historical inspirations

[yamsur]

I open a post on a post on historical inspirations. Well I have an archaeologist training oriented towards the Iron Age. I'm not going to give you a history lesson here, but basically it's the Celtic period which begins north of the Alps at the end of the Bronze Age, and until -52 if you have read Asterix you see the topo.

In short, to start with a few videos and a pdf

An interview with a specialist in pre-historic fabrics, which reveals all the thermicity of the first Celts in weaving which uses more than 6 weaving methods while the Greeks in the same period use only one weaving method:

pre-historic textile

 To deepen the subject, the catalog of an exhibition at the museum in Vienna (Austria) is in English but the page for the downloaded (all that is more official, it's not piracy) is in German the word for downloaded is very close to English and it can be found at the bottom right of the page (Downloaden (22.27 MB)):

The Art of Prehistoric Textile Making

 if this link does not work go there:

Book Review: The Art of Prehistoric Textile Making: The Development of Craft Traditions and Clothing in Central Europe by Karina Grömer

 and look at the bottom of the page for the link to the page de télécharger Last thing of our Austrian friends, a small reconstruction (all that there is more scientific) of dance of the first iron age, we notice the similarity with oriental dances (India) and Magreb, to note the use of bronze jewelry that titillates: 

Imagination of Dance in Hallstatt Culture

[David Scott]

Thanks for posting this, excellent resources.

38 minutes ago, yamsur said:

An interview with a specialist in pre-historic fabrics, which reveals all the thermicity of the first Celts in weaving which uses more than 6 weaving methods while the Greeks in the same period use only one weaving method:

pre-historic textile

Sadly my understand french speaking academic failed (sadly no subtitles)

38 minutes ago, yamsur said:

 To deepen the subject, the catalog of an exhibition at the museum in Vienna (Austria) is in English but the page for the downloaded (all that is more official, it's not piracy) is in German the word for downloaded is very close to English and it can be found at the bottom right of the page (Downloaden (22.27 MB)):

The Art of Prehistoric Textile Making

This is excellent, great inspirational pictures too.

38 minutes ago, yamsur said:

and look at the bottom of the page for the link to the page de télécharger Last thing of our Austrian friends, a small reconstruction (all that there is more scientific) of dance of the first iron age, we notice the similarity with oriental dances (India) and Magreb, to note the use of bronze jewelry that titillates: 

Imagination of Dance in Hallstatt Culture

Excellent - the more chiming metal the better!

[soltakss]

2 hours ago, yamsur said:

I open a post on a post on historical inspirations.

Splendid!

[Storm Khan]

Fascinating dance link. On a different but still historical track, I was wondering if the Pure Horse People are modeled after the Parthians?

[Jape_Vicho]

15 minutes ago, Storm Khan said:

Fascinating dance link. On a different but still historical track, I was wondering if the Pure Horse People are modeled after the Parthians?

I think Pentans in general are more inspired in the Scythians, even though Parthians are deeply related to them too. 

Below Scythian warriors depicted on a Kul-Oba vessel and a reconstructed outfit of a Scythian found in the Issyk Kurgan, you can really picture the Luminous Stallion King in that. I think those "high hats" are also used by some mongolian peoples. 

[yamsur]

To complete on the theme of fabrics some image where we see the different weaving methods and the patterns that they allow to make (always the first iron age, so-called Hallstatt culture).

Note the system of ribbons made with the technique of platelets which allows to finish a stole with a variety of shapes in the impressive design (I did not give you the examples of "swastika" the "sun wheel", it's too connoted and I do not want the forum to have problems, and then I even have a little hatred when I see it)!

Edited December 13, 2020 by yamsur

[Bill the barbarian]

I have been finding the Great Courses and the Great Courses Plus: https://www.thegreatcourses.com or https://www.thegreatcoursesplus.com to be of tremendous help in inspiring my gaming. I get them for free from my library through Kanopy.com and I recommend you start with your city or educational library to gain the access that you might already have. Many libraries that have digital learning capabilities grant access to Kanopy and Kanopy recommends you ask your library to consider doing so if it does not.

One of the courses I am working through right now is The Barbarian Empires of the Steppes with Kenneth W. Harl as host, looking at the Xiongnu Confederacy,. the Scythians, the Huns and the Mongols. So how could examining steppe dwelling barbarians help your Glorantha Fu? How could it not?

Edited December 14, 2020 by Bill the barbarian

[Kloster]

Kanopy is unfortunately available here.

[Bill the barbarian]

On 12/14/2020 at 1:19 PM, Kloster said:

Kanopy is unfortunately available here.

My condolesences Kloster, but the Great Courses should be at those URLs even in Europe. Perhaps there is an inexpensive way to access them because believe me they are very much worth it even at full price. Anyone know of a European equivalent or a way for our friends across the waters to access Kanopy or The Great Courses at a reasonable rate. 

Just looked into it.

No, you will have to find a European streaming equivalent. I called The folk at the Great Courses Plus (the streaming service not the very expensive DVDs), found out it was 20 bucks a month, it offered a free trial and was not available across the pond (the plus service, the dvds are). Sorry, but I will bet someone knows of something cool for over there. 

Learning stopped at an ocean... that is so 19th century!

Edited December 16, 2020 by Bill the barbarian

[yamsur]

What inspiration on swords
Four Plates with Bronze Age Pioneers from the Late Iron Age:

 

 

A little step back in time with Germanic / Scandinavian swords before the great invasions

An excellent overview of the damask patterns found on Danish Bog swords These swords date from around 150 AD - 400 AD;

 

Rather strange weapons that can be found in Macedonia, among the Iberians, in India ...

[Sir_Godspeed]

On 12/12/2020 at 3:51 PM, Jape_Vicho said:

I think Pentans in general are more inspired in the Scythians, even though Parthians are deeply related to them too. 

Below Scythian warriors depicted on a Kul-Oba vessel and a reconstructed outfit of a Scythian found in the Issyk Kurgan, you can really picture the Luminous Stallion King in that. I think those "high hats" are also used by some mongolian peoples. 

There's some Plains Indian in there, too, iirc., even if it might be more evident among the Praxians.

[coffeemancer]

How do you want your Moonsword, bro?

[Akhôrahil]

On 12/14/2020 at 6:07 PM, Bill the barbarian said:

I have been finding the Great Courses and the Great Courses Plus: https://www.thegreatcourses.com or https://www.thegreatcoursesplus.com to be of tremendous help in inspiring my gaming.

The Great Courses (that is, The Teaching Company) is amazing. I think they tend to be the perfect length and structure to get a solid layman's understanding, and the catalogue is just ridiculously big by now. As a subscription service, the pricing is pretty tolerable, and you can often find deals in various YouTube and podcast ads. There's also a free trial.

The Modern Scholar series is about the same quality and the same concept. (It has Tolkien scholar Michael Drout in a number of lecture series, too.)

[jajagappa]

1 hour ago, Akhôrahil said:

The Great Courses (that is, The Teaching Company) is amazing.

The courses by Elizabeth Vandiver on the Iliad, the Odyssey, the Aeniad, and the Greek plays are great - and provide a lot of ideas for RQG games.  

Kenneth Harl's courses on Rome and the Barbarians, the Empires of the Steppes, and the Vikings all provide interesting thoughts.

The course on the Etruscans by Steven Tuck is useful as one model about the Esrolians and Nochet.

The courses on ancient Mesopotamia are also very good.

[Akhôrahil]

1 hour ago, jajagappa said:

The courses by Elizabeth Vandiver on the Iliad, the Odyssey, the Aeniad, and the Greek plays are great - and provide a lot of ideas for RQG games.  

Those courses are excellent. The thesis that the Iliad is fundamentally about kleios aphthiton (Undying Glory) and the Odyessey about xeniea (Hospitality) strikes me as very sound. This was the course that made me understand why Achilles is sulking in his tent - it's not just about something as trivial as losing his girl.

Her Herodotus course is great as well, and spends the whole first lecture on the very first sentence.

1 hour ago, jajagappa said:

Kenneth Harl's courses on Rome and the Barbarians, the Empires of the Steppes, and the Vikings all provide interesting thoughts.

Listened to the Steppe one just months ago.

In TMS meanwhile, Michael Drout is great when it comes to Tolkien, fantasy, the Anglo-Saxons, and more.

TTC has a great series of Early, High and Late Medieval, although this isn't very RQ-adjacent.

(Completely outside the topic, but the TTC course The Fall and Rise of China is incredible, just amazing.)

I have the TTC courses Maya to Aztec, Neolithic Europe, The Pagan World and Understanding Imperial China queued up at the moment.

1 hour ago, jajagappa said:

The course on the Etruscans by Steven Tuck is useful as one model about the Esrolians and Nochet.

Thanks, will pick this one up.

Edited December 29, 2020 by Akhôrahil

[Bill the barbarian]

18 hours ago, jajagappa said:

Kenneth Harl's courses on Rome and the Barbarians, the Empires of the Steppes, and the Vikings all provide interesting thoughts.

 

Aye to this

 

18 hours ago, jajagappa said:

The course on the Etruscans by Steven Tuck is useful as one model about the Esrolians and Nochet.

The courses on ancient Mesopotamia are also very good.

Both are great!

 

17 hours ago, Akhôrahil said:

Listened to the Steppe one just months ago.

 

makes me think... so much of global spanning change has come as a result of movement on the steppes from the proto-scythians down to Xiongnu, the Huns and the Mongols, just to pull up four highlights to my point. When the steppes awoke the earth rumbled, dust clouds rose and vultures gathered—empires quaked.

Let me add

 Çatalhöyük - First Experiment in Urban Living this is art 2 orf 24 hosted by Steven L. Tuck and of course the rest tof the series. 
Any of the series The Decisive Battles of World History with Gregory Aldrete Ph.D. will warm the cockles of any grognard.
the Celtic Art series with Jennifer Paxton

These are just a very few from the series.

Oh the band, love ‘em. The Hu! The song Wolf Totem!

 

Edited December 29, 2020 by Bill the barbarian

[Akhôrahil]

Bret Devereaux (antique military historian) talks a lot about RQ-adjacent subjects on his blog A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry,  https://acoup.blog/ .

His discussions on how bread was made, polytheism, and steppe nomads in the Dothraki context, might be particularly relevant. 

Edited December 29, 2020 by Akhôrahil

[jajagappa]

2 hours ago, Akhôrahil said:

Understanding Imperial China queued up at the moment.

I enjoyed that one.  I also recommend the TTC course Foundations of Eastern Civilization by Craig Benjamin.

Another good one is Grant Voth's Myth in Human History.

[Bill the barbarian]

17 hours ago, Bill the barbarian said:

When the steppes awoke the earth rumbled, dust clouds rose and vultures gathered—empires quaked.

Oh, damn, I screwed up... the video above that was linked to was inferior and lacked the full time and the full impact the words impart. so, if you liked my historical reference with a modern update for inspiration before, might I strongly suggest hitting play, going full screen and turning your speakers to max... and like empires of old did before these musicians not so distant ancestors, quake before the might of the best band (imho) of the 21st century evoking the 14th century and  inspiring my bronze age game.