Professional Documents
Culture Documents
INTRODUCTION 3
Emerge nce of Mycena e
M ycen aean dominance
The evidenc e: I lo m e r , a nd the ar chaeolo gica l reco rd
MILITARY ORGANIZATION 49
Battl e fie ld organizati on
ANGUS McSRI DE Is one of
Co mm and str ucture
the wortd's most respected
hi st ori<:<ol lll u strat ors , and I Iig he r o rga niza tio n: the evid ence a nd the a rg uments
ha s c o nt ri buted to mor e than Un it sizes
90 Ospre y ti tle s In t he past
Issue s o f eq uipme nt
t h ...... d e cade s. Born In 1931
of Hi ghl an d pa r ents but
or p haned as a c h ild , h e was SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY 58
e d ucated at Ca nterbury
Cathed r.. l Choi r Schoo l. H e THE PLATES 60
worked In ad vertising agencies
from 1 947, a n d aner na tion.. 1
servic e, " m i9nl ted t o South
INDEX 64
Afric.. . H e no w lives an d
works in C.. pe Town.
O SPREY
Elite 130 I-' U BLlS H I N G
The Mycenaeans
c. 1650-1100 BC
""'"' "'""
2421 Bend ~ IJni\IersIly ParI<. L 60466, USA
Emat O"IIoOoepe,Oo ec1u"""'-com
No_ regior-.;
Osprey DirwclLa<
PO eo:. 140. WeIiIoglX>t<>o.>g/'l, Nortt\lrlls NN8 2FA. La<
ErftIII:~ecl.OD ....
THE MYCENAEANS
c.1650-1180 BC
INTRODUCTION
he ~ Iycenaean civilization spa nned a pe riod of 4OD-!'>OO years, fro m
3
100 M i le,
Ce n tres o f MycenH an fo u nd to h ave been gre at palace-based cities o n a scale riva lling ~1 }'c<.'na e
cl wllization. (George Mylonas, it-.elf, such as Tiryns and Pylas in the vtyce naean heartl a nd of the
M tcena t!' and the ~rnIe.an
Pelopo nnese, wh ich we re es tablished around 1650 BC.
A ge , 0 1966 Pri ncet on Un ive rs ity
Pre S$; reprint e d by pe rml105lon
0' Prlnceton Unive rsity Pr ess) Em er g enc e o f Mvc en a e
T he ea rly history of toe Mycc nacan p erio d is no table for its pe nch a nt fo r
all things Minoan. T he Minoan civi lizatio n of Cr ete can be tra ce d as far
ba d as c.3000 BC; it th e refore h ad m o re time to dewlop its culture th a n
the m ainla nders, helped la a la rge ex tent by dose in te rac tio n with
surrou nd ing civi lization s in the fo rm of seabo rne tra ding. The Min oan
c harac ter of earl y ~I}ce naean a n is so marked that it led some to believe
that the so uthern pa rt of Ore ecc must have been a Cretan colo ny. It has
since beco me appa rent that th is similari ty \',~A ~ .hl" resu lt of in fluence
rather tha n colo niza tion . O ne disti n ct area of Min oan influen ce a ll the
:\Iycc naeans was that o f warfa re; in deed. most of the earl y wea po n a nd
a rmou r t}pes th at a re cha racteri stic of th e Mycen ac a n s ac tually
o ri gi n a ted on Minoan Cre te. Onc no table ex ce p tio n is th e c har io t,
howe ver, wh ic h appears to h ave bee n in troduced o n 10 Crete by the
4 Mycen acan s rath er than th e other way around.
T he earlier Minoan culture was not Gree k, an d wro te using an as yet
undecipbered syllabic sc-ript called Linear A. Th e Myce naeans, ho weve r,
were Gree k, as was de m o nstrated by the d eci phe rme nt of the ir scr ipt
known as l-inea r It T he la nguage of th is script is a n early fo rm of Greek,
showing tha t the history' o f Mycen aean cu ltu re is both geogra ph ically
and e thn ically pan o f the history' o f Greece. T he I.inea r B script comes
to us in th e fo rm o f sm all day tablets m os tly fo u nd in the rui ns of (he
palaces, (he most in form a tive com in g from Pylas and Mvcenaean
Knossos. T he subj ect ma tte r of th ese ta ble ts is not na r ra tive but
bureau crat ic: that is, they' reco rd the daily business of the palace-based
socie ty and econo my. So me o f th ese table ts record aspects of the m ilita ry
organizati on of the palace-sta te, an d h ave provi ded an im portan t source
of information about the Mycen aean army.
Shields
One of the m ost diagnostic sig ns o f a heaw in fantrym an is his shield .
T h is, in b o th of its p att e rns (i.e. 'figure-o f-eigh t ' an d 'tower ' sh ield s) ,
pro te cts the body fr om n ec k to foo t. T h ese sh iel d s app ea r to h ave been
mad e of wickerwork u p o n a wo o den fr a m e ; th ey we re faced with o ne or
m ore la yers of hid e , as ca n b e seen in sever al colo u red d epi ctions of Drawing of a 's hoe - soc ket ed '
them from fres coes. T h ey we re carrie d by m eans of a teiamorc. a stra p spearh ead, with r ecesses e it he r
,; id" ur Ih" bl"d " inlo whi ch"
wh ich p assed over the le ft sh ould er d iagonally. Thus su p ported, the
s p lit shaft waS fixed. This wa s
shiel d le ft both h an d s fre e . Such a lar ge sh ield tell s u s sp eci fic thin gs the predec e ssor of the so cketed
abou t its fu n ct ion . T h e wa rrio r wou ld h ave been very we ll p ro te cted s p e ar h e ad proper. (After Ta ylour,
fro m all m an n er of spear an d sword th rusts. j ave lins. arrows, sling-sho ts, 1972)
9
The 'Sea Battle ' fntsc.o fro .... e re. H owever, he paid for this protection with a se rio us re striction o f his
Abo ti ri on the A egean i$la nd mobility. O ne could im agine that if a warrior tried to ru n with such a
ofThet"i1, 1500 BC. Th l$ ls _ of
sh ield while still h oldin g h is spear with both h a n ds . the fo r me r wo uld
t1... very few surviving ~ pletion$
of a n act ual lonnation of bounce around YC f}' awkwardly, banging against his ann, lowe r face and,
M:tcenaean heavy infantry. Each particu larly, his sh ins. It is impossible [ 0 kn ow whe n the lowe r shiel d was
o f the to w er shie ld s i$ eo.-.ed first in troduced into m e Ae gean: n o archaeological re ma in s o f such
with a different eolourfll ~
sh ields have been fo und (d o u b tles s d ue to the fac t that they were made
pa"emed h id e, fepnl6eflted ....
o f pe rishable ma te rials), b u t the earliest d e p ic tio n s of th e m oc cur a t
bl ack., brown. grey a nd ye lk)w.
(Courtesy Prehistoric N ,,"um \ Iyce nae an d are d a ted to aro u nd 1600 BC.
of Thera) A bo ss is a co mmon fea ture of a h eavy in fa ntrym an 's shie ld th ro u ghou t
th e a nc ient pe riod; it all ows th e shiel d to be used o ffe n sive ly. This
fea tu re , a lo ng with the cu rve ofthe su rface. wo u ld have made th e figure-
o f-eig h t sh ie ld especially go od fOT p risin g a pa rt e nemy shield-wa lls a n d
bre akin g into a d e nsely p ack ed fo rm ati on . In th is res pe ct it wo u ld h ave
b ee n far su pe rio r to th e tower sh ield. The figure-of-eigh t shield is mo re
tech n ically d eve lo p ed th an th e towe r sh ield, and is th erefor e likely to b e
a so mewhat la te r in novatio n . As fa r as is kn own, the earli es t p ictu res of
th ese sh ields date fro m around 16 00-1 550 BC a t Myccn ae , hut they are
fo u n d in the sa me conte xt as th e towe r shi el ds. T h e figu re -o f-eigh t
shield is n o t flat in oro flle as some tower shields ap pe ar 10 b e , bu t is
co n cave; it would the reby afTo rd a d eflective ab ilit y th a t wo u ld greatly
increase its stren g th . In ad d ition it h ad an elongated 'bo ss' , in th e fo rm
of a raised ri d ge o f woo d or to u gh lea th er. T h is a n d the chara cteristic
'waiste d' sh ap e, we re d elibe rate e le me nts wh ich m us t have b e en d eve-
loped fo r p ractical reaso ns.
The fu n ctio n of th e wais t cu t-outs is so meth ing of a m ys te ry, as there
a re nu actu al d epi ctions sh ow ing th em be in g p ut to any di rect us e . If a
lin e o fso ldiers fo rmed u p in cl o se orde r with figu re-of-eight sh iel d s, th e
cut-o uts wo u ld fo rm a series o f rough ly diamond -shap ed h o le s. It is
p ossible th a t th ese we re useful wh en th e h eavy sp eann an u sed h is
sec o n d a ry weap o n, the th rusting swor d . Eac h soldie r wo u ld h ave une of
th ese ho le s to hi s ri ght fron t, and could th rust a t hi s en e my th ro ug h it
while still re ta in in g th e full -body p rotec tio n o f h is shiel d. This p ossib ility
is fu rt her su p p o rted by th e fa n that the xtyce naean sword in use at th is
10 time was in d ee d better suited to thrus tin g tha n sla shing .
O ne of the m ost s pect ac u la r
fi n ds rel ating t o the Mycenaean
m ili tary is t hi s 16th c e ntu ry BC
b ronze d a gg er w ith a min ia ture
fig h t ing scene inla id into its
b lade , It sh;>W$ both the t ower
a nd fJgu nHIf-eight shields., t he
way they _re worn by means of
re'amon, and l he way the spear
was wl ekted, It a lso 5hows an
archei' woriJng in conju nction
with the heavy in fant ry. lGeorge
My401\llS, Mycenae a nd the
~ Ag&, C 1966
Pri ne e t on U~ity Preoss;
"pri"'ed by penn~ion of
It is also conceivable th a t th e series o f h oles p r ese n ted in th e shield - Prin c e t on Univer.lity Press)
wall m ight have accom modated the 5pear, but th is seems unlikel y fo r two
related re aso ns. Firstly, th e depictions d o not sh ow th e spea r bein g used
this way; th ey sho w it bein g wielded wi th both hands, normally at
sho u ld er level a n d wi th the sh ield worn around th e back. Secondly. th e
spears used by th ese troops would have been both heavy and u nwie ldy
for th e war rio r to g rip in hi s right hand a lon e, as he would bnve to if h e
were ming it to thrust th ro ugh the sh ie ld cu t-out; and if h e held it near
Boar's-I\lsk I>e"meL Th e p+e<:es
its central point of balance he would both waste half of iLS le n gth , an d o f I\l sk we", found in a
d isru p t th e ran ks beh ind hi m , Mycenaean tomb a nd t he helmet
A que sti o n re mains as to h ow th e figure-of-eight shi e ld wa s was reco<'lStrucled ba sed on
distributed amo ngs t th e heavy infan try, It appears to haw been used at d e pictions found on plaques
a nd patlony. This one dates to
th e sa me tim e as th e to we r sh ield, but it is u nclear whether it was
the 10,.... M.,.oc noca" peri Dd ; n
reser'ved for ~parate u nits. or mi xed in wi th tower shi elds to give the the 13th c en t u ry BC , l Cou rtesy
formatio n a 'b iting e d ge ' . Perhaps perso n al p referen ce o r wealth car-n o t N at ional Archaeological Museum,
be ruled out, Athens)
Spears
The early Myccn acan ~pcar cons isted of a long
wood en sh aft about 12ft lo n g ....ith a so cke t c cl
spearhead m ad e o f b ro n ze , T h e earliest style of
spearhead was of un usual fo rm and is sparsely
rep re sen ted : the blade h ad a shoe-socke t cast o n
on c o r both sides of it. into which the spl it end of
th e wooden shaft W,L'i inserte d. Examples have
be en found at Sesklo , Lcu kas, Asinc and Mycenae,
and th is style o f spearhead seems to be of m ain lan d
on gm, H oweve r, the m o re co m m o n typ e of
spe arh ead , in use th rough ou t th e whole of the
Mvcenaean period , was a narrow leaf-shaped b lad e
....i th a stro n g m id -ri b and a socketed base , T h is was
secu red to th e shaft by a metal co llar at th e base o f
th e soc ke t, as well M by h o les through th e soc ket
for pins . The o rigin o f thi s type see ms to be Cretan .
Several to n g , heavy spea rs of th is kind were b u ried
in th e Sh ah G ra..-es a t ~Iyeen ae . a n d d epictions
show it in use by heavy in fan uv. Most of the
spearheads fou nd dale to th e early :\Iyce naean
pe riod; not man y e xamples ha ve survi ved fro m th e 11
later penod , although it contin ues to a p pea r
on later d epictio ns. The reaso n fo r this co uld
be th e lack of rich gr.1ves from the later period .
There we re two "'ays in wh ich th e socketed
spea rh ea d co u ld be made. They could eit h er
be cas t wi th the so cket com ple te . o r more
-~ i lll rl y mad e with the soc-ket slit a n d fla t; rh is
W.1S then curved a ro u nd to form a soc ke t, ,.. it:t
th e slit runn in g la terally a lo n g th e socket
where the two ends were j oin e d . T he le ngta
o f th e spearh eads fro m tip to base o r soc ket
no rmally ranged betwe e n Bin a n d l z!n.
al th o ug h some are mor e than 16in lo n g.
So m e early d e p icuous sh ow the spear
be ing" ,.. -iclded a t th e level of th e sh o ul d e rs
wi th both hand s, wh ile others sccm to be h eld
ill the rig-h t h a nd on ly. H o wever, th e metho d
of holding the spea r wi th both h a n ds ,
hn rizon tal at th e level o f th e shoulder, is only
ceeu wh en th e shi e-ld i.. sh mg a round 10 the
spean uau 's back. Wh e n th e ....a rrio r is wielding
th e spear in an y ot h e r way, h e is sh o ....-n wi6
th e sh id d wo rn in fro nt o f his bod y.
~.
armour at Dendra, 'helmet B ' h",s
actually b ..... n identi f ied as a
sho uldK piece from such a s u IL
Due to the ab&trMot n s t " re of
v
de pictions suc h as 'F' and 'H', ...
details o l l .... ir construc!lon
:re un k nown . (Alter Ventrls
&. C hadwick)
A B c D
:~ 1 I;
own sword to defend h imself.
To use so me mu ch la te r a n a logies th a t d e m o n stra te sim ilar II! ,
'
I,
p ractical limitations: in the Napoleonic period, wh e n the
lan ce m ad e a re surgence of popularit y amo n g lig h t cavalry; it
!11 '; ,
, "
would p rese n t a n a rmoure d wall cove ri ng th e wh ole ba ttle line fro m e . 1900 a 'ld c . '400 BC. The
shorter eQmpl e, third from right,
ne ck to a n kle . T h is would not on ly rend e r th e fro n t ra nks a lmo st
w as acl .... lly found In Tul1<.ey to
invu ln e ra b le to missile s, but would pre'ie nt many missi les fro m pas sin g wh.... it h ad been traded. The
into rhe lea! ranks, whi ch Mlld lll: J shiek b, could I IO L tlo w effe ctive ly, rema'nGeI' w ere (I,sc ove red in
1he size o f th e sh iel ds may th us su ggest a co ns iderable mi ssile e xch an ge Greeee and Crete. (Courtesy
befo re co n tac t. Profe-s$Or Or H-G .8uchholz)
In suc h a m assed fo rmatio n. severa l ran ks dee p, the c.12ft spear is far
M inoan a n d M,cenaea n d a gge n;,
h o rn be in g im p racticall y lo n g , bu t is a per fec t weapon eit her fo r
and sw ord !secon d from le ft).
levelling agains t an o p posing" line of in fantry', or fo r d e fence ag ains t Th e left ha nd dagger is fro m
chario ts. In addition , the ligh t tr o ops wh o wo u ld h ave p roved so dead ly C re t .. and Is very ea rly, datin q t c
to a n iso la te d heal')' infan trym an in th e o pen would themseh-es be 0. 2 150-1900 BC , lon g bef or e t he
vulne rabl e if they a ttemp te d contact wi th suc h a fo rm atio n . appearance of the My ce"aea"
civ ilizati on. The two at righ t date
t o t he later Myc en aean period ,
Swords c. 130 0-12oo B C. (Co urtesy
Seco nd only in Importance to the long , heavy spear in th e Mycenaea n Profe ssor Or H- G.Buchho lz)
ar m o u ry was th e swo rd 0 1' pakrm a, of whi ch ab u ndan t
examp les h ave bee n re cove red fro m th e Sh aft Gra ves - in
. /'
~
which eve ry wa rrior was apparen tly equip pe d with ma ny m or e
th a n he would have n ee d ed d uri ng h is life time. All show
.
n o tice abl y fine workmansh ip , whe ther plain, p ra c tica l
exam p les o r richl y d eco ra ted p ieces . T h e e arlies t swords (Typ e ~~, \ !if
I'j" ' III i ,
;()
"
19,
. ,-
,,
.
c:...;
IHi (I 'I'
A) h ave rou nded sh o ul d ers, sh o r t tan gs and p ronoun ce d m id-
ribs: th e fo re bea rs o f th is type are cer tain ly Minoan. Alongs id e
th ese thrus tin g sword s (whi c h h ave bee n confu sin gly
~ H ''Ill,
ifV I.~
described as ' ra p iers') in th e Shaft Graves was fo u nd anothe r I :'t,
:. .of\ 11
kin d (Type B) ; th ese are less wel l repre sen ted than th e forme r, \ I
an d only o n e examp le \\'3.5 foun d in th e earlier C rave Circle B.
Sword Type B has square or point ed sh o uld ers. a lon ger tan g
an d a sh o rter blade . It may h ave deve lo ped from the flange d
V 15
d agger, o f whi ch th e re we re seve ral exam p le s in
the e arlie r Grave Circ le , b u t it ca n also trace its
o ri gin _~ 10 the Ne a r East. A varia nt o f Typ e B is th e
ho rne d thrusti ng sword , the p o inted shoul d e rs
b e in g e x te n d ed to fo r m two h o rns. T h e
cn lcifo rm --sho u ld e red ra pie r also SlTIllS to he
d e rived from Typ e A.
Fro m the begi nnin g of tbe I-lth ce n tury BC a
n ew ~pe o f "wo rd se ems to h ale been favoured ,
perha ps d ue 10 b roade n ing con tac ts with the Near
Ea.st. The o ld th rusting s.....ord continue d in m e
d uri n g th e l-tt h ce n tury BC. b u t was Ix ing
replaced by a two-ed ged slashing swo rd . This new
weapon h as sq ua re ..h o u ld e rs , an d these, as well as
the hi lt . arc fla n ged.. T h e b lad e is b ro ad, with a
widening towards th e tip , and has n o m id-rib . The
ea rlies t examples m ost probably d a te 10 th e second
half of th e l -tth century' BC. T h e a p peara n ce o f
these slashing: swo rd .. i.. evidence fo r a change -h at
Myce n aean heavy infa ntry und e rwent d mi ng rtlt'"
later period, when warriors becam e ligh te r and
m o re m o bile. su~cs l1 ng th a t they fo ugh t in more
open fo rmauons than pT<....-irn c..ly,
Myce naean infa ntry ca rried the ir swo rds in a
scab bard , some times tar...scllcd. wo rn a t the left waist
slung from a sh o ulder belt. This sword served as a
seco ndary weapon for the ea rly h eavy mranuvman;
Fou r exc.avated swo rd s s pa nning it wo ul d h ave beer; usefu l e ither if the spe-odr bro ke. o r afte r th e in itial pus h
the Mycenaea n pe riod. The left of spc<lr h ad inevitably d evelo ped in to a close-quarte r m e lee .
hand example Is t he earty long
thru sting sw ord . The non t two
date t o betw" en e.1400 and Changes from c .1300 BC
c .1200. The s ho rt sw ord at In th e la ter Myccnaea n p e riod the large body sh ields a n d long sp ea rs
botto m is of t he w ldebladed, fell o u t of use . Th e late r Mvr e-nae an _~ I lt' a r lll' f'" :lrll' m u e- h ~ h nrt " r, :<1 1
u nf ulle re d , s las hing type which
around 5--6ft, still tip p ed wi th a soc ke te d spearhead . T h is allowe d it to
was intro duc ed in the later
period . (Cou rte sy Nat ion ..l
he wiel d ed with on c han d , fre e ing the oth er fo r gripping th e shield .
Arehaeol og ical Mu se um , Athens , So m e in fa n try at least (tho u gh p robab ly not at ) we re addi tio nally
and Mu seum of Th ebes) arm ed with a sword , carried a s before ill a leathe r scab bard worn from a
sho u ld e r belt. The la ter swo rds were , as describ ed. design ed m ore for
slash in g than thr ustin g , b ein g sho rt e r and wid e r than those o f the early
period, an d ....'nh no mid-r ib.
Two new patt erns of shield were intro d u ced : th e ro un d sh iel d or
ospis. an d th e 'inverted pelta' . A~ with the earlier typ es, n o rem ain s of
thes e wickerwo rk an d hide sh iel ds have su rvive d . In st ead o f bein g -ul l-
bod y d e fe nces 'wo rn ' by m eans of th e telaman, tbe late r sh iel d s were
ca rried o n the le ft arm. a deve lo p me n t wh ich was carrie d th ro u gh to th e
lan-r hoplilf> period Examples of :n)()p ~ c anying the ro u nd shi el d can
be fo u n d in fresco es from Mycc nae , T lryns a nd Pvlo s. It was large
enough to co ve r ta e to rso o f the wa rrio r. hut a lso m anoe uvra ble e noug h
to use in the in divi d u al co mbats th a t a p p ear to ha ve become mo re
co m m o n in th e late r p eri od. The ce n tre o f th e shi e ld . being- raised ,
wo uld also have ser-ved as a boss, a nd its cu rva ture wo ul d have h elpe d to
16 deflect cnemv bl ows .
F...."'o;o fT"gment depio;ting
" later p eriod warrior with a
roun d Sh ie ld. Since the exact
positlon and lan gth of hi s
w all pon een o nly b e guessed
at. it i$ diffi cu lt to know
wheth er h<! Is a j avelinman
I or a spearman , alt h ou gh the
; presence et a shie ld makes
the la"_ mora likely. ICour1esy
\ Department of Classics.,
University of Cincinnali)
The 'inverted pt'lIa' pa uem was alm ost round b ut had a cu rved cut-
ou t in its lower edge. wnen ca rrie d in front of the bo dy it wo u ld protect
th e warrior 's to rs o, b u t th e cu t-ou t wo ul d allow him to ru n without th e
lower rim of the shield ban ging int o h is upper legs .
With these sma lle r shields ca me a need for body a rmour for th e
heavy in fan try. and co rselets were in troduced fo r Mvcenaean warriors
from c. 1200 BC. Th e re a re some excellent de p ictions of tm o p s
acco u tred in this way o n rb e ~o-r;l llprl '\ V;.J n in T Vas p' a n d 'w a rri o r Src lc '
from Mycc n ac. These co rse lets appea r to have be en mad e of lea th er
wi th co ppe r or bronze sca les sewn on . T he depict ed ...ear ners also wear
lea the r skirts tha t re ac h to m id-thigh, which could a lso be reinforced
wi th bronze scal es. A.hhough (he -nos t notable depictio ns of this dress
com e from Myce nae. severa l o the r sires sh ow rroops sim ila rly eq uipped.
sugges ting that its use was wide spread . 17
The later period also MW the introductio n of grt'a" I '~ fo r infan try, 'Tho> Wa rrior Vauo': _ o f th..
me tal greaves co m ing into vogue a ppa re n tly quite sudde nly in a round most detailed depictions of Late
1200 BC. The ad o ption of m e ta l grean.' s was p ro ba bly linked to the fan M yeenaean soldiery, this va se
s ho w s two units of s pe armen
th a t thro ughout most of th e Mvce naean pe riod me n prot ec ted th e ir legs ....ad ing out o n cam p a ign . T oo
with lea the r ' spa ts' wh e n at wor k in the fields . Th e- bro nze greaves wa rriors o n the side s ho w n
can not ha ve been very effective sinc e th ey were relatively thin, o ne h ere Wear 'horned h e lm ets',
ex ta nt pa ir being only 2mm thick; m ode rn experimen ts have sh own that a n d on t he reverse Is a
.. lm ildrl~ eq uipped Une o f
eve n a thickness o f 3m m can be CUI thro ug-h entire ly with a slashing
w arrio.... wearing ' h e d g e hog
sword . Afte r the m iddle o f the 12th ce ntury BC preaves d isappe ar from h Alrnels '. (Cour1esy Na tional
th e arc haeological record, so it see ms tha t th eir use in the early part of A r<:haeological M u seu m , AthlH1sl
th a t century' was a short-lived e xpe rimen t.
The chara cte ristica lly Mycenaean boar's- tusk he lm e t re ma ined
po pula r in th e la ter period , bu t new pauerns were also introduced .
These arc kn o.... n as the ' horne-d h f'lm e t' an d the 'h edge ho!( helmet ',
bo th terms being d erived from th e he lm eu' depicted appe arance . As we
have no su rviving examples of these helm ets th e details of the ir
co nstructio n a re unclear. Il is likel y, howev-er, that the )' we re formed
from hard lea the r. Bo th the ' horn ed ' a nd the ' hed ge hog' hel me t a re
wo ru by the o therwise id entically dresse d warriors portrayed o n the so-
18 called "Var rior Vase' fro m .vrycenac, which is dated to about 1200 BC.
The 'h o rn e d ' he lmet h as p roj ections at front an d rear wh ich come
d own to protect th e b ro w an d the nape o f th e n eck , and an o th e r is
drawn d own to protect th e temp le. There is also a c u rio us p roj ection o n
to p of th e helme t, sim ila r in p ro file to a n axc hcad , 10 wh ich a flowing
p lume is affix ed . The h elmet ta kes its n ame fro m th e fac t that two th in ,
curved h orns are sh o wn a ttac h ed :0 th e fro nt. \\ne ther o r not the
'h edge h o g ' h elm et was actuall y covere d with the spincd ski n of the
One of a pai r of bro....e grea..-
an ima l is im possib le to know, but there is n o rea l reaso n to dismiss the
found in a t omb in ~ . It id ea . The d ep ictio ns o f it on the Wa rri or Vase show it as being o f simple
has noles aro und t ne edges con ica l sh ape and con-red with sh ort sp ikes.
through whtc:h bronze w ires It is o n ly from the la ter peri o d th a t evide nce is fo u nd fo r the
were th readed fM attac: hment.
~Iyccn aean warrior using footwear. TIle so ld iers d e p ic ted on the
tt d ales t o the e nd of the
"'ye enae.an period. d"ri ng t l>e
,rarrior Vase have cr oss-hatching on th e ir fee t. su ggestin g that they ale
12th century BC. lCooartn'l' wearing sa n d als. T hi s is su pported by the dis covery at Mallia o t a m ode!
Frofes SOl' Dr H..Q.B ud'lhotzl of a sa n dalled fool.
20
stre ngth under ten sile and compressivc forc es which provid es a hi~hly Thl$ t 6th eentury BC g old
e tncre nt transfer of the e ne rgy stored in m e fully drawn bow. slg nel ..... ., bea n the only
known depict io n 01 a Mycenaean
T he wooden se lf how is th e simplest and old es t fo rm . Since the
bow-anned chariote-er. This is
earliest direct evide nce for woode n bows and arrow shahs da tes to the a hunting see ne , however, and
late Uppe r Pa laeol ithic pe riod (before c. 1O,550 BC) in Euro pe, a nd a $ $ u<:h s hould not be regarded
possibly to th e C ppt~ r Palacolithic an d Na tufian pe riods (c.l 0,550-8,0':,0 as evi dence that this c ombination
BC) in the Leva nt, we can he sure tha t they were also th e first type used . lIS use d iro My c en aea n
in II H" A pgf' ;l1l , a nrl probabl y r-ame in to II S~ rh e-re <'1 1about the sam e t.me . . lI rlare. (Courtesy National
Are haeol09l c al Mu seum , Athens)
T he sh ort wooden how is difficult to shoo t well, since sma ll variatio ns
in draw le ngth lead to a great variation in arrow flight and velocity. A
wooden lon gbow, measuring 6ft or m ore, sh oots bette r an d mo re evenly,
but because o f its len gth im po ses a relative lack of manoeuvrability on
the arc her. It is therefore llO accide n t that the appearance of a mo re
accu rat e, re liable and manoeuvrable t}VC- the composite bow - can he
clearly do cum ente d soon after the in trod uction of equid-d rawn carts in
Meso p otam ian war fare ill the m id 3rd m illennium BC, an d following
the appearan cc of h ors e-drawn chario ts in Egyp t an d the Levant a
thousand yea rs late r. It is worth noting here that the sin gle depiction wc
have in Myccnacan an of a n archer/ chario t co m bination is date d to this
vel)' pe r iod (i.c. 16th ce ntury BC) , an d comes fro m an elite grave at
Mycc n ac. T h is may te ll us two th ings.
Firs tly, assumi ng th a t the Mycenaeans ac tua lly use d this combination ,
even if only fo r hu n tin g. it shows tha t th ey were fam iliar with th c latest
tech nologi cal inuovatiu ns wh ich we re occurring in the contempora ry
cultures of Egyp t a nd th e Levan t. Although the hfycenaean depictio n
shows th e bow-armed chariot in a stag hu nt, at thi s time it was already
be ing used m mant' in war fa re by th e Egyptians a nd I Ivksos. 21
~ m p l e" of early Myeenaean
-"7 m
'" '" JU JU Jio" "-
m m
Am
A ,..
'"
JY ~ .l9 ~ m 'x
'"
Secondly, sin ce the bow-ar m ed chariot wa s historically cor uem-
po ra neo us with the com po site bow, fo r r eas ons noted above. it suggests
tha r the Mycenacan ch a rio t bowm an W<l S a rm ed wi th a com pos ite bow.
(This also sh o ws how q uick th ey were to ad o pt the latest ,..eapons.)
The co mposite bow, when fu lly d rawn, tak es a sem i-circular curve
th ro ugho u t its le ngth . .Allowing for th e sim p licity of this d epict ion, the
h ow <:. h n ",'" on it is only h alf drawn, b ut looks as if it .....ould beco m e se m i-
circular when fully d rawn . funher in creasin g th e likelih ood th a t it is
supposed to be a com posite bow. Th e large grip vi sible o n thi s depictio n
i s also a feature charact e ristic of composite bows a nd not foun d o n plain
woode n stave bows.
The Siege Rhyto n from Myce nae also shows bowmen. It is mo re
22 difficult to suggest the type of how thes e warriors are using, du e to the vcry
san p ltsuc uea une ut. TI U:: <-!C<l.ICM uuc b IUllg e n o ug;l to 1:0<" a sln gle-etave
long bow. The fact tha t the bowmen are naked and in loo se form at ion
s llggesL~ tha t they are poor irregular troo ps who would presuma bly ann
themselves with the chcapcst rcpc of weapon, the self bow.
The arche r portrayed on an inlai d dagge r from the sa me grave as the
above two artefacts is rela tively detai led an d less abstracted tha n th e
other d ep icti ons, but de te rminin g the type o f bow shown i..still difficult.
What is immediately noticeable is that it is quite small, whi ch in itself is
an ind ication th at it is supposed to be a co mposite bow. The curve of the
00...., although only half dra....'n . also loo ks like th a t of a co m po site bow,
making this the mos t likely type . T his suggests that th e mo re ' regula r'
skirmis hcr bowm en such as th is one migh t haw be en better a rm ed with
compo site bows than th eir poorer. irregu la r com rades; it is even po ssible
that the se bows were issued by th e palace milita ry organ ization .
Turning to th e arro ws the mselves. the re is ample evide nce in the
form of su bstan tial finds of arrowheads in several Myccna ca n s.tes.
Alth ough bronze arrowheads became wid espread with th e developmen t
Developmerot of A egearo
of bro n ze-working tech n ol ogy. Flint an d obsidia n a rrowh eads -
arrowhead s, diagram o f types ,
presumably relatively cheap e r a nd more ex pendable - contin ued to be EH/EM = 2500-2150 BC
used alongside bronze down to abo ut 1400 BC. MH/MM = ' 1~ _ 1 f'i,f'i,n RC
Unfortunately, a rrowheads ca nno t be used to form a chronological LHlLM I . 1 55~1500 se
t:.p olot,')' on the basis of their fo rms. in the way tha t po tte ry. fo r e xample, LH /LM 11 .. 15 0 0-1400 BC
LHlLM III A= 140 0-1 3 0 0 BC
ofte ll ca n . H istorical a nd e thnographic evide nce has shown that it was
lHILM III B " 13 00-1 200 BC
usua l fo r mili tary archers to ca rry seve ral d ifferent typ es of a rr o ws in LHILM III C " . 200-11 00 BC
their quivers a t on ce, so tha t they cou ld use heavy OiITOWS a t short ra nge (Cou rtesy Profe ssor Dr
to pierce a rm our; or lighter a rrows to ha rass an ene my a t lon g ran ge . H-G,B u e h helz)
Pre-Pottery
N eo lithic I
Ceramic
N eolithic
EH /EM
MH/MM
,,
,
lH/lM I
lH/lM IT
lH/lM illA
~~~~ ~~ !j
lH/LM ill B ~~ 4
lH/lM ill C 1 Ij I
Types:
23
I
.-
Tan ged projecti le po int s. Th ese Becau se flint co n tinue d to be use d for a rro whea ds even when th e me of
were simply c ut fro m bronze bron ze was wides pread . it is a lso unconvincin g to crea te a ch ro nology o n
plate, <In<! thus would h Oll Y,", been
the basis of wh a t arr o ws we re made of. The o nly rema ining m ea ns o f
economical to produc e In large
n umber.>. The two ~ st po;nb
de termin ing th e relative age o f a -rowh ead s is th ro ug h strarigraphic
may be lig ht j avel in !le ads. dating {i.c. the sol level in wh ich the a rtefac t wa s fo und }, and suc h
(C The Tr\.<sl ees of the British reco rd s a r e often in com p le te . Attemp ts to di stin guish betwe en
Museuml arrowheads a nd poi n ts assu me d to be j avelin head s fo und in th e same
asse m blage. solely 0 11 the bas is of a rbitrary' size and weigh t lim its, must
also be avoided in the abse nce of supportin g e vidence.
whe the r made fr om bron ze or stone , t he re are thre e basic m ethods
by which Aegean arr owheads were fixe d to th e shafts: by mean s o f a
tan g, a recesse d base o r a so cke t Natu rally, sockc red a rrowheads are
onlv made fro m metal, sin ce the sockcting of he ads \\'<\5 ma de possible
by adva nces in m eta l cas ting techniques. Tanged and reces sed-based
arrowhea ds a re found in both bro nze a nd sto ne examp les. T hese types
of a r ro wheads see m to have been sign ifica ntly mo re nume ro us tha n the
socken- d v :.I n p'}" pe rh ap s fo r eco nom ic re ason s, U nlike so ckct ed
arrowheads, which had to be cast in special moulds, ranged or r ecessed-
ba se arro wheads were sim ply cu t o ut of bron ze pla te.
One o f th e earliest types o f a rro wh ead ....'as also the lo ngest-used .
T hese were made from bro n ze pla te . tria ngular, ....i th a v-shaped
rec essed base whic h formed ba rbs when at ta ch ed to the shaft This type
2. was use d fro m c. 2~OO BC right down to th e e nd of the Myce nacan
The 'o altlft ,n thft Gl ftn' nng t ro m
Mycenae, 16th c ent ury BC, Thi s
is an interesting c omposit ion,
show ing tw o swordsme n In
c omba t wh il e .. spe arm an
remains on thfl d flt fln Sn.. behind
h is to_ shie ld . Note th<!'
prom in en c e g iven to tile c entral
sw ord sman figu re. Th is sc ene
may relate to a long-lost myth
or evenL (Courtesy National
Archaeological Museum, Athen s)
period. It is perhaps no coincidence that this was one of the o ld est and
lo nges t-servin g bronze l}pes, since it .....ould have been th e eas iest to
produce in large n u mbers, and th us the most suitable fo r large scale
issue to soldie rs.
It m igh t he logi cal to su p pose tha t th e cas t b ro nze a rr owheads which
ca me into use fmm abou t 1500 BC onwards wou ld haec be e n e mployed
ma-nly by th e upper classes o f warriors. In fact , however, mos t of th e flint
an d o bsidian arrowhe ads kno wn to us .....ere fo u nd in the \'el")' ric h buri a s
o f elite wa rrio rs. Sto ne a rr owheads fell ou t of use afte r a bout 1100 BC.
27
F~ from ~os. 13th century Th e evidence from th e Mvcenaean world , ho weve r, con tradict... this
Bc., d ep icting a skinnish attitude; it even see ms th a t lig h t swo rd sme n actually enjo yed hi gher
~ Myeena~ tight
status th a n the speannen of th e line , be in g regarded as 'ch am p ions '
Infa mry and ba ~ '.
Th is shows the Pyli;on 1igh1
(promarhm). In Mycenaean depictions light infantrv are portrayed with
inf antrymen in very unifonn respect fo r th eir bravery, an d given a promine nce that $ugges b that they
d ~S. The s lTaps acroaa t heir wer e an integral pa rt of the army as a whole.
chests ani for the sword An other and sim ila r depiction of this type of light in fantrym a n ca n
scabbard , and note dult on e
be see n on the so-called 'Battle in th e Gle n ' rin g. Like the previous
c arries a spear. The 'k il U, ' ha ve
a bl ac k over1ay, p roba bly of exam pl e, it co m es fro m a Shaft Grave at Mycenae an d is dated to the
leath er. See Plate F. (Co urtasy second half of th e l fith ce ntury BC. H er e too a swordsman is de picted
Department of Class ic s, in a heroic lig ht. Th e sce ne sh ows, on the left, a fa llen man - no weapon
Un "'er slty of Cincinn;otl) o r anTum r i~ visible , bu t he is p robably a warrior. A ce ntral fig ur e i'l
arm ed wi th what ap pea rs to be a sho rt swo rd or lo ng dagger, a nd wea rs
a kilt and a bo a r's-tu sk hel me t. This warri o r is about to stab anothe r
swordsma n , who i> kneeling and trying to sta b hi!> atta cker wit h a lo ng
stra igh t swo rd; thi , m an also wea rs a helmet, though it does n o t appear
to be of th e boar 's-tusk t}pe. At far righ t is a heavy in fan trym an wi th a
28 towe r sh ield, long spear and boa r's-tusk helmet. adopting a defe nsive
postu re. This S(."(.'II{' is Int eresti ng in th at it sh ows ( WO ligh t infantrymen
in combat against on e an o ther with th e heavy infantrym an m o re o r less
on th e sidelines.
Due to th e specific su bj ec t ma tte r o f th is scene , it p ro bably d e p icts a
lo ng-lo st sto ry o r myth ; h oweve r, it is still a \'er;- use ful d e p ictio n of
\ l ycenaean light in fa n try. It sh ows th a t they co u ld wear h el mets, a nd if
so-ne rea lly di d wear th e boar's-rus k typ e it re in fo rces th e id ea th a t th ese
troo ps ha d a relatively h ig h status. Tha t th ey wear helmets bu t d o not
carry sh ields is in kee p in g with th e ne eds of th e ligh t in fa n trym a n to
have so me protection while needing ( 0 re ma in lightly equ ipped a nd
mobil e . T h e p resen ce o f a h e avy in fantrym an in th e sce n e fu rther
sup ports th e like lih ood th a t ligh t in fa n try worked in su p port of a n d in
conj u nction wi th heavy in fan try, It a lso sh ows tha t ligh t In fa n-rv
sometimes con fron ted each other, wh ich is understan dable if both . .ides
Mere us ing the sa me tactical doctr ine .
T he we apons shown in the hands of these wa r rio rs a re also
characterist ica lly Mycenaean , i.e. the lo ng, straigh t stabbi ng sword an d
th e sturdy dagger o r short sword . It m ay even be possibl e to id entify the
swo rd types used in th e se d epictions fro m actual examples. For exa mple.
the long , straigh t sworrl h eld by th e kneeling warrior in rh c Battle in th e
Glen ring cou ld he th e so-ca lled Sandars Type A, o nc of whi ch was
ac tually found in th e same gra\'c circl e as th e ring , a n d is of
conte m porary d a te, The swo rd being wielded by the swo rds ma n O il th e
cylin d e r seal fro m th e Sh aft Grave has a ye ry dis tinctively sh a ped h ilt ,
which looks \'ery' close to th a t o f the Sandars Type CII swo rd. H oweve r.
(his presents a ch ro nological p ro b lem: m e CIl swo rd is date d to around
1400 BC, whereas the seal is from th e se co n d half of th e 16th ce n tury'
BC. Perh aps th is seal is evidence th at th is pa llt' nI o f swo rd was
in trod u ced m u ch earlier th an was p revi o u sly tho ugh t. TI le type o t's hort.
wide-blad e d d agger with wh ich th e other swo rd sm an o n th e Ba ttle in th e
Glen ri ng is armed was a co mmo n Myce n aca n weilpo n , as a ttested by
n um ero us fin d s in th e Aegean regi on.
A th irrl p n",,,,ih lf' j'x;\m pll' o f rhi ", r}lw o f wa rri o r i s rle p iCl e rl 011
ar- cuhcr 161h centu ry cylinder seal fro m Mvceuae , al th o ug h - sin ce he is
d epi cted fig h ting a lio n - h e is stric tly speak in g a h.uuer ra th er th a n a
warrio r. H oweve r, h e is a rm ed and dresse d ex a ctly th e sam e as the
parallel ex am pl es discussed above . He is not weari n g a helm e t. Like th e
r ing d isc usse d above , th is scene p robably relat es to z story or myth , and
th is id ea is supported by the d epiction o f a very sim ila r sce n e o n a n
ivory m ir ro r h a ndle fro m aro und 1200 BC. T h e similari rv o f the pose of
both man an d lio n in bo th de p ictio ns, th ou gh [OUT cen tu ries ap art, is
striking. Alternatively, th e lio n may be a sym bol of ' the e n e my'.
Tactic a l implications
T he most like ly tactica l me o f such sword sm e n as d epicted on the Shaft
G rave goo ds was as a kind o f ligh t infarrrrv wh ich foughc aga in sl, a nd in
conjunction with , th e h e avy in fa nt ry. T h ey see m to haw h eld a relat ively
h ig h sta tus , partly bec ause they went in to battle wi th out shields and too k
on heavy in fa n try (an d, most likel y, c hariot" too ) . They wo ul d h aw been
most e ffe c tive if ga th e red in fa irly large u n it" in a lo ose , ye t o rganize d
forma tion. Xot being 'sc re e n ing' troo ps like skirmish crs, they wo uld
n eed to be in massed units in o rd e r ( 0 h aw enough solid ity a n d impetus 29
El engage effe ctive ly in melees wtrh heavier infa ntry, T h ey would have
been extremely effect ive against disorde red hcaw in fa n try'. breaking
into the lauer's form a tion and cutting it apart. If hcavv infanuv were
f.cei ng. a tim el y rush by a fresh unit of light swo rdsm en wo u ld be ab le
to outrun th e m with le th al re sults. Another like ly deploym ent mig h t
have bee n to guard the Fla nks ofthe main hea w infan try battle lin t' from
en e my attac ks - one o f th e main h istorical ro ll' s o f light in fan t ry, both in
Orcc cc a nd els ewh ere , sin ce a closely ordered bat tle lin e of heavy
infantry' is inh eren tly vulnera ble to flan k attack. III su mmatio n , u.c sc
s....o rd sm en wo uld have p layed an importan t ro le in ~lyc en aeall war fare,
wh ich m ay also expla in their p romi nence in the a rt istic record.
Jav e li nmen
Bes id es swo rd sm en , th e so-cane d 'Ca p tain o f th e Blacks ' fresc o from
Myccnacan Knossos sh ows a no ther t)PC of lig h t infantry - j aveli nmen.
The fr esco fra gment sh ows a runulng ma n in th e u sual mal e Flesh colou r
of redd ish-bro wn , but also th e u p p{'r leg" o f an oth er nian with black skin ,
as well as a fr agment of th e latter's hea d. Sir Anh ur [van s, excavator of
Knossos . saw th e brown (i.e . Gree k) war-rio r as the offi cer o f what h e
be lieve d 10 have h t' c'!l a li n s- o f Afri c a n m e rc enaries. h e n ce rh e n ame
given to th e fresco ,
h was co m mo n in a n cie n t wa rfa re for j avel inmeu to ca rry two light
javelins (Mvce n a ean . pil laja) . The main figure 011 th e fresco carries j us t
such a pair of ligh t javelins and this. coupled with h is lack of an y
armo ur, id entifies h im as a light in fa ntrym an. Be in g so armed h e could
tech n ically b e a skirm ishcr: but th e a ppeardnce o f th e bl ack-skin ned
ma n 's te g dose behm d h im , weari ng a sim ila r ki lt a nd in the sam e pose ,
sugg ests that the two a rc p art o f z. unit and in an o rd ered form at ion ,
Th e black warrio r show n on [he fre sco fragm ent is gene rally cal led a
Nubi a n m erce n ary. Ap a r t from 11'.(' skin co lo u r, the o ther r eason fo r
this is the t.....o feathers wh ich can he se e n in th e ha.r of bo th the G reek
a nd the African be hi nd h im. Some have in te rpret ed the warriors as
wea ri n g a ' h ri <,rly h al ' with horns, bUI lh is lo o ks ra th e r mo re like the
warrior's hair; ancient depictions o f Nubians do not sh o w them " 'caring
h orned h a ts. but e ithe r le a rn er caps o r head bands wi th one o r two
stan d in g feathers. Nubians wore re n own ed as good light tr o o p s an d
were e m p loye d as me rce n ari es by th e Egyptians. T h e most likely
inter p re tati o n of the fres co is th erefore th at it shows a u n it of Xuhian
javchu m en . wean n g native headd re ss a long with a Myce n acan kilt.
'i h ey arc le d b y a Gree k officer, wh o wears th e Nu b ia n feathers as a
bad ge of h is uni t an d 10 tden ufy h im a s th e ir o ffi cer.
The re is a lso a n o th e r obscure fresco fragme nt from ~ I rcenac.'an
Kno ssos (c a lled b} Eva n s 'Wa r rio n; H ur ling j avelins'} , showing what are
probably j aveli n -armed ligh t in fa n try. T here arc several sim ilarit ies
be tween this and the fr e sco discussed above, wh ich in rlica re tha t j avelin -
a rmed liHh t infantry we re a n actual troo p typ e , n il' two frescoe s a rc.'
pain ted qui re d iffere ntly, sh ow ing that th ey d o n o t co me from th e same
sce ne. Some o f th e: war ri o rs in the \ \'arno rs H urlill t{ j avelins fresc o are
wearin g white ' n e cklaces ' o f the same tn)e a s th e Capta in of th e Blacks,
an d all arc wea ri ng til l' sa m e kil t. T h ey are portrayed in a rather de nsely
pa cked u n it, hurling j avel in s upwa rds at abo ut a l:l----deg ree angle,
30 p ossibly a t an e lle m y banlemem o r perh a p s over tin.' h ead .. of o ther
infantry. T h e re is also what can only be an officer standing with a lo ng
staff o r- javelin. All th is su ggests th at th ey are ligh t infan try of the same
Mvcen ae a n troo p type as the suppose d Nubians; however, they a re not
Africans but a G ree k unit.
CHARIOTRY
The Greeks were quick to adopt th e chariot for IL'e in warfa re. In th e
16th ce ntury BC. m-er little more tha n a hund red years , th e spoked-whcct
wa r chario t became fam iliar in a n area extending from Greece 10 Ind ia ,
and fro m south RIL,,-, ia to Egyp t. TI le apparent abruptness of ti lls
widespread appearance. a nd th e d OS{' ,i m i1:l riry in fn nn berwe en chario ts
over the whole area at the beginning of the La te Bronze Age. has long
encouraged the view tha t th e ir sp read m us t be atrrib u red \ 0 a specific
people. In fact, thi s was th e seco nd , nOI the first na ge in a process of
innova tio n a nd diffusion in wh ich ~ any fa ctors ar e still obscu re .
Wh at we do kno w is that the fully d evelo ped war chario t is sho wn o n
severallate 16t h ce n tu ry BC gravesto nes fro m Myccnac, as we ll as on a
ri n g fo und in one of th e Shaft Graves. Llns IS r o ug hly the same time th a t
it a ppea re d in Egypt. Although most probably d iffused from th e v ea r
East a fte r the Middle Bronze Age (c. 192>0-1550 BC) , as a result of
xtyce nae's likely tra d e co ntacts with tha t re gio n , no single e thnic o r
linguistic group see ms to haw bee n the m aste r innovator in the history
uf ho rse-drawn chariotry in the Near Eas t. In te resti ngly, unlike most
Mvccn aean mili ta ry .r-chnn lngy. ' he ch<'l riOl does not seem to have com e
to th e m ainla nd via Cre te . but th e ot her way a round; it was not u nt il th e
mid- Ifith ce ntury.' BC th a t it appea rs o n th a t island , listed on th e
Mycc naean Linea r B tablets.
i. .
;.-
A
B ~-"--
EARLY MISSILE TROOPS , 16th- 15th CENTURIES BC
1: Regular arche r, 16th century BC
2: Irregu lar slinger, 16th cent ury BC
3: Nub ian mercenary javeli nman , 1 45O-~'<7'_ .
, .- -.
c
D
PYlIAN 'U
GHT INFAN
f
, c.1250--1200 TRY & 'BA R BARIAN S'
--
. _ BC
. light
eS
3: ~ <~'---
r; "' 1-(
"""""""
\ i
'
F
"
~.
RAIL CHARIO
I: Charlou- T. e.1 2S0-1 150BC
2: Spearman
G
1: Mounted_warrioc. (;:1200 BC
i: Mycena&a n woman
H
randomly is important to the understan d ing of the use of th e cha rio t in
:'o.1}"cenaean warfare. Alth ough no one can cred ibly argue that c ha riots
were not used m masse in the contempora ry armies of the Near East.
man y have a rgu ed that th e}' could not have been used in a similar ....-ay
in Greece. o n the grounds tha t Gree ce 's terrain is too mountain ous to
accom moda te tactics developed on the broad, flat plains of th e Xear
East. This argumen t is u nconvincing for several re-asons.
It is true th at chariots only work effe ctively on relatively open ground;
bu t a study of the topograph y surround ing important Mycenacan and
Minoan centres shows that they all bord e r plains. Mycenae and Tiryns t 3th centuly BC fresco from
have the Argive Plain . P)'IO!i the Messcn ia n Plain . Phaestos the Plain of PyIos showWig a dual chariot in
use On the later period. Although
Messara , and so forth. These level areas d id not h avc to be as large as
those of th e Nea r East to be suitable ba ttlegrounds, be cause the armies
Involved would o nly have ta ken up a rela tively limited a mount of spACe.
appea .... _ lightly _n..
of an ok! type, this e:um ple
b ucteo!
than earty dual c hariots; perhaps
While th e Myce naea ns had im mediate access to am ply-sized plains just it w as now used more for
outside the gates of th eir citadels, the fact remains that these plain s were transporting infantry than
c harg ing - the spearmlln
still ge nerally rougher, rocki er and mo re broke n than those of th e Nea r
marching behind the ch.ariot is
East. H owever. the Mycenacans evidently did not le t this stop the m fro m the kind of warrior who would
w ing massed cha riots; the y simply made their chariots heavier and more ride in it. Note the waisted tunics
robust than the-ir ligh t Egyp tian and Near Eastern conte m po ra ries. The c n.r-rteri3tH; of cMpOc;ti0n5 of
l a t ~ tn>op$: and the
Aegean chari ot, fro m its earliest d epictions at .\treenae in the 16th
boa.....tusk helmets., both wittI
cen tury BC and through ou t the Myce naean period, kept the fou r-spoked
neck guards, one with a knob at
....h eels seen on other cha riots . but made the m stronge r and more robust, the ape" aod one with a curved
a ch aracte ristic visible when con-pared with, for insta nce, Egyptia n tusk. (Courtesy Department of
cha riots. The draug ht pol e was strengthened by a wooden suppor t with Cl assics, University of Cincinnati)
41
\
Fragments of a cera mic vessel c ross-b rac ing. It is possible tha n this cha ra c te ristically Ae gean sec o nd
from Tiryns,late 12 th cent ury shaft ex te nd ed bac kwards as an in teg ra l pa rt of th e struc ture of the
BC, appa re ntl y showing , a il
cab. If the se ch ari ots had only be en em ployed to drive the e lite alo ng
c hll r iots. In the ch ariot t o the
tight, part of an infantrym an with
th e Mycenaean ro ad system, there would have been no ne ed fo r
a round shield and $pellr ca n such stre ng th en in g.
De se en ri ding with th e dri ller. Th ro ug hout th e Myccnaean p e riod o nl y the two-h o rse c ha rio t was
These were t he last type of use d , but va rio us types a re di stinguish able. The ea rliest typ e that
My<;:en aean c hariot to '" ap pear.; in th e Myce nacan perio d is te rm ed the box ch a rio t, who se
IISeCl and were o f t he l>ghl est
c onstruction. (Courtesy NaupUa
period o f use was c.1550-H 50 BC. It is so named be ca use th e cab was
Museu m) bas ically box-shaped. ha ving a more or less rectangular p rofil e . Its side s
rose u p to h ip hei ght o r so m ewh a t lo we r and wer e covered ....tith
sc re e ni n g m a te ri al . po..."ihly wir-ke-rwo. rk . Al t h o ugh this type of c hariot is
of orienta l origin, its proto types appearin g o n Syri an seals o f the
18th- 17th centuries BC. it a lready displays typica lly Aegean fea tu re s.
The d ual ch ari o t, used c.1450--1200 BC (with possible ex te nsio ns at
ei ther e nd o f that tim e ran ge ) , is so nam ed be cause its cab co nsis ted o f
two d istinct parts: the cab proper, and cu rved exte nsions o r 'wings' ad d ed
to th e sides at the rear. The floo r was Dehaped, p robably being m ade of
inte rwoven leather thongs which would have served as a kind o f
suspension syste m fo r the occ upan ts. The sid ing extended around the
fron l a nd sides and ro se to appro ximately hip he ight. The curved side
proj ections may have mo re clums ily served the sam e p urpose as the
sweeping handrail fo u nd o n Egyptian chariots. T hese wo uld have been o f
great assistance both in mou nting the chariot, and as guards from the
whH'l ~ sh ould the horses at any mome n t turn o r back. unexpected ly. In
addition they may have acted as 'mudguard..' against flying sto nes and
d UL The sides and win gs were covered by som e so n. 0: screening: ma terial
such as lea th e r o r line n. Doc uments d escribe these chario ts as being
painted vario us shades o f red, some be ing deco rated ....ith ivo ry inlay.
A ra re typ e of cha rio t, known only from on e o r two ca rved
42 r epresen ta tio ns, is termed the q uadrant chariot; its representatio ns date
to c. l4tlQ-.- l:r/5 KG. Un like other Myce naean ch ariots th is type is only
shown ca rryi ng o ne occupan t- T h is co u ld m ea n that it was not used in
war. It appears to have had a D ehaped floor like th e d ua l chariot. Its
siding consisted o f what were p ro bably h eat-bent rail s. the roun de d
profile ap proach ing the qua d rant of a circle. like the o ther chario ts its
sides r ose to ap p roxi mat ely h ip h eight and we re cove red with scre ening.
TI lt" I" "T 'lpp of \ lyce n aean chario t to a p pear was th e rail ch ariot,
da ted fro m c. 1250 BC d o wn to 1150 BC. Its cab co uld h o ld two o ccu pants
ab re ast. This was a n ex tremel y ligh t ve h icle, its sides co m p nsm g an
ope n framewo rk o f rai ls rising to appro xim at ely h ip h eigh t, with a
rou n ded p rofile.
bee n listed. The Pytos table ts list 20 corsele ts; and in ad ditio n, the Pyla s
corselet id eograms have a triangul ar shape o n to p of them. This loo ks
like a he lm et, an d the Pylas table ts ac tually m ention h elmets alo n g wi th
th e corselets.
A clu e as to the use of the Knossos co rsele ts m a}' he fo und in th e fact
that eac h of those tablets is in troduced by a man 's name, a nd itemises
corselets, wheeled ch ariots and horses. This strongly suggests that the
corsel ets we re worn by at least some chariot-ho me w-arri ors. Eigh t of the
table ts list 'one corse let ' and 14 list ' 1\\'0 co rsele ts'. Th is could mean eith er
that some men were issued with two co rselet>; fo r th em selves, or that some
me n were issued with o ne corselet for th emselves plus o ne for the ir drive r;
Those crews who did no t pos.'ieSS a ~ll i l ()f hron l~ annom- (presu mably th e
majority) wore minimal dothing typical of ea rl}' Mycenaea n warriors,
consisting of a cloth kilt-like garmen t and hare upper body
Later chariotry
As with all of th e oth er Myce naean troo p types. in the la te r period th e
Myce nacan chariot beca me lig hte r and more mo bile . Th e previous
heavy box chariot and d ual ch a riot !{ave way to the lig-ht r ail chario t,
wh ich a ppe are d in th e 13th centu ry BC.
The a ppearance of th is new style of ch ariot acco m pa nied a major
cha nge in the tactical rote of ~Iyce n ae-.m cha rio t!"}'. Un like in th e ea rly
period, ch ariot-bo rn e wa rriors we re now expected to dism o unt to Ctght..
ma kin g them in effect m o unted infantry, This can be see n by th eir
eq uip men t. wh ir h beca me the sam e as that o f the in fa n try - a sho r t
spear, hel m e t, body a rmo ur, kilt , greaves. and a round sh ield . A fresco
from Pylos also shows a som ewhat lighter ch ariot-home wa r rior who
wears th e cloth tunic in place of bo dy ar m o ur. These changes refl ect th e
mor e mobile n at ure of warfa re in th e la ter period . Such a fo r ce wou ld
have been useful for rushi ng tr oop'" to a reas wh ich had come u nder
48 sudden a ttack, as well as fo r la un ching such a ttacks.
CAVA LRY
The rroop type fo r ;vh ich there is th e least evidence is eavall)', of which our
knowledge is limi ted to what can be gleaned from a handful of pottery
fragmcn ns. Thes e date to the cud of the ~f )'c t'nacan period. givi ng so-n e
ind icatio n of the spread of the an of h o rse- rid in g: to Greec e . As regards
dre ss, o n e rel.uivelv de tailed d epic tio n fro m Mvce nae sh ows the
cavalrym a n wt":l.I; nl~ h'TP'I'l:l"S, th e familia r la te p e riod tu n ic, a n d wha t
a ppe ars to he upper-body armour. Stirrups were as yet un known , saddlery
hein g: in its infancy. The h o rse was fitte d with a sad d le pro ba bly consisting
of little m o re than a pa dded blanket. Th e re ins a nd bridle were probably
rela tively developed owin g to the long trad ition of chariotrv in Mvccnaea n
G reece. Exam p les of b its h ave be e n fo u nd , al t.h o u gh whether th ey come
from saddle hors es or chariot horses is un known .
lhc role of sad d le horses in !.Iyce naea n war fare is a matte r io r
co nje ctu re, sinc e no depictions or descriptio ns or co m ba t involvi n g
cava lry a re kn own . No wea po ns Gm he see n in the few d e p ic tions.
Altho ugh this mi ght be ta ken as evi de n ce tha t th ese war rio rs did not
carry spears or javelins , it ca nnot be said for sure that they were no t
a rm ed with swo rds. Due to the highly stylized and fragm e nt a ry na tu r e of
l h t' p ictorial e vide nc e, as we ll as th e unfam ilia r s u bjec t fo r th e ar tist, th e
swo rd may have been omitted as it was h id de n by the figure 's righ t side
(the de pictio ns show the figures facing to the ir left) .
If they di d carrv a sword , it is possible tha t these warriors fough t a..
cavalry, H oweve r, it is equally possible th at the warriors sh own mounted
re prese nt a class who . alth o ugh not rich o r prestigio us e noug h to 0\\1\ a
cha rio t, could affo rd a horse to ca rry the m aro u nd rathe r tha n walking.
T he third possibility is tha t these warriors co nstituted a force of
m oun ted infant ry, This wo uld tie in to th e evid ence tha t som e char iots
in th e later peri od we re also des ign ed simply for swift transpo rt. Such a
force wo uld have been p art icu la rly suite d to respo nd ing to the kind of
raids th at see m to have been oc cu rring in the late r pe riod .
50
arou nd the m. O n th e flanks of th e ma in battle lin e wo uld have been o ther
ligh t infa ntry such as j avclinm e n and mo re swordsme n . The skir mishers ,
being scre e ning troops ~. na ture, would have b een deploye d in their
loose fo rm at ions across th e fro nt of the a nn}', from wh ere th ey could
scree n th e troops behind th e m fro m o pposing m issile fire a nd hara....\ the
enemy with the ir O\\-TI arro....'S and sling bulle ts.
The heavr c b ario try of the earl ie r period, also organized inro one o r
more uni t.. (d e pe nding o n how many we re fiel ded ) , could conce ivably
have been d eployed in any of three "'-aY's : either in front of the heavy
in fa nt ry, beh ind them , o r 0 11 th e flanks. The first would h ave allowed
the cha riots to c harg e dire ctly int o either th e e nemy ch ariots o r heavy
infa ntry. This does no t seem likely, since it wo uld involve cha rging
fro mally agains t we ll o rd ere d spca m le n o r c har iots. Chariots see m to
ha ve been most effect ive agai n st diso rdered o r o utflan ke d troops - the
Hini tcs and eve n the approxim ately co n te m po rary Ch in ese used th em
in th is way.
If the chario ts were depl oyed beh in d the main battl e line th ey could
ha ve be en use d to de liver th e cou,fJ de grace after the heavy in fantry and
swords me n bad done their wo rk of brea king up and disor de rin g: the
enelllY line. Th e re is a p roblem with th is, h o weve r: how wo uld fri cudlv
infa ntry he able (0 get out of the way of th eir mm cha riots cha rging: from
beh ind th e m ? On the o th er hand , sho uld fri end ly in fa n try p ut th eir
oppone nts 10 nighl a nd cre a te a g".tp fo r th eir cha rio ts, th e la tter would
have been very usefu l fo r pursuing th e fleeing foot.
The third possibility, that of the chariots being de ployed o n o ne o r
both of th e fla nks, would have given them th e o pporruniry to de feat th e
ene my's flan k troops and turn the flan k of h is main battle line . Th is
therefore seems th e m ost probable use of h eavy chariots in tactical
warfare. In deed, at the battle of Kadesh (1300 BC) the H ittite chario ts
struck th e first blow of the battle b; charging th e unguarded flan k of o ne
of the Egyp tian divisions.
The point of th ese speculation s is 10 grce an apprec iation of wh~ th e
~t}'ccn aean a rmywould h ave required a n o rganized co m ma nd st ructu re
in order to get the ir various troop types la wo rk toge th er as a n ann)'_
Certain functio nal appoin tments would have been unavoida ble : there
mu st h ave bee n a co m m an d er-in-chief and at least one office r fo r e\'e'Y
un it ill th e army. Th e co m man de r-in-ch ief' sjob would be, presum ably, to
pla n the ro utes of march of an army on campaign , and to devise th e plan
of attack once the battlefield had bee n chosen (as well as take the credit
for victo ry and the blame fo r defeat, no do ubt). He wo uld give these
ord e rs to the un it commanders, who in turn wo uld order th eir units to
move in acco rdance wi th th e pl an and som e req uired tim e table .
Comm and s t r uc t u r e
The h igh est rank in the Myce n aean a rmy was most likely the umnax
(c hid) of o ne of the rich palaces suc h as Mvccuac, N I U ) ) U ), e re.
Alth o ug h we kn ow practica lly no thing about th e aaakae ex ce pt from
the tabl ets th at record thei r p rivilege s. a nd H o mer, who m ight have
pr eserve d their names, th ey were probably the 'own ers ' of the forces in
the ir re gion. The rich burials of the :\Ir cenaeans are ge n erally accepted
to be tho se of th e hi ghest IC\-e1 of soc ie ty, and th e gra \'e goods in ma ny
of th ese paint a picture of a m ilitari stic m ling class. He ads of state were 51
the usual command e rs-m-cruet ot most an cie n t armies, in cludi ng those
of th e con tem porary Egyptians and Hi ni tes. This was natural, since rhe v
had to be seen as mi lita ry leaders who co uld p rotect th e ir people.
Ho me r tells us mat for the Trojan expedi tion th e many Acbaean
kin gdoms were u nited in a confederacy led by the king of Myce nae.
However. even if -his confederacy is not a fict ion bu t a pi ece o f hivorv
wh ich curvive-rl th ro u g h the oral rrad irion d O"'1:1 to H o m e..r 's d a y, it
probably d a tes to at least the late l. Srh ce ntury BC - quite la te in the
Mycen aean ch ronology. Th e u ni formity of military dress and cqu ipn-em
in Myce naea n Gr ee ce , Cr e te an d th e Aege an in g-enera l d oes n o t
necessarily imply th at th e re was one ci ty or king co n trollin g- a ll of it;
rathe r, it sug-g-ests a co m m on Ach aean m o d e o r wartare .
It is possible tha t allia nc es an d pact.~ we re fo rmed betwee n palace s,
as seen in th e ma inland's co ntrol of Knossos. Mycen ac an Gre ece was
ma de up of sm all auto no mo us Slates ruled by independ ent chiefs. Th e re
ma y have bee n family ties betv..e en them, b u t noth ing d e finite is known
about the rel ationsh ip of one settlement to a nother. C iven a good set o f
rich graves. like those o f Mycenae. at other sites , it m ight have been
possible to extrapol at e th e rela tive wea lt h o f th ese settlemen ts and
th erefo re their r-e la tive po",e r. b ut un fo rtunatel y th i,; is no t the case. The
evide nce a t Mycen ae is la rgely m issin g and all of its tholoi (a l)pe o f
tom b) have been looted . T he fact th at the finest array o f mil ita ry
eq uip ment of the period was fo und at De nd ra is simply a matter o f
ch ance , and te lls us n ot h ing abo ut the ranking of Argolid sites. Thes e
stat es may have ha d lOOM:: m ilita ry associa tio ns at one tim e or anothe r,
which may be the orig-in o f H o me r's id ea of a co n fed e racy; but it mus t
be im agin e d that over ce n turies such allianc es wou ld so metime s have
broken down , resulting in inter-sta te wars and the re arraugcmc nts o f
suc h relationsh ips.
The wanax probably held su p reme a u thori ty ove r the fighting: fo rces
an d ca me from the hi g hest clas,s of soc iety, I lis immediate d e puty was
the lawav tl' (o r (qrla) , tra nsla ted as 'lea d er o f the fighting people ' . This
pu rely m ilitary figure was p robably th e r eal ' bl-ains' behind th e ar-my's
stra tegy an d tactics, since he was free o f th e m uch bro ad er co nce rn.. o f
the wanax. H e wou ld p resumab ly have bee n of high birth to en tid e him
to hol d suc h an impo r tant positio n, and m igh t we ll have been a m e mbe r
of th e wanax 's family,
Be lo w th ese lead e rs of the sta te th e 'r egim en tal' co mmanders and
the basileis must have o perate d . Th e basileis in cluded ad mi nistra tors o f
provincial estates, whom we fin d being given new lan d in the P vlos
table ts. Due to th e expe nse and pr estige o f chari ots. the warr io rs who
we re m o un ted on them were probably from the upper class o f soc ie ty.
T h is co uld in clude land own e rs such as baslleis and oth e r high-born and
the refore wealthy me n . The pal a ce se rve d as the administra tive,
co m ma nd and supply ce n tre of the a rm )'. Ch ariot un its were o rga nize d
an d co n troll ed by m e palace. as the ta ble ts show.
/--
U n i t si z es
It was the usual practice in o rganized an cie n t a rmies To haw' at leas : a
n om inal o r sugge sted se t o f unit stre ngth s. It is not easy to reco nstru ct
normal uni t sizes fo r a ny o f the known vtycenaean tro o p typ es , bu t
wha t litt le e vi d ence can be g lea ne d from th e Pylos Lin ea r B table ts o f
c. 1300 BC is quite in te res ting. These troo ps were always d ivided into
m ultip les o f ten , so it a ppears th a t th ey organ ized th ei r u n its ba sed on
th e d e cim al syste m . It is like ly that at th e tim e of the Pylo s ta blets the
actual st re n gths of vari ous types or units d iffered fro m th ose of the
ea rlie r pe r io ds before the im plied cha ng e in methods of wa rfare.
H oweve r, the fact tha t th e a rm y (a nd hence the pal ace mi li tary
o rga n iza tio n ) use d th e deci mal system is so me thing so fu ndam e n tal
and re mote from tac tics tha t the re is no reaso n to d oubt th a t it also
ap pli ed e a rlie r,
In tc resrin gfv, U "'f" nf th ,' r1p('ima l s~~tc m fo r un it organtaadon see ms
to have bee n co mm o n in Bronze Age a rmies. As a contempora ry
e xam ple . the H ittites had o ffice rs in ch arge o f 1,000 and 10,000 men in
a risin g hierarchy of co m m and. Even th e Tai KUllg's Six Seem Tmr hings,
an a ncient Chinese boo k on th e art o f war, states : ' Fo r th e cha rio ts - a
lead er fo r five chariots, a capta in for fifte en , a co mmander tor fifty, a nd
56 a ge ne ral fo r one hu n d red.' Ad miued ly; this book 's cu rren t rcccnsion
or'o'babl v da tes to m,llly cen tu ries afte r tlrc Late Bronze Age ; but i t
none the less co n tains co nce p ts ori gin a ting early in the e ra of Chinese
cha rio t warfare.
In conclusion, alth o ugh we ma y never have any hard evidence fo r the
size a nd orga nization of earl }' Myce naea n units, it does seem likely th at
they were based O il the decim al sys te m and th at th ere was a rising
nierarchv of com ma nd, wi th eac h h ighe r ra nk com m a ndin g a grea te r
numbe r of soldi ers. O n a purely prac tical level , this is the most efficient
~'\;<lY to organize: and command an a rmy; a ' pyramidal' structure is the
no rm in a ny m ulti-class state or bureaucra cy, an d is thus in kee pin g with
what we kn ow of the structu re of Myce naea n socie te;
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
The fol lowi ng a re som e of the m ain so u rces which have proved useful in
the re sea rch fo r this book:
Ande rsonj .K , ' C ree k Ch a rio t-Bo rn e an d Mounted In fan try ' , 11mnicQ n
Journal of Archaw logy 79:175-187 ( 19 75)
Asrrom, P., The Cuiras s Tomh and Other Finds at Dendra (Coe teborg. 19 77)
B uch holz, H .G. , & V.Kar ageorghis, Prehistoric Greece /lnd L)prus
(Lo n d o n, 19 73)
Ch ad wick].. The Mycm atan UOrid (Ca m b rid ge, 1980)
Drie ssen,j. M., & C.Macdonald , ' Some Military .\5peCLS of the Ae gea n
in the L ite Fiftee nth and Early Fo u rtee n th Centuries BC' , A nnlUll
of rk British School at .-\thnu 79:4f'-.74 (1984 )
E\3IlS, A J ., The A llRlUll of tbe British School: at Ath" H, Nn fY, Sen ion
1899-1900 48:U Q-1l 3 (Lo n d o n , 1900 )
n eA nnual or the British School at A thens, No. W, Session 18 99-1900 48
(Lo n d on, 1900 )
Crecnhalgh , PAL., 'T h e Dendra Cha rioteer', Antiquity .:)4:21Q-5 (19 80)
Early Gm k Harf are: Horsemen and Chariots in IM Homeric and Archaic Ages
58 (Ca m b rid ge , 1973 )
Lang, M ., Th e Pa!<l,C( of Nator a t l y m in llb/ern Mess en ia; vo l.2,
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Linaue r, 11., & J .H.Crouwel. ' Char io ts in Late Bro nze Age Greece ' ,
A ntiquily57:187-9 2 (1983 )
Man ni ng, S.W., ' The Military Fun ction in Late Mino an 1 Cre te : a note' ,
1l0rld Arrhorology 18, volume 2: 284-88 (Cambridge, 1986 )
Ma tz, E , Creu and Early Greece, TJuPreLude to Greek A.,.-t (H olland , 1962)
Mille r, K , McEwen , E., & C.Bergman , ' Expe rime ntal Approaches to
Ancient Near Eas te rn Archery', llOrld A rchafflLogy 18, volume 2:
179-95 (Ca mbridge, 1986)
Minist ry o f Cultu re - T he National He lleni c Committee - I CO ~I , TM
.\fycmMan Wodd , Fivt Cmturin of Early GTffk Ouuure 1600-11 00 BC
(Athe ns, 1986)
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197- 215 (Cam b ridge. 1986)
Pm,,e11. T.G.E. 'Some Implications o f Chariotry', in Cullu'ft and
Enoimnmau. F.ssays in Honour et Sir CyriLFox, ed . I.Foster &
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Sch liemann , 11. A~)'CtTIlU; A. .Narrative of Researches '1.nd Discooeria
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Schuchhardt, C. SrhLinnann s Excauations, A n .4. rrJuu oJogical and
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Taylo u r; W.D., n , Myunamn-S (New York, 1964 )
Th ursto n , 5. ' LBA Chariot Warfare - Part 11' , 11J1lJw. LivingHinoryJo.uk
( 1100--1500 Articles and Resourusj ( 1999)
Ve u u i." , M. & J.CII.u lwio..l , I ftJc u 1IU"u l!. i n ,;\ I)l / llM!Ult G If:l'k
(Ca mbridge , 1973)
Verm e ule , E. GI?fU in tM Brrmu Age (Lo ndon, 1972)
Wec!>. 11. va n , 'Kings in ('..o m bat: Battles a nd H eroes in th e Iliad',
rlllSJical Quarttrl) 38: 1- 24 (1988)
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August 2002: 18--22, 79 (U SA, 2002)
59
THE PLATES
A : E A RLY INFA NTRY. c .1500 B C He too weaB the chacter'ist1Ca11y Aegean ' boar's-tusk'
The in$porabon for th s scene was taken from a seal fo..nd in hel rrwt. HiS spear had the socketed speartIead which
Shaft Grave III at Myoerlae. It shc7.Jo-s a WIfY ightly attired was a development of the earli~ shoe- or double-
swordsman stabtli~ a heavy spearman in the ttYoat O\ffl'r sccket ed type.
the nrn 01 the latter'!: figure-<lf~ shield. haVlf"lQ got past
the poent of his long and unwiolcIy epoor, The TIM:we.n heavy 0 ; EA RLY I NI'A HTftY,
spearman (Al ) has been aooed. 16th.U5th C EN TURIES B C
Al : Theran heavy spearman Th is scene is Inspi red by 0 00 fol.Jl'\d on a decorative gold rilg
This w arriot is one cl a IOW of spearmen seen on a fresco fro m Myceoae, now cal led 'The Banle in the Glen ' ring , ana
from Akrotiri, Thera (on the presen t -day Aegean island of dated to the 16th cen tury BC . On the ring the dagger-aIlMd
santonnij . Akrotri is known as the .~ of the Bronze w arrior is portr~ as the 'hero ' :f the sc ene, s1ayi:'lg
Age' , na...1IlQ been ertombed in volca1ic ash aft er the island ano ther swordsn".an and resculllg an una rmed man . For I-e
etaIy ellf)loded in arouna 1500 BC . HIS hel met, 01 leather sake of variety tI'Ie second swordsrTBn has been replaced
laced with sliced boar's lu:.k:>. es plumed; It is not knOW n what nere Oy a J8ve1ltWna1, and a heavy spearmatl looks on;
eooo- Mycer\aea"l plumes were , or whethef trletr cololr was perhaps they beIoog to a defeated aro "eeinQ anny.
~ted to any orgcPzahonal system. He has a simple, B1 : Ught in fantry swordsman, 16th century B C
probably early-pattern of 'tcwe- shield , camed - or rather This heroiC warrior Is armed with a type of triangular ~er
worn - by means of a leather strap (telar.JOfJ) which passes found In large rorrcers on Cret e. He wea rs the m inimal
over his left shoulder and under his right arm . His asb wcoc clothing cnsractetstc of earty light in'a nlry. The fact tha t he
spear Is tipped with a 'srce - soc eet ec' brttlze head , this also has a boar's-tusk helmet is not un Ll5ual: mo st sw ordsmen
being 01 an early design. The fresco from w hich he comes is found in dep icti ons are so ecuiccec. Thi s an d th e
unIQue in that il actually shows the spearmen 's sw ords, in promirtence with whic h they are po rtrayed sug gest that such
I~ather scabbards w ith decorative tassels. lig ht tro ops we re held in relat ively high reg ard , possi bly
A2: Swords man due to the da ngerous and individ ualistic natu re 01 their
This fiee character may be represented as a member- of lactical rol e.
somett1il'lg of an elite, pertlaps even Simiw in temperament B2: Creto-Mycenaean )avelinman, c.1450 BC
D the Vill.lng 'ee-sexe-. These I,lflprotected swordsmen Tlw$ t1gln is laO;81 from an coscee fragrnertl of fresco fou ~
were apparently regarded as Vety bra ve; apart from attacking in Mycenaean Knossos, and named by its discoverer. sa-
Ileavy irltantry. as here. there are several deOiCtiOI lS in Artt'lu" ~ 'WlImot"';. ........ing J avMns". !t depicts. a ~
Mycenaean art of ttis type of warrior flgh l lng a ion. His mass 01 these ja\elirtmen Ialroching their weapons high n o
' 1On'led' sVll'Ord is carried in i!II'l unusuaIy ornate scabbard. the u . This sk..mstler" wears a white ~ band" apparen1y
0\3: Hravy spearman a charaCleristic: of Mycenaean javeirmen - It may even ha-Ie
ThIs warrior w ears the UflKluely Aegea n flgure-of-eigt1t been a badge of thetr trooP type .
5tlleld, so named for its shape, and m ade from wi ckerworK 83: Heavy spearman, 16th century BC
on a wooden frame, cov ered with cowhid8. and with a This warrior cart es th e fully dev elo::>ed pattern of tOVoQ"
raised boss-l ike central rib. Uke all early Mycena ean heavy shield , of curved sec tion and shaped into a raised neck
infantry sh iflld~ . th i~ tyf)"l was worn by moan s of a IQ/am on. guard 01'1 the top rim. Th e carrying st rap llowed thol shiodl,l'!l;
..
seene Is al9n~ ~ It
gIe$ an insOgIht inm _ of the
bctlcaI_ of such ~
I'Ie-r s,....-
........ 'IP
............ ..-.ng their~_
.II"ilitll. (Courtesy Professor Or
60 1+4.8uctlhoUj
position to be chcnqcd from the front to tho bec k of the body incorpo rQting the box proper Qnd :x:mi circulor 'win qa '
by thro wi ng the upper body and shoulders back or forward projecting from 1he rear sid es. Excep t fo r th e mouth bits of
as need ed. Like all early period spearmen he is equ ipped the bridle, no remains of Mycenaean chariots have been
with a boa r's -tusk helmet . His spearhead is of the "s1it- found, so reconstructions ca n only be made by studytlg
eocketeo' type, a transit ion al design be tween the depi ct ions and tests as w ell as mak ing comparisons with
sooe-sccketec and fully socketed types. surviving Egyptian ch ario ts. The b-aced double draught
pole acces-s to be a st rengthening feature of the Aegean
c: E ARLY MISS ILE TROOPS , chariot. we do know that the cnaocts sto red at Myceoaean
1 0t h -1~ t h CENTUR IES BC Kn05SOS were paInted vanous soaoes of red . and tha t thes e
This scene shows thr ee disti nct kinds of light troops probably used by' higher ranks were inlaid w ith ivory.
empl oyed by the eaty Mycerlaeans, ero the three missile 01: Warrior in corselet, c. 1400 BC
weapons used. As wel l as battlefield skirmishers, such This warrior wears t he famous 'Dendr a panoply' narrec
:roops would have been far more suited to the de fence of after the site of ts d iscovery. This remark able suit of brorze
citad el walls than heavy spearmen or swo rdsmen. armour is the most complete example fo und of the type of
C1: Regular archer, 16th century BC corselets issued to chario t- borne warriors in th e Un ear B
This arche r can be found on a sc ene inlid int o the blade of tablets, but frag ments of a numoo- of similar armours have
a dagger trom ooe of the Shaft Graves at Myceoae. He is been found elsewhere. The vanocs plates were joined
shown supporti ng heavy spearmen, fighting an enem y together by leather 1M ngs and designed 10 be able to slide
oortrayed as lions. Our description of this archer as a over each ot her, allowing th e wearer enough mov ement to
;regu lar' Is a relative term, in that he Is not nude like some w ield his long spear effectively. The boar's-tus k helmet and
oth er d epictions of Mycenaean arc hers, but wears a garmen t arm guards were also fou nd with the corselet.
aecoratec in the same way as those of his l our comrades on 0 2: Ch ari oteer, 15th cent ury BC
the Inlaid scene, suggesting unifo rm regJlarlty. He is armed Un like the warrior, th e cha riot dri ve' was no t expec ted to
with a composite bow which when dr a..... n assu mes a sem i- engage in co mbat; his job was to maintain co ntrol of lha
et-curer shape. His arrowhead is made of knapped obs idian chariot and manoeuvre it into position for th e wa rrior to use
(volcanic glass ); at a time when bronze was still expensive his spea r. This would have ta ken great sl\ill, given the retatve
this materia l provided a cheap and expendable alterna tiv e. heaviness of these early chariot s and the rocky Greek lerr<: in.
The number fou nd ir elite burials Indicat es that th eir use was For this reaso n ~.e wears only a wai st garment and a boar's-
not restricted to the lower classes. tusk helmet likE th at of his comrade, with bronze chee k
C2: Irregular s1inger, 16th c en tu ry BC guards and plume.
This figure represents what was probabl')o the lowest cl ass of 0 3: Sw ordsman, 15ttl c en tury BC
Myc.eoaean warrior. He comes from an embossed silver Although evidently highly effective against d isord ered bodies
rllyton (a vessel used to pour liba toos) now called Ihe 'Sieg e of hea vy infantry. a loosely formed unit of light swordsrren
Rhytoo' , which depicts an assa ult 00 a wa lled town. The would probably have been vulnerable to a chariot atta ck . His
naked slingers and arch ers are shown skirmishing ahead of weapon is a long thrusting sWO!'C (sometimes called a
heavy speermen with to wer shie lds . Slingers suc h as th is 'rapi er'), of which many exam ples have been found.
one may have bee n ci vilians who were called out to de fend
their town if it came und er att ack. His weapon is cheap and E : LATER IN FA N T R Y, c .1 2 5 0- 1200 BC
simple , being nothi ng mo re than a piece of leat her cut to These figures are tak en from th ose portrayed on the 'Warrior
shape. His pro jectile is made of un fired d ay and is based on Vase' fou nd at Mycenae, and a fresco fragment from 11e
earlier excav ated examoles. these sling bullet s were also palace at Pylos. These palaces were destroyed in the late
mad e of shaped stones. 13th cen tury BC. so these finds can be da ted to tha t period.
C3: Nu bi an mercenary javelinm an, 1450-1400 BC They show a major ch ange in Myceneean milil ary dress
Taken from a fresco found in Mycenaean Knossos and and eq uip me nt fro m t he earlier per iod , and imply a
called 'Th e Ca ptair of the Blac ks' , th is figure po rtrays a corresponding chang e in tacti cs .
foreign mercena ry in Mycenaean servi ce, The fresco sho ws E1: My cenaean spearma n
what wa s evide ntly a line of Afr ican warriors led by a Greek Taken fm m t hA Wllrri nr VIISf'!, this ma n WAllrR th A Rnr;lI llfln
off ice r. The two feathers fixed into his hair suggest th at he is ' horned helmet'. We inte rpret t his as being made from
Nubran; th is type of adornment can also be seen in Egypti an hard ened Ieatbe- with bronze stu ds added for extra strength;
depict io ns of Nubians , who were regarded as excellent light it is ador ned with two 'ho rns' - probab ly tu sks from a boar -
troo ps . He carries two ligh t javelins 'oYi1h heads cut from and a plum e mounted in a raised comb . His tor so is well
bronze plat e and tan gs driven into th e end of the shafts . His protected by a sim ple fro nt- and-beck bronze cui-ass: his
garment is relativel"{ ornate , wh ich ma{ sug gest th is was 'kilt' is also for potecncn, bei ng made of leather wit h bronze
one of the pa lace 's elite specialist ums. As well as th e studs. Underneath his grea ves he wears woolleo over-the--
c hllracleris tic jllvelinmlln's neck ban d he wellr.l t wo knee seeks. The MTlall bag attached to hi~ ecee- ts used
bronze rIngs above each ankle , wh ich may or may not be a for carrying the wanior's rations and personal belongings on
Nubian element . tile march.
E2: Mycenaean spearma n
D : DUAL CHARIOT, 1 500 - 1 40 0 BC This warrior comes from the opposite side of the Warier
Inspired by a scene carv ed on a gravesto ne from Mycenae, Vase 10 E1. HE is dressed and eq uipped the same as his
th is plate depicts :he heavy 'dual ch ariot' of the earlie r comrade, apart from his headgear, of the type now knoYin
period, so nam ed because th e cab is of dual co nstru cti on , as the 'tledgehog helmet' . Th is seems to have been 61
Thi s fre's<:o lro", Mycenae
clearly ~ t he curved rim,
!ongiWdi.... rib be>-. -.cl
c:owhtOe - n n g of t he figu_
of-righl sIlleHS. IIw cowhide
~ln led with d ark brown palc,,"
.
_
~
con struct ed from or covered WIth the spi ned pelts of ar';tl lal F1 : Light spearma n
hedgehogs , atta ched to a leather frame. Such a helmet Con firmation t hat this warrior 's we'1POO IS intended 10r
appears elsew here In de picti ons of later Mycenaean thrusting rather than t hrowing is provided by the fresco ,
warriors, and apparet1tly denotes a separate unit from th ose where one can be seen being thrust into a barba rian's gro in.
wearing the horned t elmet. Both these ..... arriOfS carry slung His secondary weapon is a sword slung from a shoulder belt.
on their backs 'inverted pelt. ' sh ields. This type probably He is very lig htly attired. with on ly a I,nen kilt with leather
also had handles tor carrying It on the arm when fighting, OWlrlay and linen sreavee. Th is would have made him w911
though 1'\Ol'18 can be seen in depictions. suited for cceeatces in the roug n fri~ of Mycenaean rule,
E3 : Pylian infa n trynun whel"e the b.artJ.arWls lJw""L
This fal len warrior comes from the fresco fragment fro m th e F2: Swordsman
palace at PyIos. H s d ress Is charactertsticauy Pylian , This warrior Is possibly fro m the sam~ unit as his comrade
r.amely the linen tome and thick fabric greaves. It is unc lear F1, owing to their ident ical dress; however, mere is no
from the fresco whe:h er his weapon is it javelin intended ind icatio n th at he too carried a spear. His sword is of the typ e
for throwing Of a spe ar for th rusti ng. In an~ c ase he appears known as 'cv crrcm-eooccerec'. His boar's-tusk helmet is
to be a medium Infantryma n, owing 10 the tact that he in its fully evolved form , with a curved neck guard and small
has armour in the form of a sniekl and greaves but no tu sk cr est
tody annour. FJ; ' Barbarian'
This savage hillman uses a Mycenaean sword take n from a
F: PYLlAN LIGHT INFANTRY AND slain PyIian soIdoEr. His garment is Simply a pl8C8 of hide or
.... RBARIANS . c .12S0_1200 BC fleece tom so tt at it can be tied at the shoukier. It is
Jlmong the fresco fragmerl ls tol.nd at the site of the palace lJf'Ikno<Irm who exactly these warriofs represent in the PyIos
at Pykls was Ol">e shcwW'Ig a $lOrmish bet'tIrfeefI sokiiers and fresco; howevef, the thought Iha1 they may have had
'll'hal can only be ckscribed as 'savages' or barbarians, something to do wrttl the erty's unexplatned oestrcctco
6' which is the inspiration for th is plate. is intrig uing .
G: RAIL CHARIOT, 0.1260 -1160 BC H1 : M ou n t e d werrlor, 0 . 1200 se
This scene shows th e chariot halted beneath the ' Lion Gate' Although this rider is probably a cavajryman. it cannot be
at Mycenae. The pott ery fragment from wnich the chariot and ruled out that he is a mou nted infantryman. Indeed, the vase
its crew are reconstruc ted came from the neig hbo uring fragment fro m .... hich he is reconstn.ct ed appears to show
palace at Tityl1s. Althoug h a major centre in its own right, him d ismo unted, although this may be the result of th e artist
Tiry ns appears to have been po litically d om inated by being unfamiliar with the sub ject matter. His con ical bronze
Myceoae, and it is frcm there tha t ee cnanoreer has travelled . helmet has cheek guards attached by leathers, and his
The rail chariot was the last type documeoted in Bronze Age cuirass comprises a sImple set of breast- and back -plates.
Greece and, like the dual dlarlot, was of lOcal orig in. Below the edge of his tunic he wears long woo llen socks
G1: Charioteer under his thin bronZe greaves. and seooais. His weapon is a
He wears a thick linM corselet over a wco aen tu nic, and his so-called 'c rucif orm- hilted rapier'. The tying of the horse's
bwer torso is further protected by a padded bronze waist mane in bullChe$ is shown in period sources, but the saddle
belt held on by its own teoecn. His con ical bronze helmet pad and bnd le are conjectural apert from finds of b ronze bits.
has chee k guards . H2: Mycenaean woman
G2: $pearman Off ering the warrior a drink of water from a vessel kno wn as
This spearman is less we ll equipped th an those shown in a 1<yIix, this wo man wears the later M ycenaean dress -
Plate E. and may be a levied sol dier, o'Ning to his lack of similar to th e men's tunics, but longer. Her hairstyl e, >Mth
OOImet and body armour. He has, how e'ler, procured a pai r sidelocks and two upwards cone above the forehead, is
of thin bronze greaves. His round shieki and short spea r chara cteri stica lly Mycena ean, and ca n be seen in frescoes ol
seem to have been typical of the later Myceo aean period. the time .
Fi~(C'; in bold ret er 10 ill LL\IroUions footwear 19.63, H I :"Jubians %7, 30, 61, CS
fortifications 7
" " m tiri 'Se a Ba ll ]",' ffe "'o 10 palace role 52--6. 57-8
arch ers 20-5 helmets 1"\-1.. <
an d ch a ri o ts :n, ot f. boar's-ru sk 7. 11,1 2-1 3. 12- 13, 60 , , eq .iipmc r n -17-8
early 6, 11, :W. 6 1. C I 62, 6 3, AI , AS, B I . f2 Ircscoes fro m %8. 41
Jate r 32 cuuical bronze 63 . c r. HI h i ~I OT)' 4, 7, 6 2
armour 'h edgch o.( IS-19 , 18, 6 1-2. E2 in fam rynle ll from 62 , es.
F I , '2
co rsele t ideogr,tll1S 56 'h o rn e d ' 18-1 9, 18 .61 , E l mil ila ry organization 52- 3, 56
corselets l i , 46 . 61, 6:'1, D L Gl nthe r 14, 14
cuirasse s 61, 63, El . H I plume s W, AI saddbl9, 6;'1, H I
Dc n d r.l lin d 46-8,46 , 4 7, 6 1, DI 1Iill ites 5. 44 . 49. 5 2. 51 , :;0 Sc hlieman n . H e inrich :1
fore arm gu ards 4 7. h l . LH HOlller 3, 5, 13, 5 1, 52, 54 shie lds 9-11
greavc s 18 , 19.20. 61, 63, E l , G :!. HI horse fu rn iture 49. 63, HI IiK.lre.o f-eig h t 7,8. HI- ll , 11, 611. 6 %
axes 6, 1%. 13 horses fi3, H A>
supplv 56 'i nve rt ed peha ' 17, 6 1- 2 El. E%
baJitm 32 ro un d (lI_'pis) 16, 17, 6 3.G%
' Battle in th " GI!:'n' rtn !t %5, :"'8 , 60 inf.m tr} Io<,.-.. r 3. 10. 11, 60 - 1, AI. B3
battk fil"ld organization 50-1 :';"'nl('ficld organ;""'t!" n 50-1 'Siege Rh~'lon ' 13,1 9. 20.20, 2'1 . 6 1
bows a n d arro ws 2(1-5. 22-4. 6 1, Cl early 60-1, A B skirmisherv 19-25, 5 1
_ auo arch..... :l<'1I' ')' 8--19 ~lj"g 'IO""'~ 6 , 6 1, C 2
'a te r 6 1-2. E , F sting ers 6 , 20. 32 . 57, 6 1. C2
cavalry 48, -19. 6."1, HI liKht 19-32, 28 spcarme n
cha rio ts an d ch a rio trv -I. 30, 32--46 in ch a rio ts 44
Aegean ch ari o ts 3 2-43 j awhnm cn 17 , 27, 3(1-1, 60 , 6 1. 8 2, C3 early 7, 25. so-t . 60, A I. A.l . B3
battlefield organization 5 1 j avel ins :'1 0, 58,61, C3 later 17, 61- 2, 6 3. El , E2. r i. G2
box c h ariots 4 2, 44 'l'""lT>l and spearhe ad, 1112
'cha rges' 45-6 Kadesh , battle of (1300 BC) 5 1 early S
ch ariot armam e n t -1,3-5 ;"$"140 53 la l.. 1fi
ch a rioteers 2 1, 22. et. 63, 02, G I Km ""'ls slit-sockctcd he ad 9. 6 1, 83
d ual cha ri o ts 41. -12, 6 1. D cha ri ots 61 wicb'ling 11. 14-15
horse sllppl~' 56 des truc tion and reb uilding 5 wi ~ ldi ng from ch ari o t. 44--5 , U
quad..,m l ch a ri o ts 42-3 equipme n t issue 5~ 57-8 <words 1 ~ 16, 15. 16
rail ch a rio ts n .n . 63. G frescoes from %7. 30- 1. 5~ ' cru ciform-sh o ulde re d ' f2. 63 , '2.
Ch ina 51, .')6....j Linear 8 tablets from 43--4, H -8. HI
clothing 53--t, :i:i lo ng th n L<ling 3, 16 , 29 , 61 , D3
'barbarians' 62, F3 n\ i1iuu~..organ izatio n 54--5, 56 ,,~dd;ng 10
La>a1l)' 49 swords me n 25---30
c h a rio te e rs 63, C l 1<w<Wt, 52 cal l~ %5 . 60 ,60. A%
e a rly 8,61 , C l Linear R 5 , 55 , 56 la ter 26, 62 , F2
Kno~san dis tri bution 5~ lo gistics 55-6, 5 7-8 IiKh t 60, 6 1. BI , 0 3
late r period 3 1-2.61 , E l
Pvlian 28, 62. 0 , Fl Macdonald , C. 54 taU in
WOm e n &3, H 2 miitarv o rga nization 49- 58 ba ttle field orga niza tio n [,(1-1
co m m and structu re 51-3 Minoans 3, 4--5 , i c ha rio ts 32---41,43-6,41'\
e rN e r,..I)"'t'n"t' l, t'4"" in r" ntry 1+1::;
JI,linoan civiliza tio n 3, +-5 citadel 53 liHht' infanlT) ' 25
Mvce n ae ans take O\1:'T 5 t xca\'3li,, " 3 :-.It''llilh ic 6-7
J,N 00 0 Knos.'IO'\ Iresc ues from 62 skitmishcrs 19-2Q
lio n Gale 50. 63 . G sw'o rdcnen 29-30 , 60
dagge rs I t. 26 . :"'9, 60, 8 1 :\h'Cenat"",ln a rmy Ta\"lclllr, W.D. 6
De nd ra armo u r -i6-8, 46 . 47. 61. D I compcsinon 54-5 Tl ryn s .1. 6.1
Drie..."",n.J.M. 3 4 evo lu tio n f>--8
op ponents 5 un if" n n s J,N d Olhin e:
EIDptiaIls unit sizes 56-7
ann~' organization ~'), 52 M)'C en,l",a ns ""'TUUM 51- 2
chari o ts 21. 32. 42, H archa eo logv o n !>--6 'Wa rrior Va."", 17, 18 . 18 . 6 1
a t Kadesh (1300 BC) 51 ce n tr es o f ci,~ lira lio n 4 wcap u n ~