Italic A Helmet

[Sextus Aurelius Propertiu]

Thanks Quintus for such nice photos.. A new gallic helmet unknown. !Actually it is an incredible discovery, So, Quintus, please where this helmet was found , in which circumstances . Is a publication lookforwarded later ?

Best regards

Sextus Aurelius Propertius

Eric-Alexandre POHER

[Quintus Galerius]

Je n'e sais pas ou was found this italic helmet, it was stored into the Italic Section...but I can look for some news, you have to wait because I must found firts the number of inventary and then I can tell you other news, salut!

[Crispvs]

It is truly wonderful to see new pictures of these helmets. I think the only photo any of us has ever seen before of them is the one photo Robinson published. Regarding crest attachments, did I see a feather tube in one of the photos or was that just my imagination getting away on me?

A laud point is most deservedly given.

Crispvs

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

If it's the last pic Crispus, its just a hook.

[Crispvs]

No, I was talking about the first photo in the first group Francesco posted up.

Crispvs

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

Ahh that one, its the cheek piece hinge, the yare folded into the bowl..

[Crispvs]

It looks to be in the wrong place for a cheek guard hinge.

Crispvs

[Tarbicus]

Isn't there another helmet with a feather holder on the front? Gallic A?

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

Nope, the helmet is upside down, and you are looking from front to back.

@ Jim, I think there is one, but its at the back IIRC. :?

[Tarbicus]

Definitely at the front. I t may have been a Batavian modification to a Gallic A?

[Marcus F.]

First off, these photos are spectacular.

Do we know roughly what dates this helmet might have been in service?

Am I making a big leap to think that a helmet here with such a small neck guard that it might have also, potentially, been a Cavalry helmet as well? Just a thought.

Thoughts?

:?:

I just wanted to write the same. It has both the typical smallish neckgard and the pseudo-Attic front of the cavalry helmets like here:

[Crispvs]

I still can't see how it could be a hinge from the position it appears to be in in the photo. It still doesn't work for me even if I try to assume that I am looking at the inside.

Marcus,

I too have considered that the Herculaneum helmets looked very similar to cavalry helmets. A small point which should be made about the cavalry type 'A' helmet from the Guttmann collection you have posted up is that the helmet was little more than an incomplete collection of metal fragments when Guttmann obtained it. Therefore there is a certain degree of assumption in the restored helmet, as well as a lot of modern iron. This is why the very part you mention, the front, is plain. What you are looking at there is modern iron as that part of the original helmet did not survive to get to Guttmann's restorer.

Crispvs

[jho]

Definitely at the front. I t may have been a Batavian modification to a Gallic A?

I believe you are referring to the Krefeld-Gellep helmet. I did not have a feather holder but organic remains led the excavators to conclude that two feathers had been tucked into the leather covering of the helmet at the front of the bowl, if I remember correctly.

I still can't see how it could be a hinge from the position it appears to be in in the photo. It still doesn't work for me even if I try to assume that I am looking at the inside.

I believe that it is not the hinge riveted to the helmet but the hinge on the left cheek piece which is lying on top of the inside of the helmet bowl.

[Crispvs]

Ah yes, that makes sense.

Crispvs

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

Yes, sorry, I should have been clearer! :roll:

As you can clearly see the other cheekpiece hinge on the other side, I thought my explanation would be crystal clear. :wink: