[Patrick Lawrence]

Hi I am an illustrator and history buff and I am having to do an illustration with a mounted Jewish warrior. I want to make it as late as possible so I am thinking around the time of the sacking of jerusalem by titus. Now from what I can remember att his time they were using what ever armor they could find. So would a mixed matched collection of middle eastern armor from the time be about right and does any one have any good reference shots for this?

Also you can see some of my illustration and photography at http://www.pwlawrence.com/

Thanks VERY VERY much for the help:)

[Patrick Lawrence]

Did some more search and it seems they also had a revolt a Revolt against Heraclius in 613.

[Lafayette C Curtis]

Hm. Well, the Maccabean Jewish armies seem to be quite popular among miniature wargamers, so maybe you can get some info in this site:

http://www.fanaticus.org/DBA/index.html

(Don't hesitate to send emails to and/or visit the homepages of the wargamers there. They're all to glad to get a chance to boast of their knowledge--or their libraries.)

[Patrick Lawrence]

Thanks Lafayette C Curtis. And would you believe they changed their minds again and now want a modern Israeli soldier on hourseback. So now I am researching that haha. Oh well I get paid either way.

[Gordon Frye]

Mr. Lawrence;

Although it's not specifically an Israeli soldier on horseback, this IS a fairly modern soldier pictured in the act of charging into battle (a mock one, though) on horseback. He's one of Grey's Scouts, a Rhodesian outfit that needless to say no longer exists, since the country no longer exists in that name. But it might be of interest to you. I've also added a photo of a Portuguese Cavalryman in Angola during the same time period. (1970's)

Cheers!

Gordon

[Jean Thibodeau]

Gordon;

Just wondering about the FN FAL just next to the horse's ear. I know that horses can and where trained to sort of ignore gun fire but OUCH ! That close to the ear I would think the poor beast would flinch like crazy just from the intensity of the sound even if by some training miracle the horse wasn't spooked by the shot or worse shots if the FAL was on full auto ?

Would stuffing the poor horses hears with something be useful or tolerated by the horse ?

Patrick: Are your clients looking for something " real " as in historically true or something more symbolic / fictional ?

I could see some modern use of mounted scouts by the Israeli army in theory or " unofficial " use by some sort of local militia or security guards to patrol in hilly country ? Maybe early on after the creation of Israel as a country or even before in the early 20th century ?

Oh, had a look at your web site and really liked your Roman soldier / officer. I am curious about the technique you used to draw it ? Traditional drawing or using computer software or a combination of both ? The hairs in the crest drawn hair by hair the hard way or using a texture / hair generator of some kind: All sorts of 3D animation programs are used now to put realistic organic textures as special effects. Oh, either way the work is impressive and even when technological shortcuts are used the quality of the results depend on having the eye to control the results.

[Patrick Lawrence]

Gordon Frye - Thanks for the pics every source helps.


Jean Thibodeau -

[Gordon Frye]

Jean;

Yeah, blasting away with that FAL THAT close to the horse's ear would tend to cause some problems one way or another, I would think... A while back, I read an interesting article written in the 1990's about the Northern Alliance of Afghanistan in their fight against the Taliban, and how most of them were mounted. The most outrageous photo they had was of a fellow firing an RPG-7 off the back of a horse. The text noted that you could only do this once off of any given horse. No doubt!

Cheers!

Gordon

[Lafayette C Curtis]

If you consider your horse expendable, though, it can give you a sort of instant roast horseflesh.

If it hadn't roasted you first, of course.

[Hisham Gaballa]

I'm guessing that since the Holy Land was part of the Roman Empire in the 1st century AD, a Judaean horseman would have looked a lot like a Roman cavalryman, only with a few Parthian influenced items.