Wiki of Westeros

Dragon S02E01 Blood for blood. Fire to fire. House of the Dragon: Season 2 will premiere in June 2024.

READ MORE

Wiki of Westeros
Register
Advertisement
Wiki of Westeros

Slaver's Bay

The ruins of Old Ghis are located south from Astapor.

"Finally the Valyrians marched on their capital of Old Ghis and obliterated it, turning its streets and buildings to ash with dragonflame and wiping the Ghiscari people and their culture off the face of the Earth."
Viserys Targaryen[src]

Old Ghis,[1] originally known as simply Ghis,[2] is a ruined city, located in the region of Ghiscar on the southern coast of Essos. It was once the ancient capital of the Ghiscari Empire, but was destroyed by the Valyrian Freehold with the use of dragons.[3]

The city is located south of Slaver's Bay, on the eastern coastline of the Gulf of Grief. The city of New Ghis, its successor, is located on an island not far to the south.

In the books[]

In the A Song of Ice and Fire novels, Old Ghis led five great wars against Valyria before being destroyed once and for all. Frustrated by the city's constant uprisings, the Valyrians pulled down the city's walls, burned the buildings to ashes and cinders and poisoned the surrounding lands with salt, sulfur, and skulls to prevent it from rising again.

The city and the Ghiscari Empire were founded by Grazdan the Great, a mighty leader. Its symbol, and that of the Empire it led, was that of a harpy clutching a thunderbolt.

Inspiration[]

Like other civilizations of the known world, the Ghiscari empire has many similarities with real life civilizations (Greece, Egypt and Rome). Old Ghis has many similarities with Carthage, the great rival of ancient Rome during its republican phase. The two empires engaged in three bloody wars. At the end of the last, the Romans destroyed the city and according to legend sowed the soil with salt to prevent the city rising again.

References[]

External links[]


Advertisement