Boar-toothed helmet

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A boar-toothed helmet is a helmet with numerous boar teeth, which was used in times of Minoan and Mycenaean culture in the Aegean space. The boar teeth were attached to a leather hood, the inside of which was padded with felt. The time of occurrence ranges from at least 1650 to about 1150 BC. The helmet species is relatively well documented by archaeological finds, numerous illustrations, for example on frescoes, and a description of Homer.

Introduction
Homer describes in detail in the Iliad the helmet of Odysseus provided with boar teeth. In the 10th chant, verses 260 to 271, it says:

The description was known in science, but it was kept until the 19th century. For a century only for a saga and therefore did not attach much importance to it. Only Heinrich Schliemann, the discoverer of Hisarlık, the alleged Troy, changed this view. Schliemann considered Homer’s description an almost literal description of the facts, and when he found boar-tooth platelets during excavations in Mycenae, he recognized the connection between the description and the findings.

Eberzahnhelme were used until about 1150 BC. Homer, who lived about the 8th century BC, thus mentions a helmet that seems to have come out of use over 300 years before him. It is believed, however, that Homer held such an antique helmet in his hands.

Appearance
The variety of boar-tooth helmets with respect to the arrangement of the boar-tooth platelets or the helmet decoration is great. Basically, two forms are distinguished: the early form with loosened horizontally arranged platelets and the later form with tightly arranged platelets vertically.

Characteristic of the early form is the loose arrangement of the platelets in different groups. Usually, the platelets are mounted horizontally and form columns. In the columns, the platelets become shorter from bottom to top, giving the column the shape of an isosceles trapezium. The early form was found in Aegina, Eleusis, Argos and Thebes.

In the later form described by Homer and transmitted by illustrations, the platelets are arranged vertically without gaps, so that a typical row is produced. Of these, there are two to five; The naturally curved platelets are generally arranged alternately in adjacent rows. The platelets are 5-8 cm long, depending on the number of rows. Important finds of this type were made, for example, in Sparta, near Athens, Armeni on Crete, Mycenae, Kallithea or Knossos.

The conical shape favored the bouncing of projectiles. Many helmets had cheek flaps on which boar-tooth platelets were usually also attached. In later helmets from about 1450 BC a neck protection was common, which either consisted only of leather straps or was additionally provided with boar tooth platelets. A chin strap was provided to stabilize the helmet.

The helmet