11-11-2003, 10:25 PM
I was looking through the Armamentarium museums.ncl.ac.uk/archive...elmets.htm section on helmets (listing all the helmets found) and was suprised.<br>
<br>
Of a total of 292 helmets, 44% (12 were classed as cavalry sports helmets. Of these a further 44% were found in Germany, often in significant clumps of more than 3 e.g. at 8 at Carnuntum (Bad Deutsch-Petronell & Altenberg).<br>
<br>
All the helmets found in Iberia were Montefortino (47 intotal), which was the bulk of the Montefortino finds.<br>
<br>
Only 5% ofthe helmets found were in Italy, compared to 34% in Grmany. In fact, the UK has produced as many Roman helmets (16) as Italy, compared to Germany's 98.<br>
<br>
This raises a number of questions in my mind (assuming the Armamentarium to be correct).<br>
<br>
a/ Why so many Cavalry Sports helmets?<br>
-Possibly they were not used in battle, so they were stored, and presumably forgotten/ seen as lower priority when forts etc were abandoned<br>
-Possibly they preserve better (unlikely)<br>
-Or were they much more widespread in use beyond the sports arena, and used in battle? Certainly, the Kalkriese facemask was in battle, and ranks of steel masked horsemen might well terrify many a barbarian into running before impact.<br>
<br>
b/ Why so many Montefortino helmets in Iberia?<br>
-Leftovers from Republican fights with Hannibal?<br>
-Regional helmet differences eg Spanish legions keeping the Montefortino?<br>
-Something about the Spanish and Portuguese soil- unlikely<br>
<br>
c/ Why so many helmets in Germany?<br>
-Stores abandoned and over-run leaving valuable/lower priority equipment behind?<br>
- Barbarians didn't value them (poor field of vision) and so left them where they were?<br>
<br>
Any other ideas??<br>
<br>
Regards,.<br>
<br>
Paul <p></p><i></i>
<br>
Of a total of 292 helmets, 44% (12 were classed as cavalry sports helmets. Of these a further 44% were found in Germany, often in significant clumps of more than 3 e.g. at 8 at Carnuntum (Bad Deutsch-Petronell & Altenberg).<br>
<br>
All the helmets found in Iberia were Montefortino (47 intotal), which was the bulk of the Montefortino finds.<br>
<br>
Only 5% ofthe helmets found were in Italy, compared to 34% in Grmany. In fact, the UK has produced as many Roman helmets (16) as Italy, compared to Germany's 98.<br>
<br>
This raises a number of questions in my mind (assuming the Armamentarium to be correct).<br>
<br>
a/ Why so many Cavalry Sports helmets?<br>
-Possibly they were not used in battle, so they were stored, and presumably forgotten/ seen as lower priority when forts etc were abandoned<br>
-Possibly they preserve better (unlikely)<br>
-Or were they much more widespread in use beyond the sports arena, and used in battle? Certainly, the Kalkriese facemask was in battle, and ranks of steel masked horsemen might well terrify many a barbarian into running before impact.<br>
<br>
b/ Why so many Montefortino helmets in Iberia?<br>
-Leftovers from Republican fights with Hannibal?<br>
-Regional helmet differences eg Spanish legions keeping the Montefortino?<br>
-Something about the Spanish and Portuguese soil- unlikely<br>
<br>
c/ Why so many helmets in Germany?<br>
-Stores abandoned and over-run leaving valuable/lower priority equipment behind?<br>
- Barbarians didn't value them (poor field of vision) and so left them where they were?<br>
<br>
Any other ideas??<br>
<br>
Regards,.<br>
<br>
Paul <p></p><i></i>
