Work in Progress

Tyre 332 BC

Posted by Cryns on 12 Apr 2016, 11:54

Thanks gentlemen for the very nice replies and contributions.

Fredericus-Rex wrote:great work of you

I am very honoured to hear this from you.

Bluefalchion wrote:getting a hang of this delicate approach

Glad to hear my delicacy is appreciated.

Beano Boy wrote:More research revealed this map

Thanks for posting that map. It reminds me of the defect weblink in my very first post in this topic. It does not work since (probably) the last symbol is missing.
Please webmaster could you fix this? Thanks a lot.

Beano Boy wrote:considerabley much more

So now you must have seen the countless maps reconstructing the siege, drawn as early as the 1870's. Did you notice old maps show no southern Melqart island at all, while later maps show it but without walls, while the latest reconstructions (the one you post) show it completely walled. Also scholars disagree about the Egyptian harbour being inside or outside the citywalls.

Frankzett wrote:there can be more embrasures in the walls

Does this mean you support the Osprey illustration in my second post showing modern Greek walls with lots of ballista's, at least for the walls facing towards land and Alexanders mole?
I would like to hear your opinion about the Peter Dennis illustration concerning walls and towers.

Frankzett wrote:gastraphetes

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These are said to be 28mm.
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Does anybody know if there is any gastraphetes in our scale?
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Cryns  Netherlands

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Posted by Peter on 12 Apr 2016, 12:01

Link in first post fixed.
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Peter  Belgium

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Posted by Frankzett on 12 Apr 2016, 16:03

To be honest, I don'nt know, I am no great expert in architecture. I do not know details of Tyre yet ...
May be you will find some Material in sources (Diodorus) about siege warfare in Philipps II. campaigns or around Dionisos I. tyant of syracuse (430 - 367 BC). It was one of the greatest poleis in the mediterranean, highly armed and everytime in war with the neighbours, there were built the first catapults around 400 BC ...

Greetings
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Posted by Beano Boy on 12 Apr 2016, 16:05

I could see the map ok, so i was unaware of any real problem.
Left this topic far behind for the 12th - 15th, and Jubayl`s Castle. BB
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Posted by Beano Boy on 12 Apr 2016, 16:08

Sorry 12th - 15th Centuries that is. BB
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Posted by Cryns on 15 Apr 2016, 09:55

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Though an Island with two seaports, Tyre must have had several land gates for giving entrance to the harbourquais, the adjacent rocklands that are under water now and as posterns for sortie.

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Except for two arched gates as depicted on Assyrian reliefs (which probably symbolise Tyres two harbours) I could find no reference for what Phoenician gates looked like.

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This Phoenician ivory carving from the 8th C. BC depicts no gate but a palace window with a womans or goddess head. I used the architecture of this window for inspiration for the gate.

After some miscuts in the stonestructure above the gate I repaired it with acrylic paste.

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I should have followed Wolfgangs WIP pages using balsa wood for the doors. These doors are made of foam too and so it looks very crude.

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Apart from both doors this gate is cut out of one block of foam.

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Since Tyre was mentioned in the second milennium BC already as a fortified city, its early walls can date back to the bronze age. What I tried to depict is an 9th C. BC gate that has been renovated and repaired many times in the period until 332 BC.

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Sometimes repairs were made cheap and quick with sundried mudbrick, like during a siege thus being in a hurry, or a period of economic decline.

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The wooden beams are modelled with acrylic paste.

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Expensive improvements made over centuries followed the latest Greek fortification techniques, like the breastwork at the parapet and the loophole in the wall for artillery enfilading the gate.

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Posted by KGV on 15 Apr 2016, 13:39

Superb. :thumbup:
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Posted by Beano Boy on 16 Apr 2016, 01:06

Splendid Work. Great Detail. I like it all.BB
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Posted by Kostis Ornerakis on 17 Apr 2016, 22:03

Once more, excellent work. :thumbup:
I found the figures more attractive than the older ones.
And in case you make wooden gates in the future, a tip you might already know:
When I want to give wood an aged look, I put it in an airtight plastic food container with vinegar and steel wool. After a day or two I dry it in the oven.
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Kostis Ornerakis  Greece

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Posted by Cryns on 18 Apr 2016, 10:39

Thanks gentlemen for your very kind replies.

Kostis Ornerakis wrote:
When I want to give wood an aged look, I put it in an airtight plastic food container with vinegar and steel wool. After a day or two I dry it in the oven.


Well this is a real interesting one, I never heard of this method. Thank you so much, I will try it soon.

Kostis Ornerakis wrote:I found the figures more attractive than the older ones.


This opinion is interesting and confusing to me at the same time since not everything I show is made in the same following order and some of it is even ten years old like the two loaded wagons. These were the first gaming elements I made when we started the Alexander campaign in 2006 and I used them here only as a decoration to the buildings.
Do you want to be a bit more specific and try to write down what makes these figures more attractive to you than 'older ones' that are probably the newer ones?
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Posted by Kostis Ornerakis on 18 Apr 2016, 11:50

I like very much the way you paint your figures anyway. The flesh ( and not only ) of the archers looks superb to my eyes. I love the blending of the tones used.
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Posted by Cryns on 19 Apr 2016, 10:55

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This system is designed to create every possible angle in the walls and thus recreate a variety of historical citywalls from the 4th C. BC up to the Roman era.

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One type of wall that can be created with this system is the saw-tooth style. A good example of such fortifications were the walls of Priene in Asia Minor (modern Turkey) close to Ephesus. The construction of the fortifications at Priene is contemporary with the new foundation of the city in ca. 350 B.C. That means it is only build about 18 years before the siege of Tyre and so it represents the latest developments in constructing defensive walls in the Greek influenced Eastern Mediterranean.

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The idea behind this design is a construction with embracements giving flank cover to the stretches of wall without the use of towers which makes it cheap to build.

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The planking of the figures element bases has no connection with this wall, it is only because these are bowmen for my Greek and Phoenician navy.

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In Gyphtokastro (Attica) I found this little sortie gate in the wall, flanked by one tower.

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I could find no trace of the door itself, not even a hole for the hinges or a slit for the wooden doorpost holding the door itself in place. This is a trapezium shaped doorway and I wonder how it will be possible to construct a wooden door inside of this short 'tunnel'.
It might have looked like this:

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In the Berlin Pergamonmuseum I photographed this model of the Pergamon Acropolis as it appeared during the Roman period, in the 2nd century AD.

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I see many similarities with my walls, especially when I add roofed towers.
This means there was little development of defensive architecture for half a milennium of time in this area, or my walls for Tyre are a little too modern for the 4th C. BC.

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So it is time to look for some more archaic looking walls or fortification that resemble the architecture of the Near East in the 5th and 4th C. BC a little more.

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Posted by despertaferro on 19 Apr 2016, 11:14

Truly amazing job you’re doing here!

I’m fascinated for the sheer quality and quantity of your work...

:shock: :shock: :drool:
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Posted by Kekso on 19 Apr 2016, 11:18

You've been very busy Mr.Cryns. Walls are awesome. Some could be easily mistaken for real ones.
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Posted by Mr. Andrea on 19 Apr 2016, 11:20

Ok. No comment. I just keep scrolling up and down in total amazement, like before a starry sky :shock:
And one day, I will sail to the milky way too 8)
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Posted by Beano Boy on 19 Apr 2016, 15:27

In reality one must use mathematics to convert trapezium into a parallogram in order to fit doorways or gateways through ancient stone passageways.

When fixing a gate,door or a window that opens,into a model trapezium,the same mathematical formula therefore applies. Speculation ? Opinion ? No :-D BB
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Posted by Cryns on 28 Apr 2016, 10:59

Gentlemen, thanks again for your nice replies.

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Most citywalls were not build at once. Same with Tyre. It had walls already around 1500 BC and these were rebuild and re-enforced several times before Alexander arrived.

A wall in Kerameikos, Athens, shows clearly how subsequent generations added new layers to their walls.

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The lowest structure is from 479, build by Themistocles right after the Persian sacking of Athens. On top of these blocks was a mudbrick structure. Subsequent generations replaced mudbrick by stone block. The topstructure top right (brown) is from 1000 years later, Byzantine Period, re-using monumental blocks from Roman buildings.

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Also some pre-Roman wallstructures in Italy show how different cultures rebuild the same wall. How many phases of construction can we count?

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Usually the largest blocks were at the bottom, not only for architectural reasons but also because older cultures preferred bigger blocks.

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Some parts of a citywall have never been designed. They just developed in structures of which it is not clear if it is wall or tower, bastion or curtain.

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Many walls were never finished at all and lacked merlons or gangways.

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Weeknesses, damage and sags were enforced by buttresses.

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When walls were raised to a higher level, its steps had to be adapted too.

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Such adaptations show odd projecting proportions in walls.

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Posted by despertaferro on 28 Apr 2016, 17:18

Dear Mr. Cryns, every new piece of wall is better that the previous ones!

The beautiful complexity of this last one make it my favourite so far. Your sculpting skills mesmerize me.
:shock: :shock: :drool:

Congratulations!
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Posted by Cryns on 02 May 2016, 11:30

Dear Despertaferro, thank you so much for your encouraging words.

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The shape of this ancient bastion follows the course of the rock it is build on. Cyclopian walls from the bronze age, enforced by Iron age buttresses and topped by a 4th century BC rebuild mudbrick battlement that has to be plasterd over and over again every year to prevent it from washing away by rain and wind.

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What looks like a cave on the inner city side....

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...turnes out to be a secret tunnel leading to a hidden postern at the sea side (or in case this bastion is used for a mainland campaing, to a gorge) used for supplying the besieged city or escaping it before it falls into enemy hands.

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The shape of the rock provides a natural artillery platform.

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Persian style crew.

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The simplified sculpting of the ballista by LW is compensated by suggestive paintwork.

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The sinew torsion bundles have two oddities: the left one should have been mirroring the right one, and top and bottom of each bundle should have been sculpted turning opposite directions.

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This Persian officer by Mars is sculpted in the 'fat dwarve style' but this gives a nice opportunity to paint some extra details on dress and equipment.

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Posted by Andreas on 02 May 2016, 13:44

I really like this Topic :thumbup: :yeah:
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