Lattimore translated the above as:
"Upon his head he set the helmet, two-horned, four-sheeted,
with the horse-hair crest, and the plumes nodded terribly above it."
Butler's translation:
"On his head Agamemnon set a helmet, with a peak before and behind, and four plumes of horse-hair that nodded menacingly above it."
There are two ambiguous terms in the first line: amphiphalos and tetraphaleros amphi means "on either side"; phalos is some kind of projection - horn, crest, etc. tetra means "four"; phaleros I'm not sure about. It could mean "horn" or "crest" but it could also be from phalara which means "boss". Liddell and Scott reckon that it means "four-bosses" and that the word is the same as the latin phalerae.
So it could have two crests and four horns or it could have two horns and four bosses.
The second line: hippouris is "horse tail" lophos is "plume" or "crest" deinos "terrible" or "fearful" kathuperthe is "down from above" neuo is "nod" or "beckon"
The words "horse tail" and "crest" are both singular so I'm thinking that the helmet only has one of these. The most likely interpretation would therefore be one horse tail crest, two horns, and four bosses. So my translation would be something like:
"Upon his head he placed his two-horned, four-bossed helmet
The horse tail crest nodded menacingly down from above."
How did I do?
Is Agamemnon's helmet mentioned anywhere else in the book?
This is actually problematic: Usually /amphi/ isn't taken with a number and always implies both sides (of something) and you can see this in all the variations of the word. On the other hand this extended passage alone does this twice, right? so earlier you have κεφαλαὶ δέ οἱ ἦσαν...τρεῖς ἀμφιστρεφέες ἑνὸς αὐχένος ἐκπεφυυῖαι for the shield with the snake. So whether you're dealing with a bad text (various editors postulated different solutions, our solution comes from Aristarkhos), ossified usage, folk usage or confusion....I don't know. I'd say however you can visually reconcile the image should be fine. For me instantly I think of a horn on either side.
/phaleros/ Bear in mind the word is still productive for the poet because people get hit on it as well as have them, so he must have had an idea. The Greeks (I think Aeschylus?) described the Persian tiara as having one, though the words don't come to mind right now. As for the Latin its phonology shows it to be a loan word from the Greek, if I remember correctly it;s also used to describe armaments for horses so it can guide your usage.
I don't think Agamemnon's helmet is described elsewhere, even in the close up in book 2, however I remember that the helmet here is meant to strongly recall Athene's back in book 5, so check that. I'd type it out but my mental grasp of the lines isn't as secure as it used to be and I don't have access to the text right now.
As it stands I see no problem with your conception, straight away I'd think of something like that, assuming you're taking bosses to be the cheek pieces. Oh and as for the single/vs plural plume. Remember how hexameter works, you could have it either way if you liked, though I think one would look better than two.
Thanks Jass - just what I was after. Regarding the bosses, Connnolly's reconstruction was based on the helmet found at Tiryns, which has four bosses - two on the cheek guards and two on the bowl itself, and I will probably replicate this on my helmet too.
[attachment=7809]Helmet-tiryns.jpg[/attachment]
But, if we are right about Homeric helmets being kegelhelms, then its possible that Homer was using tetraphaleros to describe the four additional plates that are added to the basic kegelhelm construction - the two cheekpieces, the back piece, and the brow plate. So I'm going to employ this method of construction as well.
I've already commissioned Jeffrey Hildebrandt to make Agamemnon's cuirass. The design has been finalised and work has started. If anyone wants to follow along with its progress then here is the thread. http://z8.invisionfree.com/Bronze_Age_Ce...topic=1792
phala = small head (meaning flat knob/boss)
phalaron = small anklet (meaning rounded knob- boss) and also horse reigns and horse's cheek attachments (hence confusion with horse hair crests in my opinion)
We know their helmets had crests and horns. There are plenty of illustrations, plenty of descriptions in the Iliad, and we even have two physical examples of horns from Mycenae. What is in question is the shape of Agamemnon's helmet and the specific configuration of horns and crests. It is interesting how much detail can be teased from the book. A lot of helmets are described as "hollow-eyed", which immediately conjures up images of Corinthians but they are too late to be relevant. The same appearance can be seen on some extant kegelhelms - those with wide cheek guards and cut-outs for the eyes.
The particular decorated pot shows horns and a crest on the same helmet, it would seem particularly relevant - especially in light of the previous post.
The Iliad mentions leather helmets a number of times, metal bosses on a leather helmet would be more noteworthy than small discs raised from the body of a bronze helmet. From their prominence in the description, alongside such visually arresting items such as horns and a crest, they would seem to be distinctive and obvious. It has been posited that the word opaworta, mentioned in Linear B inventories in connection with helmets, might indicate such bosses.
There is one leather helmet in book 10 that is specifically described as having no horn or crest; another in book 10 that is described as ἰκτίδεος, which is some kind of martin or ferret skin; and that is it. If you have other references to leather helmets, I'd love to see them because I can't find any. Compare this to the dozens of references to bronze helmets. We even have descriptions of helmets that are both made of bronze AND having four bosses, and we have surviving examples.
The "bossed leather helmet" is a dodgy interpretation of the warrior vase illustration that is not supportable in the Iliad nor in archaeological evidence. There isn't a single mention of leather armour in the Iliad either.
As said above, kegelhelms were made with additional plates added on to the basic design such as cheekpieces, the back piece, and the brow plate. o-pa-wo-ta could refer to these rather than decorative bosses, but the term could also be simply referring to crests and horns.
Opaworta is a word also associated with cuirasses, so a meaning of crests or horns would be unlikely and a meaning of metal boss much more probable.
This seems to support leather helmets for some of the Iliad descriptions, the author even posits that all the Greek helmets were leather (this was written when only the Dendra bronze helmet was known) :
The description of the helmet of Odysseus is definite enough, it is a leather helmet reinforced by boars tusks. This type of helmet is today noted for the boar's tusks, but this should not blind us to the fact that it was essentially a leather helmet. A contemporary type of leather helmet reinforced by bronze is therefore not unlikely.
There are many mentions of multiple-layered leather shields. Taken together with the leather helmets -including those of Diomedes and Odysseus - there is plenty of evidence in the Iliad for leather being used to make defensive equipment
o-pa-wo-ta literally means "things hung on". Chadwick has interpreted this as "accessories," but "attachments" or even "components" might also be a valid interpretation
I've gone through every line of the Iliad multiple times and translated a lot of it myself. There are dozens and dozens of bronze helmets in the book. Only bronze helmets are described with bosses, horns, and crests. There is no reason not to assume that Agamemnon's helmet - the topic of this thread - was also made of bronze.
The only two mentions of leather helmets are in book 10 - one worn by Diomedes and the other by Dolon. Diomedes' helmet is specifically said to NOT have any adornment. Odysseus' helmet is made of boars tusks; the leather underneath is just a liner. I have seen the originals and own a very good replica of one. Homer's description is very close to these extant examples.
I can't find a single mention of leather armour anywhere in the book. Some characters wear animal skins (such as Agamemnon's lion pelt) but their armour was bronze.
I fully acknowledge that they used leather shields and have proposed a specific method of construction that nobody has considered before. How is a shield relevant to what sort of helmets and armour they wore?
Well, in the Iliad Hephaestus forges the new armour of Achilles from copper, tin, silver and gold. When the helmet from the first panoply is knocked off of Patroclus's head, it clatters under a chariot. And in Iliad XVI 795-799, it is mentioned that his helmet is furnished with a support for a crest (just like so many of those kegelhelms). I would imagine that Agamemnon's helmet would be much like Achilles', as similar terms are used to describe it.
In Iliad XVI 70-71 the front part of Achilles' helmet shines in the sun. Odysseus's helmet is made of leather and boar tusks, and is specifically mentioned as coming from an earlier era. In some parts, the cheekpieces take a lot of abuse, more than a leather helmet could endure. Achaeans also wore bronze greaves and cuirasses, why would they have a leather helmet? bosses on a leather helmet aren't all that protective unless they overlap.
When Achilles tries to kill Hector, his body is encased in the bronze of Achilles' first panoply. Armour is described as glittering. I don't think the Warrior Vase is depicting leather helmets. The occurences of iron mentioned in the text, and everything else points to a Geometric Period Trojan War. "Four-ply" helmets would mean a kegel (simple dome or cone), and the addition of cheekpieces, and a front and back plate. Apparently Hermann Born, and others see Homer's helmets in kegelhelms; they fit in every respect, and support a revised chronology for the Trojan War.. Picture is from Born's book, of some cheekpieces, one of which is spangled with a star like Achilles' armour. They would give kegelhelms a "hollow-eyed" appearance.
Qui sepeliunt capita sua in terra, deos volantes non videbunt.
--Flavius Flav
Quote:Thanks Jass - just what I was after. Regarding the bosses, Connnolly's reconstruction was based on the helmet found at Tiryns, which has four bosses - two on the cheek guards and two on the bowl itself, and I will probably replicate this on my helmet too.
[attachment=7809]Helmet-tiryns.jpg[/attachment]
But, if we are right about Homeric helmets being kegelhelms, then its possible that Homer was using tetraphaleros to describe the four additional plates that are added to the basic kegelhelm construction - the two cheekpieces, the back piece, and the brow plate. So I'm going to employ this method of construction as well.
I've already commissioned Jeffrey Hildebrandt to make Agamemnon's cuirass. The design has been finalised and work has started. If anyone wants to follow along with its progress then here is the thread. http://z8.invisionfree.com/Bronze_Age_Ce...topic=1792
Makes Sense! The earliest kegelhelms were just that --a cone riveted at the seam. Anything added to this would be the additional plates. As the bosses would really be primarily decorative designs, I don't think they would have figured into the essential lexicon of helmet construction, though the helmets certainly could have had them.
Qui sepeliunt capita sua in terra, deos volantes non videbunt.
--Flavius Flav
About that text --why would Hector give up his fancy armour then, and wear Achilles' first panoply to fight Achilles? Just to make him angrier? :twisted:
Qui sepeliunt capita sua in terra, deos volantes non videbunt.
--Flavius Flav
Crests can be attached to leather helmets - I have seen plenty myself. The 1812 pattern heavy cavalry helmet of the British army is a leather helmet with a brass comb with a horsehair crest.
There are few instances in the Iliad where helmets are said directly to be metallic, more often there are descriptions including words such as 'shining' which can be construed as implying a metal construction. This is an important distinction. A leather helmet with metal decoration would also shine, As the book I referenced points out, descriptions of helmets in the Iliad fall into two groups - formulaic ones which do not imply metallic construction and more varied ones which do. The implication being that the formulae are older, whilst the variable descriptions are more recent accretions to the body of the poem.
The relevance of leather shields is, of course, that a culture capable of producing laminated leather shields which can stop javelins has the capability of creating other defensive items (helmets and body armour) in a similar manner.
If memory serves the decorative elements of the armour made by Hephaestus are described as being of various metals, the composition of the body of the armour is not stated overtly.
Quote:There are few instances in the Iliad where helmets are said directly to be metallic, more often there are descriptions including words such as 'shining' which can be construed as implying a metal construction. This is an important distinction.
Few instances? Here are twenty five - all specific references to bronze helmets. I ignored instances where vague adjectives like "shining" and "heavy" are used. Maybe if you actually read the book I wouldn't have had to waste an hour doing this: 3.18; 3.316; 4.495; 5.562; 5.681; 7.12; 7.206; 10.30; 11.43; 11.96; 11.351; 12.184; 13.305; 13.341; 13.714; 15.535; 16.130; 17.3; 17.87; 17.592; 17.294; 20.111; 20.117; 20.397; 23.861
Bronze helmets in the Odyssey: 10.206; 18.378; 21.434; 22.102; 22.111; 22.145; 24.523.
