A 15ᵗʰ-century BC Mycenaean military leader (lāwāgetās) and his panoply
- Carlos Vermeersch
- Jul 10
- 7 min read
Updated: 4 days ago
A highly historically accurate reconstruction of an Achaean (Mycenaean) lāwāgetās (Linear B: 𐀨𐀷𐀐𐀲, ra-wa-ke-ta, "military leader") from the second half of the 15ᵗʰ century BC, some 240 years before the Trojan war recounted by Homer's Iliad (ca. 1194–1184 BC), wearing the Dendra panoply and the iconic boar's tusks helmet.
He is equipped with the Dendra panoply from tomb 12 (LH II–LH IIB, 1450–1400 BC), the earliest known full-body armor (𐂫; 𐀵𐀨𐀏, to-ra-ka), made of 15 bronze plates (neck-guard, two pieces of cuirass joined by a hinge on the left, pauldrons, and three pairs of lower plates) alongside greaves and unique lower arm-guards. All these pieces are made of beaten bronze sheet and are backed with leather or felt and loosely fastened by ox-hide thongs to allow some degree of movement. The white leg protectors extending up to the knees are attested on pictorial representations both on fresco and on pottery (LH A–LH C) as well as in the Iliad, covering them are the bronze greaves of the Dendra panoply, which are nearly as thin as paper. His hands are protected by unique bronze hand protections found at chamber tomb 15 of Mycenae (LH IIIa/B1, 1300–1250 BC). He holds a figure-of-eight shield, one of the most popular Aegean defensive weapons, represented on pottery, wall-paintings and sculpture both as defence weapons and decorative motif or cult symbol, mainly in a period between the 17ᵗʰ and the 15ᵗʰ centuries BC. On his head, he wears an elaborate boar's tusks helmet (𐃃; 𐀒𐀬, ko-ru), featuring a double crest spiraling around two disks with a plume rising between them, and two plumes suspended from the sides, based on a depiction on a Mycenaean seal from Vafeió (Late Helladic II, ca. 1500 BC), to which bronze cheek plates have been added based on those from the boar's tusks helmet from tomb 18 of Dendra (LH II–LH IIB, 1450–1400 BC). His weapons consist of a Type Ci sword (𐃊; 𐃉; 𐀥𐀯𐀡, *qi-si-po) with an ivory-and-gold hilt, reconstructed from the sword found in tomb 46 in Kydonia, dated to the Late Minoan IIIA1 (ca. 1420–1370 BC), while in his hand he carries the fenestrated axe (𐃈) from the tholos tomb of Vafeió (ca. 15ᵗʰ c. BC, though possibly a century-old heirloom at that time manufactured around 2000–1750 BC, either in the Levant or locally with Levantine influence), named for its similarity to the Greek letter (ϵ), and though it constitutes the only semicircular axe found in the Aegean, it appears on Minoan and Mycenaean seals as insignia dignitatis. The upper end of the wooden haft of the fenestrated axe was enclosed by a singular cylindrical copper or bronze ribbed cap with an oval section. The crests, kiton, leather, felt lining and stitching are coloured in minium red, the preferred war color by the Achaeans. The footwear is based on clay Mycenaean rhyta (libation vessels), depicting shoes with upturned tips.
The military leader stands before the Lion Gate of Mycenae, the monumental entrance to the citadel's acropolis. The relieving triangle above the gate, depicting two lions leaning on a column, is significant as the only surviving example of Mycenaean sculpture. The heads of the lions crowning the gate, now lost, have been reconstructed by drawing on parallels with a Mycenaean gold rhyton shaped like a lion's head, which was originally interpreted by Schliemann as part of a helmet.
Armour
Boar's tusk helmet
Main article: Boar's tusk helmet
The depicted warrior wears an elaborate boar's tusks helmet, featuring a double crest spiraling around two disks with a plume rising between them, and two plumes suspended from the sides, based on the depiction on a lentoid sealstone (CMS-I-260-1) from the tholos tomb of Vapheio (Late Helladic II, ca. 1500 BC), which is similar to a depiction on another lentoid sealstone (NM 32731) from the Kazarma tholos of Ágios Ioannis (LH IIA–IIIA1, 1500–1370 BC). Bronze cheek plates have been added based on those from the boar's tusks helmet from tomb 18 of Dendra (LH II–LH IIB, 1450–1400 BC).
Boar's tusk helmets were a distinctive form of Mycenaean head protection used from the 18th/17th to the 10th century BC. They consisted of overlapping plates cut from boars' lower tusks, sewn onto a leather cap lined with felt. Their construction is described in Homer's Iliad, where the helmet of Odysseus is depicted as an heirloom decorated with alternating rows of white tusks.
Although less protective than bronze helmets, boar's tusk helmets were probably prestigious items associated with high-status individuals. An average helmet required the tusks of around 40–50 boars, while the most elaborate examples used more than 140. The ivory plates were attached with thread passed through carefully drilled perforations, with more advanced drilling techniques helping to protect the stitching from damage.
Early helmets are reconstructed as leather caps made from six sewn segments reinforced by tusk plates over the seams. A later reconstruction by Peter Connolly proposes a cylindrical leather band with a woven conical upper section lined with felt, with leather strips covering the stitching between rows of tusks to protect the seams and prevent weapons from catching. Fragments of boar's tusk helmet plates have been recovered from several Mycenaean sites, including Dendra, where they were found alongside the famous bronze panoply.
Figure-of-eight shield
Main article: Aegean figure-of-Eight shield
The figure-of-eight shield was the most common Achaean body shield and one of the defining defensive weapons of the Aegean Bronze Age. Widely used from the 17th to the 15th century BC, its precise origin remains uncertain, as current evidence does not establish whether it first developed in Crete or on the Greek mainland before spreading across the Aegean. It is frequently depicted in Aegean art, both as a practical weapon and as a decorative or cultic symbol. Based on artistic representations and limited archaeological evidence, it was constructed from a wooden frame covered with multiple layers of bull's hide over a wicker core, creating a large yet lightweight shield. It was likely reinforced with a leather or bronze rim, a central strengthening strip, and occasionally bronze fittings, while a handgrip and baldric allowed it to be carried and used effectively. Although its military role declined with the adoption of bronze body armour, the figure-of-eight shield continued to appear in Late Bronze Age art and retained considerable symbolic importance in Mycenaean culture.
Dendra panoply
Main article: Dendra panoply
The Dendra Panoply, discovered in a late 15th-century BC tomb at Dendra in the Argolid, is the only complete Mycenaean suit of bronze body armour ever found, although similar armour is known from fragmentary finds and Linear B records. It consists of fifteen articulated bronze plates fastened with leather, protecting the body from neck to knees, and was originally worn with bronze limb guards and a boars'-tusk helmet.
Experimental archaeology has demonstrated that the armour was practical battlefield equipment rather than ceremonial. Modern soldiers wearing accurate replicas during prolonged combat simulations retained high mobility, endurance, and protection, suggesting it could be used effectively by elite infantry as well as chariot warriors, with chariots likely serving primarily as transport to the battlefield.
Some scholars have also linked the Dendra Panoply to the Iliad, arguing that Homer's description of Meges' inherited cuirass "fitted with concave plates" may preserve a memory of Bronze Age segmented bronze armour similar to the Dendra type.
Weaponry
Fenestrated axe
Main article: Fenestrated axe of Vafeió
An unparallelled, heavy transitional or medium fenestrated axe—wrongly called epsilon (crescentic) axe—of the Syro-Egyptian type from the 20th–18th century BC was found in the Mycenaean (LH IIB, i.e. 15th century BC) tomb at Vapheio, Laconia. What makes this axe special are its Minoan ribbed cap; its raised mid-rib reinforcement ending in a pointed oval; and its three socket loops of Egyptian influence, which grant it characteristics of Egyptian crescentic axes and makes it part of a rare group of axe-heads attested through finds from the Levant as well as depictions in Egyptian tombs, setting it aside from the vast majority of fenestrated axes from the Levant which mainly have a closed socket or shaft-holes connected by a continuous straight butt. The hafting method of the Vapheio fenestrated axe can be ascribed to a fusion of Egyptian and Levantine traditions: The special traits of the Vapheio axe, its socket loops, were traced to a mould from Byblos and the Sakçegözü axe; both very likely date to the Middle Bronze Age. Curiously, its weight (479.16 g), corresponds to a Near Eastern unit of measurement, the West Syrian mina. The axe-head either reached Crete directly from the Levant or had entered the island via Egypt during the period of intense Minoan-Egyptian contacts in the 18th dynasty (1550–1292 BC).
Horned sword
Main article: Sandars type Ci horned sword
See also: Sandars type A horned sword
See also: Mycenaean spathomachaera or Schlachtmesser
This example is a Type Ci sword from Tomb 46 at Kydonia, Crete, dated to Late Minoan IIIA1. Measuring 83 cm in length, the grip features raised bronze edges (flanges) along the side, with an ivory inlay secured with gold rivets and ring, and an upper ivory pommel also secured with a gold rivet, illustrating the high level of craftsmanship and the prestigious status associated with elite Mycenaean weapons.
Type C swords evolved from the earlier Type A and B swords, introducing a cast-on hilt in which the grip and upward-curving horned guards were forged as a single piece with the blade, greatly strengthening the weapon. They are divided into two contemporary variants: Type Ci (60–90 cm) and the more standardized Type Cii (60–70 cm), both dating from LM/LH II (c. 1500 BC) to LM/LH IIIA (c. 1350 BC). Found throughout mainland Greece, Crete, and the Aegean islands, they were also exported to the Levant and Central and Eastern Europe. Type Ci retained the long, slender proportions of earlier swords and was secured with rivets, while Type Cii improved grip attachment by bending the flanges over the wooden grip plates, largely eliminating the need for rivets. Despite their slender blades, experimental archaeology has shown that Type C swords were highly effective for both cutting and thrusting.
Type C spear
Main article: Mycenaean type C spear
See also: Minoan type F spear
See also: Minoan two-pronged spear
Type C spear and javelin points are distinguished by a forged, fissured "cannon-style" socket, typically much longer than the slender, sharply pointed blade, which is reinforced by a rounded midrib. Common on the Greek mainland—especially in the Shaft Graves at Mycenae—they later spread to Crete and Rhodes. Measuring 14.4–60 cm in length, they were used from MH III–LH I (c. 1600–1550 BC) until LM III (c. 1370–1200 BC), gradually evolving to share features with Types D and G. Their sockets were formed by bending a forged bronze sheet into a conical tube around the shaft, leaving a characteristic longitudinal fissure that was sometimes reinforced with a bronze ring at the base.
