like vikings

Can you please make a video on Theosophy!!

Ubisoft made the setting on Golden Age Islam in Baghdad. Quite a shocked really. I watched my friends plays Valhalla a week ago. Basim did mention of al-Khwarizmi and Baghdad, us heart goes drops to the ground. "DID THEY FORESHADOWING BY MENTIONING TWO TIMES FOR THE NEXT GAME!?"

The historical research is so good that they use the game's template of the Notre Dâme Cathedral to rebuild it after it was burned during a fire.

I would suggest you play this game and take it apart all the way with your knowledge on this time period I would love to see that .

It's the first time i get this excited for an AC game since the first one.

Great video brother!

I enjoyed this different content! I'd love to see your take on the portrayal of Islam in the game Crusader Kings 3 - it includes many branches of Islam and a set of tenants and beliefs that design each one!

14:10 why not all the way upto 1514 because apparently the mamluks had some distant abbasid in their keep who "passed the caliphate to selim, his holiness, himself"

//its a very interesting way to build a city// Recall baghdad was the imperial capital of the abbaside empire. The concenric design of the imperial capital was breathtaking because it was likely conceptually based on an understanding of the universe with God's Throne right at the center, and extrapolated from the hajj. Thus the center contained a palace-mosque, where government and citizens came together to discuss daily isues impacting their lives. The modern concept of splitting government from mosque seems to be based on the crossworshipper design with their "seperation of secular from spiritual", and thus modern mosques are really churches with islamic rituals

Looks like book is describing constellations in picture

The Abbasid nobelity used to ware black for official events

4:53 seems to me to be more like coffee based on the utensil shown there

The book you mentioned at 4:00 seems to me like an astronomy book detailing constellations and not an animals book based on the geographical and astronomical terms that are visible in the trailer

I work with a lot of different cultures at my work place . A lot of Arabic’s , n I showed him the round city and the city n general and asked him if it all looked familiar , he said ah yes , that’s bhagdad 1000 years ago.

Assassin's Creed mirage explained to the Letter,, quite amazing....

3:15 That book is about astrology and it is accurate judging about what it sayings that it’s about the zodiac signs and the stars, which baghdad in that period of time was very into, next to the bull there is a writing (الديران) Alderan or something like that, apparently it’s connected to the zodiac sign taurus (the bull)

When will you do a video on the Meccan Opening in more details

Ismaili Tair and Shaik yl Jabbal from Alamut is epic

I always heard Assassin derives from Hashhashin, or smokers of hashish. Probably apocryphal, but it's a good story

Please make a Video about the 10th ce buyid dynasty. 🙌

I learned from a documentary that the fire grenades used in the trailer were actually real. Also that the military at the time wore fireproof clothing.

Dude, you totally nailed Al-Jahiz being in the game