Hey! My students and I in Greek class are trying to adapt Achilles and Hector's fight in Iliad XXII as a comic. Well, they handle the writing and I handle the drawing^^ Anyway, I think you're the best person I know to ask: for Hector's armour, which ancient people should I try to reference? I know the historical Wilusa was part of the Hittite empire but it doesn't mean they were Hittites... Can you help me? Thanks!
I know you said you didn’t need this answered after all, since Hector is wearing Patroclus’ armour in that passage. Still, this is a wonderful question and for the sake of anyone interested in the historical Trojan War era, I want to discuss it anyway.
The first point we need to explore is the question of Trojan political allegiance, and more broadly, Trojan ethnicity. In the early 13th century BC, the city of Wiluša (now identified with Troy) fell under Hittite authority. This would mean that in the mid- to late 13th century BC, the most likely time a historical Trojan War would’ve happened, Troy was technically part of the Hittite empire. Note, however, the use of the word technically.
In the ancient world (and right up until the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648 AD), empires, like any other kind of governed land, were perceived differently than in the modern era. There was no concept of a single “country” with a single ethnicity, culture, language, or religion. Even borders were a lot more fluid, which is why maps like this one are inaccurate. The coloured area can better be described not as Hittite “territory”, but as the Hittite zone of influence. Lands in that area were bound by treaties to the Hittite ruler, like Wiluša was, and thanks to trade there was naturally an influx of Hittite culture (as well as an outflux of local culture to the Hittite heartland), but these lands were usually ruled by kings in their own right. Both politically and culturally, they retained a large amount of independence.
Think of it a bit like the modern British Commonwealth: the ruler of New Zealand is technically Queen Elizabeth II, and if the United Kingdom declares war on another country, New Zealand is bound by treaty to support the UK. But New Zealand also has its own prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, and despite British cultural influence, New Zealand has a distinct culture of its own.
This diversity of local cultures was particularly strong in the Hittite empire. The Hittites were extremely fond of adopting local cults, rather than forcing local people to give them up, and Hittite identity itself is very hard to define. This makes it all the more likely that, while there must have been a Hittite element in 13th century BC Troy, it wasn’t the only one - nor even the dominant one.
So who were the historical Trojans? What did their culture look like? What language did they speak? And most relevant to your question, how did they dress?
No state archives, or any kind of written texts, have been excavated in the ruins of Troy, so it’s very hard to answer these questions for certain. The only writing found to date is a scribe’s seal with Luwian hieroglyphs, which suggests that there were Luwian-speaking people in Troy. This is not surprising, since Luwian was commonly spoken in Anatolia, especially western Anatolia, at the time. On the other hand, this seal says nothing about which language or culture was dominant in Troy. Maybe most Trojans did speak Luwian, and identify as Luwians. But until we find more evidence, we have no way to know.
Personally, I would wager that like most trading centres of the ancient world, Troy was a melting pot of cultures. At least eight languages were known in Ḫattuša, and I don’t see why Wiluša would have been any different. Walking along Trojan streets, you might have encountered Luwian scribes, Hittite governors, Gašga mercenaries, Lukka immigrants, Ugaritic traders, Egyptian sailors, maybe even Mycenaean diplomats - and more. Whatever the dominant culture was, if there even was one, it coexisted with many others.
As for the ruling class to which a prince like Hector would’ve belonged, we’re entering very speculative territory, but I would like to offer a guess. The name of the Wilušan king who drew up a treaty with the Hittite ruler was Alakšandu - that is, Alexander. In the treaty, among other divine witnesses, he calls on Appaliunaš, a name that has been identified with Apollon. Both of these elements find an echo in the Iliad, where Paris Alexander is prince of Troy and Apollon is the city’s tutelary deity. This could point towards the fact that there was a Greek/Mycenaean element in the Trojan royal family. I would certainly not say it was the only element, among other reasons because there were also non-Greek royal names in Troy (Alakšandu’s predecessor was Walmu; Priam’s name has been linked to Luwian Pariya-muwa). But I could easily imagine Trojan royalty to have been Mycenaean in some way; maybe they were Mycenaean immigrants who seized the power and adopted local cultural elements, or maybe a local prince married a Mycenaean princess who passed on her culture to their children, or maybe they were locals with a strong appreciation for their neighbours across the sea. Whatever the reason, this would again reflect the situation in the Iliad, where the Trojans speak Greek and partake in Greek culture to a large extent.
All this said, to get back to the original question, I would imagine that a historical Hector might have dressed in a mixture of Mycenaean, Hittite, Luwian and specifically local clothes. Maybe he wore a boar-tusk helmet gifted to him by a Mycenaean noble. Maybe his sword was crafted in the Hittite style, but inscribed with Luwian hieroglyphs. Maybe he wore a tunic dyed purple in Lesbos. Maybe he harnessed his locally-bred horses to a Hittite chariot. Maybe he dressed exactly like his soldiers, or maybe he looked nothing like them. There’s a world of possibilities to play around with. And honestly, as a history student with a passion for fiction, I would LOVE to see writers/artists render them.
