Quote Originally Posted by Ludens View Post
I am not sure if the Dendra Panoply is a good example. AFAIK this is the only armour of this type ever to be found, and nobody knows what it was used for (too heavy to make good infantry armour, and an outright danger on a wobbly chariot).
Actually, it is almost certain that such panoplies were borne by charioteers. What evidence do you have that Mycenaean chariots were "wobbly"? The Chinese employed a similarly heavy panoply on their charioteers for several centuries.

Other smaller parts of this type of panoply have been found over the years, but a complete panoply like the famous Dendra example has never been found elsewhere.

Quote Originally Posted by antisocialmunky View Post
The helmet isn't all that particularly great. That thing is either ceremonial, art, or for some sort of chariot bourne infantry.
The helmet is composed of boar tusks, which was the norm for Mycenaean helmets and seems to have been fairly effective for bronze age warfare. Fully metal helmets don't appear until the end of the bronze age.