Boar's tusk helmet

You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in German. Click [show] for important translation instructions.
  • Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia.
  • Consider adding a topic to this template: there are already 9,121 articles in the main category, and specifying|topic= will aid in categorization.
  • Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article.
  • You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing German Wikipedia article at [[:de:Eberzahnhelm]]; see its history for attribution.
  • You may also add the template {{Translated|de|Eberzahnhelm}} to the talk page.
  • For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.
Helmet made of boar tusk
Mycenaean Greek boar tusk helmet from Mycenae, 14th century BC. On display at the National Archaeological Museum, Athens
Boar tusk helmet, Heraklion Archaeological Museum

Helmets using ivory from boars' tusks were known in the Mycenaean world from the 17th century BC (Shaft Graves, Mycenae[1][2]) to the 10th century BC (Elateia, Central Greece). The helmet was made through the use of slivers of boar tusks which were attached to a leather base, padded with felt, in rows. A description of a boar's tusk helmet appears in book ten of Homer's Iliad, as Odysseus is armed for a night raid to be conducted against the Trojans.

Meriones gave Odysseus a bow, a quiver and a sword, and put a cleverly made leather helmet on his head. On the inside there was a strong lining on interwoven straps, onto which a felt cap had been sewn in. The outside was cleverly adorned all around with rows of white tusks from a shiny-toothed boar, the tusks running in alternate directions in each row.

Μηριόνης δ' Ὀδυσῆϊ δίδου βιὸν ἠδὲ φαρέτρην
καὶ ξίφος, ἀμφὶ δέ οἱ κυνέην κεφαλῆφιν ἔθηκε
ῥινοῦ ποιητήν: πολέσιν δ' ἔντοσθεν ἱμᾶσιν
ἐντέτατο στερεῶς: ἔκτοσθε δὲ λευκοὶ ὀδόντες
ἀργιόδοντος ὑὸς θαμέες ἔχον ἔνθα καὶ ἔνθα

εὖ καὶ ἐπισταμένως: μέσσῃ δ' ἐνὶ πῖλος ἀρήρει.

— Homer, Iliad 10.260–5

Fragments of ivory which might have come from helmets of this kind have been discovered on Mycenaean sites (at Dendra, for instance, fragments were found alongside the bronze panoply excavated in 1960) and an ivory plaque, also from a Mycenaean site, represents a helmet of this kind. Although they would not provide protection as good as that of a metal helmet, they may have been worn by some leaders as a status symbol, or a means of identification.

Homer specifies that the helmet given by Meriones to Odysseus was an heirloom, passed down through the generations, a detail which perhaps suggests its value. Although the number of plates required to make an entire helmet varies – anything from 40 to 140 can be required[3] – it has been estimated that forty to fifty boars would have to be killed to make just one helmet.[4]

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Boar tusk helmets.

References

  1. ^ The Shaft Graves Archived 2010-07-03 at the Wayback Machine, Dartmouth College
  2. ^ Nobuo Komita 1983, "The Grave Circles at Mycenae and the Early Indo-Europeans", Research reports of Ikutoku Technical University. Part A, Humanities and social science
  3. ^ Kilian-Dirlmeier, I (1997). Das mittelbronzezeitliche Schachtgrab von Αegina. Mainz. p. 46.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  4. ^ Everson, Tim (2004). Warfare in Ancient Greece: Arms and Armour from the Heroes of Homer to Alexander the Great. The History Press. pp. 9–10.
  • v
  • t
  • e
Individual
historical
helmets
Combat
Ancient
Medieval and
Early Modern
Late Modern
1914–1945
1945–1980
1980–2000
2001–present
Athletic
Work
Other