NAUPLIAN ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUM
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Installed in the Venetian arsenal (1713), its centerpiece is a Mycenaean warrior's outfit, the oldest suit of armor in Europe.
This handsome museum (Αρχαιολογικό Μουσείο Ναυπλίου/Archaiologiko Mousio Nafpliou) is housed in the large "rustic baroque" building of the Venetian navy arsenal completed in 1713. Its two floors house a selection of objects from the Paleolithic to the Roman period discovered in Argolid. The centerpiece is a 15th-century BC Mycenaean suit of armor from the site of Dendra, 12 km to the north. This is the oldest suit of armor in Europe. It is almost complete. Mostly missing are the leather parts: the bonnet, from which the boar's teeth remain, and the straps, which held fifteen bronze plates between them. Two of these plates protected the armpits: the warrior had to stand above the fray, on a chariot. Two bronze leggings and an armband complete this outfit, which corresponds to those of the fighters described by Homer in The Iliad. Among the oldest artefacts are those from the Prosymna site (15 km north-east of Argos) and the Franchthi cave (11 km south-west of Didyma): stone and bone tools, shell, animal bone and fishbone jewelry made between 32,000 and 3,000 BC. From the Tirynthe site, only a few objects from the Mycenaean period are on display (most are in Athens), but there are two fine Bronze Age terracottas: a sauceboat with a long pouring spout and an ingenious double jar for keeping wine cool.
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