Good article Gallow, I would add to your rep but it says something about spreading it around before adding it again:redface: 1)Can you help me out with Gaelic pronounciations? I often come across words and names when doing research and I have no idea how to pronounce them. Example, the Tuatha de Danaan or the Lebor Gabala? Is their a kind of online guide or resource? TY also 2)What do you think of these pics huh huh huh? I know youre a stickler for accuracy so I wanna hear your opinions
Too-ah djey dan-ann would be the Tuatha de Danann. Leh-bor gaβa would be Lebor Gabala. If you find anyway, it would have been done from a book. Which means it's written in the Lewis-Skye dialect, which no-one actually speaks, and is used only in media. It depends largely on the dialect. Most of them are similar, but many include pronounciation similar to quasi-Irish and pseudo-Norse, so there's no real standard way. The largest dialect, Leodhas, is something like this, but it's one in about a hundred dialects. They wouldn't have fought naked (although that depends on who they were - one of the shields makes me think they're Gaelic, and the other makes me think they're Pictish), and Gaelic soldiers wouldn't have had beards, but the shields and weapons are accurate (I'm actually pretty surprised that someone has included javelins).
Thanks for the site and the tips, they look very promising sigh, yeah, the pic didnt have a caption explaining who exactly they were, that can be very frustrating when youre trying to do research. I was thinking Gallic as well. Whenever I look up artwork for ancient Gaels I get an odd mix and assortment, and alot of it looks heavilty romanticized, and most of the stuff that isnt doesnt explain much. Gaels wouldnt fight with beards? Now that I did not know. I have also heard that they fought naked, but some historians like Aryeh Nusbacher said that when the ancient historians said they fought "nude" they meant that they were bare-chested and practically naked. Most sources describe their armor, and most probably were armored. I think most modern historians think that there was probably a kind of warrior subclass that scorned armor because it was considered a sign of bravery to fight unprotected (but they still had shields). Interestingly I heard that Gallic warriors did use the blue woad leaf dye because of a sort of battle ceromonial purpose, but a practical one as well. I have heard that the leaf in dye form can drain blood from the surface of the skin, and if someone is bleeding it can help clot it. I also heard they would put chalk in their hair to spike them up like punk rockers and intimidate the enemy. Ive often seen artistic depictions with braided hair nonetheless, and lots of jewelery.
The best representation I've seen of the kind of clothing that ancient Gaelic soldiers would have worn is actually in M2TW. It's the ceitherne. It wouldn't have been that colour, and they'd have had shoes, but that's essentially the sort of thing that any Roman invasion would have seen. They didn't have beards, it actually seems that Gaels would have only had a moustache. There have been ancient Gaels found in bogs in both Ireland the Hebrides that had no beard, but had hairstyles, such as mohawks. The Hebridean carvings of Irish soldiers, which I posted links to earlier, also show a similar sort of thing. Gallic is not Gaelic. The woad was more of a Brythonic Celtic (Pictish, British, Welsh, Cornish, Gallic) thing to do, rather than a Gaelic one. Not many ancient historians actually saw Gaelic armour on the battlefield, at least none that could write. The only people who described Gaelic armour in the Heroic Age were the Gaels themselves. Most Celtic warriors who didn't wear clothes or armour would have done so for ceremonial reasons - the Picts had a symbol for everything a soldier would need, and their knowledge of animals and plants, which they used to make the paint, enabled them to create some quite practical things, as you said. There have been discoveries made in Pictish brochs that seem to suggest that the inhabitants had a lot of information about the subject.This is the best list I can find, although the Picts wouldn't have known about every plant there. The first part is more of a Brythonic thing (that definitely sounds like ancient British soldiers). The second part is more of a Gaelic thing, as this, based on Hebridean carvings, seems to show. The third is probably Pictish, although I've not heard any accounts of them wearing lots of jewellery. They made a lot of it, and this is a typical example (although made by Gaels - the rim at the top gives it away ), but I doubt they wore it on the battlefield.
I took a trip to the Brooklyn museum again. Previously I spent almost all of my time in the Egyptian wing and took quite a few pics. I posted them in the Picture Tavern then because I hadnt even made this thread yet. If you would like to see them just give me a holler or maybe sometime in the future I will post them. Anyway, this time I spent most of my time in the Asian wings. I wont write any essays this time, this is mostly a picture gallery post kind of thingie, look and enjoy. Comment to your heart's content. O_0 Nagaraja, India, Kushan period 1st-2nd cent (all dates are AD) Vishnu and his avatars, Eastern India, Pala Period, 11th cent as you can see, Lord Vishnu has many many avatrs, they go all around that sculpture! ^^ a closer look
Mask of Narasimha; India, Karnataka, Mysore, 18th cent (a little bit later than I like for an ancient history thread, but...eh?) Lion-dog (Karashishi); Japan, Edo period, 1700's Pair of guardian animals(Koma-inu) Japan, Kamakura period, early 13th cent
Head of a guardian, Japan, Kamakura period 13th cent One of the "Twelve Divine Generals";Japan, Kamakura period, 13th cent Figure of a horse with a saddle; China, northern dynasty, 6th cent
Horse; China, Tang Dynasty, 600-900 AD Saved my fav for last, this is "Lokhapala on a recumbent bull"; China, Tang Dynasty, 600-900 AD Hope you guys enjoyed, let me know if you want some more!
