HOMER'S BOAR-TUSK HELMETS

The grand inspirations that led Heinrich Schliemann to look for the remains of Troy and Mycenae have since given way to more focused investigations of particular remains and their role within the rather elusive ancient societies. Boar-tusk helmets are such artefacts which have sparked the curiosity of researchers in the past decades and have raised interesting questions about Mycenaean culture.

By Samuel Azzopardi

In Book 10 of the Iliad, Odysseus, assisted by Meriones, prepares himself for the night-raid with Diomedes. Among his accoutrements is a boartusk helmet (10.260-270): “… while Meriones gave Odysseus a bow and quiver and a sword; and he [Odysseus] too put over his head a helmet fashioned of leather; on the inside the cap was cross-strung firmly with thongs of leather, and on the outer side the white teeth of a tusk-shining boar were close sewn one after another with craftsmanship and skill; and a felt was set in the centre.”(Lattimore) The artefact’s history is then detailed: how it had been stolen by Autolycus from Amyntor of Eleon and then passed on as a gift to Amphidamas of Kythera, and from him to Molos, who gifted it to his son Meriones.…

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Ancient Warfare (Digital) - 1 Issue, AW XV.3

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