Ivory Mycenaean warrior from Delos B.07069

1. Plaque with Mycenaean warrior in relief Ivory; H. 11.8 cm (4 5/8 in.), W. 6 cm (2 3/8 in.) Delos, Artemision 7th-century b.c. context, Late Bronze Age manufacture, 14th – 13th century b.c. Archaeological Museum, Delos, Greece (B.07069)

In 1946, during the excavation of the Artemis sanctuary in Delos, burned bones, pottery sherds, bronze, gold, and other Mycenaean arti­ facts were found in the northeastern corner of the seventh-­century b.c. temple. Among 2,533 ivory fragments, perhaps the remains of the inlaid decoration of furniture or chests, was this plaque representing a Mycenaean warrior.1 Standing, he wears only a loincloth and an arm bracelet and holds a spear and a large figure-­of-­ eight shield, which would have protected his entire body during battle. His head is protected by a conical helmet constructed of rows of boar’s tusks, neatly cut lengthways into oblong plates pierced at the corners with holes and sewn over a base of leather and felt. The direction of the curve of the tusks alternates in each successive row. On the relief there are only two rows of tusks, but the actual surviving helmets had up to four or five. The crown of these helmets was either adorned with a plume or terminated in a knob. Some were decorated with a crest, a horse’s tail, and / or horns, and sometimes they were equipped with neck and cheek guards made of either leather or bronze. Such a helmet is described by Homer (Iliad 10.260 – 65), although it had gone out of use long before his time: And Meriones gave to Odysseus a bow and a quiver and a sword, and about his head he set a helm wrought of hide, and with many a tight-­stretched thong was it made stiff within, while without the white teeth of a boar of gleaming tusks were set thick on this side and that, well and cunningly, and within was fixed a lining of felt. This cap Autolycus on a time stole out of Eleon when he had broken into the stout-­built house of Amyntor, son of Ormenus; and he gave it to Amphidamas of Cythera to take to Scandeia, and Amphidamas gave it to Molus as a guest-­gift, but he gave it to his own son Meriones to wear; and now, being set thereon, it covered the head of Odysseus.2 Because of the large number of tusks neces­ sary to make a helmet of this type (taken from twenty to one hundred boars), the most elabo­ rate ones were probably worn as a status sym­ bol by high-­ranking warriors. This would explain the figure’s proud and somewhat arrogant stance here. The possession of such a helmet

was proof of his bravery or, in the case of an heirloom, like the one given by Meriones to Odysseus, attested to the nobility and bravery of his ancestors. Images like this reflect the qualities admired by Mycenaean society and the

goals toward which they strove. In the centuries that followed, such qualities were kept alive within the legends of the great heroic past. pjc 1. See Tournavitou 1995. ​2. Translated by A. T. Murray (1924 – 2 5).

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