Hey Birchouse #84

We might be stepping into a minefield with this one...anyway, here is this week's "Hey Birchouse!"
.
.
.
Find all of our goods in our shop at
goimagine.com/...
Or contact us for custom orders at
www.facebook.c...
[e-mail]

[@gozer87]

I think art is a good source to determine if a culture was aware of a weapon. I really like the armor of the Saracens or Philistine troops as shown in medieval art. It's probably based on a bad interpretation of Byzantine arms and armor as well as second hand accounts of actual Islamic soldiers. What's your opinion of some of the fantastic or mythological arms and armor shown in medieval art?

[@birchouse]

@gozer87 The biggest lesson I have taken from my talks with museum curators when we are in research is to take a trust but verify stance when it comes to arms and armor from antiquity. Art is absolutely an outstanding starter point and lends a lot of credibility to historical items. On the other hand, art is at the artist's discretion/interpretation, so anytime you can use another primary source in conjunction with art, it makes for a pretty airtight case.
As to anything fantasy/mythological in medieval or fuedal art. I think it's pretty damn cool that artist centuries before us were coming up with cool designs like we do today in our own artistic interpretations, especially thinking about movies and video games. Sorry for the novel, but that was a great insight!