Paul Åstrom, The Cuirass Tomb and Other Finds at Dendra Part I: The Chamber Tombs ( Studies in Mediterranean Archaeology, iv) (Göteborg) 1977.Snodgrass, The Linear B Arms and Armour Tablets- Again, Kadmos 4 (1965:97–98).

^ Fortenberry, 'Single Greaves in the Late Helladic Period' American Journal of Archaeology 95.4 (October 1991:623–627).^ Dendra panoply: illustration Archived at theĭendra panoply modern reconstruction Archived at the.Phaistos in Crete: they 'extend the chronological range of the Dendra type back to 1450 and forward to 1350', according to King 1970. ^ Isolated bronze shoulder pieces and apron plates are known from Dendra,.^ Cynthia King, 'The Homeric Corslet' American Journal of Archaeology 74.3 1970:294-96.Medinet Habu, Lower Egypt, or, alternatively, the body armour may be a 'bell' corselet of beaten bronze sheet, a type also found in central Europe at that time.Īrgos, is dated to the eighth century BC. Peoples of the Sea depicted on the mortuary temple of It may be either an embossed waist-length leatherĬorslet with a fringed leather apron that reaches to mid-thigh and possible shoulder-guards, very much like that worn by the National Archaeological Museum, Athens) are wearing body armor. Slivers of boars' tusks were also discovered, which once made up a It appears that lower arm-guards and a set of greaves further protected the warrior, all made of bronze, as fragments of these were also found in the grave at Dendra. Panoply thus forms a cumbersome tubular suit of armour, which fully protects the neck and torso, and extends down to the knees. All these pieces are made of beaten bronze sheet and are backed with leather and loosely fastened by ox-hide thongs to allow some degree of movement. Three pairs of curved plates hang from the waist to protect the groin and the thighs.

The Linear B ideogram depicting armour of this type makes the neck-guard clearly discernible, and protection by a high bronze collar was a typical feature of Near Eastern body armour. Two triangular plates are attached to the shoulder-guards and gave protection to the wearer's armpits when his arms were in the raised position. Large shoulder-guards fit over the cuirass. There is a bronze loop on the right side of the front-plate and a similar loop on each shoulder. These are joined on the left side by a hinge.

Although we have only this one complete panoply to date, armor of similar type appears as an ideogram onĬuirass consists of two pieces, for the chest and back. The few bronze examples that have been found only covered the shins and may have been worn over linen ones, as much for show of status Diane Fortenberry has suggested, as for protection. The arm-guard is unique but greaves, probably made of linen, are often depicted in late Mycenaean art. Late Helladic (LHIIIa) Dendra Panoply, which consists of fifteen separate pieces of bronze sheet, held together with leather thongs, that encased the wearer from neck to knees. In May 1960 Swedish archaeologists discovered the earliest example of a beaten bronzeĭendra, dated at the end of the fifteenth century BC. Scale armour, the oldest form of metal body armor, was used widely throughout the eastern Mediterranean and the Near East. Thebes, some bronze bands have been also found at Mycenaean-era panoply (full-body armor) made of bronze plates uncovered in the village ofīody armour (body cuirass, shoulder guards,īreast plates and lower protection plates) from the late The Dendra panoply or Dendra armour is an example of