Arcadia (popular culture)

Due to its mythological meaning as an unspoiled, harmonious wilderness, Arcadia has been used to refer to imaginary places in popular culture. All these meanings originate from the ancient Greek province of Arcadia, which nowadays still exists as a regional unit of Greece.

• One of the main characters in Isaac Asimov's Second Foundation is named Arcadia, and prefers to be called Arkady.
• Demis Roussos has a song entitled "Lovely Lady Of Arcadia".
• A book titled A Modern Arcadia: Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. & The Plan For Forest Hills Gardens written by Susan L. Klaus about a utopian community in Queens, NY, and a beautiful example of the early 20th century garden city movement here in America, that still exists today.
• The Greek and Latin name Arcadius/Arkadios was derived from "Arcadia" (see the Emperor Arcadius, the grammarian Arcadius of Antioch, the patriarch Arkadios II). From Greek it passed in Russian, Ukrainian, and other Slavic languages, where it is a common male name as Arkady or Arcady.
• The word Arcadia has become a poetic idyllism meaning "Utopia". The Libertines and Pete Doherty, whose first solo album Grace/Wastelands features an opening track titled "Arcady", are among many who has used this symbol in their work.
• Arcadia was a band created as a project by the 1980s English iconic pop band, Duran Duran, in 1985. It included Duran Duran members, Simon LeBon, Nick Rhodes, and Roger Taylor. The name of this band was chosen for the mystique surrounding Arcadia as a place of mystery and symbolic secrecy.
• The area of the prefecture were featured in several ERT programs including documentaries on the Megalopoli Mine and Ladon Lake
• In the 2006 Doctor Who episode "Doomsday", the Doctor mentions being "there at the fall of Arcadia", where Arcadia is insinuated to be an unspecified area of possible strategic importance in the Time War. Later, in the 50th Anniversary special "The Day of the Doctor", Arcadia is revealed to be a city on the planet Gallifrey, home of the Doctor's own race, the Time Lords.
• An early incarnation of Sonic Youth was known as The Arcadians.
• The tactical RPG Fire Emblem features a hidden Utopian city where man and dragon lives in harmony. This city is called Arcadia, and is founded by the legendary Archsage Athos.
• In the video game BioShock, "Arcadia" is the name of an area in one of the levels, with an artificial forest and touted as a vacation paradise.
• In the 1988 video game The Battle of Olympus, Arcadia is the initial starting point of the game.
• In the Stardust Classics children's fantasy novels, Arcadia is the name of the kingdom ruled by the young Princess Alissa.
• In the film 300 Leonidas is joined by a group of Arcadians to help him fight against the Persians.
• In Space Pirate Captain Harlock, the show's main ship is called Arcadia, perhaps hinting that the ship itself is a sort of refuge to pirates.
• In the Japanese "anime" "Trigun", Little Arcadia is episode 14, referring to the small forest that an old couple managed to nurture in the desert.
• In the text MUD Achaea, Arcadia is the home of a race of winged humans (Atavians).
• In the series of games Mega Man Zero, (Neo) Arcadia is the utopian city where humans live in apparent peace with reploids.
• The name of the planet in the game Skies of Arcadia is Arcadia. It is a planet with a completely barren wasteland ground level, but is mainly populated in its sky, which has a large system of floating islands, each flourishing under six different-colored moons that orbit the planet.
• In the PlayStation 2 game Final Fantasy XII there is a militaristic empire known as Archadia
• In The Legend of Zelda (TV series), the White Knight character appearing in episode 3 comes from a city called Arcadia.
• In the TV series The X-Files, the thirteenth episode of the sixth season is named "Arcadia".
• In the TV series Space: 1999, Arkadia is a planet from where the life came to Earth
• In the 20th Latin American literary classic, "Empire of Dreams" by Giannina Braschi, the inhabitants of Arcadia invade New York City in a pastoral revolution (1988).
• The mythic world that adorns the album covers of the rock band Asia, specifically the albums Alpha (1983) and Astra (1985).
• Arcadia is one of twin worlds in the popular computer game The Longest Journey and its sequel, Dreamfall.
• In Armored Core 3, Arcadia is the name of the No. 1 ranked AC.
• In Metal Gear Online, Arcadia is the name of a glitcher.
• In the game Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, the areas of the game are all said to be within the city of New Arcadia.
• In the RTS game Halo Wars, Arcadia is a civilian world under attack by an alien race called The Covenant.
• In the opera Semele (Handel), Jupiter sends winged Zephyrs to fetch Semele's sister, Ino, and he sings "Now shall all this scene unto Arcadia turn, the seat of happy nymphs and swains."
• In the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta Iolanthe, the male romantic lead, Strephon, is described as "an Arcadian Shepherd".
• Tom Stoppard's 1993 play, Arcadia.
• In the game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Arcadia is a suburb located in North Eastern Virginia, U.S.A in which you must evacuate civilians and key personnel in the level Exodus.
• In the TV series Joan of Arcadia, the story of a teenage girl who communicates with God and performs tasks she is given, took place in the fictional Arcadia, Maryland.
• In the manga series Digimon Adventure V-Tamer 01, the antagonist Neo Saiba attempts to create a Utopian world using his Digimon, which he names Arkadimon.
• The 2010 Avantasia Album "Angel of Babylon" features a song entitled "Journey to Arcadia" which portrays the region as a mythical destination full of wonder and mystery.
• Strika Entertainment, a South African comic publisher best known for their global Supa Strikas title, also produces a comic called Arcadia. The story follows three friends and their dog who, every week, are sucked into an arcade machine, and are taken on incredible adventures in the computer game world of Arcadia.
• In Resident Evil: Afterlife, Arcadia is a safe haven free from viral infection. However, it is revealed to be freight ship and a trap set up by Umbrella Corporation.
• In Dragon Quest VIII for PlayStation 2 there is a city called Arcadia.
• The Japanese musical group Sound Horizon's story album Moira is set in the country of Arcadia. One of the main characters being the "First Prince of Arcadia", Leontius.
• In the video game series The Idolmaster, Chihaya Kisaragi has an image song called "Arcadia" that has the lyrics, "I will aim for Arcadia".
• An American-like continent in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game is called Arcadia.
• In the sitcom How I Met Your Mother, there is a season-long arc that concerns whether the Arcadian Hotel will be preserved as a landmark or torn down to build a new skyscraper. The Arcadian is said to once have been a grand hotel that has fallen on hard times and is in the process of decay.
• Marianas Trench refers to Arcadia, in their song Arcadia. They are referring to it as a "unspoiled, harmonious wilderness."
• In Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds, there is an organisation called the Arcadia Movement
• PlayStation Vita game (Fate/stay night [Realta Nua]) has a theme song entitled ARCADIA performed by the Japanese band earthmind. The song is used as Saber's Route, Fate, opening theme.
• Mathayus in The Scorpion King was from Arcadia.
• In the French novel L'Autre by Pierre Bottero, little Arcadia is the name given to a parallel universe.
• In the Iron Fey novels by Julie Kagawa, Arcadia is the home of the Summer fey, ruled by King Oberon and Queen Titania. It is described as a beautiful land with many flowers, trees, springs and fountains. The Winter fey, ruled by Queen Mab, live in Tir Na Nog, a land covered in snow.
• In the 2008 video game Rise of the Argonauts, Arcadia was the original home of all centaurs and sacred to Hermes, the father of their race.
• Al Stewart, a Scottish folksinger, has a song on his "Time Passages" album called "Timeless Skies", in which he sings of "timeless Arcadian Skies".
• In the video game Life Is Strange, Arcadia Bay is the town in which the story takes place.
• Gods of Arcadia is a sci-fi mythology series by Andrea Stehle. Arcadia is a planet in mankind's future controlled by the gods of ancient Greece.
• In the 2007 video game BioShock, Arcadia is the area of the underwater city of Rapture where all of the trees and crops grow, being run by biologist Julie Langford. It is the vital area where the precious oxygen is created for the whole city.
• In the 2006 video game Final Fantasy XII, the Arcadian Empire is the primary antagonistic force, tyrannizing over the small nation of Dalmasca.