DISCOVERY 



205 



beneath it, so sate the ranks of Achsans and Trojans 

 upon the plain." 



B^'tween the hosts Hector advances and issues his 

 knightlj' challenge upon the condition that the arms of 

 the vanquished shall be the spoil of the victor, but the 

 body is to be surrendered to his friends for honourable 

 burial. 



Awe strikes the Achaean leaders at his words until 

 the spell is broken by the impetuous petulance of 

 Menelaus, who is with difficulty restrained by his friends 

 from hazarding an unequal contest. Old Nestor then 

 querulously upbraids the younger generation with a 

 tale of how he slew a giant when he was a younger man. 

 " If I were not over age Hector should not lack an 

 opponent." Human nature has not so very much 

 altered between the Trojan and the European wars. 



Eventually nine volunteers mark each his token and 

 place it in Nestor's helmet. " And knightly Nestor 



ing up their courage by similar means. Indeed, 

 a street-corner brawl would probably provide an 

 analogy. But there is a phrase of Hector's that 

 challenges attention. " Ajax of the seed of Zeus, son 

 of Telamon, chieftain of the host, tempt not thou me 

 like some puny boy or woman that knoweth not deeds 

 of battle. But well I know wars and slaughterings. 

 To right I know, to the left I know to steer my tough 

 oxhide ; therein I deem is stalwart soldiering." 



Hector, in fact, defines the art of fighting on foot in 

 terms of manipulation of the shield. 



The explanation of this curious detail can now be 

 supplied by arch£Eology. The Homeric poems depict 

 a society in an age of transition ; side by side with the 

 Achjean invaders from the north, who are clad in metal 

 body-armour and carry a round parry-shield orna- 

 mented with concentric circles and a central boss, 

 there are fighting champions whose equipment is that 



of Gerenia shook the helmet and there leapt forth the 

 lot that they themselves desired, even the lot of Ajax. 

 The herald bare it everywhither through the throng, 

 shewing it from right to left to all the princes of the 

 Achaeans, but they knew it not and every man denied it. 

 But when he came, bearing it everywhither through 

 the throng, to him that had marked it and cast it in the 

 helm, even to glorious Ajax, then he held forth his hand 

 and the herald stood by him and put it therein. And 

 Ajax saw and knew the token upon the lot and rejoiced 

 at heart." 



He dons his armour and strides into the field " with a 

 smile on his grim face," huge and terrible, so that even 

 Hector feels a sinking of the heart, though it is now too 

 late to draw back. 



Each champion in turn then vaunts his prowess at 

 the expense of the other. The psychology of this is 

 readily intelligible, and there is no need to turn to 

 anthropology for parallels, though it would not be 

 difftcult to quote examples of savage braves work- 



of the Mediterranean Bronze Age which reaches down, 

 roughly speaking, to the twelfth century B.C. Perhaps 

 I on account of climatic reasons the use of body-armour 

 was not native to the southern Mediterranean ; its 

 absence was compensated by a large shield which 

 covered the whole body (Fig. B). The most ancient type 

 of shield in Italy, the form of which was preserved in the 

 sacred shield of Mars, was Mycenfcan in shape ; and 

 both Egyptians and Persians wore at most quilted body- 

 armour, and depended for protection upon a large 

 oblong shield. Cretan and Mycenaean art shows us a 

 large shield of hide bound with a metal rim and orna- 

 mented with a blazon ; it covers its wearer from chin 

 to instep. Though its shape is sometimes oblong, its 

 most characteristic form is a figure of eight. No doubt 

 the cutting out of the two sides a little diminished the 

 weight and also provided for some play of the arms. 

 This " tower " shield, as Homer calls it, was attached 

 round the neck by a strap and " steered " to right and 

 left by a handle of wood which joined the two sides at 



