The head-dress, of conical shape, finished by a button or flattened knob on the top, represents a helmet, made sometimes probably of metal, as was the case in Assyria, but in some cases certainly of felt or leather, covered with rows of overlapping boar’s tusks, turned alternately in opposite directions. A large number of boar’s tusks were found by Dr Schliemann[9] at Mycenæ, flattened on one side and with several holes in them, which obviously served to fasten them to some object; such a helmet is to be seen in an ivory fragment from Mycenæ,[10] and would exactly correspond to that described in Iliad, X., 261.
ἀμφὶ δ᾽ οἱ κυνέην κεφαλῆφιν ἔθηκεν
ῥινοῦ ποιητήν· πολέσιν δ᾽ ἔντοσθεν ἱμᾶσιν
ἐντέτατο στερεῶς, ἔκτοσθε δὲ λευκοὶ ὄδοντες
ἀργιοδόντος ὑὸς. Θαμέες ἔχον ἔνθα καὶ ἔνθα
εὖ καὶ ἐπισταμένως.
“And about his head he set a helmet made of leather; and inside it was stiffly wrought with many thongs, and outside the white teeth of a boar with shining tusks were set close together, this way and that, well and cunningly arranged.”
In some cases the helmet presents a strikingly Egyptian appearance, and may quite possibly have been derived from Egypt; evidence of direct intercourse between the Cretans and Egyptians is not wanting; indeed the clearest representation of the costume of the pre-Hellenic inhabitants of the Ægean shores is to be found on an Egyptian tomb fresco,[11] where the Kefts are depicted bringing vases as tribute to the Egyptian monarch, their costume is identical with that of the cupbearer from the Knossian fresco, and they are carrying vessels of the same shapes as many which have been found in Crete and on other Mycenæan sites. It has been pointed out by Mr H. R. Hall[12] that the Keftiu were the people of the Ægean islands, including Crete, and that sometimes the name was applied exclusively to the Cretans. The Keftiu were formerly mistaken for Phœnicians; but their whole appearance and costume on the Egyptian fresco is utterly unlike anything Phœnician; so we are quite justified in considering that they represent the Cretans faithfully as they appeared to the Egyptians, especially in view of their similarity to the cupbearer of the fresco at Knossos, a native product of Cretan art.
A striking analogy to the pre-Hellenic male costume is to be observed in the Etruscan wall-paintings from the tombs at Corneto, now in the British Museum. The waist-cloth, shoes, and head-dress are there represented in a form almost identical with that found in Mycenæan art. So little is known of the origin of the Etruscans, that it is difficult to say whether this similarity of dress indicates any racial connection between the two peoples; it is interesting to note that among ancient authorities Hellanicus of Lesbos states that the Etruscans were of Pelasgian origin, and modern writers have claimed a Pelasgian origin for the Cretans; there is not sufficient evidence forthcoming at present to determine whether they are right or wrong; but in any case, it is not improbable that both the Etruscans and the Cretans were branches of a common civilization, which spread itself all round the shores of the Mediterranean Sea in pre-Hellenic times, and that the Etruscans maintained some of their early characteristics down to a later date than other peoples of the same race.[13]
Turning to the female costume of the pre-Hellenic age, we find we have something far more complicated to deal with. The same style of dress is found on the early faïence figures from Knossos and Petsofa, and extends right on until quite late Mycenæan times.