#hws illyria

[peonycats]

Ancients Chibis!

from top to bottom, left to right:

Illyria, Iberia (+bby Port), Etruria (more accurately, Tarquinia), Dacia

Thrace, Numidia (more accurately, Masaesyli), Persia/Iran, Gaul

Pontus, Kush, Judea, Ancient Libya

Obligatory disclaimer that Illyria, Iberia, Dacia, Thrace, Gaul, and Ancient Libya had other personifications due to the number of diverse tribes inhabiting these regions they’re just standing in as overall representatives haha

These are just some cute ancients chibis I’ve been working on! If there’s interest, I might turn them into stickers hehe, but for now I’m pretty satisfied with how these designs turned out, and I definitely want to draw them more later!

[peonycats]

Wait, does Illyria have any children or Descendents?

(Disclaimer: Im sadly not as well read in Balkan history as I wish was so take this all with a grain of salt)

Ignoring the fact that Illyria was made up of multiple tribes, what we know as Illyria encompassed a large swathe of territory so a variety of Balkan nations could probably lay claim to being a descendant of her!

Albania for sure claims to Illyria's descendant (tho prbly isnt the only one), as the Albanian language is considered an isolate compared to its neighbors and has been theorized to have evolved from one of the Proto-Balkan languages, with Illyrian as the most likely candidate. Though this doesn't exactly go uncontested by the other nations....

[peonycats]

Do u think u could draw illyria 👉🏼👈🏼

of course 😩 Anything for my pirate wife

Historical Footnotes (+bonus sketches!):

She prbly wasn't the only Illyrian tribe representation running around- the Illyrians were a diverse group of numerous tribes, and it's even believed that the name Illyria was the name of whatever tribe the Greeks happened to run into and write down first. She prbly represents the Ardiaei, the dominant tribe of the united Illyrian kingdom.

Illyria is pretty notable compared to their neighbors in that women held a lot more freedoms than their counterparts, and in fact, even customarily led their armies into battle. For example, Alexander the Great’s half sister Cynane had an Illyrian mother who trained her in weapons, martial arts, and military endeavors from birth, and Cynane herself was rather popular among the troops.

Many traditional tattoos in the Balkans still retain symbols from the Illyrian religion, like the Cult of the Sun, so I gave her some of those tattoos!

I based her outfit primarily on one reconstruction of an Illyrian noblewoman’s dress so idk who entirely accurate this is lmao

Man “doesnt hold a grudge” is gonna become real ironic woof

Here's a preliminary drawing I did to get her features down!

You may notice that she has two pupils in her right eye! I read somewhere that Pliny the Elder wrote that Teuta, the last queen of the Illyrians, had two pupils in her eyes, but I was unable to track down where exactly he said that; the jury's still out on 1) if Pliny the Elder actually said that and 2) if Teuta really did have two pupils in her eyes. I kept it cuz I thought it looked cool, and two pupils/iris holes, or "polycoria", does really happen, if extremely rarely.

...I gave her shark teeth cuz 1) ocean man and 2) I thought it looked very cool sdfjsfldskllkfs

I scrapped the lipstick cuz i think it made her look too mature (at least pre roman times), and plus, she’s always been more rough and tumble vibes for me? I also gave her freckles on her body because she’s always running in the sun getting tan!

[peonycats]

Question! If any of Hima’s characters or your OC’s had tattoos, what kind/which tattoos would they have?? Also adore your washi tape art, go off user peonycats 🥺✊

sits down and thinks real hard ouhhhhhhhh

1. America probably at some point has gotten a spongebob tattoo, whether it was for a joke, a prank, unironically genuine, or the side effect of too many shots will prbly never be answered

2. Miss Hawaii definitely has some tattoos! She's had them since she was young, and has gotten new and modernized tattoos today! On that note, I think a lot of the Polynesian and Oceanian countries have tats, but i am woefully underread abt that area of the world ><

3. Thailand has some yantra tattoos! @saraphusq helped me out w this, so major thanks to them Q_Q- he probably had them all over his body, but nowadays only has like a few on his chest and back.

4. Miss Illyria has a few tattoos, as you saw in my drawing! I was thinking maybe some of the Balkans nations have traditional tattoos, but I haven't done enough research to really say much else :/

5. Miss Yazidi has deg tattoos, which are unique to the Kurds! Kurdistan used to have some too, but to a lesser extent, and currently doesnt have any (deg tattoos are more commonly practiced by Kurdish women)

ALSO DSHGHGDSHG TYSM T___T

[peonycats]

Ooh ty for getting back to me on the tattoo question!! Traditionally some women in Bosnia and Croatia tattooed their bodies - especially arms - with symbols similar to those on your Ilyria OC, meant to protect them from being kidnapped by the Ottomans. The tattoos are really beautiful and loaded with Balkan symbols and imagery!! <3

no problem!!! and ooooo yeah i had based her tattoos on a combo of arcaheological digs in the area illyrians inhabited and the real life tattoos (since the tattoos probably shared a lot of symbols and designs in common with the pre-christianity religion of the illyrians) !!