26
Matching greaves; tin, bronze, silver
Provenance: Sigeion, Anatolia; late Bronze Age
According to Homer, two sets of armor were made for Achilles, both fashioned by a god, the second even more glorious than the first. The first, of course, was gifted to Patroclus, then stripped from him by Hector after his victory.
The second became the subject of the storied conflict between Ajax and Odysseus.
Did these greaves of “flexing pliant tin” belong to either of these sets?
Even the location of their discovery gives one doubt.
The site of the supposed tumulus of Achilles has long been debunked, so the acquisition of these greaves in the northwest region of the Troad does not inspire confidence.
Similarly, since the second set of armor is said to have passed to Neoptolemus, where does that leave us?
—from the Lethe Armory Catalogue, incomplete entry