The daily life of the Greeks and Romans as illustrated in the classical collectionsMetropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.)
History
The daily life of the Greeks and Romans as illustrated in the classical collections
Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.)
Art, Greek; Art, Roman; Greece -- Social life and customs; Rome -- Social life and customs
The earliest Greek cuirass consisted of two curved bronze plates laced
together at the sides. It reached to the waist and turned up around the
edges so as not to hurt the wearer. The Dodona statuette shows this
cuirass, and an Italic example in Case A in the Second Room belongs to
the same general type, though it is longer and the lower part is slightly
curved out to follow the line of the hips (fig. 101). This heavy and
uncomfortable piece of armor was superseded in Greece in the fifth
century by a cuirass made of leather or cloth upon which bronze scales
were sewn. It was provided with shoulder-straps and a cloth or leather
kilt reinforced with strips of metal hung below the corselet proper. A
warrior on a krater on the bottom of Case S in the Fourth Room shows this
type well (fig. 102). The earlier cuirass continued to be used in Italy,
but in an improved form; the bronze plates, being moulded to follow the
curves of the body, made a more comfortable as well as a beautiful piece
of armor. Two examples, one with the lower part broken away, are in
Case C 2 in the Sixth Room. In some parts of Italy a substitute for the
cuirass was found in the use of a breastplate made of leather on which
bronze disks were sewn. An armored belt accompanied the breastplate. On a
krater from South Italy in Case Q in the Sixth Room is a warrior wearing
such a belt, and an example is shown in Case 4. The small holes along the
edges are for sewing in a lining (fig. 99).
Greaves were characteristic features of a Greek soldier’s equipment. The
pair of greaves in Case J in the Third Room will show how their shape and
elasticity caused them to stay in place on the leg (fig. 100). The greave
in Case 4 has holes along the edges for sewing in a lining. On the upper
part of a loutrophoros in Case J in the Fourth Room is a warrior wearing
greaves of which the lining can be seen in a ridge around the foot.
[Illustration: FIG. 104. PERSIAN FIGHTING WITH A MACHAIRA]
[Illustration: FIG. 105. JAVELIN-HEAD]
[Illustration: FIG. 106. SPEAR-HEAD]
[Illustration: FIG. 107. DAGGER-BLADE WITH HOOKED TANG]
[Illustration: FIG. 108. LEAF-SHAPED DAGGER-BLADE]
[Illustration: FIG. 109. BRONZE SWORD]
[Illustration: FIG. 110. ARROW-HEADS]
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