"EARLY HELMETS"
We talked about swords and daggers, armor for the torso, and now it's time to get acquainted with the "armor for the head." In the basin of the Aegean Sea, Minoan and early Achaean helmets appeared a very long time ago, in 5000-1500 years. BC. Well, we can judge this based on the finds of ceramics, frescoes, sculptures and other artifacts.
So, on stone amulets from Sesklo, dated to the period between 5300 - 4500 BC. BC BC, we already see something like a helmet, made of leather and decorated with long horns. In the early Cycladic culture, dating from the period 3200 - 2800 BC. BC, you can find their images. And it seems that the conical helmet is represented in one of the symbols of the famous and still undeciphered Phaistos disc (2000 - 1700 BC). Heinrich Schliemann also found fragments of a helmet - a comb and a comb holder, but he did not find the most preserved helmet.
A jug from the island of Cyprus. A feature of the Cretan-Mycenaean culture of the Aegean Sea was the image on ceramics of fish and, in particular, octopuses and cuttlefish. Archaeological Museum of Larnaca.
The Iliad mentions a helmet made of boar tusks, which at first was perceived as nonsense, although the description was given there in detail. However, wild boar tusks used as plates on a helmet (around 2000 BC) were found in Mariupol in Ukraine. This once again speaks in favor of the migration of ancient Dorian tribes from the central and northern regions of Europe to Greece in 2000 - 1800. BC. These newcomers spread widely throughout mainland Greece and gradually mixed with the earlier population.
"Boar's helmet" from tomb no. 515 in Mycenae. National Archaeological Museum in Athens.
In Aegina (circa 1800 BC) a very interesting helmet made of boar's tusks was found. Very interesting and complex helmets made of wild boar tusks with large cheek pads are shown on a fragment of a fresco from Akrotiri, on a rhyton from the Palace of Knossos (about 1600-1550 BC) and on a rhyton from burial no. 4 in Mycenae of the same time.
How was the typical "boar's helmet" of that time arranged? And it's very simple: plates were cut out of the boar's tusks, adjusted to one another, and holes were drilled into them. The base of the helmet was a cap in the form of a cone or hemisphere, made of leather or felt. Bone plates were sewn on it in a circle, row by row, moreover, the directions of their bending usually looked in different directions. The upper plates had a triangular shape, on the top of the helmet there was a round "button" made of ivory or bronze, or there were placed the holders of the comb.
Boar tusks were used because of the ease of processing. On the one hand, they split well along. On the other hand, their outer surface is very hard (unlike ivory). In the Iliad, Odysseus, king of a small island, wore such a helmet. Homer gave a surprisingly accurate description of the helmets of that era:
I also gave away the shield; on the head of the hero made of oxskin
He put on a helmet, but without a comb, without a badge, called flat, With which the forehead is covered with blooming youth.
Chief Merion offered Odysseus both his bow and quiver, I gave away the sword too; Laertida put the hero on the head
Leather helmet; inside often entangled with straps, He was tightly pulled, and outside on the helmet sticking out
White boar's fangs, rising here and there
In slender, beautiful rows; in the middle he is lined with felt.
This helmet - antiquity from the walls of Eleon was stolen by Autolycus …
Reconstruction of the "boar's helmet" by Peter Connolly.
A complex helmet required from twenty to forty wild boars, but boars at that time, apparently, were not a problem, they gave skin, and fangs, and meat!
A composite boar tusk helmet was also found in tomb no. 12 at Dendra (see second part). Moreover, it is surprising that the armor in this burial is metal, but for some reason the helmet is made of bone! Did the owner of this armor not have enough funds (what, how did they pay there?) To buy a bronze helmet?
"Boar's helmet" (1450 - 1400 BC). Archaeological Museum of Heraklion.
Another very common type of helmet, most likely made of leather or felt, was a cap with metal discs sewn onto it. Or, on the contrary, it is a metal helmet with bulges made for beauty.
A fresco from the palace at Pylos. And here's the question: what kind of helmet is it depicted on? Bronze with "bumps" (why are they?). With ventilation holes (unknown!) Or is it something else?
At that time, beauty was cared for very much, because, judging by the frescoes and images on the vases, the helmets at the same time had combs with feathers or ponytails, and, in addition, horns! And now this: let's think under what conditions it could be, and under what not. The Vikings had no horns on their helmets, since a blow with a sword on the strong horns on the helmet could break the warrior's neck. The knights on their helmets had everything they wanted, but made of papier-mâché, "boiled leather", light wood and painted plaster. The samurai of Japan had metal horns on their helmet, but they were arranged in such a way that a blow with a sword on them was not dangerous for the warrior himself.
Therefore, it is easiest to admit that the ancient Mycenaeans simply did not cut themselves with swords (and they could not cut them with rapier swords!), And then the rather strong horns on their helmets did not interfere with them at all. But as soon as there were swords for slashing blows, all the horns were mainly the ponytail and the comb on the top of the helmet!
Helmet from a vase from Katsamba. Crete (around 1500 BC).
The horns of helmets from this period were usually made from boar's tusks, antlers, ivory, and also metal. Two ivory artifacts in the form of ram's horns were found in one of the tombs at Mycenae (1550 BC).
"MEDIUM HELMETS"
Achaean helmets 1500 - 1300 BC. in many ways they are similar to their early samples, that is, the process of change was very slow. A helmet made of leather or felt, trimmed with boar tusks, with cheek pads and various ornaments remained typical. Most often these are horns, of which there can be two, and one - in front, and three - sticking out in different directions. Bronze helmets of this time are also known, in particular, this is a conical bronze helmet 18.1 cm high (XIV - XIII centuries BC)
Helmet 18.1 cm high (XIV - XIII centuries BC). Its decoration shows that the memory of helmets made from boar's tusks was still preserved, revered, so that the creators of metal helmets decorated them with a characteristic pattern.
Outside mainland Greece and the Aegean islands, Achaean warriors wearing boar tusk helmets can be seen on an Egyptian papyrus from Tel el Amarna (1350 BC). on the drawings of similar helmets on Mycenaean vases. A piece of a boar's tusk with perforation for attaching it to a leather base, found during excavations in the area of Per-Ramessu, the capital of Ramses the Great in the eastern delta, confirms that such helmets were also worn on the territory of Ancient Egypt. Obviously, they were worn by Achaean mercenary warriors. Found the same canines in Serbia (XIV-XIII centuries BC), and on the island of Cyprus.
That is, for this period, the widest distribution of "boar helmets" and somewhat less metal - bronze ones can be considered proven. Although archaeologists have found helmets from this period, in particular, in Crete.
"LATE HELMETS"
"Late helmets", that is, belonging already to the time of the Trojan War (1300 - 1100 BC), are distinguished by the greatest variety. These are, first of all, again all the same helmets made of boar tusks, to which bronze details began to be added. Moreover, there is reason to believe that even in the VIII century. BC. they were still used, although they were already rare at this time.
Late Achaean helmet from the "Warrior Vase" from Mycenae (circa 1200 BC).
A conical horned helmet without cheeks is seen on a statue from Engomi from the island of Cyprus (circa 1200 BC). The shardan mercenaries of the Egyptian pharaohs are practically all depicted in Egyptian frescoes wearing horned helmets.
Images of "furry" helmets, apparently made of hairy skins, have come down to us. It could be an ordinary hemispherical hat, covered with such a skin on top, so that the authors of the drawings of people wearing such helmets depicted them with a head that looked like a porcupine. However, there is an opinion that it could just be long hair, caught up with a bronze or leather hoop at the level of the temples. There are a lot of images of such helmets, which, firstly, speaks of their popularity, and secondly, if this is what we think that the "armies" of this era have become more populous and boar tusks at all (like and bronze) have ceased to suffice! Some scientists have also suggested that helmets like these could be and are actually made from hedgehog skin!
However, the very sketchy style of the then artists does not allow for a detailed identification of these helmets, which leaves room for a variety of hypothetical and speculative fabrications.
"Helmet with thickets on the head" on a ceramic shard.
Very popular at this time, judging by the images, and especially the Egyptian frescoes, became tiara helmets or tiara helmets. Apparently, it was again some kind of "hat" made of leather or felt, along the edge of which a wide metal strip was attached, closed into an oval in the shape of the head of the helmet wearer. That is, if you look at him from the front or from the back, one could assume that he has a cylindrical "bucket" on his head. And only by looking from above, it was possible to determine that in fact it was not.
"Helmet-tiara" 1200 - 1100 BC.
Remains of such a helmet were found in Crete (about 1200 BC). Another such helmet was excavated by Professor Ioannis Moskos and wrote that it has a cylindrical shape with an oval section and straight sides. It is 15.8 cm high, 18.7-19.1 cm wide, and 23-23.6 cm long. The surface is beautifully decorated with bronze stripes consisting of horizontal ribs alternating with single horizontal rows of decorative rivets. Inside, judging by the drawings, there was a "hedgehog" made of horse hair, feathers, or even a real tiara made of … twigs with leaves or flowers ?!
A fine example of Achaean bronze helmets was found in Tomb XXVIII of Tiryns (c. 1060 BC). This specimen consists of four conical elements and two long cheek pads with an average thickness of about 1 mm. All elements of this helmet have small holes around the edges, which are used to attach the liner to the inner surface of the helmet.
A simple bronze helmet with a horsehair tube. Cyprus (end of the 7th century BC).
Simple tapered helmets were largely used in the late Achaean period. Thus, in the Achaean crater from Cyprus, two chariot warriors clearly wear tapered helmets, although due to stylization no other elements can be identified. This crater indicates that in some cases (more often in non-combat situations) swords were worn behind the back at that time.
