Stele for the fallen horseman

 Salvete Omnes,

stele of Dexileus - @ Andrzej Baranasz

   so the new terrible war started in the south western Asia - US, Israel, Persian Gulf States vs Iran (and perhaps Houthis and other Shias muslims in Lebanon, Iraq and Bahrain? etc), on top of the other wars: between Pakistan and Afghanistan, civil war in Sudan, and the horrible war in Ukraine. 
Allegedly it was the Israeli attack that killed the 86-years old leader of Iran, Ayatollah Khamenei, in effect making the old leader a martyr. The Shias are like us, the Roman Catholics, they love martyrdom, saints, feasts of martyrs and suffering to no end. 

   Many good soldiers &  innocents will die on all sides (like these schoolgirls yesterday), the world economy will suffer if the Persians close the Strait of Hormuz and oil & LNG gas will go up on the markets. Some industrial states, like PRCh, South Korea, Japan etc depend on the Gulf oil. European Union, cut off from the Russian oil & gas, will have to rely more on our American oil & LNG gas.. Hardships may be coming if this war is not ended quick.

   I would like to just post these ancient, VI c.- IV c.BC,    Athenian stelea for the fallen cavalrymen, in order to just remind myself and all of you that any and all wars of aggression are evil and malice combined, unless in self-defense. 

Stele for Meknes, @ Giovanni Dall'Orto 

In this interview  prof. Ted Postol on the technology of ballistic missiles and interceptors (Iron Dome, Patriots etc) , the oil export economy and human suffering. I recently read the great work by American journalist Annie Jacobsen - The Nuclear War (2024), and prof. Postol's name and research & theories & experiments are aplenty in the Annie's book. 

stele 560-550BC, from the tower at the Dypilon Gate - @Ad Meskens

Valete

Petasos and horsemen

 Salvete Omnes.

 summer weekend  - and more ancient Thessalian horseman hat aka petasos imagery

 from the famous book  Art of Horsemanship by ancient horseman Xenophon of Athens come these  beautiful images of ancient  Athenian cavalrymen wearing petasos- a Thessalian hat. This American edition of Xenophon's work was translated by Morris H. Morgan, PhD, and published in Boston, MA, 1893AD.  Available on Archive to read, download and peruse.

I 'separated' these horsemen a bit for clarity sake, so if you want to use them as they are now, for your pleasure or whatever, do feel free to use it, as I used the original image from the book 

cheers

Valete

Three Kings Day -

Salvete Omnes
so today we have the fine feast day of Magi (Epiphany)- Three Kings and their Adoration of Baby Jesus.
I am mixing some images for this occasion -
so first Adoration piece by one of my favorite painters of all times - Peter Paul Rubens.. housed at the Royal Museum at Antwerp.

Rubens' Adoration

interesting portrayal of a curb-bit and reins - XVII century horsemanship

 

long-shanks of this curb-bit

and a bit of anachronism  as find below several images of the Parthenon frieze - ancient Athenian cavalcade 'honoring' the Holy Family on this Epiphany feast day.

valete!

Overarm Vs. Underarm Spear and Shield

detail - VIIIc BC Krater MET

Salve,
I am reading the new book by the Salimbeti & D'Amato team  - Early Iron Age Greek Warrior 1100-700 BC.
The study contains the set of 8 plates by Italian maestro Giuseppe Rava, most likely painted under a careful guidance of the writers.

Chiggi vase

the 7th (g) plate contains a scene of a Spartan warrior fighting an Argive (from Argos) warrior with another warrior fallen (p. 57). It is a scene of short spear/ heavy javelin play.

Achilles death

 I have got interested in seeing an actual demonstration of the ancient spear fighting techniques ( overarm vs. underarm Spear and Shield ) while in armor and on foot, so I searched and watched several videos, and here I have them presented, these are by two practitioners of the European martial arts:
Schola gladiatoria [link]
Thegn Thrand 1  [link]
Thegn Thrand 2 [link]
The Athenian military during the classical age - post-Solon reforms - short intro from MET.  Beautiful hippeis cavalry horses in stable scene from the VI c BC.

 Hoplite fighting gallery from Wikicommons
enjoy
ps
Thegn's video on ancient Bronze age hand to hand combat arms - curved Caananite khopesh and the Ewart Park ( Leaf shaped sword ), and the Naue II ( Straight style sword ).