Dendra in the context of Citadel

Helmets using ivory from boars' tusks were known in the Mycenaean world from the 17th century BC (Shaft Graves, Mycenae) to the 10th century BC (Elateia, Central Greece). The helmet was made through the use of slivers of boar tusks which were attached to a leather base, padded with felt, in rows. A description of a boar's tusk helmet appears in book ten of Homer's Iliad, as Odysseus is armed for a night raid to be conducted against the Trojans.

Fragments of ivory which might have come from helmets of this kind have been discovered on Mycenaean sites (at Dendra, for instance, fragments were found alongside the bronze panoply excavated in 1960) and an ivory plaque, also from a Mycenaean site, represents a helmet of this kind. Although they would not provide protection as good as that of a metal helmet, they may have been worn by some leaders as a status symbol, or a means of identification.

The Dendra panoply or Dendra armour is a Mycenaean-era panoply (full-body armor) made of bronze plates uncovered in the village of Dendra in the Argolid, Greece. It is currently on display at the Archaeological Museum of Nafplion.

Midea (Greek: Μιδέα) is a village and a former municipality in Argolis, Peloponnese, Greece. It was named Gerbesi (Γκέρμπεσι) until 1928. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Nafplio, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area of 178.306 km, and a population of 4,966 (2021). The seat of the municipality was in Agia Triada.

Within the boundaries of the municipal unit are two significant archaeological sites dating to the Bronze Age or earlier. One is the site of Dendra located outside the village of the same name. The other is the citadel site of Midea. Both sites were originally excavated by the archaeologist Axel W. Persson between the 1920s and World War II.