Douluo: The Adventures of King Skin

"Ha! Whatever you want, come here. If you want to eat, mom is here. If you want to eat, your mother is here. If you want to eat, your uncle is here."

——*** "Taking Tiger Mountain Outsmarted"

This era is known geologically as the 'Sub-Atlantic Period', and is now subdivided into the 'Hellenic Age'.At this time, the global climate was warm and humid, oases in Central Asia gradually prospered, and the ancient Silk Road was emerging, which would reach its peak in the subsequent 'Roman Era'.

However, the Central Plains region is still in the Warring States Period, and the Silk Road has not yet been opened. Of course, there is no Maritime Silk Road.

Therefore, this roll of plain silk actually took the southern route of the Tea Horse Road, starting from Yibin in Sichuan, crossing the river and crossing hundreds of thousands of mountains. The Mongolian-Khmer ancestors who were migrating there opened up this originally impossible route. Passage - After many difficulties and obstacles, it reached Tianzhu, and then passed from Tianzhu to Persia, and then passed into the hands of Pyrrhus.

The place where it was supposed to go was first to the Phoenician city-states on the east coast of the Mediterranean, where the Phoenicians would use murex extract to dye it gorgeous purple, and then it would reach the courts of the Mediterranean princes and nobles.

But now there is endless war in Palestine.Tyre was razed to the ground by Alexander and almost turned into an abandoned city. Sidon was used as a military camp by Antigonus and became a battlefield for the successors...

That is why it appeared in the hands of Pyrrhus in such a simple appearance.

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Looking at this roll of silk, Pyrrhus couldn't help but be filled with emotion.

At this time, he thought of his homeland that was thousands of miles away and looked completely different;

I thought of the process by which the ancestors of all races of mankind measured the earth with their feet;

I thought about the rising and setting of the sun, the changes in mountains and rivers, and the changes in this world over hundreds of millions of years;

He thought of the satin quilt that his grandmother had prepared for him in his previous life for his future wedding...

"..."

Scopas looked at Pyrrhus, who was in tears. He was at a loss for a moment, wondering if he had done something wrong.

Pyrrhus wiped his face, but suddenly he felt that Scopas in front of him was particularly pleasing to the eye:

"Thank you, Scopus! I like this gift very much."

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The roll of 'mysterious cloth from the East' sent by Scopas really helped Pyrrhus.

He had long felt that there were some shortcomings in this battle.

No wonder no one reminded him that there was no such thing as a flag in this era.

In other words, it’s not that there is no flag, it’s just that there is no flag in the universal sense as we understand it.

At this time, regardless of the East or the West, even if the flag was used, it was first used as a tool, without giving the flag a lot of meaning like we modern people do.

Since it is a tool, its form is relatively open.

For example, the Romans used dragon flags, the Han Dynasty used banners, the later Mongols used large banners, and the Japanese used horse seals. In our eyes, it is difficult to think of this as a flag.

For now, on the Greek city-state side, they will use some symbols.For example, the Spartans liked to use "λ" - which is the initials of their city-state's real name 'Lacedaemon' and the place name 'Laconia' - and many people painted their logo on their shields or breastplates. At the back there is a protective skirt hanging on the shield.

There are also some relief images, such as Gorgon, Medusa, etc. Some city-states will use a large number of these images to decorate soldiers' breastplates, half-breastplates, shields or bows.

There are also statues. The goddess of victory in Athena's hand is just one kind. Some city-states will insert statues like this on a stick and hold it high as a baton or scepter.

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In short, now that I have this high-quality fabric on hand, I can use it to make military flags!

What should the flag be, Pyrrhus?

First, we solicited opinions extensively. As a result, no matter the Thessalian nobles, heroes from all walks of life, and military generals, all sent us all kinds of strange patterns. Pyrrhus felt satisfied with none of them.

However, I found that many people chose the sun pattern, and there was even a Macedonian sun used by the enemy who was fighting them.

That's true.Throughout the ages, there are very few peoples who do not worship the sun. Even the people of the Shang Dynasty were inseparable from the sun.

But the one that is more in line with our modern concepts may be the Macedonian Sun Flag used by the Macedonians.

The Macedonian sun is very distinctive. It is a relatively abstract pattern with clean and neat lines, which is closer to our modern aesthetics.The sunrise pattern commonly used in Ptolemaic Egypt also resembled half of the Macedonian Sun.

An example that is closer to contemporary people's aesthetics is the sun of Syracuse - a sad human face in the middle, with three rotating legs around it - in fact, many other city-states use the same pattern.

The plans sent by many people are similar to the latter, which are relatively unsanitary.

Pyrrhus finally thought about it for a long time and finally chose the sun pattern.Of course, it is not a simple copy of the Macedonian sun, but a design of your own, with the background color set to red.

It’s not that Pyrrhus preferred red

——Well he just prefers red.

But another reason is that many so-called "pigments" in this era do not last long after being dyed. They either oxidize and discolor, or they easily fall off and fade.

There are also some colors such as purple, carmine, etc. The pigment formulas are confidential.

Red pigment is relatively easy to obtain.

For example, the most popular cinnabar red, or ferric oxide can also be used, and even heme...

Far away.

In terms of dyeing, the people of Pyrrhus and Lyceum could do it themselves, which is nothing more than the simplest batik method.

Pick up the center of the fabric, twist it slightly, and tie it into a large cone shape. Then coat the outside with wax. After the wax liquid is fully penetrated, put it in dye for coloring.

After the color dries, open the fabric and boil it in a pot to remove the wax, so that the dyed area becomes red, while the area protected by the wax remains pure and plain.

When he unfolded the banner and took a look, Pyrrhus couldn't help but sigh that the craftsmanship of the university was still intact, and he also felt the passion for creation for the first time in a long time.

In the center of the red background is a white sun. The thousands of rays of light it emits to the surroundings appear to be roasted by high temperatures, showing a rhythmic wave and distortion, while the traces left by the rope binding become three intermittent circles of the sun. faint.

Patterns that are both abstract and figurative use simple color contrasts to create a print-like expression that was unimaginable by people of this era.

When this big flag was hung up, everyone felt as if they had really seen a blazing sun among the vast red clouds.

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Only this roll of silk could be used for the time being, and Pyrrhus decided to make it into a military flag first.

So we hired a craftsman, mixed gold powder with a small amount of silver powder, mixed it with glue, and drew a golden eagle pattern in the same flat style at the position of the sun in the center of the flag.

Then a tooth edge made of thick cloth is added around the silk cloth surface, which is both protection and counterweight.

The flag was hung on a cross-shaped flagpole made from the wood of the ship's mast, with golden spear heads, tassels and streamers, and mounted on a light chariot.

This military flag is called "Condor Sun"!

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When everyone swore an oath to the Condor Sun, looking at people's eyes mixed with reverence and enthusiasm, Pyrrhus truly felt that this meal was really not in vain.

But after that, the news spread like wildfire that "Pyrrhus loves both men and women, but especially likes little boys."