The table from Akrotiri saved by the volcanic ash,17th cent BC / Τραπέζι που σώθηκε από την ηφαιστειακή τέφρα, Ακρωτήρι Θήρας

Artifacts

Other artifacts / Άλλα τεχνουργήματα

Volcanic ash cast of a wooden table, Museum of Cycladic Culture, Akrotiri excavation artifacts, Santorini, Cyclides, Hellas (Greece),17th cent BC, Museum of Prehistoric Thira

Το τραπέζι που σώθηκε από την ηφαιστειακή τέφρα, Ακρωτήρι Θήρας 17 αιω π.Χ.

A Corinthian Helmet from the Battle of Marathon

Artifacts

Other artifacts / Άλλα τεχνουργήματα

Greek Corinthian-style helmet and the skull reportedly found inside it from the Battle of Marathon, now residing in the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto.

The Corinthian helmet type is one of the most immediately recognisable types of helmet, romantically associated with the great heroes of Ancient Greece, even by the Ancient Greeks themselves who rapidly moved to helmet types with better visibility, but still depicted their heroes in these helmets. In modern portrayals of Ancient Greek warriors, it is always the Corinthian type that is depicted, although often modified to suit the look desired - for instance in one movie the helmet was modified to expose more of the face of the actor.

This remarkable Corinthian style helmet from the Battle of Marathon was reputedly found in 1834 with a human skull still inside. It now forms part of the Royal Ontario Museum’s collections, but originally it was discovered by George Nugent-Grenville, who was the British High Commissioner of the Ionian Islands between 1832-35.

A keen antiquarian, Nugent-Grenville carried out a number of rudimentary archaeological excavations in Greece, one of which took place on the Plains of Marathon, where the helmet was uncovered.

A pivotal moment in Ancient Greek history, the battle of Marathon saw a smaller Greek force, mainly made up of Athenian troops, defeat an invading Persian army.  A fierce and bloody battle, with numerous casualties, it appears that this helmet belonged to a Greek hoplite (soldier) who died during the fighting.

Today the the helmet and associated skull can be viewed at the Royal Ontario Museum’s Gallery of Greece.

Mycenaean Armor from Dendra,15th BC / Πανοπλία των Δενδρών

Artifacts

Other artifacts / Άλλα τεχνουργήματα

Bronze Armor from the Mycenaean tomb  in Dendra region End of 15th century BC

(Για Ελληνικά στο τέλος)

The Dendra panoply or Dendra armour is an example of Mycenaean-era full-body armour ("panoply") made of bronze plates uncovered in the village of Dendra in the Argolid, Greece.

Several elements of body armour (body cuirass, shoulder guards, breast plates and lower protection plates) from the late Mycenaean period have been found at Thebes, some bronze bands have been also found at Mycenae and Phaistos. Bronze scales were found at Mycenae and Troy; scale armour, the oldest form of metal body armour, was used widely throughout the eastern Mediterranean and the Near East. In May 1960 Swedish archaeologists discovered the earliest example of a beaten bronze cuirass at Dendra, dated to the end of the fifteenth century BC. It forms part of the Late Helladic (LHIIIa) Dendra Panoply, which consists of fifteen separate pieces of bronze sheet, held together with leather thongs, that encased the wearer from neck to knees. The panoply includes both greaves and lower arm-guards. The arm-guard is unique but greaves, probably made of linen, are often depicted in late Mycenaean art. The few bronze examples that have been found only covered the shins and may have been worn over linen ones, as much for show of status Diane Fortenberry has suggested, as for protection. Although we have only this one complete panoply to date, armor of similar type appears as an ideogram on Linear B tablets from Knossos (Sc series), Pylos (Sh series) and Tiryns (Si series).

The panoply’s cuirass consists of two pieces, for the chest and back. These are joined on the left side by a hinge. There is a bronze loop on the right side of the front-plate and a similar loop on each shoulder. Large shoulder-guards fit over the cuirass. Two triangular plates are attached to the shoulder-guards and gave protection to the wearer’s armpits when his arms were in the raised position. There is also a deep neck-guard. The Linear B ideogram depicting armour of this type makes the neck-guard clearly discernible, and protection by a high bronze collar was a typical feature of Near Eastern body armour. Three pairs of curved plates hang from the waist to protect the groin and the thighs. All these pieces are made of beaten bronze sheet and are backed with leather and loosely fastened by ox-hide thongs to allow some degree of movement. The complete panoply thus forms a cumbersome tubular suit of armour, which fully protects the neck and torso, and extends down to the knees. It appears that lower arm-guards and a set of greaves further protected the warrior, all made of bronze, as fragments of these were also found in the grave at Dendra. Slivers of boars’ tusks were also discovered, which once made up a boars’-tusk helmet.

The figures on the Warrior Vase (Mycenae, ca 1200 BC, National Archaeological Museum, Athens) are wearing body armour. However, this armour is different. It may be either an embossed waist-length leather corslet with a fringed leather apron that reaches to mid-thigh and possible shoulder-guards, very much like that worn by the Peoples of the Sea depicted on the mortuary temple of Ramesses III (died c. 1155 BC) at Medinet Habu, Lower Egypt, or, alternatively, the body armour may be a ‘bell’ corselet of beaten bronze sheet, a type also found in central Europe at that time.

Η Πανοπλία των Δενδρών, που ανακαλύφθηκε το 1960 σε θαλαμοειδή τάφο του νεκροταφείου των Δενδρών – ηλικίας 3.400 ετών –  που ερευνήθηκε την άνοιξη του 1960 από Έλληνες και Σουηδούς αρχαιολόγους (Ν. Βερδελής και Paul Astrom),  εκτίθεται στο Αρχαιολογικό Μουσείο Ναυπλίου μαζί με όλα τα ευρήματα που ήρθαν στο φως μαζί της – μια χάλκινη λεκάνη και μια πρόχους, ένα κάτοπτρο, μια κνημίδα και πήλινα α­λάβαστρα.

Η σφυρήλατη πανοπλία, βάρους 15 κιλών, είναι κατασκευα­σμένη από κράμα χαλκού με κασσί­τερο. Κατά τους μελετητές, ο ιδιο­κτήτης της θα πρέπει να ήταν υψηλά ιστάμενος αξιωματούχος ή αρχηγός αν κρίνουμε και από το γεγονός πως βρέθηκε μέσα σ έναν από τους 16 θαλαμωτούς τάφους του μυκηναϊ­κού νεκροταφείου των Δενδρών, του νεκροταφείου που συνδέεται ά­μεσα με τη αρχαία Μιδέα, την τρίτη σε σημασία οχυρωμένη μυκηναϊκή ακρόπολη μετά τις Μυκήνες και την Τίρυνθα.

Η πανοπλία από τα Δενδρά απο­τελούνταν από εμπρόσθιο και οπί­σθιο έλασμα, στο οποίο προσαρμό­ζονταν ένα περιτραχήλιο και δυο επώμια, μαζί με ένα τριγωνικό έλα­σμα που καλύπτει την περιοχή, ό­που συναντιούνται τα επώμια. Τρία καμπύλα ελάσματα καλύπτουν το κάτω μέρος του κορμού. Αυτό, ή κάτι παρόμοιο, μπορεί να είναι ε­κείνο που θεωρείται πως φορούσε ο Διομήδης στη ραψωδία Ε 99, αν και μια τέτοια πανοπλία θα παρεμπόδι­ζε σημαντικά την κίνηση. Όσο για τη σωματική διάπλαση του ιδιοκτήτη, δεν υπάρχουν ακριβή συμπεράσματα, καθώς πρόκειται για αρθρωτή πανοπλία και οι διαστάσεις της μπορούν να μεταβληθούν. Ά­γνωστη παραμένει, δε, η προέλευση του χαλκού, που πιθανόν λόγω της σύστασης του προερχόταν από την Κύπρο με τη μορφή ταλάντων (όγκοι χαλκού). Στη συνέχεια τον έλειωναν, τον χύτευαν και τον σφυρηλατού­σαν.

A 6th century BC bull at Delphi Museum/ Ταύρος του 6ου αι Π.Χ. στο Μουσείο των Δελφών

Artifacts

Other artifacts / Άλλα τεχνουργήματα

Silver bull at the Delphi Archaeological Museum

Fragments of the remains of a life-size Ionian bull, made out of silver sheets and gold, dedicated at Delphi in the middle of 6th century BC, the largest example of a statue made out of precious metal

Double axe from the Arkalochori Cave on Crete with 4 signs in Minoan Linear A.

ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΑ

Artifacts

Other artifacts / Άλλα τεχνουργήματα

Double axe from the Arkalochori Cave on Crete, from the Late Minoan IA Period, dating to c.1550-1500 BC. The axe is made from a thin sheet of gold and a hollow gold shaft. Four characters in an un-deciphered script (Linear A) were incised on one blade of the axe. These might represent an offering to Demeter and is was deposited in a sacred cave as a votive offering.

There are hundreds of bronze double-axes, 25 golden ones and 7 silver, all from the Cave of Arkalochori. One of these double-axes made of silver, which is now in the Archaeological Museum of Heraklion (AR Zf 2), has 4 signs in Minoan Linear A.

Gold dThe Linear A Inscription from Arkalochori

The Minoan inscriptions from Arkalochori were studied by Nikolaos Boufidis, shortly following the decipherment of Linear B, by Michael Ventris in 1952, and can tentatively be read as I-DA-MA-TE when compared to the phonetic sound values of Mycenaean Linear B as a working hypothesis.

A related inscription has now also been found on a stone vase from the Peak Sanctuary at “Aghios Georgios sto Vouno” above the Minoan settlement/harbour of Kastri on the island of Kythera, and in visual contact with Crete, which can tentatively be read as DA-MA-TE (KY Za 2), which would appear to be another reference to the Mother Goddess of Minoan Crete. This object from Kythera is very similar to the inscribed ladle from Troulos at Archanes (TL Za 1).

The Mother Goddess of Minoan Crete continued receiving offerings even after the cave roof collapsed over the entrance which was facing South. The hill has been occupied since Neolithic times, and has continued to be throughout the Minoan, Greek, Roman and Hellenistic periods etc., until today, as a place of both inhabitation and worship.

Ventris, Michael George Francis (1922–1956)

British linguist, known for his translation of previously undecipherable scripts and the theory that Linear B was an archaic form of the Greek language. Although born in Wheathampstead, Hertfordshire, he grew up in Switzerland and was therefore able to speak French and German as well as English. From his Polish mother he acquired Polish and he was known to have a talent for learning languages, including the ancient Greek and Latin he studied at school. He had no formal linguistics training and started out as an architecture student.

As a schoolboy, Ventris attended a lecture by Sir Arthur Evans on undeciphered Minoan scripts and he became fascinated by their decipherment and the study of similar ancient texts. The script in question, called Linear B, was found on tablets dating from the middle of the 2nd millennium bc that were discovered by Evans in 1900 in Crete. While Evans ruled out any possibility that Linear B could have been connected with Greek, Ventris noticed some possible similarities in the word endings and, pursuing this clue, he began to outline the structure of the language, which he believed seemed similar to Greek. He was able to decipher much of the text and show that it was Mycenaean. In doing so he upended Evans`s theory that the scripts (and civilization in Crete at the time they were written) were Minoan.

The Arcado-Cyprian dialect, about which very little is known, is the descendant of a form spoken in Mycenaean times in at least the Peloponnese and some of the southern islands. The deciphering (1952) of the so-called Linear B script (by British linguist Michael Ventris), examples of which were found on tablets during the excavations made in Crete and on the mainland of Greece after 1900, revealed it as an ancestor (1500-1400 bc) of Arcado-Cyprian. These researches indicate that the Greeks were a literate people many hundreds of years before the period of the first Greek poet, Homer (probably the 9th century bc). 

Most scholars of today accept Ventris`s theory that Linear B was related to the Greek language.

Ventris`s life was cut short when he died in a car accident, shortly before a collaboration with John Chadwick, Documents in Mycenaean Greek (1956), was published.