Fighting in armor with shields took strength. The amount of armor worn by warriors varied tremendously from the complete armor worn by Hector and Achilles ' who was considered invulnerable in it except at the heel to much lighter attire worn by poorer as that described here: "He was not so great, great, as Ajax the son of Telamon. He was a little man, and his breastplate was made of linen, but in use of the spear he excelled all the Hellenes and the Achaeans. [Iliad, Book II -527]

Contrast this with a description of Hector's armor: "Aias aimed at him with a shining spear, but no part of his body was exposed; he was completely hidden by a grim sheath of bronze" [Iliad Book XIII - 217] Is this a description of the Dendra panoply? (See Fig 4) Or just a breastplate? (See Fig 5)

The limiting factor to obtain armor was a Lord's generosity or a man's wealth, for armor was a costly item. "With these words they sprang from their chariots, grasped one another's hands, and plighted friendship. But the son of Saturnus made Glaucus take leave of his wits, for he exchanged golden armor for bronze, the worth of a hundred head of cattle for the worth of nine. [Iliad Book VI - 671 Soft gold obviously did not make good armor. Schliemann found examples of these in his Trojan excavations and they were so ineffective he thoughtthey were for ceremony (Snodgrass, Aims and Armour of the Greeks.)

Fig. 4 The Dendra Panapoly. Found in v 1960 at Dendra, Greece. Dated to the h 14'h century BCE. Now on display at the British Museum and (bottom) Fig. 5 The Argive Panapoly. Discovered in 1953 at Argos, Greece. Dated to the 9-8th century BCE. This may have been contemporary with Homer. Now in the Argos Museum.

Homer carefully describes the arming of Agamemnon and an extract gives an idea of the sheer cost of the gear worn by some: "He had sent this cuirass as a gracious gift. It had ten courses of dark cyanus, twelve of gold, and ten of tin. There were serpents of cyanus that reared themselves up towards the neck, three upon either side, like the rainbows which the son of Saturnus has set in heaven as a sign to mortal men."

"About his shoulders he threw his sword, studded with bosses of gold; and the scabbard was of silver with a chain of gold wherewith to hang it. He took moreover the richly wrought shield that covered his body when he was in battle- fair to see, with ten circles ofbronze running all round see, with it."

"On the body of the shield there were twenty bosses of white tin, with another of dark cyanus in the middle: this last was made to show a Gorgon's head, fierce and grim, with Rout and Panic on either side. The band for the rim to go through was of silver, on which there as a writhing snake of cyanus with three heads that sprang from a single neck, and went in and out among one another."

"On his head Agamemnon set a helmet, with a peak before and behind, and four plumes of horse-hair (simular to the triple crest on Athena, (the mark a commander?) that nodded menacingly above it; then he grasped two redoubtable bronze-shod spears, and the gleam of his armor shot from him as a flame into the firmament, while Hera and Athena thundered in honour of the king of rich Mycene." [Iliad, Book XI - 30]

Equally costly were the great shields, often also of exquisite workmanship and a valuable prize, some being painted with very descriptive paintings, but most were heavy and practical such as the shield Ajax took to battle and so carefully considered by Homer: "Ajax came up bearing his shield in front of him like a wall- a shield of bronze with seven folds of ox hide - the work of Tychius, who lived in Hyle and was by far the best worker in leather. He had made it with the hides of seven full-fed bulls, and over these he had set an eighth layer of bronze." [Iliad, Book VII - 231]

This last is a better description of the shields used by the rank and file. No doubt poorer men would forgo the outer protecting layer of bronze. Even so these were heavy and would take strength and stamina to wield for long periods. Chatioteers would also have greaves for the legs and even the arms and, as The Iliad regularly attests, more than adequate helmets.

Weapons were of bronze. Small axes wielded one handed were employed. Swords that had a sharp point to aid armor penetration were popular and the heavy spears tended to have double blades, intermeshed and set at right angles giving a '+' shape if the spear was viewed from the point. This would help to stop the point bending when it struck armor.

More Homer's Greeks in Battle

Foreword, Sources, and Narrative
The Infantry
The Chariots
The Equipment
Reconstructing the Battle Tactics
Wargaming with Homer's Greeks