A Bearded Face-Mask Helmet from the Collection of the National Museum in Belgrade. An Example of Mutual Influences of Armament Traditions at the Roman Frontier (original) (raw)
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The paper deals with a unique facemask helmet, found in 1854 and stored in the national museum in Belgrade, show ing cultural exchange. on the one hand, this exemplar was made with great skill in the Roman style. But on the other hand, the bearded helmet from the national museum in Belgrade is unusual due to the fact that its design and appear ance enable us to recognise a combination of several armament traditions: The bottom edge is bent in the form of a hem and has a lot of holes intended either for attaching a lining or suspending a neck protection in the form of a lamellar or scale aventail, which is not typical of Roman helmets and applied in the Roman army only by soldiers of the eastern auxiliary units. a similar line of holes on the edge can be observed on another unusual helmet, found in Bryas tovets / BG. The existence of these elements on Roman parade helmets is direct evidence that the owner of the helmet could be an eastern auxiliary warrior, because scale aventails had been part of some Sarmatian helmets of the 1st and 2nd centuries aD.
Roman helmets with face-masks constitute a category of military equipment that is rare and at the same time spectacular. They imitate human heads, bare or helmeted; rich decorations include mythological motives and apotropaic elements. Moreover, they are often made of precious bronze and sometimes even silvered. Those qualities make them focus the attention both of specialists working on Roman military equipment and the wide public. Several such masks were found on the territory of Roman Dacia. Two were found in the river Olt and are believed to have been washed away from military sites. Another comes from a ditch of the Roman fort Gilău and has been interpreted as having been lost by its owner. All are believed to have been used as parade equipment by Roman cavalrymen. All belong to a rare category of helmets representing female heads. However, it seems improbable that the loss of an item of that size and value would have remained unnoticed, and that it could be easily washed away by the river - remembering also the scarcity of such finds both within the province and the whole Empire. A study of religious practices of Roman military allows us to propose a re-interpretation of these artifacts. Rather then lost pieces of parade equipment we should probably view them as offerings deposited by members of the military or whole units to ensure the success of their various undertakings. This not only matches their findspots well, but also finds several analogies in the context of finds outside of Dacia.
Bearded face-mask helmet from the collection of the National Museum in Belgrade as an example of mutual influences of armament traditions on the Roman frontier Abstract The paper deals with the unique helmet with mask, stored in the National Museum in Belgrade. This specimen was found in 1854 and demonstrates the exchange of cultural influences. This example is different from other Roman parade helmets. On the one hand, it is made with great skill and style of the Roman samples. But on the other hand, the bearded helmet from the National Museum in Belgrade is unusual due to the fact that its design and appearance enable to see a combination of several traditions in manufacturing war head-pieces. The bottom edge of the helmet is bent in the form of a hem and has a lot of holes intended either to attach the lining or to suspend neck protection in the form of lamellar or scale aventail, which is not typical of Roman helmets and was exceptionally applied in the Roman army only by soldiers of the Eastern auxiliary units. A similar line of holes on the edge of the helmet we can see also on other unusual helmet with scale aventail, which was found in Bryastovets (Bulgaria). The presence of these elements in Roman parade helmet is direct evidence that the owner of the helmet could be an eastern auxiliary inasmuch as such element as scale aventail available on some Sarmatian helmets of the first centuries AD.
The Roman Sports Cavalry Helmet from Islaz (Teleorman County, Romania)
Cercetări Arheologice 30.2, 2023
The topic of this paper is a Roman cavalry sports helmet, or more specifically two halves of the same item, made out of copper alloy. It is part of a category of highly decorated military equipment, designed for parade or, more precisely, used in equestrian games/processions by cavalrymen of the Roman army. It was discovered in the area of the Islaz Roman fortifications, on the Olt River Roman frontier, the so-called limes Alutanus. The discovery in itself is spectacular. Both parts of the helmet were discovered almost in the same place, in two separate occasions, both accidental, by private citizens, in a time span of four months. The two fragments that form a whole helmet are well preserved and they present a strong point for the Roman presence at Islaz. The item in itself is a rare and beautiful find, this helmet in particular being the second of its kind (type) known to be found in the world. The helmet is from the Vechten Type, or pseudo-Phrygian type, named after its only analogy, the helmet from Vechten (Netherlands).
A unique medieval helmet that is part of the archaeological collection of the National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina was found in the village of Trnčina near Ljubinje, and donated to the museum more than a century ago. The following paper is the first detailed publication of this artefact. The first part of the paper contains a description of the helmet while the second discusses its dating and place on the timeline of the evolution of warrior headgear. As a result of the research it is possible to draw the conclusion that the Trnčina helmet was made and then altered in the 11th century.
Roman Helmet from Sivac / Rimski šlem iz Sivca
In the year of celebration of the 125th anniversary the Sombor Town Museum decided to dedicate a special publication to the Sivac helmet, one of the most important museum exhibits and a unique example of a Roman helmet on the territory of Serbia. The Town Museum’s jubilee coincided both with the 50th anniversary of the helmet’s discovery and the 30th anniversary of its publishing, which was one of the reasons for the making of this monograph. The Sivac helmet, however, was until now little known in broader scientific circles even though it indeed represents an extraordinary find and an important testimony about the presence of the Roman army in one part of the “barbarian” territory north of the fortified Danube limes of Lower Panonnia. Certainly, this is due to the fact that the helmet was published back in 1978 in a local periodical in Serbian language with a very poor English summary, and therefore experts on Roman weaponry mostly did not have the chance to find out more about it. Even in studies which published similar material, only few remarks were dedicated to this indisputably valuable find. With a new and complemented publishing of the Sivac helmet, with an integral English translation and quality illustrations, we aimed to make this finding available to the broader scientific public, as well as to regular visitors of the Museum. It was also our intention to point out some of the helmet’s features by a detailed analysis and to reconstruct its original appearance, by comparing it with analogous specimens. Using a restoration procedure and advantages of modern 3D technology, we attempted, and hopefully succeeded, to give the Sivac helmet its old glow back. By means of detailed observation and using modern physical and chemical analyses, we also decided to answer certain questions which had not been subject of previous researches, such as the technology of the helmet’s manufacturing, the structure and characteristics of the material and the degree and nature of its damages. Special importance is given by the new interpretation of the inscription on the helmet which reveals the name of the owner and his belonging to a specific military unit, documenting the historical context of the find. This publication would not be possible without the understanding and cordial help of the colleagues from the Sombor Town Museum and especially its Curator Anđelka Putica. I owe my special gratitude to my colleague Branko Drča from the National Museum in Belgrade for his always useful suggestions and support. I would also like to thank Miloš Bokorov, associate of the Biology Departement at the Faculty of Sciences in Novi Sad, who performed the physical and chemical analyses of the samples, as well as Dušan Vračarić, associate of the Military-Technical Institute in Belgrade who provided expert interpretation of the samples.
THE COLD FACE OF BATTLE – SOME REMARKS ON THE FUNCTION OF ROMAN HELMETS WITH FACE MASKS
Archäologische Korrespondenzblatt, 2012
This essay offers reflections on the functions of Roman helmets with masks. They were one of the most effective elements of Roman soldiers’ equipment, arousing scholars’ interest and controversy since the 19th century. Despite abundant literature, their function is still the subject of numerous discussions. Scholars’ views revolve around a few possibilities. Two most popular of such theses supposedly exclude one another. They claim that the helmets were used during parades and festivities or during battles. The author, taking into consideration archaeological sources, historical records, metallographic analyses and the outcome of various experiments seeks to show that these helmets proved to be a perfect solution in both cases.
Roman helmets with a browband shaped as a vertical fronton // Historia i Świat. 2015, 4, 31–46.
Roman propaganda monuments are known best of all and they are still often cited, especially in Hollywood blockbusters. Despite the many doubts expressed by modern researchers, they continue to be sources valuable in many aspects as those monuments, mostly located in the capital, show how military weapons were perceived by the inhabitants of the capital, including the sculptors who were working on these monuments. There are many images of so-called Attic helmets on Roman monuments dated back to the first two centuries AD. As a rule, all of them are richly decorated with embossed floral ornament, have a browband with volutes in the temporal region and equipped with longitudinal crests with gorgeous plumes. The question arises, what are the samples were depicted on the Roman reliefs? Ho w accurately this specimen have been reproduced by artists and sculptors, or, perhaps, we see only a reflection of the Hellenistic artistic tradition? There are helmets with a browband shaped as a vertical fronton with volutes existed. Their later modification is presented by finds from Guisborough, Theilenhofen, Chalon-sur-Saône. The pieces of the I st century AD – early II nd century AD are Weiler-type helmets with a decorated riveted browband. They are the helmets from Nijmegen, Brza Palanka and from other places. The pieces from Butzbach and Hallaton can be considered as a transitional design between early and later h elmet modifications with a vertical fronton. Thus, all of the above finds suggest that Attic helmets with browbands, which are often depicted on Roman propaganda monuments, are not the sculptors’ invention, but helmets really common in the Roman imperial army , imitating the models of the earlier period.