(Bronze Age) Civ: Hebrews/ Israelites

[Lion.Kanzen]

Catapults have been in use by the various cultures throughout history. One very early possible reference to catapults came to us from Part 2 of the Book of Chronicles (Chapter 26, verses 14 & 15) in the old testament of the Bible which referred to the defense of Jerusalem during the reign of Uzziah of Judea in the late 9th century B.C.

"Uzziah provided for all the army the shields, spears, helmets, coats of mail, bows and stones for slinging. In Jerusalem he set up machines, invented by skilled workers, on the towers and the corners for shooting arrows and large stones. And his fame spread far, for he was marvelously helped until he became strong."

It was not immediately clear what form these "machines... for shooting arrows and large stones" were, but from the distinction the passage made between these machines and the "bows and stones for slinging" provided to the army, it does seem possible that they were siege engines of some sort. However, there remains no corroborative evidence of 9th century B.C. Hebrew catapults, and this reference to a possible catapult may instead have been a result of an error in the translation of the original Hebrew text. In the original text by Ezekiel written ca. 580 B.C., the word used was karim which meant battering ram, but this was mistranslated by the Greek chronicler in 250 B.C. to the word "belostaseiz" or "ballistarium" in Latin, meaning "artillery platform".

Interesting article about siege warfare by Israelites can be good for siege warfare.

http://www.grandhistorian.com/chinesesiegewarfare/siegewarfare-briefhistory.html

Edited July 16, 2014 by Lion.Kanzen

[Zophim]

Good find, Lion! I was already planning to have Uzziah (also known as Azariah) son of Amaziah as one of the Divided Kingdom Judah hero units. Perhaps his improved fortifications and defensive devices could be represented by a special tech that enables the player's city wall towers to shoot ballista stones as well as arrows.

[yuval1996]

im jewish and israeli, i would be happy to help you with this civ in stuff related to language and history for example.

As for the issue of the temple destruction, i personally think that its ok to be a destructible object, as it was already destroyed, Also for the jewish belief, God is everywhere.

PD: i also speak spanish, is easier than english for me.

[Lion.Kanzen]

im jewish and israeli, i would be happy to help you with this civ in stuff related to language and history for example.

As for the issue of the temple destruction, i personally think that its ok to be a destructible object, as it was already destroyed, Also for the jewish belief, God is everywhere.

PD: i also speak spanish, is easier than english for me.

enserio ? yo por ahora estoy retirado como artista y fui jefe de este proyecto, aún que pienso volver. Puedes preguntar a Zophim que hacer. , nosotros primero planificamos basados en un documento de diseño que nos dice el nombre y ejemplos a los artistas 3D y refencias para los artistas 2D para escudos y ropa de las unidades. Edited September 6, 2014 by Lion.Kanzen

[Zophim]

Welcome, yuval1996! Español es mi segunda mejores lengua, pero no hablo muy bien.

You can get started by looking at the civilization design documents I have completed (such as Israel and Assyria) in the "[Collection] Design Docs" topic in the Game Modification: Council of Modders: Projects: Aristeia subforum. For now, you can keep posting to this topic if/when you have further comments or questions. Unfortunately, I don't think you will be able to send private messages or participate in the Council of Modders discussions (if you would like to join us) until you have made at least five posts in the forums.

[Aghilas]

I made a shield for Hebrews:

[Aghilas]

I just borrowed the carthaginian civ and edit them and put some names from the Design Document (i'm a newbie i know ), because i don't now how to create 3d models to the game, and i had problems with Blender's new version - it doesn't import/export DAE files anymore...

[Stan`]

It should normally import daes, can I help you with anything ?

[Aghilas]

Blender don't show the DAE/Collada option:

[Loki1950]

Bring up User Preferences the addon tab then make sure the .dea importer/exporter is checked then make sure you save the preferences  it's not turned on by default in the blender install.

 

Enjoy the Choice

[Zophim]

Hi, Aghilas!  I've been involved with the Aristeia mod for some time now, mostly in the background, off and on, as document designer and civ researcher.   I'm very happy to meet a fellow Bronze Age enthusiast!  But let me just say this...  I have strong feelings about the accurate depiction of the Hebrew peoples (and other ancient peoples in general, but _especially_ the descendants of Abraham).  I have no doubt that you and others who use the Star of David as an ancient Israelite symbol are well-meaning; however, I am compelled to point out that this is probably not a correct symbol to use to represent people of Hebrew descent prior to a couple of centuries ago. 

See this article: http://www.menorah.org/starofdavid.html

Based on my research, I have come to the following tentative conclusions regarding Hebrew civ emblems:

For a Maccabean timeframe, the menorah would work fine.

For a Divided Kingdom Judah timeframe, the Lion of Judah would apply.

For Divided Kingdom Israel, you could use the Bronze Bull of Samaria.  Or, you could use a representation of Baal (which would also work well with Phoenicia).

For the Judges and/or United Monarchy, the pomegranate would be a good choice.

For the Patriarch period, I haven't decided yet. (Torah? Circumcision knife? Shofar? Pomegranate again? Palm frond? More research required.)

Funny story: I had already decided on the Carthaginians as the basic placeholder civ to use for anything Judah/Israel/Phoenicia-related for Aristeia, at least as far as architecture goes.

[Aghilas]

Do you have this image with best resolution? I can't do a good vectorization with this resolution...

On 09/09/2016 at 0:56 AM, Zophim said:

For a Maccabean timeframe, the menorah would work fine.

Divided Kingdom of Judah:

Maccabees:

Edited September 11, 2016 by Aghilas

[Stan`]

On 9/9/2016 at 4:50 AM, Loki1950 said:

Bring up User Preferences the addon tab then make sure the .dea importer/exporter is checked then make sure you save the preferences  it's not turned on by default in the blender install.

 

Enjoy the Choice

Really, I never noticed it before ?

[Zophim]

6 hours ago, Aghilas said:

Do you have this image with best resolution? I can't do a good vectorization with this resolution...

How about this?

[Aghilas]

[Lion.Kanzen]

UnitedMonarchyIsrael.pdfattached file by @Zophim 

[Lion.Kanzen]

Quote

One of the most intriguing Biblical discoveries of 2019 occurred not in desert sands, but in the DNA of ancient individuals buried at a Philistine archaeological site.

The DNA analysis suggests that the Philistines descended from people who migrated to the Levant (an area encompassing the eastern Mediterranean) from Greece, Sardinia or the Iberian Peninsula some 3,000 years ago.

The Philistines are a people repeatedly mentioned in the Hebrew Bible and also in the writings of ancient Egyptians. These texts led archaeologists to the city of Ashkelon, in what is today Israel, where they found artifacts reminiscent of those seen in Bronze Age Greece. The new genetic analysis cements those ties, showing that these cultural relics were brought by migrants to the Levant.

Sea People?