Arabic Units

[wowgetoffyourcellphone]

Can we not just make them Hellenistic and give them some ethnic aesthetic instead? Here's what I threw together from @wackyserious and the crew from the Millennium AD team's work. Possibly for the Arab Javelineer  (Seleucids). 

 

The Nabaetaean Camel Archer can use the Elite Umayyad textures and props. At least starting out.

 

We have any good references for Arab/Nabataean units for the antique era? 

 

Edited January 6, 2019 by wowgetoffyourcellphone

[wowgetoffyourcellphone]

Nabataean Camelry for the Ptolemies? 

 

 

[Sundiata]

@wowgetoffyourcellphone The units look nice (Ummayads?), but the helmets make them look very medieval (especially that nasal guard). Nabataeans were also pretty Hellenized. 

I'm sure historical accuracy wasn't at the top of the list for these reenactors at Petra, but the helmet "looks" more authentic:

 

Jewish headgear (probably very similar to their neighbours:

 

The only depictions I've ever seen of actual Nabatean camels dating to our time-frame, 1c BC -1c AD:

 

Bedouins in Antiquity could even have some locks or pleated hair.. King Tiglath-Pileser III, King of Babylon, and of Assyria, executing a Bedouin Bob Marley (apparently he didn't take the killing of his sheriff lightly):

 

The struggle is ancient y'all... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXosJKsKetw&frags=pl%2Cwn 

 

And a little bonus, Petra, the Heart of the Desert:

 

Edited January 30, 2019 by Sundiata

[wowgetoffyourcellphone]

7 hours ago, Sundiata said:

@wowgetoffyourcellphone The units look nice (Ummayads?), but the helmets make them look very medieval (especially that nasal guard). Nabataeans were also pretty Hellenized. 

I'm sure historical accuracy wasn't at the top of the list for these reenactors at Petra, but the helmet "looks" more authentic:

Indeed, I think that helmet looks way more authentic.

Regarding Hellenization, I'd think the rank and file soldier would probably be less Hellenized than the elite guard and noble class, but that's probably just me wanting more ethnicity shown in the units and making excuses.

[Sundiata]

4 minutes ago, wowgetoffyourcellphone said:

Regarding Hellenization, I'd think the rank and file soldier would probably be less Hellenized than the elite guard and noble class, but that's probably just me wanting more ethnicity shown in the units and making excuses.

I honestly think you're right. Hellenization was profound and far reaching across the Middle East, but I often think it's a bit exaggerated with regard to the indigenous cultures and even states that coexisted with them. I too would like to see some more representation for these types of local units. I think Hellenization was concentrated in important centres (like Petra for example), but nomads be nomads and Bedouins are and always have been fiercely independent. The counterparts of the people of Petra would have probably scuffed at the Greek tunics of their urbanite cousins. 

[Diatryma]

21 hours ago, Sundiata said:

@wowgetoffyourcellphone The units look nice (Ummayads?), but the helmets make them look very medieval (especially that nasal guard). Nabataeans were also pretty Hellenized. 

I'm sure historical accuracy wasn't at the top of the list for these reenactors at Petra, but the helmet "looks" more authentic:

 

Jewish headgear (probably very similar to their neighbours:

 

The only depictions I've ever seen of actual Nabatean camels dating to our time-frame, 1c BC -1c AD:

 

Bedouins in Antiquity could even have some locks or pleated hair.. King Tiglath-Pileser III, King of Babylon, and of Assyria, executing a Bedouin Bob Marley (apparently he didn't take the killing of his sheriff lightly):

 

The struggle is ancient y'all... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXosJKsKetw&frags=pl%2Cwn 

 

And a little bonus, Petra, the Heart of the Desert:

 

is probably they used Assyrians and other helmets, there bunch civs that influence them by centuries. check Edomites or Herodian guardsmen .

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?681361-PREVIEW-Mamlaktha-Nabata

For centuries, the land of Edom was the crossroads for caravans traveling north and south, as well as some of those traveling east and west. The lands of Edom and Moab were connected by a well traveled path, known as the King's Highway. Along this road, goods from Egypt traveled to Babylon and back, and goods from southern Arabia traveled to the kingdoms in the north. This trade had existed for centuries before the Nabataeans came on the scene. 

The Bible tells us the story of the Queen of Sheba bringing gifts to King Solomon, including frankincense and myrrh. Immediately following these verses, the Bible tells us that King Solomon gained tremendous income from taxation. I Kings 10:14-15 records the amount as 666 talents of gold. Footnotes in the New International Version of the Bible calculate this as being around 23 metric tons of gold. Then the Bible tells us that to this total was also added to the tribute paid by the Arab merchants and traders and the leaders of the Arabs. Since many of the caravans traveled up the King's Highway, the land of Edom played an important role in the merchant world. As a result, Edom was conquered by the Israelites, the Assyrians, then the Babylonians (Chaldaeans) and finally the Persians. When the Greeks arrived on the scene, Edom was again the center of attention. When Alexander the Great conquered the Middle East, he brought the entire region under Greek control and he began the process of Hellenization. This was the process of bringing Greek language, thought, and culture to all the lands that were under Greek control. Upon Alexander's death, however, the Greek kingdom was divided up between his generals. The Ptolemies of Egypt and the Seleucids of Syria fought bitterly over control of the region. It was in 312 BC, early in this struggle, that the Nabataeans were suddenly catapulted onto the stage of world history. 

Immediately following the dissolution of Alexander's empire one of his generals, Antigonus The-One-Eyed, briefly rose to a position of power in Syria. He aspired to defeat his rival, Ptolemy, whose power base was in Egypt. Antigonus' plan for success had two components: military and economic, and the mountain top settlement of Selah and the Nabataean people figured in both. By this time the Nabataeans had not only made a name for themselves as one of the principle trading powers in the region, they had also established a monopoly on bitumen which they harvested from the Dead Sea. They shipped this product to Egypt where it was essential in the embalming process. Antigonus felt that if he could gain control of the Nabataean stronghold of Selah, the hub of the major caravan routes in the region, then he would gain control over the frankincense and bitumen industry as well. This would mean that he would not only command access to and from Egypt but he would have in his possession commodities more valuable to the Egyptians than gold.