Conaidering that you won’t stand stiff and upright as an unmoving target, but rather bent in the knees like you see modern fighters, as well as moving around, hitting the knees or feet is gonna be a lot harder. You’d have to bend down to reach for them, putting your own head and neck deeper within the enemy’s reach.
The fingers are also hard to hit (but not impossible), but mostly they’re hard to armor if you want to retain flexibility. The same goes for the face: You need to be able to see what’s happening and what the enemy is doing. Armoring either would probably bring more drawbacks than protections.
That’s not to say there are no ways to armor these parts, but they might not have been invented at the time or simply too complex and expensive to make. If they found that a ton of people died with chopped-off fingers, they’d find a way to armor those. If they never bothered, it probably won’t have been worth the cost.
If you’re interested in the decisions that go into selecting armor, I recommend this blog entry by an ancient historian as well as the follow-up where he uses the logic laid out in the first post to be pedantic about pop culture examples. The blog is, after all, named “A Collection Of Unmitigated Pedantry” (and I can really recommend it in general).
It’s suggested that the term “Achilles’ heel”, meaning a seemingly insignificant point of fatal weakness, comes from exactly your observation of the Dendra Panoply, an armour of exactly the same period as Achilles and the Trojan War.
The panoply has been the subject of extensive academic study and experimental research. While many scholars have discussed its functionality,[10] significant experimental investigations have also been conducted. In 1988, Diana Wardle,[11] using a replica crafted by students at the Bournville College of Art, Birmingham (now part of Birmingham City University), made initial findings regarding its practical use. In 2012, professor Barry Molloy,[12] utilizing a different replica, contributed important insights into the kinematics of the armor. In 2018, archaeologist Spyros Bakas,[13] through a meticulous reconstruction of the panoply, provided crucial information on its distinctive features and the anatomy of its components, while also addressing the operational capabilities of the warrior. Most recently, in 2024, researchers from the University of Thessaly, led by professor Andreas Flouris, using Wardle’s 1980s replica, added new conclusions on the ergonomics and kinematics of the warrior wearing the armor, showing that “[a] group of special armed-forces personnel wearing a replica of the Dendra armour were able to complete an 11-hour simulated Late Bronze Age combat protocol that we developed from a series of studies based on the available evidence”.[2] This research indicates that the armour was perfectly suited to use in battle, not simply ceremonial as originally assumed.
So you can be stabbed in the toes, knees, fingers, or nose… how 'bout no!?!
Conaidering that you won’t stand stiff and upright as an unmoving target, but rather bent in the knees like you see modern fighters, as well as moving around, hitting the knees or feet is gonna be a lot harder. You’d have to bend down to reach for them, putting your own head and neck deeper within the enemy’s reach.
The fingers are also hard to hit (but not impossible), but mostly they’re hard to armor if you want to retain flexibility. The same goes for the face: You need to be able to see what’s happening and what the enemy is doing. Armoring either would probably bring more drawbacks than protections.
That’s not to say there are no ways to armor these parts, but they might not have been invented at the time or simply too complex and expensive to make. If they found that a ton of people died with chopped-off fingers, they’d find a way to armor those. If they never bothered, it probably won’t have been worth the cost.
If you’re interested in the decisions that go into selecting armor, I recommend this blog entry by an ancient historian as well as the follow-up where he uses the logic laid out in the first post to be pedantic about pop culture examples. The blog is, after all, named “A Collection Of Unmitigated Pedantry” (and I can really recommend it in general).
It’s suggested that the term “Achilles’ heel”, meaning a seemingly insignificant point of fatal weakness, comes from exactly your observation of the Dendra Panoply, an armour of exactly the same period as Achilles and the Trojan War.
thanks for the link
Modern armour has similar drawbacks.