Monday, February 28, 2011

XVI century pilgrims going to Jerusalem - German woodcut


salve,
this time a German woodcut from the second half of XVI century shows a caravan - consisting of a group of Christian pilgrims, riding mules, with an escort made out of 2 Arab Ottoman sipahis and infantry Arab archers along with a mule, camel and donkey train etc.
In my humble opinion this is another very interesting iconographic material related to Ottoman empire, its ethnically diverse warriors and their equestrian traditions, as well as peaceful interactions between the Muslims and Christians, when the latter traveled on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land.
In my next post I will expand a bit on the cavalrymen and their mounts (appearing to be an Arabian horse type) in this woodcut.

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