- The Late Antiquity Historical Portraits -

[tomySVK]

@ Diocle: He was from Interamna, Italia (according the Historia Augusta). He was a close associate of Aurelian (consul in 273 AD, elected emperor by the army after Aurelian´s death). But he was a soldier emperor as previous emperors. The fashion of the short beard was started by Caracalla, as you can see from his bust and coins (see the pictures ).

[Diocle]

Thanks tomySVK! So he was italic but the beard was a common military fashion of that age started by Caracalla (and then Nero?) but it was different from the philosophical longer beards of the Antonnini!

In these days I'm reading an interesting book about Diocletianus of S.Williams, I'm reading the chapter about the rebellion of Carausius emperor of Britannia from 286 to 296 when he was defeated by Constantius Clorus, now I do not know if and in which way the mod RO will depict the character Carausius (and his friend/murder Allectus) so I do not know if these images would be useful for Joar but I want to show the guy, his face is funny: He is fat and he seem a clever villain who like the good wine (maybe beer?) and good food! He seem Nero but less evil!

Here Carausius:

[Praetorian1]

omg this is so amazing well done. I tried to rep but "u must spread some rep before giving it to Joar" hhee

[Joar]

I've updated the first post - it's the Age of Justinian section - ( link ) with the following characters:

• Gelimer
• Totila
• Kavadh
• Alboin

I've made two versions of Totila, with and without a helmet. For his armour I've used a description by Prokopios, who claims that his armour and helmet was decorated with gold and purple ornaments.

[Gäiten]

Gorgeous, simply gorgeous!

[Diocle]

Coool!!!! the drawing of Velasquez and the psychology of Van Dyck! Joar your work is art!......................+rep

I like the good king Alwin!!!!!

[Agent007]

Nicely done once again! Just a question, Joar: will the Age of Justinian series be featured in another, specific mod? Ages of Darkness II, perhaps?

[Diocle]

Dear Master Joar, as I said your work is magnificent, I like king Alboin but to be honest I must say that, when I saw his protrait, at first all seemed OK but then....I was a little perplexed, it laked something! The face was good, the expression was also perfect, but.....
Can I explain my perplexities?

- As I said, IMO the expression of the face and facial features are perfect, you've menaged to express, the strenght but also the cunning and, from some respects, cruel nature of the man. Here a quote from Paul the Deacon, Historia Langobardorum (I, 9) that explain well the man:

'...Cum in convivio ultra quam oportuerat apud Veronam laetus resideret, [cum] poculo quod de capite
Cunimundi regis sui soceri fecerat reginae ad bibendum vinum dari praecepit atque eam ut cum patre suo laetanter biberet
invitavit. Hoc ne cui videatur impossibile, veritatem in Christo loquor; ego hoc poculum vidi in quodam die festo Ratchis
principem ut illud convivis suis ostentaret manu tenentem...'

'While he sat in merriment at a banquet at Verona longer than was
proper, with the cup which he had made of the head of his father-in-law, king Cunimund, he ordered it to
be given to the queen to drink wine, and he invited her to drink merrily with her father. Lest this should
seem impossible to any one, I speak the truth in Christ. I saw king Ratchis holding this cup in his hand on
a certain festal day to show it to his guests.'

Yes! Alboin offered his wife Rosamund to drink in the skull of her father! Yes the man was a little cruel, but we must remember that probably here Paul quote, without understanding it, an ancient Germanic ritual of pacificaion with the souls of the dead enemies killed in battle. Anyway your work is perfect.

- Now the reasons of my perplexities: The beard! Dear Master Joar, in the end, they were the Langbeards! Sorry if I take some space but the look was very important for the ethnical identity of the Germanic peoples in this age of passage from the tribal identity to the new national identities.
I'll quote again Paul of Winfrid, Historia Langobardorum (I, 9):

'..Certum tamen est, Langobardos ab intactae ferro barbae longitudine, cum primitus Winili dicti fuerint, ita postmodum
appellatos. Nam iuxta illorum linguam lang longam, bard barbam significat. Wotan sane, quem adiecta littera Godan
dixerunt, ipse est qui apud Romanos Mercurius dicitur et ab universis Germaniae gentibus ut deus adoratur; qui non circa
haec tempora, sed longe anterius, nec in Germania, sed in Grecia fuisse perhibetur...'

'...It is certain, however, that the Langobards were afterwards so called on account of the length of their
beards untouched by the knife, whereas at first they had been called Winnili; for according to their
language "lang" means " long" and " bart " "beard." Wotan indeed, whom by adding a letter they
called Godan is he who among the Romans is called Mercury, and he is worshiped by all the peoples
of Germany as a god, though he is deemed to have existed, not about these times, but long before, and
not in Germany, but in Greece.'

Here a second passage where we can read a description of the look of the Langbeards in the frescos of the palace of Monza, now sadly lost, during the reign of the King Agilulf (590-616), again Paul of Winfrid Historia Langobardorum (IV, 22):

'...Ibi etiam praefata regina sibi palatium condidit, in quo aliquid et de Langobardorum gestis depingi fecit. In qua pictura
manifeste ostenditur, quomodo Langobardi eo tempore comam capitis tondebant, vel qualis illis vestitus qualisve habitus
erat. Siquidem cervicem usque ad occipitium radentes nudabant, capillos a facie usque ad os dimissos habentes, quos in
utramque partem in frontis discrimine dividebant...'

'...There also the aforesaid queen (Teodolind the wife of Agilulf) built herself a palace, in which she caused to be painted something of the
achievements of the Langobards. In this painting it is clearly shown in what way the Langobards at that
time cut their hair, and what was their dress and what their appearance. They shaved the neck, and left it
bare up to the back of the head, having their hair hanging down on the face as far as the mouth and
parting it on either side by a part in the forehead...'

In the end we can safely say that the Langbeards had long-beards , had long parted hairs and bare the back of the head (like the Normans, and this is not a coincidence but the remains of the ancient shamanic cult of Wotan, which probably identified in the back of the head the place of the soul, so we can understand also the ritual of drinking in the back of the skull of the killed enemies: a form of holy pacification with the soul of the dead enemy. [Stefano Gasparri, I Longobardi. alle origini del medioevo italiano] and not a monstrous barbaric depravity, like seems to belive our Paul, who was only reporting the oral memory of his people, without by now understand it).

Sorry if I bored you with my suggestions but your work is so good that I think, also the small details can be important. Anyway for me the face of the good king Alwin is wonderful! so thanks and again sorry!!

[Deutschland]

Really great additions!

Included into EoR

[Joar]

will the Age of Justinian series be featured in another, specific mod?

My original plan was to release these portraits - when finished - free to be used by everyone. However, some of them will initially be released with specific mods in mind, yes.

The beard! Dear Master Joar, in the end, they were the Langbeards! Sorry if I take some space but the look was very important for the ethnical identity of the Germanic peoples in this age of passage from the tribal identity to the new national identities.

I knew it was only a matter of time before someone pointed this out... Well, I actually made him with a beard, but I was never entirely satisfied with it, and I thought he looked much better without it. However, I will release a bearded version as well.

[demagogos nicator]

Really great portraits, Totila with helmet looks really impresive

[tomySVK]

Great update!

[Diocle]

Joar you are a Master and a good and inclusive man!! Thanks!

I like the Langobards history, that noble people crossed the entire Europe from Scandinavia to Italy fighting all the time, for more than six centuries, only to became Italian , this strange destiny, poor people, make them worthy of my total estimate!!!

Thanks again!!!

[Constantius]

Joar, do you have a Theodosius I, Arbogastes etc in your archives?

[Joar]

Joar, do you have a Theodosius I, Arbogastes etc in your archives?

Sorry, no. But they're on my to do list.

[Constantius]

I look forward to them, I might have a use for them, eventually

[Joar]

Good things come to those who wait...

[Constantius]

Indeed

[Diocle]

Constantius and joar I found some images of Theodosius I, but Arbogast, poor guy, is totally absent from the Western iconographic memory, I have also something about Theodosius II Arcadius and Valentinian II, but I can find other images and I'll take them here.

here what I found about Theodosius the Great:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

[Joar]

Thanks!