Minoan Armor

[joeandmich]

Did Minoan armor differ from hoplite armor?

Thanks

[Dan Howard]

The Minoans did not wear armour. The earliest body armour of any kind dates to the 16th century. Hoplites date almost a thousand years later than this. The earliest armour found in the Aegean is Mycenaean, not Minoan. Mycenaeans wore bronze plate and bronze scale armour. The Dendra panoply is one example.

[richard robinson]

Dan, don't the famous untranslated dics have pictographs of what could possibly be interpreded as armour- and are they not remarkably similar to the dendra panoply and egyptian depictions of sea people armours and perhaps even the scaled Egyptian panoply(ies?) found.
Or am I confusing Mycenean and Minoan again?
regards
Richard

[Dan Howard]

The Phaistos disc has been dated anywhere from the 19th century to the first half of the 14th century. If it is of a later date then it is more likely to be representing Mycenaean culture rather than Minoan. Do you have a pic of the symbol you are thinking of?

https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/e...istos_Disc
This has a list of all 45 symbols on the disc and I can't see any symbols for armour. The only one that looks close has been interpreted as an animal hide.