Indian Elephants and Chariots

[wkeyser]

Hello
Just recived my 1000pt xyston Indian army (great figures) and am happily painting bowmen. My question to every one is what were the colors of the chariots? I have also seen photos of elephants painted in all sorts of colors, was this also common way back BC something? So any help would be great, I am just a bit annal retetive so I dont want hippie looking elephants if it is a more modern thing.
Thanks
William Keyser

[daleivan]

I've seen painted elephants in John Warry's "Warfare in the Classic World". Check relevant Osprey titles as well on Alexander. I haven't looked in primary sources for Alexander's campaigns recently -- that would be another place to check. And this is just the Hydapses campaign. I'm sure other posters will have more specific info.

Cheers,

Dale

[MarkSieber]

Armies of the Macedonian and Punic Wars (Duncan Head, Ian Heath) mentions that elephants may have been painted with flower patterns at this time. I don't think it's certain. I keep the flowers to a minimum, using more geometric patterns which are also in current use, mostly in white-- asterisk for stars, crescent moons and serpentine lines in white. I like outlining the eyes, which also shows up in modern photos.

http://www.natashatynes.com/photos/unca ... ephant.jpg
http://picasaweb.google.com/scrivin/Koc ... 4108334834
http://www.traveljournals.net/pictures/86851.html

While not the case in the photos in some of the links, I have noticed that there is often a line across the face above the eyes above which painting is not done.

For blankets, I did some searching for fabric & design patterns and found several interesting websites: http://www.textilemuseum.org/ and http://www.indian-embroidery.com/indian ... tyles.html This book also looks interesting: http://www.exoticindiaart.com/book/details/IDG856/

[Baphomet69]

Veni Vidi Vici makes a decal sheet specifically for war elephants.