There has been a lot of discussion recently about the type of helmet that Odysseus will use in Christopher Nolan’s upcoming film about the Odyssey. Many commentators have complained that Odysseus should be using a boar’s tusk helmet. This is because Odysseus uses this type of helmet in Homer’s Iliad. What do we know about Odysseus’ boar’s tusk helmet, and are the common complaints valid?
What type of helmet did Odysseus use and does it align with Christopher Nolan’s Odyssey?
Contrary to what many commentators have been saying, the Iliad, written by Homer in the seventh century BCE, does not usually present Odysseus as using a boar’s tusk helmet. This type of helmet is very rare in Homer’s account of the Trojan War.
The standard type of helmet that Homer describes the Greek soldiers as using is essentially the hoplite helmet common in the eighth or seventh century BCE. This includes the Corinthian helmet and the Illyrian-type helmet. As Homer describes, these helmets were made of bronze and covered the sides of the face, including the cheeks.
In his writings, Homer also mentioned the use of crests with plumes of horsehair atop them, which was standard hoplite gear around 700 BCE. In other words, what Homer describes is similar, although not identical, to the helmet Matt Damon wears in the promotional image for Nolan’s upcoming movie.
Odysseus and the boar’s tusk helmet in Homer’s Iliad
Where does all the controversy about the boar’s tusk helmet come from? Well, Homer does indeed mention a helmet made of boar’s tusks. However, as we have seen, this is not the standard type of helmet that Homer describes.
In one part of the Iliad, Odysseus plans to go on a night raid against the city of Troy. For this mission, he decides to use a boar’s tusk helmet given to him by Meriones. Rather than being a bronze helmet, it is made of leather and has rows of slivers of ivory fixed all around it. Homer’s description reads:
“On the inside, there was a strong lining on interwoven straps, onto which a felt cap had been sewn in. The outside was cleverly adorned all around with rows of white tusks from a shiny-toothed boar, the tusks running in alternate directions in each row.”
The very fact that Homer gives it such a detailed description shows that it was not common in the world of the Iliad.
Is the boar’s tusk helmet a relic of the Bronze Age?
This detailed description perfectly matches the Mycenaean boar’s tusk helmets that archaeologists have found. Based on this fact, many scholars in past decades have argued that this represents a faint memory from the Mycenaean Era passed down to Homer. However, is this truly the case?
Most scholars today do not hold that opinion. Homeric scholars generally argue that we can understand this in the context of the Archaic Era, the era of Greece in which Homer himself lived.
One issue with the idea that it was a cultural relic from the Bronze Age is that Homer’s description is very detailed. It is unlikely that something common at the time would have been described in such detail.
Therefore, it is implausible to believe that such a detailed description would have survived and been passed down. On this basis, many scholars now believe that the boar’s tusk helmet, while rare, was still known in Archaic Greece.
How was the boar’s tusk helmet still known in Archaic Greece?
One explanation is that the Archaic Greeks discovered one in a Mycenaean tomb. This is not as implausible as it first sounds. After all, we know that the Greeks of that era did explore some Mycenaean tombs.
It is possible that Homer may have heard of this remarkable object and decided to include it in his poem due to its fascinating nature. Various other examples in the Iliad demonstrate that he was not concerned with historical accuracy.
The real explanation appears to be much simpler. While the boar’s tusk helmet had indeed fallen out of use by Homer’s time, it continued to be used for much longer than previously believed. Archaeologists now know that the Greeks continued to use the boar’s tusk helmet until as late as circa 800 BCE.
Homer explicitly describes Odysseus’ boar’s tusk helmet as an heirloom of Meriones’ family, explaining that it had been passed down through many generations.
Considering that these helmets were still being produced as late as around 800 BCE, the description of a boar’s tusk helmet as an old family heirloom aligns well with the world of approximately 700 BCE, as depicted by Homer in the Iliad.
