The armour of course was fully decorated with black, gold and tin stripes as mentioned in the Iliad. The armour can thus be based on the specimens found in Thebes or even on the one from Dendra in this case only equipped with a frontal and back waist plates (see page dedicated to the armour). The shield and the helmet of Agamemnon which are described the Iliad are reconstructed in the pages dedicated to the Iliad shields and Iliad helmets.īased on the above mentioned descriptions two reasonably hypothesis can be made about Agamemnon's armour: a)The armour was a typical Achaean panoply composed of two plates with shoulder guards and (as mentioned in the Iliad) a war belt. The Agamemnon's dagger was hanging near the sword's long scabbard. The sword's silver scabbard was attached with silver suspensions. XI, 17-18)Īgamemnon puts the sword, shining with golden nails, around the shoulders. XI, 234-237)Īgamemnon wears beautiful greaves reinforced with silver ankle protections. The armour ended at waist level and was equipped with a protection belt because when Agamemnon was hit by Iphidamantes' spear, it is said that the stub hit the belt in the lower part of the armour, but it didn't pass through the decorated belt because the spear's point was bent by hitting the silver part. XI, 24-25)Įnamel snakes lay toward the neck, three on each side, similar to the rainbows that the son of Kronos places in the clouds as a signal for men. The armour had ten strips (*4) of black enamel as well as twelve strips made of gold and 20 made of tin (Il. The first element that we have to consider about Agamemnon's armour is that it comes from Cyprus as a gift from Kinyras. The Iliad's hexameter analysis, and some elements and places described in it, have demonstrated how the poem had its origins in the Mycenaean time (*3) (see also the page dedicated to the Trojan war) thus for all the reconstructions on this page, archaeological elements coming from the Late Helladic period have been reasonably used. Based on these elements an hypothetical recontruction of some of the defence described in the Iliad can be made.
Even if their armour is generically indicated as " Thorek" (*2) in some cases further details are given. In the Iliad the Achaeans are described as wearing bronze(*1).
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