Warfare in the Bronze Age

and Iron Age

300
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Waterville

9:20 start
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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
Philoctete
s & the
bow of
Herakles
Paris &
the Death
of Achilles

LHI Armor
Shoulder guard,
Dendra
Signet Ring,
Thisbe, Boeotia
Perishable Cuirass?

LHII
Bronze Armor from Dendra
Chamber Tomb
Charioteer or Foot Soldier?
Boars 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

Knossos
LHIIIA

Pylos
LHIIIB2

Helmets: EBA: Cyclades

Boars 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