03-10-2016, 01:36 PM
(03-10-2016, 01:24 PM)Dan Howard Wrote: It isn't all that complicated. Homer described a military conflict that most people agree occurred at the end of the Bronze Age. He said that linen armour was used by the Greeks during that conflict. We have a physical example of linen armour that was found in Greece and dates to the same time period. How can you claim that this armour wasn't used during that time but was really used five hundred years later?
I'm not claiming it wasn't used -- I guess you didn't read my book? There's a whole chapter on the Mycenaeans in there and, indeed, they used linen armour. It would be silly to say otherwise. The main point is that the material culture in Homer, taken as a whole, better fits the period of Homer's own age than the Mycenaean era (e.g. descriptions of buildings, of shields, etc.), and the society described by Homer doesn't correspond with what we know of the Mycenaeans (but does for the Dark Age/Archaic period). But of course, there's stuff that's similar from one period to the next (i.e. continuity), as in the basic shape of galleys, the use of Naue-II swords, the use of light two-wheeled chariots, and so forth.
Edit: for more on Homer and history, see my blog posts on the topic:
- http://www.karwansaraypublishers.com/pw/...ry-part-1/
- http://www.karwansaraypublishers.com/pw/...ry-part-2/
I think that covers the issue sufficiently.
