Cover image: Detail from the miniature fresco “Meeting on the Hill”. Cattle breeders and Mycenaean warriors (with boar-toothed helmets) can be seen.
Thera, Akrotiri, West House, North wall. 17th. cent. B.C. Archaeological Museum Athens

Text by Charitos Anastasiou

The Homeric warrior represents a mysterious yet incredibly fascinating blend of various periods, spanning from the earliest Greek era, centuries before the Trojan War, up to the Archaic times of Homer. Many aspects correspond to the 13th century BC, the most likely date of the Trojans, the first major conflict between Europe and Asia, according to Herodotus. Homer speaks almost exclusively of duels. The combat style of the “heroic age,” as the Classical Greeks imagined the Mycenaean world, appears free and disorganized, with only a few faint, scattered phrases in the Iliad suggesting some loose battle formations. These formations, however, were still far from the later disciplined hoplite phalanx: “arranged like a wall,” “one line advancing after another,” “Achilles breaking the ranks,” as noted by the great Peter Connolly.

Homeric battle is a series of duels between nobles, primarily for literary reasons, as duels between well-known heroes held much greater interest for the reader than impersonal large-scale clashes between entire armies. The Homeric noble warrior enters battle with his chariot, driven by a dedicated charioteer. After choosing his noble opponent, he dismounts from the chariot. He typically carries two heavy spears and a sword, wears full-body armor, a helmet, greaves, and a large round shield, often hanging from his neck to easily push it back and protect his rear. After the necessary introductions, greetings, and compliments, the battle begins.

All Mycenaean depictions of warriors show men wearing helmets and greaves, along with something resembling woven gaiters around the calf, but none show full armor. Later depictions, such as those of the Sea Peoples or the Warrior Vase, show the former wearing armor, horned helmets, and large round shields. The Warrior Vase, dating from the Late Mycenaean period close to the time of the Trojans, shows warriors with horned helmets similar to those of the Sea Peoples, full-body armor, greaves, and long-sleeved tunics as if coming from northern climates, in contrast to the lightly dressed soldiers in other Mycenaean depictions.

They carry crescent-shaped shields, like the pelta, the ancient shield of the peoples of Eastern Europe. Although the Mycenaeans do not wear armor in their depictions, Homer presents the Achaeans and Trojans as wearing full-body bronze armor. The discovery in 1960 of the complete bronze armor of the warrior from Dendra, dating to the 15th century BC (worn by the warrior who climbs into the chariot), confirmed this Homeric description. When Achilles wears his armor, he tests it to see if it allows him a basic freedom of movement, something unnecessary for archaic armor but essential for the Dendra suit. He is wounded in the heel, the only part of the body left exposed by this armor, which covers everything else. Two details that likely are not coincidental.

The Homeric warriors wore gleaming bronze helmets adorned with horsehair crests at the top. A corresponding helmet from the 15th century BC has been found in Knossos. An exception is Odysseus, who, according to Homer, wears a unique helmet made of leather, reinforced inside with many stretched straps, and densely covered with boar tusks. This type of helmet is depicted in numerous illustrations, and perforated boar tusks from helmets like those in the depictions have been discovered multiple times.

Although the Iliad typically features round shields, Hector, Agamemnon, and especially Ajax carry large shields described as being like towers. Ajax’s shield was enormous, made from eight ox hides. Hector’s extended from his neck to his heels, while Agamemnon’s shield covered both sides of his body. The round shields, unless they refer to the later shields of the Sea Peoples or the Archaic period, might imply the figure-eight shields prevalent in Mycenaean art. Like the tower-shaped shields of the three heroes, these were crafted from layered hides over a wicker framework. However, it is hard to imagine a warrior wearing the Dendra armor carrying Ajax’s or Achilles’ gigantic full-body shields, suggesting these might be later, archaic embellishments.

The primary weapon was the spear. Homer speaks of large javelins thrown by the warriors, conflating the long spears of the mid-Mycenaean period—with points often over half a meter long—with the javelins of his own time. The sword was a secondary weapon, used only when the spear broke. Ajax and other warriors preferred throwing stones to fighting with swords. Homeric long swords, capable of penetrating armor and severing limbs with a single blow, were likely iron weapons from a later era, different from the long, pointed bronze swords of the early Mycenaean period or the short swords of the late Mycenaean period, which were more suited for thrusting than cutting.

Finally, the chariots. In the Iliad, the chariot is pulled by two horses and has a crew of two men. These chariots were used exclusively to transport armored nobles to the battlefield, where they fought on foot, rather than for mass attacks or chariot combat. It is hard to believe that in the same period as the great chariot battle between the Egyptians and Hittites, the Achaeans and Trojans used chariots solely for transporting nobles. Despite the numerous Mycenaean depictions of chariots, these are highly stylized frescoes that fail to provide a clear image, often showing Egyptian influences, and the chariot was covered with leather. By contrast, we have excellent examples of Homeric-era chariots from excavations in Salamis, Cyprus. These two-seater chariots (diphroi), pulled by two horses, offer a clearer picture of the vehicles of the time.

Undoubtedly, the Homeric warrior is a composite of many eras, just as the Iliad is a compilation of myths, legends, and traditions inspired by the historic grand campaign of the Achaeans against Troy. This campaign was very likely a series of expeditions during the final stages of the Mycenaean world, part of the overall collapse experienced by the Mediterranean world of the Bronze Age, in the period conventionally referred to by the ancients as the “Dorian Invasion” or the “Return of the Heracleidae.”

The destruction of Troy is followed by the murder of Agamemnon, the wanderings of Menelaus, Telemachus, and Odysseus, and the slaughter of the suitors—indicative of the chaos that emerged during the era of the Sea Peoples.