10-25-2012, 10:09 PM
Dioskouri has made the most accurate "copy" of a 5th century B.C. ("Denda" class - along the lines of the Denda helmet in the Munich Museum) Corinthian. There are (without argument) many different periods and helmet types that have been found, many were created in totally different fashions. To cite one particular group (i.e. Olympia) of relics doesn't accurately apply to ALL artifact helmets. Many of the helmets found at Olympia were strictly votive, ergo light and thin as proclaimed, as they never were intended to see battle. Naturally, not all battle-worthy helmets are the same weight and thickness either. Dioskouri has stated that new bronze (that which has not been in the ground for 2,400 years) is denser, therefore heavier than artifact bronze, which has had much of its inner matrix leached out by the surrounding environment over the ages - this is a physical fact. This is why some artifacts weigh more than others and would explain the difference in weight of (say) a Vergina relic helmet to that of (say) an Olympia relic helmet of the same thickness. A lot of the helmets shown as lighter examples are of the lotus group - these were not made the same as Classical Period helmets and were naturally much lighter because of their hammered sheet construction. They have little or NO cranation line which was added for strength in the Classical Period. This also made it impossible to construct this type (Denda class) helmet solely with hammers. To lump all relic helmets into the same category for the sake of argument is irresponsible. The door should remain open to all possibilities of construction until all the artifacts are discovered (to date, about 1% have been found). It is not inaccurate to claim authenticity when there is such a wide arena from which to draw evidence. You have seen the pictures.
Bill
