The Army of Herod the Great; (New Osprey)

[alanhuffines]

Just got this Saturday. I believe it was supposed to have been illustrated by the late McBride originally, but is done by Christa Hook. I have not finished it yet, but I did notice the illustrations have men wearing the "G" or gamma on the corners of their cloaks. Wasn't the gamma to be used on feminine cloaks (P. Connolly, "Living in the Time of Christ")? Of additional interest, the plate descriptions refer to the "G" as an "L". There is also a lack of tassels on the Judeans' cloaks.

Hat's off to the author and illustrator for the attempt at a difficult topic.

I apologize if this has been covered here already. Am only recently back from Iraq and have been in and out of touch since JAN 2008 or so.

[M. Demetrius]

Welcome home, and we're glad for your safe return.

I'm hoping to get a copy of that same Osprey, for use primarily in helping with equipment and clothing costuming for Christmas and Easter theatre productions. Are the illustrations and descriptions/photos useful for that purpose?

[alanhuffines]

David:

Thank you. I hope to be back in arms with all you Austinites right after the holidays.

The plates show a variety of clothing from the 1st Century BC. Judeans wear clavii'd tunics and some are shown clean shaven (Good!). So many modern depictions tend to show the average Judean as Bedouin-like and that is not done here. The pictures and reproduced line drawings you have probably seen before. Since the 2nd Commandment appears to have been followed regarding personal imagery, the author admits the difficulty of attempting the reconstructions and relies heavily on Hellenistic and Gallation graphic sources (The earliest known Jewish depictions of themselves are from the synagoge at Dura Europa, as far as I know. Another key source would be the captive Judeans from the Arch of Titus, who IIRC, are depicted wearing trousers). Other than my previous comment regarding the Gamma on female cloaks, this is worth the money. The author does the best job I have ever read of summarizing the chaotic Herodian era--no easy feat.

I think Connolly's "Living in the Time of Jesus" is still the gold standard, but this is a worthy addition to your eastern Mediteranian library.

[bachmat66]

Salve,
I am very interested in this volume for a very simple reason - the Osprey webpage http://www.ospreypublishing.com/store/T ... 1846032066 claims that this book deals with the Parthians in the Herod's army, especially in the cavalry and royal guard.
But I am also interested in the Hasmonean/ Herodian army as it represents one of the Hellenised Western Asian statelets, usually in some sort tributary relationship with Rome, and conducting their own wars and campaigns, usually little covered in the 'mainstream' texts.

I like artwork by Christa Hook, but often I find her work uneven and weak - as in the Macedonian warrior - whereas at times it is superb eg Saracen Faris.
We seem to have some examples of her rushed jobs here - the depiction of the saddle on this grey? or white? horse http://www.ospreypublishing.com/blog/hi ... the_great/ (the whole article seems like a very partial review of the book) or the cover itself http://www.flickr.com/photos/26498657@N ... 9/sizes/o/ Could it be that the inside plates have more of this rushed art? -
Messer Allan, some little more details on the book, pretty please?

[alanhuffines]

Dariusz:

There are three plates dealing with Parthians--A Hatran Envoy (D2 and D3) with two figures and a Babylonian Cavalryman (B3). I have not finished reading but it seems mostly a synopsis of Josephus. I regret that I was unable to visit Hatra on my last deployment, but I spent a while at Ur and that was a treat.

As to the 'rushed' quality of the art, I cannot comment. The images you linked are the ones in the book.

http://www.ospreypublishing.com/blog/hi ... the_great/

The limage of the Herodium is the one with the Babylonian Cavalryman who is just outside this picture, and that is Herod the Great featured in the cropped image.

I hope this was helpful.

[bachmat66]

Alan,
thanks for your reply - much appreciated
My caution stems from my previous Osprey experience - I just do not want to buy another 'Hun warrior, scourge of God'-type of Osprey product - which promised a lot and delivered third or forth rate work
Iraq is not a safe place to visit ever since we liberated 'them' from Sadam et al, one of my uncles visited the monuments back in the 1970s.
How was Ur - must have been amazing...?

[alanhuffines]

Dariusz:

You're welcome. Ur was fantastic, perhaps I will post my memories on another section of the board in the future--along with some images.

[Ioannes_Ahenobarbus]

Welcome back, and thanks for the notification. I should get this one in soon.

[alanhuffines]

John:

Thank you.

When you do receive it, please post your thoughts. I am curious as to other opinions.

[Folkert van Wijk]

Does the book say or show anything about the Gaulish Bodygaurd of Herod?

[alanhuffines]

Yes, there are two 'European' illustrations: C2 is a Galation (Should that be Gallic?) guardsman and C1 is a Celtic guardsman. There is some discussion in the text as well.

Hope that helps.

[tDub248]

I love this book! I make the armor for the live Nativity production at The Creation Museum. I can't wait to apply some of the stuff from this book to the existing kit! I am a little surprised that nothing was really done with the syrian-style Aux. helmet. I would have thought the illustrator would have definitely included one in the plates. Maybe there's a good reason...

I can't wait until some one does one on Pilate's army. I think this would be a big hit for those that do Easter Productions.

[bachmat66]

Hello,
I just got the book from Santa today- it is a very nice, surprising little volume. I recommended it very much ) and a Seleucid one too - pretty please - in light of archaeological and other studies progress over last 15-20 years years or so (not to mention the Parthian one too).
Having finished Christmas Eve' supper I even drew a sketch of the one of the Horsemen from plate F - http://dariocaballeros.blogspot.com/200 ... swiat.html - I had some fun copping and adding some info
happy holidays and Merry Christmas to all.

[alanhuffines]

Wonderful artwork and a nice Christmas page.

Merry Christmas from Texas.

[Theodosius the Great]

I wish I knew what the boots on plate figures A2, C2, E3 are based on.
They're about mid-calf height with a simple double-fold on top.

I thought maybe they're from the Palestrina Nile mosaic but they don't resemble those in the artwork.

Any ideas on their origin ?

Judeans wear clavii'd tunics and some are shown clean shaven (Good!).

The hellenistic tunics are great. I'm far less sure about the clean shaven soldiers. I thought Greeks and Semites were usually bearded in most eras. The Hellenistic kings (outside of Macedonia) are usually depicted as clean-shaven on their coinage but they were trying to imitate Alexander. Of course, I expect the Celtic soldiers to be clean-shaven.

~Theo