I must say the map in terms of scale and shape is incredibly accurate. Kudos to you.

Adding the Middle East & the Arabian Peninsula is a difficult task, as I've tried to make an accurate representation of an established map, that does not include these parts of the world. Even adding the parts of North Africa and the Levant required many adjustments of another map, as different maps have different tilts, and i did not want to compromise on accuracy.

In the future i might make a mediterranean map that does include these locations, however I am currently invested in a scenario I'm making when it comes to Civ 5, so I wouldn't hold my hopes up.

This map does not have a true start location version (at least for now) as parts of the map such as Eastern Europe and the Balkans would be quite barren. However the map does have a river connection where the canal should be.

Perhaps something like this but updated https://psteamcommunity.yuanyoumao.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1584336935
I think size is crucial here because Civ 5 is game that simply cannot handle very large maps.

Could you create a bit more optimized version of Europe but including parts of arabia and the middle east to allow for a larger scenario? Oh and I think it'd be nice to make the true start version of this map give constantinople a river crossing on the side facing the land to simulate its defensive position and the moat of the theodosian walls.

Nette Idee noch bisschen schwierig zu starten aber wenn es läuft

Open the mod file in \My Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 5\MODS. copy the map file and place it in \My Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 5\Maps. If the map/mod does not show up, you may need to delete the game's cache.

How to start this map?

For me it doesn't show on the maps selection key for some reason. The map looks pretty good and want to try it out.

I agree, this one is a lot better than a lot of others. I feel like it's a good size for big scenarios

Thank you, I appreciate it!
I definitely might add ocean tiles to the seas in a future update, as the map originally had in earlier versions.

I think you did a good job, I like it. Though, the Mediterranean and Black Seas could use a little less coast, and more ocean.