The Greek soldier did not wear a full suit of armor such as that of the medieval knight; the hoplite or fully armed infantryman wore only a helmet, a cuirass, and greaves for protecting the shins. Such an equipment may be seen in the statuette of a warrior of about 500 B.C. of which the original was found at Dodona (top shelf of Case 3, fig. 93). The Romans adopted this armor from the Greeks, with minor changes and variations, but very little Roman armor has come down to our times, since it was almost entirely of iron and has rusted away in the earth where it was buried.

The earliest Greek helmets were of the type called Corinthian because Athena is represented in this helmet on the coins of Corinth. It formed a complete covering for the head, having openings only for the eyes and mouth. A nose-piece extends downward from the top. Holes for attaching a leather or cloth lining may be seen along the edges of our three oldest examples in Case H 2 in the Second Room. In the later helmets (Case J in the Third Room and Case 4, fig. 98), the shape has improved and the workmanship is finer. These helmets must have been worn over a cap, as there are no holes for sewing in the lining. One example (No. 1530 in Case J in the Third Room) has three small loops for attaching the crest, which was generally made of horsehair. When not in battle the wearer pushed the helmet back until the front rested on his forehead.

The Corinthian helmet had the great disadvantage of covering the ears and its shape probably caused it to be easily displaced. An improved form known as the Attic appears during the sixth century. This helmet, of which No. 1535 in Case 4 is an early example, was lighter than the Corinthian, fitted the head better, and had openings for the ears (see tail-piece, p. 88). The cheek-pieces were often provided with hinges and could be turned upwards and away from the face; on the large amphora on a pedestal in the Fifth Room a young warrior is holding a beautiful Attic helmet with cheek-pieces which seem to be hinged (see fig. 103). An example with immovable cheek-pieces in the form of rams’ heads is in Case C 2 in the Sixth Room. Both the Corinthian and the Attic helmet continued in use at the same time, but the Attic type gradually superseded the other. Two helmets (Case 4 and Case C 2 in the Sixth Room) shaped like the pilos or felt cap worn by workmen show a Greek type of the fifth and fourth centuries. One of them (No. 1541) has holes for attaching a crest (fig. 96). The other helmets in the collection are Italic or Etruscan. An Italian helmet reinforced by bands in relief (No. 1558 in Case N in the Seventh Room) is of the same type as those in the British Museum which were found on the battle-field of Cannae (figs. 94, 95, 97).

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.

Shields were a necessary part of the defensive armor of ancient times, but remains of them are very scanty. Scenes of arming and of combat, however, are so frequent in Greek and Roman art that we are acquainted with their general appearance. Greek shields were usually circular or oval in shape, and made of wooden frames covered with hides and reinforced with bronze. The rim and a large boss in the center were the most essential metal parts, but the entire surface might be covered with bronze, or plates of various forms arranged upon it. The large bronze plates in Case 5 and in Case B in the Second Room seem to have been parts of shields. When using the shield as a defense the warrior thrust his left arm through the Loops in the inside, one of which was close to the rim at the left and another usually near the center of the shield; he held a third, which probably was stouter than the others, in his hand. The loops on the rim are shown in a painting on the amphora which stands on the pedestal in the Fifth Room, as well as the strap extending from side to side by which it was suspended around the wearer’s neck on the march (fig. 103). The Dodona warrior carries the so-called Boeotian shield which has depressions in the middle of each side. Various explanations are given of the origin of this form; a probable one is that it results from stretching a hide over an oval frame on which the top and bottom were fastened firmly while the sides were left free and were naturally drawn in by the pull from both ends. Another possibility is that the shield was cut out at the sides to provide peep-holes. Roman shields were rectangular and curved around at the sides to protect the wearer’s body. Only the boss and the rim were made of metal. The shield of the Greek soldier bore the device of his state, as the Koppa of Corinth, which was painted on the shields of her citizen-warriors; and the Roman soldier carried the sign of his legion in the same fashion. Interesting devices, frequently animals’ heads, were adopted like coats of arms by Greek nobles, and many of these can be seen on vases of the sixth century. An amphora on the bottom of Case 4 shows shields decorated with the heads of a bull and a boar.

The ancient warrior’s weapons were the dagger, sword, spear, javelin, bow, and sling. The weapons in the Classical Collection cannot strictly be called Greek or Roman because they were made at a remote period before the Greek and Roman states came into existence, but they are interesting in that they show the types from which later weapons were developed, and often there is very little difference between the early types and their descendants. The oldest cutting weapons are the bronze dagger-blades from Cyprus, and those from Crete in Case D 2 in the First Room. They were fitted into wooden or bone handles. A Cretan dagger-blade with an engraved design still holds the three dowels which fastened the haft. The tangs of the Cypriote blades are prolonged or hooked to prevent the blade from loosening in its socket (figs. 107-108). Spear-heads also were at first made to be inserted in the shaft, but later fitted over it. They have a slit on one side of the socket, probably to give elasticity (figs. 105-106). The bronze butt-spikes were used to fix the spear in the ground during halts. Examples of these weapons are in Case 4 and the wall-cases in the corridor.

The swords in the collection date from the Bronze or early Iron Age and so are pre-classical. The fine bronze sword (Case 4, No. 1460) belongs to an early Italian type (fig. 109), and the sword and sheath (No. 1461 in Case A in the Second Room) is also Italian. An iron sword from Cyprus (No. 1462 in the corridor) preserves the form of the bronze swords of the late Mycenaean period, as the early iron-workers at first imitated the shapes of bronze weapons. The pin in the shape of a sword illustrates the type in use during the fifth century in Greece (Case 4). The machaira which Xenophon often mentions had a curved blade and was especially useful as a cutting weapon for cavalry. A good illustration of this shape may be seen in a painting on an amphora in Case N in the Fourth Room representing a Greek and a Persian fighting. The Persian holds a machaira ready for the down-stroke (fig. 104). Roman swords were broad and flat. They were designed for thrusting, and were carried by common soldiers and officers.

The foot-soldier wearing helmet, cuirass, and greaves, and armed with sword, spear, and shield, that is, the familiar hoplite and legionary, formed the most important part of the Greek and Roman armies. Cavalry and light-armed infantry, however, who used the javelin, the bow, or the sling, became gradually more prominent as their importance was perceived in the wars with Eastern peoples and barbarous tribes. The use of the bow and the sling was taught in the palaistra at Athens, as a practical training for warfare, but ability in this direction was not rated very highly. Certain nations were especially skilful with these weapons and served as mercenaries to other states; both Xenophon and Caesar mention the Cretan archers, and Caesar speaks of slingers from the Balearic Isles who served under him in Gaul. The arrow-heads exhibited are Cypriote, but No. 4786 is Hellenic in type (Case 4, fig. 110).

Greek artists frequently represented the Amazons of legend in a dress similar to that of the Persians of their own day, and from such paintings on vases in the collection we find illustrations of various articles of dress and of weapons mentioned by Xenophon. On a polychrome lekythos in Case M in the Fourth Room is an Amazon shooting with a sling. Two spears are stuck in the ground beside her. An oinochoë in Case K in the Fifth Room shows three Amazons in their long trousers and tight-fitting sleeves covered with a pattern. One of them carries a battle-axe and two hold shields of plaited wicker-work, probably of the same sort as those which furnished fuel to cook the Greek soldiers’ breakfast on the morning after the battle of Cunaxa (Anabasis II, 1, 6) (fig. 111). Two large kraters in the Fourth Room decorated with combats of Greeks and Amazons show costumes and arms of the same type and a war chariot of the kind used by the Greeks.

An interesting custom was that of setting up a trophy after a victory; a tree-trunk to which a cross-piece had been fastened was arrayed in armor taken from the battle-field, and remained standing there until destroyed by time or taken by the enemy. A terracotta lamp from Cyprus in Case 5 is decorated with a symbolic device representing Victory holding a trophy at an altar between two Lares militares, the protecting deities of the Roman state (fig. 112).