Painting of Roman soldier on sarcophagus?

[Tarbicus]

Does anyone have a better photo of this sarcophagus in Istanbul, Turkey? It looks a beauty to be mulled over.

http://www.uwsp.edu/geo/projects/geoweb ... Museum.HTM



It bears a striking resemblance to this fresco of a supposedly Ptolemaic soldier from 145 BC.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/RC ... oldier.jpg
http://www.romanarmy.nl/rat/viewtopic.php?t=21999

[MeinPanzer]

It's the stele (not sarcophagus) of Dioskourides, a Pisidian mercenary from Balboura and a standard bearer in the second century BC garrison at Sidon. Like all the 17 or so surviving painted stelae depicting soldiers that have been found at Sidon and which were still in pretty good condition upon discovery, it's Hellenistic, not Roman. Sekunda has made a nice catalogue of these stelae in his Montvert title on the Ptolemaic army, in which he argues fairly convincingly that they are Ptolemaic and not Seleucid. That other painted depiction of a soldier is of a Pisidian from the same garrison, Salmas of Adada, which is also second century in date.

They are indeed beautiful examples of painting from that time, and the group as a whole provides one of the single best sources of information on armament and military costume from the entire Hellenistic period.

[femina]

All right, I am 22 years old college student and an amateur artist. I'm trying to figure out how to transfer a photo I took to an art canvas. Does anyone know how to do this, and if it is possible to does it by using transfer paper? Can it be enlarged onto transfer paper? Does anyone know how to transfer a photo to Art Canvas? Any help comments would be greatly appreciated. Thanking you,

[richsc]

This is not the forum to ask the question, but you can print the image on a canvas I believe, using an ink jet printer.

And since you're new, forum rules require you to add your name to your signature.

[M. Demetrius]

Yes, it's true. They make photo print paper with a canvas texture, or, possibly you could print the photo onto transparency paper and project the image onto your cloth canvas.

Welcome aboard, Femina. You should be able to find many good tips on a wide array of Roman history and modern reenactment/living history here.

And Rich is right about the forum rule for signature/name. If you're not sure how to do that, feel free to send me a PM (see the click below for Private Message) and I'll walk you through it.

Have fun!

[Tarbicus]

And to continue posting, Femina, you will need to add a real name to your profile signature.

[Theodosius the Great]

Avete,

I'm curious about the boots seen on the Sidon stele below :

(thumbnail, clickable)


Can someone identify the type of boot seen on the stele ?
I'd like to download a pattern for my early Eastern Auxiliary impression.

~Theo

[MeinPanzer]

That's from the stele of Salmas of Adada, a Ptolemaic mercenary from the early 2nd c. BC. Those are closed boots Hellenistic soldiers are sometimes depicted wearing, and are not Roman.

[M. CVRIVS ALEXANDER]

The inscription actually says, "Salmamodes of Adada, good man, farewell." The other one (from the first post of this thread) says, "Oh Dioscourides of Pisidia-Balboura, son of Exabous, the standard bearer of the allied forces, good man, farewell. His brother Ceraios had (this stele) erected." Both are from Sidon.

The larger pics that I took in the museum this January are here:

http://i353.photobucket.com/albums/r383 ... G_5585.jpg
http://i353.photobucket.com/albums/r383 ... G_5599.jpg

No flash was allowed, so they are what they are.

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

What period are these? They both appear to be carrying republican era scuta with spina and wing/butterfly boss'!? :?

[MeinPanzer]

The inscription actually says, "Salmamodes of Adada, good man, farewell."

That was the label they had in the museum, IIRC, but the inscription has been restored to be "Salmas son of Moles of Adada, good man, farewell!" in more recent literature because it doesn't make sense that the man wouldn't have a patronymic.

What period are these? They both appear to be carrying republican era scuta with spina and wing/butterfly boss'!? :?

These are from the first half of the second century BC. They are carrying thureoi, as was the norm at the time in the eastern Mediterranean, which is indirectly related to Roman scuta in use at the time.

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

Ahh, excellent! I was wondering if perhaps these were later due to the helmets,
a sort of stylized homage to the past!
That is interesting, also the helmets which, while I can's place them, must be a fairly accurate portrayal of something that also existed!

[MeinPanzer]

Ahh, excellent! I was wondering if perhaps these were later due to the helmets,
a sort of styalized homage to the past!
That is interesting, also the helmets which, while I can's place them, must be a fairly accurate portrayal of something that also existed!

I don't know exactly what you mean by this, but the helmets represented here and on the other 15 or so stelae from Sidon are all pretty standard contemporary Hellenistic helmet types for which we have many other examples (both actual and iconographic).

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

Ahh, excellent! I was wondering if perhaps these were later due to the helmets, which remind me of a sort of styalized homage to the past!
That is interesting, also the helmets which, while I can's place them, must be a fairly accurate portrayal of something that also existed!

I don't know exactly what you mean by this, but the helmets represented here and on the other 15 or so stelae from Sidon are all pretty standard contemporary Hellenistic helmet types for which we have many other examples (both actual and iconographic).

What I mean is, "I can't place them" :?

The one looks like some helmets I have seen, vaugely, but the other looks like a helmet worn by a Spanish conquistidore....I know of no helmet like that in ancient times....nothing more, just an admission of my lack of recognition.


But reading it again, I see I must have deleted an important part of the sentence..... roll: :oops: Hopefully the edit will help.....

[Urselius]

The shields may have been of Celtic inspiration. Considering the extent of Roman military borrowings from the Celts it would be odd if the Hellenistic monarchies, given the Sack of Delphi and the extensive settlement of Celts in the Balkans and Anatolia, did not do likewise.