Mycenaean lawageta

MYCENAEAN “LAWAGETA” (leader of the king’s army). The Mycenaean civilization was the last phase of the Bronze Age in mainland Greece, lasting from 1750 BC to 1050 BC approximately. Mycenaean art and material culture was heavily influenced by the Minoan civilization of Crete (3100-1100 BC), which the Mycenaeans seem to have eventually conquered, although both civilizations were unique in many aspects. Unlike the relatively peaceful Minoans, the Mycenaeans were very war-like, with many independent centres of power. Most Mycenaean warriors were lightly equipped, often wearing only a tunic (unlike Minoan men, that went bare-chested, wearing only a loincloth or a kilt-like lower garment) and a helmet usually made of boar tusks. But members of the Mycenaean elite wore extremely bulky and heavy bell-shaped armours with massive pauldrons that encircled the whole torso and high neck guards that practically left only the eyes visible. Although later examples of these armours are lighter and smaller, the most famous one was found at Dendra, which is the one used as reference here. Mycenaean helmets could have horns, as represented in the famous Vase of the Warriors, and Homer describes Achilles wearing a helmet with four horns in the Iliad. Surviving examples of horns that may have been attached to a helmet were also found at Dendra. This warrior also carries an “epsilon” axe, a type of axe used all over the Middle East and Egypt, and a “dipylon” shield based on Minoan and Mycenaean artistic representations.

The Bronze Age in the eastern Mediterranean ended in chaos, and Greece was no exception. Most Mycenaean centres of power were eventually destroyed, possibly by the obscure tribes known as the “Sea Peoples”, that brought the Late Bronze Age civilizations of the eastern Mediterranean to an end (all except Egypt). The Iron Age in Greece began with a period known as the “Greek Dark Ages”, at the end of which Homer wrote the Iliad, inspired by a heroic Mycenaean past that would become eternally associated with the mythical Trojan War.

Some parts of this illustration have been inspired by the reconstructions of Mycenaean weapons and armours made by Dimitrios Katsikis: https://www.hellenicarmors.gr/en/