History’s most amazing artifacts are the armors that ancient warriors wore in battle. Since we don’t have the kind of technology we have today, it’s amazing to see that such intricate and excellent work endures to this day, despite being battle worn and taking many hits in its time got.
The skilled hands of a blacksmith are what warriors and knights should be grateful for. Without them they would be riding to certain death.
However, our concept and idea of what battle armor was in ancient times is limited to the clumsy, modern interpretation of medieval European armor; those things you see lining dark hallways in horror movies or in a creepy old man’s dusty library.
But the ancient world has a large number of peoples in different countries, and each country has a unique culture that is magnified by the clothes they wear, the food they eat, down to the clothes they don in time of war.
The Bronze Helmet (Greece)
The ancient Greeks are a talented civilization that gave us many things, from astronomy to democracy. However, despite our understanding that they are scholars and politicians, the Greeks are also fierce warriors who have one of the most organized armies in the ancient world.
The armor we’re closest to is the armor we’ve seen in movies like Jason and the Argonauts and Clash of the Titans. While there may be similarities between these and their historical inspirations, we are only scratching the surface of what we know about Greek battle armor.
In 2007 there was a special armor dredged up from Haifa Bay in Israel. It was a Greek helmet made of bronze and decorated with gold leaf; images of snakes, lions and a peacock palm also contribute to the design of the interesting find.
How it ended up at the bottom of the bay is still a mystery to researchers. However, it was not ignored that warriors who travel for whatever reason lose some of their belongings, such as weapons, trinkets and pieces of their clothing.
Archaeologists believe the helmet belonged to a wealthy Greek mercenary soldier who may have taken part in a series of wars that devastated the area where the helmet dates back 2,600 years. Experts also hypothesize that the unknown mercenary who possessed the helmet may have fought for an Egyptian pharaoh named Necho II.
Further examination of the helmet also revealed that it bore similarities to another helmet found in the 1950s near the island of Giglio, Italy.
“The gilding and figurative ornaments make this one of the most ornate pieces of Greek armor discovered,” described Jacob Sharvit, director of the Israel Antiquities Authority’s Marine Archeology Unit.
Plant Armor (Oceania and Micronesia)
When we talk about armor, we think of heavy, shiny metal that is double or triple the weight of the average warrior. We imagine insanely hot forges where blacksmiths hammer away pieces of sheet metal and sheet metal.
However, in the remote coastal regions of Micronesia and Oceania, local residents have found an unlikely but very effective material to make their armor with plants.
Although the Greeks are also known to make their protective armor from plant materials, it is the warriors of the Kiribati Islands who perfected their making. For the local people of this region of the Pacific, the armor and weapons they produced were products of readily available materials they could forage, such as palm fronds, tree bark, and even animal parts. Combining different materials from land and sea proved to be life-saving tools when fighting began to break out.
An example of this type of armor is made from coir, a particularly strong fiber material harvested from coconut trees. Woven together and tightly, it forms an impermeable layer that protects the body of the person wearing it. In addition, the plant armor, like any combat armor, consists of several parts that protect almost every part of the warrior’s body. Sometimes it even seems as if a Kiribati warrior is better protected than his enemies.
A typical suit of armor from the Pacific and Oceania is covered from head to toe: a thick woven jacket and trousers made from coconut, a thicker woven vest, a woven back plate, and a helmet usually made from dried porcupine fish carcasses.
The entire armor is said to be able to withstand projectile weapons such as arrows and spears, as well as deflect bladed weapons in close combat.
Skin and Bones (Siberia)
In September 2014, a team of archaeologists from Russia unearthed one of the world’s most mysterious armors. Made entirely of bone, archaeologists believe it belonged to a Siberian knight 4,000 years ago.
What was even more amazing about the discovery was how they discovered it in almost perfect condition.
The armor, buried in the area of Omsk, Siberia, is said to have consisted of several plates of different sizes to fit the wearer’s anatomy, all made of bone woven together. Suspecting that the bones come from large animals such as deer or horses, tests are still being conducted to find out the exact age of the bone armor, although researchers believe it most likely dates from the Bronze Age.
What was quite confusing about the remarkable find, however, was that it was buried on its own and not next to a body. Because the armor itself was of great value during the Bronze Age, it took a lot of effort to keep it in good condition, and a lot of care and maintenance was needed to prevent it from deteriorating. The bone armor excavated in Omsk therefore suggests that it was buried as a form of sacrifice.
According to Yury Gerasimov, a researcher at the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography in Omsk, the bone armor most likely belonged to an elite soldier or warrior. It would have given him “good protection against the weapons used at the time – bone and stone arrowheads, bronze knives, bronze-tipped spears and bronze axes.”
Another inconsistency found about the bone armor was that it was far from the style of combat clothing worn in that region of Siberia. Experts claim that the design bore much more similarity to the cultures of a tribe that originated in the Altai Mountains, a region about 1,000 km away from where the bone armor was found. This therefore led the research team to hypothesize that the bone armor could also be a war trophy or a gift from one culture to another.
Tatami Gusoku (Japan)
Metal is one of the most common and practical materials used in making armor. Its hardness is highly valued when it comes to protecting the wearer’s body from attack.
However, despite expert design, some armor can still be cumbersome and difficult to transport when fighting abroad. However, in ancient Japan, the armor was made with the same discipline as their legendary swords.
We know the Japanese as a disciplined breed that strives for beauty and perfection in everything they do, from serving tea to cutting branches. The same discipline to perfection is also applied to their unique armor.
Called Tatami Gusoku, it roughly translates as ‘folding armor’ or ‘folded armor’. The reason for this is that these unique pieces are made to fit into a small box, making it easy for individual soldiers to transport them.
The armor mainly consists of an armored jacket, a folding armor, as well as a helmet and hood to protect their heads. It had parts consistent with a traditional Japanese full suit of armor, the ones we are more familiar with in movies and pop culture.
The Tatami Gusoku is constructed by tying each guard plate with chain mail linked together to form a shirt-like garment. Sensitive parts of the body, such as the chest, had larger metal plates tied with these chains.
Additionally, the unique construction and material of this armor makes it significantly lighter than its contemporaries and gives warriors an even greater range of motion, as they are not particularly hindered by large and heavy pieces of metal in areas where they need to be agile.
The horned helmet (England)
Designed and created by Austrian goldsmith Konrad Seusenhofer, the Horned Helmet was originally part of a full suit of armor presented to Henry VIII by the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I in the 16th century.
The horned helmet is nothing new in the world of battle armor. Technically it was not a helmet but an “armet”; a headgear worn by soldiers that protects both his head and his entire face during combat.
First introduced in the 15th century, armets were more popular and widely used in areas of Italy, England, France and parts of Spain. But for this list, let’s just call it a helmet.
This particular helmet jumps to the top of our list because of its, well… “unique”… appearance. The horned helmet is designed to completely cover the wearer’s face and resembles the face of a smiling demon with sharp teeth. On its head were a pair of metal horns that turned outward. Another special feature of the helmet was a pair of metal goggles that sat on the pointed nose.
It is rumored that these glasses served a functional purpose, as Henry VIII was reportedly nearsighted and had a collection of glasses that were discovered after his death.
The helmet was also rumored to have belonged to Henry’s court jester, Will Somers, when it was first discovered centuries later.
The whereabouts of the rest of the armor can no longer be found and it is believed to have been destroyed or discarded as scrap over the years. Fortunately, the helmet was saved from destruction due to its grotesque appearance and is now held in the collection of the Royal Armories in Leeds.
Although many suits of armor and helmets were used in battle, this helmet and the now destroyed suit were mainly used by Henry VIII in ceremonies and parades.
