01-11-2012, 06:30 PM
The actual author of the Iliad is irrelevant. Enough details described in the text has shown up in the archaeological record to be fairly certain that the author was describing actual items and places.
There is physical evidence for Greek linen armour dating to the end of the Bronze age. Two pieces of layered linen (around 10-15 layers) have been uncovered at Patras and are intact enough to resemble the armour being depictecd in some Mycenaean illustrations. This makes it more likely that the fragment found at Mycenae was also armour. We now have all three types of evidence - iconographic, literary, and archaeological - for Mycenaean layered linen armour.
There is physical evidence for Greek linen armour dating to the end of the Bronze age. Two pieces of layered linen (around 10-15 layers) have been uncovered at Patras and are intact enough to resemble the armour being depictecd in some Mycenaean illustrations. This makes it more likely that the fragment found at Mycenae was also armour. We now have all three types of evidence - iconographic, literary, and archaeological - for Mycenaean layered linen armour.
Author: Bronze Age Military Equipment, Pen & Sword Books
