Warfare in the Bronze Age and Iron Age

300

• Flagship Cinemas• Waterville

• 9:20 start• Be early!• $6.25• Colby ID

Elements of Warfare

• Weapons• Armor• Helmets• Shields• Chariots• Formations

Achilles fights Memnon over body of Antilochus, BF Amphora c.500 b.c.

Homeric Warfare

• Bronze Age (Mycenaean) Reality?

• Iron Age Reality?

Evaluating Authenticity

of “Troy”

• Hollywood version of

• Mycenaean Age or • Dark Age or • amalgamation of

both?

Weapons for Achilles

• Pyrrha among the women of Scyros

• Poussin

Divine Armour

• Achilles• Thetis • Hephaestus

(Vulcan)

• Benjamin West

The Bow

• Philoctetes & the bow of Herakles

• Paris & the Death of Achilles

LHI ArmorShoulder guard,

DendraSignet Ring,

Thisbe, BoeotiaPerishable Cuirass?

LHII • Bronze Armor from Dendra

Chamber Tomb• Charioteer or Foot Soldier?

• Boar’s Tusk Helmet

LHIIIA-B• Thebes• Cuirass

– solid bronze– stitched sheets

LHIIIA-B Variation, Innovation or

Continuity?• Mycenae

LHIIIA-B Armor Reconstructio

ns

Linear B Armor Ideograms

KnossosLHIIIA

PylosLHIIIB2

Helmets: EBA: Cyclades

Boar’s Tusk Helmets

• Theran fresco • MH helmet from Kolonna, Aegina

MH, LHI & LHII Helmet Styles

Full Body Shields:

Figure-of-Eight & Tower

• Lion Hunt Dagger & Gold Ring• Shaft Grave IV, Mycenae

Figure-of-Eight Shield Frescos:

Tiryns Palace & Mycenae Cult Center

• Goat Hide• Central Boss

Tower Shield

• Akrotiri, Thera

• Telamonian Ajax

• Body Shield diminishing popularity over time as bronze becomes more common?

Other Shield Types?

• LHIIIC Pictorial Style Krater

• Warrior Vase, House at Mycenae

• Note Smaller Shields

• Eastern Influence?

• Sea Peoples?

The Round Shield

• Pylos fresco LHIIIB

• Tiryns Kraters LHIIIC

Proto-Dipylon Shield?

• Stone sculpture

• Mycenae, probably LHIIIC

• Geometric (Iron Age) Dipylon Cemetery

Weapons• Daggers• Cut and Thrust

Swords

Archery, Spears & Javelins

• Bronze & Chert arrowheads from Mycenaean sites

• Archery in Iliad & Odyssey

Chariot Warfare

• Transport or Fighting Platform?

Battle formations?

• Individual Combat

• Serried Ranks? (Myrmidons)

• Phalanx a later development

Iron Age Armor