In BOC, unlike other strategy games where the player chooses a particular faction, what we have is a sandbox-like combination of progression and cultures. At the beginning of the game, you will only have under your command a tiny nomadic tribe. This tribe is not Romans, Carthaginians, Persians, or Greeks, but depending on how you run them over the millennia, they may be one thing or another! In BOC, as happened in the real world, it is the geography and the decisions that you make as a player what, with the passage of time, is shaping the culture and identity of your people.