168 Aurel Rustoiu The greaves were very popular in Greece during the Archaic and Classical periods, being part of the hoplites’ equipment 35 . They are discovered in archaeological contexts (graves or sanctuaries), but are also <strong>de</strong>picted on numerous monuments or painted vessels, un<strong>de</strong>rlining the role and significance of these artefacts in the assemblages of <strong>de</strong>fensive military equipment. In the same period, and also in the 4 th –3 rd centuries BC, the anatomic variants of the Greek greaves became popular amongst Thracian populations from the Balkans or Scythian tribes from the northern Black Sea region 36 (in the latter area the latest dated examples belong to the 2 nd century BC 37 ). In the lower Danube basin, at Agighiol and Vraca, and more recently at Malomirovo in Bulgaria, were found local variants ma<strong>de</strong> of silver and richly <strong>de</strong>corated 38 (Fig. 5/3–6). Asi<strong>de</strong> from that on an appliqué from the Letnica hoard (Bulgaria) is shown a hunting scene in which a ri<strong>de</strong>r wears such greaves 39 (Fig. 5/2), pointing to the role of status symbol of these objects for the aristocracy of the northern Balkans, together with the remaining elements of the military equipment. In Greece, greaves continued to be used in the Hellenistic period, but their symbolic role was modified. A grave with funerary chamber discovered at Lefkadia in Macedonia, and built around 200 BC or slightly later, is relevant from this point of view. The burial belonged to the brothers Lyson and Kallikles, but it was <strong>de</strong>signed to also hold the funerary urns of an entire series of <strong>de</strong>scendants. On one of the walls is painted a panoply of arms having a Macedonian shield in the middle, flanked by two swords (a Macedonian one and another of ‘western’ type), while two helmets and a pair of greaves are <strong>de</strong>picted below (Fig. 6). On the opposite wall the shield and the two swords are accompanied by two body armours and two helmets 40 . The images of weapons on funerary monuments from Greece originate from earlier traditions of displaying real objects 41 . Their painting in a realistic manner, as in the case of the grave from Lefkadia, indicates that the intention was to present the real panoplies of arms of the <strong>de</strong>ceased 42 . They belonged to a class of lower local warlike aristocrats who increased their status, accumulated fortunes through military activities and expressed their social position and i<strong>de</strong>ntity a few generations after the <strong>de</strong>ath of Alexan<strong>de</strong>r the Great 43 . The panoplies of arms consisting of <strong>de</strong>fensive items (including the greaves) and offensive weapons were true emblems of their status within the society. More than that, the weapons <strong>de</strong>picted in the grave also played a symbolic role for their <strong>de</strong>scendants, as they reiterated the right to inherit the same privileged status. The greaves, together with other weapons, were also shown on a series of public monuments. Probably the best known example is the ‘weapons frieze’ from the stoa of the temple of Athena Nikephoros from Pergamon (Fig. 6). The relief was probably ma<strong>de</strong> during the reign of Eumenes II (after the <strong>de</strong>feat of Antiochus III at Magnesia in 190 BC) and shows the weapons captured from the enemy, both the Hellenistic ones and the weapons of Celtic mercenaries hired by the Seleucid king 44 . They were represented in a realistic manner, the military equipment being easily recognizable in <strong>de</strong>tail. Amongst the well known and most relevant examples belonging to the La Tène panoply of arms can be mentioned: a helmet having a morphology similar to the one from Batina and belonging to the same type as the helmet from Ciumeşti; the typical Celtic oval shields with iron bosses; the chainmails with a closing system i<strong>de</strong>ntical to those discovered in the Balkans (Fig. 7) etc. 35 SNODGRASS 1964, 88; SNODGRASS 1967, 58. 36 TELEAGĂ 2008, 249–251, Karte 43; ČERNENKO 2006, 98–105. 37 ČERNENKO 2006, 105 no. 694. 38 See for example BERCIU 1974, 52–55, Fig. 8–9; KULL 1997, 291–292,Fig. 46/1–3; TORBOV 2005, 59, 167, 193, Pl. 8, 21; SÎRBU 2006, 89 Fig. 59/2. 39 KULL 1997, 291 Fig. 4/12; SÎRBU 2006, Fig. 53/1. 40 SAKELLARIOU 1983, 150–151 Fig. 96–97; POLITO 1998, 75–76 Fig. 3–4. 41 POLITO 1998, 97. 42 POLITO 1998, 76. 43 It is significant that in the royal cemetery from Vergina such images are missing, and real weapons were placed in graves. See also POLITO 1998, 77. 44 A synthesis of the current <strong>de</strong>bates regarding the dating of the monument from Pergamon in POLITO 1998, 91–95.
Commentaria Archaeologica et Historica (I) 169 In comparison with the frequency of other types of weapons shown on the ‘weapons frieze’ from Pergamon, the greaves were seldom <strong>de</strong>picted (Fig. 6). This difference may suggest a selective use of them, only by certain individuals, probably high rank officers. A similar phenomenon has been noted in the Republican Roman army when only centurions and superior officers worn greaves 45 . Fig. 6. Detail of the painting on the wall of the grave belonging to brothers Lyson and Kallikles from Lefkadia above (after SAKELLARIOU 1983); fragment of the ‘weapons frieze’ from Pergamon, on which a pair of greaves is <strong>de</strong>picted bellow (after BOHN 1885). 45 FEUGÈRE 2002, 76.
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