Sunday, August 20, 2017

Tehenu Libyan Medium Archers

Among the purchases last Quarter were a bag of Libyan Archers from Old Glory.


With the Egyptians and Cannaanites slated to see action on the tabletop at home next weekend, it seemed  likea good time to paint them up!


These troops are depicted on ancient Egyptian paintings and Bas reliefs. 


Alan Buttery, in "Armies and Enemies of Ancient Egypt and Assyria" (WRG), describes them as "tall and muscular, with a thick head of hair". 


"They wore material bands crossing the chest..." "From a decorated belt hung a phallus sheath of leather, as well as protector for the hips and rear." Looks like the prototype of the "designer jockstrap" to me!  :-)


I think my freind Brent had these guys in mind when he characterized Chariot era armies as "Hordes of nearly naked guys". 


Here's the second unit of Libyans.


You can almost hear the "pointing guy" singing "Y - M - C - A..." 


These somewhat more well dressed chaps wear "a long open garment, fastened at the shoulder, highly decorated, and with only one sleeve" over their loincloths.


Ostrich feathers were worn in their hair. 


I used the Micron colored ink pens to draw crude designs on the fabric. 


These units could enemies or allies of the Egyptians. 


From Giovanni Battista Belzoni: various ethnicities portrayed in a scene from Seti I's tomb; a reconstruction. The Libyans are readily identifiable on the upper right. Evidently they commonly employed tattoos as well. 

17 comments:

  1. Good additions, Peter! Rather than drawing "crude designs on the fabric" I think your stylized and impressionistic approach fits the bill.

    Say, in an Assyria vs Egyptian (Kushite or earlier) match up, could a Libyan contingent appear as allies to either side?

    Your ethnographic illustration is enlightening.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Jon! My guess would be that the dress of the Libyans didn't change that much over the period in question. They certainly might plausibly be used as Egyptian auxiliaries or allies, less so the Assyrians... not that that needs to stop us! :-)

      Delete
  2. One, obviously these guys wouldn't be very useful in cold climates, where "unit shrinkage" takes on a whole new meaning. Two, did you find your "doctor handwriting" to come in helpful coming up with the impressionistic crude designs?
    And anyone that goes into battle wearing nothing more than a jockstrap and a beach towel earns my respect.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 1) "Shrinkage" - well, with a phallus sheath that comes down to your knees in many drawings, how would anyone tell? :-) Indeed, I think that was there main defensive tactic - the other guy is staring at this thing, saying to himself "No way, that CAN'T be real..) and gets cut down, LOL!
      2) My second grade teacher noted that my handwriting was so bad that I had to either become a doctor or run a Chinese Laundry. AS I didn't for the ethnic group for the later, well...
      3) LOL!

      Delete
  3. Replies
    1. Yep, talk about letting it all hang out... :-)

      Delete
  4. Nice work on these Peter. It has been a slightly cooler winter's day here, and looking at these hasn't made me feel any warmer.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They are rather well "ventilated", aren't they?

      Delete
  5. Great post and fantastic minis eter, painting and basing are really nice!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thanks, Mark!
    I enjoyed painting them perhaps more than I should! :-)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Lovely painting, they are of course dynamic as most old glory figures are and it suits them!
    Best Iain

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, the dynamic Old Glory sculpting works well with these figures!

      Delete
  8. Interesting stuff. The units turned out great. I like the last relief, it was my inspiration for the skin tones I am using for my Kushite Egyptians

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Jake! It is a pretty well known reconstruction that is part symbolic and part realistic as far as skin tones are concerned.

      Delete
  9. Nice work, and thanks also for the laughs! :D

    ReplyDelete