Porphyrogennete Iouliana of Basileia ton Rhiomaion

A Concept re-Drawing of a Late-Byzantine Greek (Eastern Roman Empire) in the Historically Wrong Sketch Series: Medieval Revisited, which is roughly based on the Middle ages covering 800s AD to 1400s AD. This is a special drawing for the, representing the last of the Byzantine/Eastern Roman Empire in the early 15th century, before their downfall at the hands of the Ottoman Turks






This drawing is a special piece which will be included the coming  Historically Wrong Sketch Series: Medieval Revisited Artbook, dedicated to the lasting legacy of the Eastern Roman Empire. To make a drawing of the soldiers of the eastern roman empire in their final days is somewhat tricky, because by then, the empire was no longer the great power it used to be. Severely underpowered and economically poor, the empire was unable to field great armies and had to rely on foreign mercenaries and its under-equipped army to fend of against its often hostile neighbors and internal dissent.

The loss of civil infrastructure, disruption of military industry & important trade routes as well as the destruction of the countryside over prolonged wars have perhaps, influenced how the army were equipped back then. Without large scale native industry to sustain arms and armor, imports from either the western world or influence from the neighboring turkic world would have been much more common. Lighter armor of easier constructions would have also been more widely spread among the soldiers, with heavy armor reserved only for the elites. With this in a hindsight, their attires would have looked like a mix and match of several different equipments.

In this drawing, princess Juliana is drawn in a rather archaic and anachronistic fashion, if anything, the familiarity of her image would provide some kind of moral/symbolic support, despite the ambiguous protection of her armor, which would suit more on ceremonial purpose. The scale cuirass is perhaps already few centuries old, maybe an heirloom, while the thicker reinforced pteruges were added for extra protection. She used plate gauntlet, probably a western import, along with her longsword. Her helmet is a personal artistic style which, combined with the overall attires, gives the more familiar byzantine image. Historically speaking however, she would have worn imported heavy metal plates from the west (Italy) or a combination of Italian harness and brigandine.

The background incorporates a couple of her royal retainers, dressed in similar fashion. I have also included an italian mercenary on the right, along with a theodosian wall on the background with a heavy rain scene for more dramatization.