Armour?

Ahriman · 12th December 2005, 09:58 AM

Well, keep in mind that I'm learning arabic only... well, about a month ago, and I have less than a hour daily for it.

No, I didn't work on it more since then... I'm going to start hammering in about 10 minutes, so I'll tire you with even more pictures...

Ahriman · 12th December 2005, 07:53 PM

BTW, could you please post/send me a few (million

) pictures of arabic calligraphy on armour? Or on anything? I'll have to learn it, but I don't think it'd be a good idea if I started improvising...

Aqtai · 12th December 2005, 09:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ahriman

BTW, could you please post/send me a few (million

) pictures of arabic calligraphy on armour? Or on anything? I'll have to learn it, but I don't think it'd be a good idea if I started improvising...

I'll try, but it will mean lots of scanning.

Ahriman · 13th December 2005, 05:41 PM

Hm, 25% off any item you might buy from our shop?

Side pieces are done, by now the only missing piece is the spaulder, buyer comes for test fit tomorrow, so it'll be ready in less than a week with blackening... then, I'll have to make that musculata from King Arthur, and after that, I'll have time to (at least) start my own eastren harness.

Aqtai · 13th December 2005, 07:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ahriman

Hm, 25% off any item you might buy from our shop?

Side pieces are done, by now the only missing piece is the spaulder, buyer comes for test fit tomorrow, so it'll be ready in less than a week with blackening... then, I'll have to make that musculata from King Arthur, and after that, I'll have time to (at least) start my own eastren harness.

Right, where do i start?

Well first of all there are many types of Arabic scripts (or fonts if you prefer), but the most common types you see on armour and weapons are
kufi, thuluth, and nastaliq.

Thuluth tended to used on most Mamluk and Ottoman armour in the 15th and 16th century, Nastaliq was used on Persian and Indian armour from the 16th to the 19th century. Kufic script was used on really old Fatimid and Ayyubid artifacts (and presumably arms and armour, although virtually non survives) as well as 15th century Iranian weapons and armour.

The other thing is that not all inscriptions on Islamic armour are Koranic verses or names and titles. Sometimes they are apparently meaningless jumbles of letters which actually have talismanic or "magical" meanings.

Here's an example of Thuluth script on a Mamluk sword:
(click on the thumbnail)

Here's Thuluth script on a 15th century Iranian "Turban helmet"
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...opolitan_1.jpg

Kufic script on a 15th century Iranian Greave:
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11..._Iranian_1.jpg

I can't find any examples of Nastaliq script at the moment, I'll need to have a look around.

Ahriman · 13th December 2005, 10:23 PM

Thanks, PM sent...

BTW, that "jumble of letters" means that I can write whatever I want as far as it looks good and say that it's "magical" enhancement?

Aqtai · 20th February 2006, 08:39 PM

Hi Ahriman, how is your Krug getting along?

Anyway, I recently bought "Armes et Armures Russes" (Editions d'Art Aurore, Leningrad, 1982) which has a number of pictures of Russian armour and weapons.

This was one of the photos. I'm hoping it will bring some sort of closure to the greave/vambrace debate:

I think that the item in this photo does look more like a greave than a vambrace.

12th December 2005, 09:58 AM	#1
Ahriman Member Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Hungary Posts: 72	Well, keep in mind that I'm learning arabic only... well, about a month ago, and I have less than a hour daily for it. No, I didn't work on it more since then... I'm going to start hammering in about 10 minutes, so I'll tire you with even more pictures...

12th December 2005, 07:53 PM	#2
Ahriman Member Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Hungary Posts: 72	BTW, could you please post/send me a few (million ) pictures of arabic calligraphy on armour? Or on anything? I'll have to learn it, but I don't think it'd be a good idea if I started improvising...

13th December 2005, 05:41 PM	#4
Ahriman Member Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Hungary Posts: 72	Hm, 25% off any item you might buy from our shop? Side pieces are done, by now the only missing piece is the spaulder, buyer comes for test fit tomorrow, so it'll be ready in less than a week with blackening... then, I'll have to make that musculata from King Arthur, and after that, I'll have time to (at least) start my own eastren harness.

13th December 2005, 10:23 PM	#6
Ahriman Member Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Hungary Posts: 72	Thanks, PM sent... BTW, that "jumble of letters" means that I can write whatever I want as far as it looks good and say that it's "magical" enhancement?

20th February 2006, 08:39 PM	#7
Aqtai Member Join Date: May 2005 Location: Merseyside, UK Posts: 222	Hi Ahriman, how is your Krug getting along? Anyway, I recently bought "Armes et Armures Russes" (Editions d'Art Aurore, Leningrad, 1982) which has a number of pictures of Russian armour and weapons. This was one of the photos. I'm hoping it will bring some sort of closure to the greave/vambrace debate: I think that the item in this photo does look more like a greave than a vambrace.