Carthaginian Cavalry WIP No.3

This last week has seen me a bit distracted and so not a lot of painting got done. I did manage however to complete the remaining five horses for the Carthaginian cavalry unit, which is nice to have done and I am very happy with the results. I was also able to paint one of the  mounted soldiers of the unit to test the shield design I had in my head.

The shield is hand painted with the design taken from the symbology of the goddess Tanit, which was the god held to be most important to Carthage, and is a crescent moon above the sun. The Greeks identified her as approximating Diana, the Moon goddess, and Persephone or Kore, for the grain and harvest. To Carthaginians she was the goddess of good fortune, the harvest, and the Moon. Tanit is equivalent to the Phoenician goddess Astarte, the mother goddess. Tanit also required sacrifice of human victims, but perhaps not as many as Baal Hammon. Her full title Pene Baal meant "(Tanit) Face of Baal," and she had precedence over Baal Hammon.

The full unit will be dedicated to the goddess Tanit and will carry these shields.