<p>Not in particular. Tolkien was very creative and didn't base too much from real life cultures. So mostly mod-made factions like Morwaith and Taurethrim. Tbh both Morwaith and Taurethrim look like some cheap Indiana Jones adventure moviw rip-off Aztec and Zulu. Haradrim also look a lot like Northern Africans/Arabians with Umbar and Coast Southron being like Carthage/Saracens, Corsairs being Berber pirates, and harnedor being Bedouin. Only Gulfings are weird, warrior culture with ziggurats. Gondor I thougt to be like Medieval Europe, but it's actually more like later age Byzantines at the time of the War of the Ring. Although it has much different culture than both </p>

<p>Rohan was stated to be Saxon(old english) culture but with Mongol like mastery of cavalry, Saxons lost at Hastings partially because they were not good at horsemanship so Tolkien gave then that trait. Gondor always seemed top me to resemble Holy Roman Empire and it's sucessor states like Austria Hungary, i do think Siege of Vienna was one of the major inspirations fo the Siege of Minas Tirith, but as mentioned before those are all just influences, there is no perfect comparison to any of the cultures. Shire is quite clearly based on English countryside. </p>

<p>Tolkien himself said the Dwarves were based on Jews . </p>

<div class="quote"><i>Quote:
Not in particular. Tolkien was very creative and didn't base too much from real life cultures. So mostly mod-made factions like Morwaith and Taurethrim. Tbh both Morwaith and Taurethrim look like some cheap Indiana Jones adventure moviw rip-off Aztec and Zulu. Haradrim also look a lot like Northern Africans/Arabians with Umbar and Coast Southron being like Carthage/Saracens, Corsairs being Berber pirates, and harnedor being Bedouin. Only Gulfings are weird, warrior culture with ziggurats. Gondor I thougt to be like Medieval Europe, but it's actually more like later age Byzantines at the time of the War of the Ring. Although it has much different culture than both</i></div>
<p>I said "like" not "based off". </p>

<p>If something is based on another thing, then they obviously are going to have similarities? Why are you being so particular on “like” vs “based on”? In this case, both terms apply. </p>

<p>Rohan, atleast in the movies, resemble various germanic tribes, but with warhorses. Their swords have hilts that resemble various viking age cultures and, funnily enough, bronze age cultures. The horse mastery however more resemble huns/medieval knights. </p><p>Gondor, the armours mostly resemble italian armours of the high-late middle ages, but with a higher emphazy on dismounted combat, like the english. Their rangers could be any medieval uprising/bandits. The architecture seems kinda ancient roman, with a mix of renaissance north italy. </p><p>Hobbits, clothing, furniture, and food, could be english/german 1700-early 1900. </p><p>Elves, basically hippy communes. Everyone is just doing their own thing, hanging around, dancing, singing, wearing dresses, and spending unhealthy amounts of time perfecting their hobbies. </p>