The Mycenaeans were an Aegean civilization dating around 1580 to 1120 B.C.
Around 1200 BC the Mycenaean
palaces in mainland
Greece were abandoned, and even the
Egyptian state was struggling against invasions from neighboring lands. Despite this in
Europe, beyond the
Aegean sea, a method was introduced for creating
bronze. Someone was probably
smelting copper, and an impurity,
tin, was in the mix. When the amalgam cooled the result was bronze. It was hard, could not be bent like copper, yet could form a cutting edge. It would not embarrass the user by having their
sword fold up in their hands.
When the method of making bronze spread about it was used to make weapons and armor. From leg guards to helmets.
A Mycenaean hero from head to toe would be:
Helmets: the helmets were made of bronze, and sometimes
boar tusk. They would be decorated immensely if the soldier was a hero. They had bronze
side burns which ran down the side of the wearer's
face, covering the
ears. The top was a bowl shape. Some times helmets would have a large bump located at the top. The bump would supposedly deflect an incoming blade. Some of the helmets might also employ hair on the top, which was believed able to turn a blade. For more ornamental purposes they might stick on horns of beasts.
Not a lot is known about
body armor. One source says that they wore a breast plate of overlapping metal bands. These metal bands were designed to protect the wearer"s ribs. Another suggest
chain mesh body armor. Virtually no fully intact body armor has been found.
The
shields of the day were sometimes
round. These round shields had a string which would go around the wearer's
neck so the shield could also be flipped around and
protect his back if needed. Other times shields formed what is known as a '
tower shield'. These tower shields were
rectangular at the bottom and had a little hump at the top. They had a strap at the top that was called a telemon. It hung over the soldier's
shoulder. The strap also let the wearers place it on their backs. It let the
soldier use both his hands making his attacking abilities more substantial. The tower shield was made of
wood and covered with
hide, or
metal. The '
figure eight' shield (originally called the
fiddle shield) was shaped like a
peanut. It too possessed a telemon strap that provided the same benefits. The figure eight shield was probably made of bull's hide stretched across the frame with the
hair still on it.
The soldier most likely would either have
shin guards made of bronze, or
leather. They allowed movement by not bending with the
knee.
For foot wear most pictures show either a
sandal or a mesh leather type
shoe.
A
spear (or
javelin) was the principal
fighting weapon. It would either be
hurled at the opponent or
jabbed depending on the
length Only if the spear was lost would the
warrior resort to the sword.
The
bow and arrow was more commonly used for
hunting. Only a small skilled few used it in combat. Unless
abnormally skilled these people were looked on as
cowards. There were two different types of bows in
Odysseus's time. One was the slightly curved D looking bow called the
Cretan bow. The Scythian bow was more complex. It had a W shape to it and when it was unstrung it reverted to a wide U. The Scythian bow was the kind that Odysseus used. The suitors in
The Odyssey had trouble stringing it because they were used to the Cretan bow where you only needed
one hand. The Scythain bow required the use of both hands and legs to string it. The
arrow heads themselves were tied onto a small slot in the
shaft of the
arrow. They are normally a flat
dart shaped piece of bronze.
Early
swords were a secondary
force, mainly used for the last thrust to
impale the opponent. Later they were divided into two different categories,
hacking, and
slashing. The hacking was short and broad, while the slash was more like a sword of
modern times. The slashing weapon came over from
Northern Europe and changed the way the Mycenaeans used the swords.
Usually the heroes of the
battle knew each other and sought each other out for
hand to hand duels, neither regarded the
war around them as a
threat. Other times as described in
The Iliad they would form a tight mass of soldiers, usually 8 people but some times as many as 50, all with spears, they would form a wall of impenetrable spears. This grouping is called a
Phalanx. It was extremely hard to move in the formation because everyone had to be
coordinated enough to pull it off.
Works Cited.
Connoly, Peter.
The Legend Of Odysseus.
Hong Kong: Oxford U.P. 1998.
Smithsonian Time line of the Ancient World.
New York: Dorling Kindersley inc. 1993.
Tunis, Edward
Weapons a Pictorial History.
New York: The World Publishing Company. 1954.
Encyclopædia Britannica Online
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