A famous passage in Herodotus describes Greek warriors as ‘men of bronze’ rising from the sea. Evocative and certainly describing the hoplites of his time, sheathed in gleaming metal.
Was there anything more personal than armor to a man of fighting age? Not only was it protective, but also obscenely expensive (that’s a lot of bronze…), technologically cutting edge, and fitted to his body.
An Anatomical Bronze Cuirass (body armor). Classical Greek, Apulian, 4th century. Bronze, H. (front): 19 5/8 in. (49.8 cm); H. (back): 20 1/16 in. (51 cm).
Gift of Estée Lauder Inc., 1992
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (inv. no. 1992.180.3)
This cuirass (a so-called muscle or anatomical cuirass for obvious reasons) at the Met is good of kind and one of over a thousand recovered from graves and sanctuaries around the Mediterranean. Together with helmet, greaves (sophisticated shin guards), and shield, it made up the essential components of a hoplite’s protection. Padding would have been attached to interior, and this front half would have joined to a matching (less muscly) back half, effectively sheathing the warrior in a shiny, metallic carapace.
One could (sort of) imagine that marching into battle with a sculpted six-pack and pectorals on display would provide a psychological boost. But what of those nipples and belly-button, you might ask, other than stubborn artistic verisimilitude? I would say it all relates to this aspect of closeness to the body, practically and symbolically – heightening it. If a warrior were to die abroad, his body might never be recovered by his family for burial, but element of his armor might, providing a poignant and lasting substitute for his cenotaph.
