battle of hattin

The Battle of Hattin

 

In 2014, I was commissioned by a friend's relative to do a large scale drawing of the Battle of Hattin. It was a real challenge since I haven't done anything like this before but I always liked a challenge to embark on something out of my comfort zone. 

 

The History

 

The Battle of Hattin (also known as the Battle of the Horns of Hattin because of a nearby extinct volcano of

the same name) took place on July 3 and 4, 1187,between the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem and the forces of the Ayyubid sultan SalahadDin,known in the West as Saladin. The Muslim armies under Saladin captured or killed the vast majority of the Crusader forces, removing their capability to wage war. As a direct result of the battle, Islamic forces once again became the eminent military power in the Holy Land, reconquering

Jerusalem and several other Crusader held cities.These Christian defeats prompted the Third Crusade, which began two years after the Battle of Hattin.

 

The battle took place near Tiberias in present day Israel. The battlefield, near the town of Hittin, had as its chief geographic feature a double hill (the "Horns of Hattin") beside a pass through the northern mountains between Tiberias and the road from Acre to the east. The DarbalHawarnah road, built by the Romans, served as the main eastwest passage between the Jordan fords, the Sea of Galilee and the Mediterranean coast.

 

 

Commission artwork-not for sale