Materials made of cloth, fur and leather are all organic, and generally rot away after burial. Bone and ivory survive a bit better. Inorganic materials such as clay, stone, metal and glass do not decay as fast, and therefore we know much more about Trojan preferences for jewelry than for clothing itself. Necklaces, bracelets and earrings were popular throughout all periods at Troy. We can assume that men wore jewelry as well as women and children. Personal adornment clearly communicated a person's status in society. During Troy II, gold was available and was used to make beautiful objects, including elaborate chains and garlands. Here you see Heinrich Schliemann's wife, |
Sofia, wearing some of the Troy II treasure on her head. The problem is: she might have it on the wrong part of her body! Maybe this so-called diadem (crown or tiara) was meant to be worn at the waist. We can read in the Iliad of Homer that the goddess Hera wore such a golden belt:
Then round her shoulders she swirled the wondrous robes
that Athena wove her, brushed out to a high gloss and worked into the weft an elegant rose brocade. She pinned them across her breasts with a golden brooch then sashed her waist with a waistband floating a hundred tassels, and into her earlobes, neatly pierced, she quickly looped her earrings, ripe mulberry-clusters dangling in triple drops and the silver glints they cast could catch the heart. Iliad Book 14, 214-226 Is it possible that this is a tradition which survived throughout the Bronze Age (Troy II to Troy VI)? |
We still have lots of questions One of them is: how many of the ornaments which we find were made to adorn statues of gods and goddesses, rather than everyday human beings? This is not such a crazy idea. Even in some of today's religions statues are lovingly dressed in special festival clothes and paraded around. Perhaps in the Homeric tradition the dress of Hera was well known because images of the goddess were actually seen in full costume during her festival. 
To find out what kind of gear was essential for a male warrior during the late Bronze Age, we can again turn to Homer. |
