Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, "Armour Plates" to "Arundel, Earls of"

early peoples of the Aegean in the periods known as Minoan, Mycenaean and Homeric is a problem which has given rise of recent years to much discussion. The controversy is an important part of the Homeric question as a whole, and the various theories of the weapons used in the Trojan War hinge on wider theories as to the date and authorship of the Homeric poems. One widely accepted hypothesis, based on the important monograph by Dr Wolfgang Reichel, _Uber homerische Waffen. Archaologische Untersuchungen_ (Vienna, 1894), is that the Homeric heroes, like those who created the civilization known as Mycenaean, had no defensive armour except the Mycenaean shield, and used weapons of bronze. This view is derived to a great extent from the Homeric poems themselves, in which the metal most frequently mentioned is [Greek: chalkos] (bronze), and involves the assumption that all passages which describe the use of corslets, breastplates, small shields and greaves are later interpolations. It is maintained on the other hand (e.g. by Prof. W. Ridgeway, _Early Age of Greece_, i. chap. 3), that the Homeric Achaeans (whom he regards as the descendants of the central European peoples, the makers of the Hallstatt iron swords) were far advanced into the Iron Age, and that the use of bronze weapons is merely another instance of the fact that the introduction of a new element does not necessarily banish the older. This theory would separate the Homeric from the Mycenaean altogether, and is part of a much more comprehensive ethnological hypothesis. According to another hypothesis, the Homeric poems are true descriptions of a single age, or, in other words, the weapons of the Homeric age were far more diverse and elaborate than is supposed by Reichel. Very few traces of iron have been found in the Mycenaean settlements, nor have any examples of body armour been found except the ceremonial gold breastplates at Mycenae. The Mycenaean soldiers carried apparently a bronze spear, a bronze sword and a bow and arrows. The arrow-heads are first of obsidian and later of bronze. It would appear that only the chief warriors used spear and shield, while the majority fought with bows. The swords found at Mycenae are two-edged, of rigid bronze, and as long as 3 ft. or even more; from representations of battles it would seem that they were perhaps used for thrusting mainly. They are highly ornamented and some have hilts of wood, bone or ivory, or even gold mounting. Later swords became shorter and of a type like that of early iron swords found in Greece. Moreover in a few cases there have been found in pre-Mycenaean (late Minoan III.) tombs a few examples of short iron swords together with bronze remains. All Mycenaean spears are of bronze and, apparently, their shafts, unlike the Homeric, had no butt-piece. In the absence of any metal helmets in the tombs we may perhaps assume that the Mycenaean helmet was a leather cap, possibly strengthened with tusks, such as appears in Homer (_Iliad_, x.) also. The Mycenaean shield (generally, perhaps, made of leather) has given rise to much controversy, which hinges largely on the interpretation of the evidence provided by the representation on the Warrior Vase and the Painted Stele from Mycenae and pottery found at Tiryns. Professor Ridgeway regards these as describing post-Mycenaean conditions, and maintains that the true Mycenaean shield was always long (from neck to feet), and that it was either in the form of a figure-of-eight targe, or rectangular and sometimes incurved like the section of a cylinder; whereas the Homeric shield was round (e.g. [Greek: kukloteros, eukuklos], &c.). Dr Reichel's followers believe that the Homeric shield was long ("like a tower") and incurved in the centre like the Mycenaean, that Homer knew nothing of the small round shield, and that the epithets implying roundness used in the poems are to be explained as meaning "well-balanced" or as late interpolations. On the whole we must conclude that the Mycenaean age is by no means a single homogeneous whole (see AEGEAN CIVILIZATION), and that the weapons are not exclusively of bronze, nor of any single type. The Homeric warrior in full armour, according to the Homeric poems, wore: (1) shield ([Greek: aspis, sakos]), (2) greaves ([Greek: knaemides]), (3) band ([Greek: zoma]), (4) belt ([Greek: zostaer])and _mitre_, (5) tunic ([Greek: chiton]), (6) helmet ([Greek: korus]), (7) breastplate ([Greek: thorex]), (8) sword ([Greek: xiphos]). The [Greek: laisaeion] was a protection worn by the archers in place of a shield. According to the usual view, the Homeric shield was, as we have seen, bent in about half way up each side (in the form of a figure-of-eight) to give freedom to the arms, and large enough to protect the whole body. The two curves were held rigid by two Wooden (probably) staves inside. It was composed of layers of ox-hide overlaid with bronze, forming a boss in the centre, and sometimes had studs upon it. Reichel's view is that it was the weight of these huge shields which led to the use of the chariot as a means of going rapidly from one part of the field to another (though Professor Ridgeway and others contest this, and Helbig mentions more than one case of long journeys on foot under shield), and further that the round shield is entirely unknown to Homer. This large shield was clearly the natural protection against showers of missiles, rather than against enemies fighting with the sword. The greaves were, no doubt, generally of hide, protected the leg all round, and were fastened at the knee with cords. On the other hand Mycenaean bronze greaves have been found at Enkomi (Cyprus) and at Glassinatz (Glasinac), and therefore it is not necessary, following Reichel, to cut out Homer's references to the "bronze-greaved" Achaeans (_Iliad_, vii. 41), a phrase which has been taken as evidence for regarding the passage as spurious. The tin greaves of Achilles are obviously exceptional. The _thorex_ again is the subject of controversy. Reichel, arguing that the great shield rendered any breastplate unnecessary, regarded the word as a general term for body clothing, but Ridgeway strongly maintains the older theory that it was a bronze breastplate, and Andrew Lang points out that, on Reichel's theory, a word which originally meant the "breast" was transferred to mean "loin-cloth" (which, to judge from the artistic representations, was all that the Mycenaean warrior wore), and subsequently in historic times returned to its natural use for the breastplate--a most unlikely evolution. The passages in Homer which describe it as a breastplate are regarded by Reichel's school as later interpolations. Gilbert Murray thinks that the Homeric poems must be regarded as belonging to different periods of development, and therefore attributes the more elaborate armour to the "surface" (late Ionian) stratum. The _zoma_ was probably a loin-cloth, and the _mitre_ a metal band about a foot wide in front and narrow behind to protect the lower part of the body. As a matter of fact, however, the big shield does not exclude the use of body armour, and it is quite likely that the Homeric warrior wore a bronze corslet, i.e. a somewhat improved form of the [Greek: linothorex], or stiffened shirt. On the other hand, it is probable, as we gather from the poems, that this corslet was not strong enough to do more than stop a spent spear. The _chiton_ was worn over the _mitre_, and reached the knees; it was held to the body by the _zoster_, a metal-plated belt. Helmets were both of metal on leather, and of leather throughout; the crests were of horsehair (not of metal like the later Greek helmets) and there were no cheek-pieces. The sword has already been mentioned. Ridgeway, in spite of the almost invariable mention of bronze as the material of the Homeric weapons, believes that it was generally of iron, but, while the presence of iron in the Homeric age is admitted in the case of implements, it is generally held that weapons were all of bronze. Except for one arrow-head (_Iliad_, iv. 123), and the mace of Areithous, mentioned as a unique example by Nestor (_Iliad_, vii. 141), no reference to an iron weapon proper occurs in the Homeric poems. But the sword was used only when the favourite spear or javelin had failed to decide the contest. It must be admitted that the problem of pre-Homeric armour and Homeric armour must always be largely a matter of inference, based on a comparative study of the evidence literary and archaeological. Unless we are prepared to adopt the theory that the Homeric poems consist of a mosaic of interpolation informed by an archaizing editor, we must assume that they describe a single period of transition intermediate between the Mycenaean prime and the dawn of history proper. In this case we shall believe that the Homeric warrior has so far adapted to changing conditions the simple appliances of the Mycenaean that he has evolved a feeble corslet with minor pieces of body armour, while retaining the big double-bellied shield as a protection against the arrows which are still the chief weapon of the rank and file and are even used on occasion by the chiefs. If we further believe that the iron at his disposal was similar to that used by the Celts of Polybius, it is natural to believe also that he preferred the harder bronze for his weapons, though iron was common for domestic and other implements. On early Greek arms in general see, besides Reichel and Ridgeway _op. cit._: A. Lang, _Homer and his Age_ (London, 1906; and criticisms in _Classical Review_, February 1907); G.G.A. Murray, _The Rise of the Greek Epic_ (Oxford, 1907), chap. vi; R.M. Burrows, _Discoveries in Crete_ (2nd ed., London, 1907); Leaf and Bayfield, _Iliad_, i.-xii. Appendix A (follows Reichel); W. Helbig, _Homerische Epos_ (1884 and 1899), and _La Question mycenienne_ (1896); C. Robert, _Studien zur Ilias_ (Berlin, 1901); Chr. Tsountas and J.I. Manatt, _The Mycenaean Age_ (1897); V. Berard, _Les Pheniciens et l'Odyssee_ (Paris, 1902); Cauer, _Grundfrager d. Homerkritik_ (Leipzig, 1895); much valuable discussion will be found in articles in _Journ. Hell, Stud., Classical Rev._ and _Journ. of Anthropol. Instit_.; see also editions of _Iliad_ and _Odyssey_ (espec. D.B. Monro), and works quoted under AEGEAN CIVILIZATION; HOMER; MYCENAE.