I just read this about Goliat's armor, and a bit about Philistine culture. I figured it might come in handy in some worlds.
Philistine battle gear
(10 posts) (4 voices)-
Sat Mar 28 2009 10:42 pm #
-
johnosevens
MemberThe only real 'problem' I have with everything said in that article, and it's really more a curiosity than a complaint, is this: even if Goliath's mismatched armor and weapons were intended to be trophies of all the people he had defeated in battle... how could he use them? A man nine-foot-three would need everything from his sandals to his weapons to be custom made for him - the khopesh depicted in the lower illustration, for instance, would be a longsword to a normal man, but to a man half-again larger would wield as a shortsword or glorified dagger. And his armor and greaves would almost certainly have been custom; the man must have had legs like marble pillars!
Other than that, it mostly makes sense. I'm not sure about the 'all the sea peoples were Greeks', especially because it gives two origins for Goliath (he's either from the town where the Anakim fled, or he's a Greek, or maybe he's half Anakim, half Greek? I don't understand that, really).
Sun Mar 29 2009 6:40 am # -
Maybe even Grendle! But before we know it, this might switch over to cryptozoology and through that to another creation-evolution debate ... WHICH I DO NOT WANT.
I once heard Chuck Misler speak about the Nephilim (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nephilim), claiming that they were what people held for aliens. It was a very strange sermon, and I'm not saying it's right or wrong, 'cause I don't know. But I'm skeptic about it :)
They would also explain Heracles or the Titans (Heracles' story could also be a warped story of Sampson, who also slew a lion)
But, all of this is speculation, and in all things not very important to real life. The only thing I did hear was that they once found a giant-village somewhere, where a thigh-bone was as big as an average man. Yet all evidence disappeared somehow, so ... though I think the thigh-bone is on display in some museum somewhere.
Sun Mar 29 2009 7:01 pm # -
Tadeusz
MemberWeren't all weapons before oh, Eli Whitney or so, custom made? I suppose some weapons were made in molds, but everything else would be custom. So thats not much of a problem.
Also the sheer advantage of having such a huge guy in a fight would make it worthwhile to spend the extra money. I duelled a big guy with a huge shield (and I'm over six foot myself) with boffer weapons, and it was extremely difficult. I got creamed and creamed again, and he wasn't hardly trying for most of the fight.
I read about a month ago "The Goliath Bone", the last Mike Hammer novel it said, which compared Goliath to a modern day tank. And it did have thigh bone in the story.
I also have a bigger, taller, and quicker brother. I saw one guy get angry at him, and challenge him to a fight. My brother just smiled at him cheerfully like 'you really don't want to do that' at which point the guy who was only five ten or so got thoughtful, and backed off.
In the Bible there is mentioned the King of Bashan I hear who had a giant sized bed of iron.
It seems clear from the story of Beowulf that he himself was of unusual size and strength. He's clumsy as a teenager and he's also noted for strength. The clumsiness is sometimes a result of a young male growing faster than his body's control system can keep up, and its associated with very big guys.
It would be interesting to create a network of giantish tyrants who rule their normal sized subjects with fear and rage. Most of them might be slower than normal (unfortunately for their subjects, some would be like my brother who is generally quicker than most.)
It'd be a good world for a resistance movement or a rebel army. Make up the names of say ten giants, and their cities or mountains regions each rules, and some unruled areas, and make a High King over them all who has a couple giant war captains and maybe a giant shaman, and who himself is numero uno bad to the bone.
Maybe have the tech be bronze which would heighten the giant's advantage as bronze isn't as good and sheer mass would be on the giant's side. This would give the player something to do non-warlike--invent steel swords.
And you could be real mean and give the High King an 'asteroid metal' aka steel sword.
And then let the War for Independence from Giantish Tyranny begin.
Mon Mar 30 2009 4:41 am # -
JohnA1nut
MemberThe story of David and Goliath proves something. That something is that 1 plus God is a majority, no matter how many are opposing you.
As far as his armor being cobbled together and being too small, he could wear multiple pieces from multiple foes. Perhaps the leg piece would cover all of a normal man's leg, but only half of his. So, he would wear two. Just an extra trophy.
As far as our longsword being a short sword to Goliath, think about it. A weapon I would have to wield clumsily with 2 hands, he could probably wield like a rapier. Imagine a Claymore sword, (6 feet long, 2 handed, capable of slicing a man in half from shoulder to groin) in the hands of someone who could wield it easily with one hand. Would that be someone you would want to face in hand to hand combat?
Mon Mar 30 2009 8:17 am # -
Tadeusz
MemberJohn,
Even if I blocked two-handed, he would still have a real good chance of just powering through my block, and chopping me in half.Add in the reach advantage. He can hit you way before you can hit him.
I've seen my brother do a layup in basketball with five guys trying to stop him. I do not want to see what a true giant could do with a twenty foot long spear and a six foot long 'rapier'.
And one point the Mickey Spillane novel made...he could carry heavier armor so nothing his enemies had could get through.
Mon Mar 30 2009 1:22 pm # -
JohnA1nut
MemberEven if I blocked two-handed, he would still have a real good chance of just powering through my block, and chopping me in half.
Exactly!!!! Now you know why David had to use that sling.
Not to mention the fact that Goliath probably DID have his own custom sword. I don't want to know how big a sword would be that a 9 foot giant would use.
Mon Mar 30 2009 6:44 pm #
Reply
You must log in to post.