Need info on Carthaginian uniforms

[ParthianBow]

@ J.M - sorry, missed your post until today. I've emailed you.

@ H. Balck - great images - kudos to you. The standard bearer looks great.

[ParthianBow]

[attachment=678]IMG_1220.JPG[/attachment]
Just taken delivery of my brand new replica caetra from Jorge at Armillum. It looks amazing!

(Lens cap in situ to give perspective.)

[Lessa]

Great picture Josè!
I have a question. where did you get information about the "tanit" mark on the shield and the 8 points star?
Cheers, Alessandro.

[Ultilatie]

Ciao, Lessa!

The Tanit mark is so common in the Carthaginian iconography, as you probably know. The eight star mark comes from the Hellenistic tradition, and Carthagininan inspired their armies on it. However, I'm not sure which is the archaeological evidence for use both marks on shields, but I'll ask it.

Best Regards!

[Lessa]

Thanks for the answer J.M. mile:
Yeah, the Tanit is a common mark for Carthaginian society, in fact many examples can be found in archaeological remains. Sardinia, Sicily, Spain, ecc.
I was wandering if actually they used this symbol on the shields.
I'm asking because in another topic (cant' remember where) this solution was highly debated.

mile:
Cheers, Lessà.

[M. Caecilius]

Good question. The Tanit symbol was, I believe, used as a prophylactic sign. IIRC, it was used amongst other things in the entryway to houses in Carthage, which would suggest it had a protective function that might therefore also be appropriate to shields, although that's a big leap without actual evidence backing it up.

There's also the symbol shown on the standard of H. Balck's "Xanthippus" (based on Osprey). This would also lead to another question: The horse-and-date-palm is common on Carthaginian coins (the Tanit symbol, I believe, is absent from these), but can we make the jump from coins to shield devices? My assumption is that this would be risky, but does anyone have any evidence that these symbols were used on shields as well as coins?