Description
(the description of both Goliath designs are the same lol)
***RANT***
I feel that the worst thing in historical retellings/fiction isn't historical inaccuracies but lazy characterization through design. When someone makes media, there is a narrative they want to tell. This is more of importance when talking about history, be it fiction or nonfiction because these shape how people think of other people. Yet a lot of artists decide to make their narrative flat. There has to be a dichotomy down to the visuals, one side is glistening, bright, and good, the other side big, dumb, dark, mysterious or fat, which is easy for the audience to get who should they root for. There is so much that can be said in character design!
A lot of “good” Bible figures do bad things and could have decent fleshing of character, but no. I'm not saying every antagonist has to be sympathetic, they can be awful. It's just….give the audience a reason as to the motivations of a character or side, not just “looks evil” or “looks good”. Bible media in general isnt very good in technicalities, much less in plot and content.
The narrative I see most is the smol uwu boy fighting a big scary giant who goes on to be king. But David himself says he killed a lion and a bear when shepherding. Keep in mind, he is not killing such animals Heracles style, strangling them with big beefy arms. The sling he uses is a deadly weapon, its a tennis ball sized rock that flies in the air, not a tiny pebble. He is a reserved, blood shedding warrior.
It is not to say that it's my narrative of the story of King David is the right one. Of course, no one knows how things were for sure, thus we add ideas . It may be wrong, but why stop interpreting things just because you don't have it 100%? It's just...pick a narrative, and do it with care and context.
***END RANT***
So I was going about my day when I realised that I didn't even have a Goliath design for my King David Animatic, which is sad because David and Goliath is David’s most famous story! Thus I went on my way to design him, then realised I didn't have idea what a Philistine really was. In my research I found them really similar to Ancient Greek people, esp with the Aegean-esque Battle of Champion situation, and lo and behold--!
So, as for the origins of the Philistines, there are two main theories. One is that they were a subset of local Canaanites that were formed after the collapse of the Hittite Empire and control by the Egyptians. The other is that they were Aegean marauders of the Sea People who came to the East Mediterranean. I chose to combine both theories.
From my research, the Philistines originated from a people known by the Egyptians as the Peleset, but were referenced to by the Greeks as the Pelagasi. The Pelagasi are one group of native, or “aboriginal” Greek, not like, the Indo-Caucasians who came in at 2500 BC and became what we would think of as Greek, but the animistic people who were lived there before.
These people lived in places like Thebes and Crete and were introduced to Mycenaean culture, until for whatever reason, they sailed away. The Pelagasi then became known as he Peleset by the Egyptians as one of the eight Sea People, immigrants from the west Mediterranean (who may have or not marauded different areas from about 1400-1100 BCE). The Peleset may have or not went marauding for territory, then were forced into the coasts of Canaan by the Egyptians, making a blend of animistic, Mycenaean Greek, and Canaanite culture. Even their fertility agriculture god, Dagon is just their ocean inspired spin on a Canaanite god.
So imagine ancient frescoes and olive oil and cumin and pottery and iron, etc. Their five confederate cities, of Pentapolis, of Ashdod, Gaza, Ekron, Ashekon, and Gath, (Goliath’s hometown) made up the land of Philistia. And thus the Philistines were created. When Egypt fall out of power in the region from 1101-1200BC, the Philistines took over around the same time that the Israelites were directed to take over the land of Canaan. It was when they both sought to expand territory that troubles occured.
The time we will look into is from 1050, when the Philistines occupied hill areas of Judea, (plus when David was born and Saul charged the Philistines directly), from 1036 BC and onward, when David and Goliath may have met.
I think some people don't realise at this point the Philistines were more “developed/advanced” that the Israelites and the Canaanites. While the Israelites were still in the bronze era without bronze, the Philistines were using iron decades ago. The Philistines and Israelites were going at it before Saul arrived, but in Saul’s time, they controlled metalwork in the land, no smiths found, all metalwork needing to be done by Philistines. They had economic control, hence why Saul decided to start provoking war, with only he and Jonathan had weapons. (1 Samuel 13:19-23)
So these two Goliath designs! With Goliath’s design, I wanted to test out two considerations: clothing and height. First difference I want to explain is the concept of height.
HEIGHT
There are two ideas as to Goliath’s height due to translation problems, these heights being either 6 feet tall, or 9 feet 9 inches tall.
I'm biased in that I like the irrational 9 feet 9 inch idea, and according to canon giants were not too uncommon in Canaan. But, the height does cause some narrative shifts in my representation.
Some say that the described weight of his armor means that he has to be 9 foot plus. This may work in math application, but not in real life. People at that height are not sturdy or athletic. His height warrants a giant amount of health problems, such as lack of eyesight, abnormal muscle tone, arthritis, and heart problems, thus a lot of deadly amount stress on someone who supposedly has been fighting since a child. Depending on what caused his gigantism, he could have either was always taller than others of his age (being taller than any man at like 10 or something), or just suddenly started growing around the end of his teen years.
In this 9 foot case, he is just a fear tactic figurehead, who came out to display for less than 5 minutes. He may have killed people who would think to try to kill him upfront by using his sword. Since the khopesh is a hacking kind of sword, Goliath wouldn’t have needed precision. The spear would have been some sort of sturdy support. Goliath would be afterward weak from his own weight plus the armor. He would also have eyesight problems, take it figuratively as well if you want.
His shield bearer had to have been an adult, as a Goliath sized shield would have been too heavy for a young child. I think his role was mainly to protect the legs and use trash talk as a method of sight guiding for Goliath. As well, he may have spoke on Goliath’s behalf, also another reason for an older armor bearer. (And fun fact, the large sword is as tall as David probably was lol)
6 foot height narrative:
Many people who work in intensive fields such as Marines or firefighters wear hundred plus pounds of armor in work. It would not be too much to think that a man in those times could do the same. It would make sense that Goliath was raised in war as a young child and be a center of glory, as such in Mycenaean culture. He would be seen with pride and would give attention to his gods for his successes, and the fertile land that Gath was in. He may have been passed around different camps like the 99th bottle of beer on the wall because he is just so popular, thus why such a champion hasn’t showed up beforehand. No need for extravagant armor, as Goliath has the physical ability to strike a pose defend himself, (but of course, in my finalized animatic you bet he is going to wear the Super Extra god armor).
In this case, he may have just been just a garbage man like Agamemnon.
The armor bearer could be a child, as they seem to historically be.
YES GOLIATH WAS PROBABLY 6 FEET TALL OKAY.
Though as you can tell, I drew Goliath in both 9 feet tall vs 6 feet tall versions, the 6 foot tall version near taller Goliath’s shield. (Because its not like I totally drew what I am calling the 6 foot Goliath to originally be 9 foot Goliath’s shield bearer or anything).
ATTIRE
I think its plausible that his attire could have gone one or two ways. One could have been extravagant, one just the plain attire with some embellishments.
I think the Philistines, like the Greeks, could have been artsy. In Mesopotamia, the imagery of gods and agriculture were adorned everywhere, so I do not see why not in their top warriors. I do not expect that the Biblical accounts would write down details of their enemies, especially that of their gods and symbolism. This adornment could have the case as for why Goliath was feared--not just because of height, but because he looked like a god incarnate. On Goliath’s armor, I try to evoke a sense of flow, with a pomegranate tree art, waves, and fish, plus references to the gods Dagon and El, all in ancient art style. (Keep in mind that the design of Dagon and the fish are Assyrian. Not much of the Philistines’ art or culture survives today. Dagon may have been not fish like originally. Dagon being half fish for the Philistines may have come about either because the Philistines came from the sea, or because Dagon sounds like the word for fish.)
His greaves are decorated with waves and fish. I mean, Gath wasn’t not too far from the coastline, so I would think they had that Sea Aesthetic, adorned extravagantly for esp for their godlike representative. Yes, the fish imply the look of Dagon.
His sword is a khopesh, which is admittedly exaggerated in size, used by royal Egyptians. So Goliath probably got it from trade or battle. He would fight in close quarter, direct combat. The spear is yea a weapon but also a walking stick.
ETC
Note some indications of Goliath’s character: He was warrior in the Philistine camp and is referred to as their champion. But despite these statements, he is only introduced at such when David is about 16. This could mean that he was chosen to become a champion when at young age his height and physique fit, and may have been just as young. He was some height taller than everyone else, and wore armor that would do a number on his back. I chose to have him clean shaven because 1) he is usually portrayed with a big beard and bc Im edgy I think its unique to not have him with one, and 2) Egyptian art of Philistines showed them without hair (and are in fact really the only visuals we have of Philistine people), though it's debatable because it was art of captive Philistines.
For 9 foot tall Goliath, I tried to specifically make his facial features look like coarse facial features you would see on people with gigantism. His eyes are not filled in because I think his eyes would be cloudy thus can’t see well, but naturally, no person going against him is going to see this as his helmet probably casts a shadow on his face anyway, or would look into them. I personally like to think that David was probably observant of many things from his time as a shepherd, such as the hinderance fancy metal armor in a hot desert would be, how everyone was overthinking how to kill directly when he knew how to kill from afar, and maybe from Goliath’s talk of David needing to come forward to fight how that meant Goliath can’t really move.
As for age, I say he is not too much older than David. It is noted that he may have children (2 Samuel 21:16), so maybe like early 30’s?? I kind of liked the idea that he would have been near David’s age though... I just like the contrast it would give lol, praised warrior vs shepherd. Though tbh I think his boasting doesn't necessarily warrant he as a person was that way.
There is nothing that says Goliath was uniquely awful, beyond being called the Philistine’s champion. So, its likely that it was his representative role was why he was so “bad”. He claimed that it was his gods who did miraculous things, and its likely that he subjected other people with fear mongering tactics. In Tom Gauld’s Goliath, this idea is used, portraying Goliath as a “gentle giant” that is forced to do what he does. But whether he really believed in what he was doing or not doesn’t really matter I guess. This whole fight with David and Goliath may have just been important because of theological implications...
This is perhaps some of my favorite designs. It's not the coolest, but I liked the way I approached it. For Transformers, I kinda go with adding bits and pieces as see fit, not really giving too much thought on things like alt mode or purpose. But for this Goliath design, I looked up history and incorporated symbolism. Like instead of having a set outline with details to fill in, I thought about the character as a whole. I want to put as much thought into the other David Animatic designs.
I have to redo everything, I think about it and I cri evrytme :’C
SOURCES (these are not all, like, academic sources, neither am I referencing them as such, this aint school lol)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6CwiP…
luwianstudies.org/the-philisti…
www.britannica.com/topic/Phili…
bibleillustration.blogspot.com…
www.britannica.com/topic/Pelas…
remnantofgiants.wordpress.com/…
youtu.be/PiWkVNILLGs
pituitary.ucla.edu/resources