Roman Helmet Types for then Dacian Wars?

[Darrell Hindley]

Hi,

My name is Darrell and I'm a wargamer and most certainly not an expert on the EIR 

What I wanted to ask is:

i/ What type of helmet was used at the beginning of the Dacian Wars?

ii/ The helmet's were reinforced, but at what point in time? During the Wars?

Thanks

[Nathan Ross]

What type of helmet was used at the beginning of the Dacian Wars?

ii/ The helmet's were reinforced, but at what point in time? During the Wars?

Hi Darrell

The best evidence is the 'Berzobis helmet', an Imperial Gallic type (by the old Robinson classification) found at the Roman fort site at Berzobis in Dacian territory, now Romania, and dating from the period of the wars, c.100-105:

   

It's been heavily restored, but as you can see it appears to have bars fixed over the helmet bowl as a sort of 'field modification'. The usual theory is that these were added during the Dacian war as an extra defence against the falx. We should perhaps be a bit wary of this - people used to think that the 'manica' segmented arm defence was also adopted at this time for the same reason, until one turned up at (I think) Caerleon dated to c.AD60...

Besides, while the falx was a nasty weapon, it was not a can-opener, and would not have been too effective at chopping through iron armour: the sources who describe it say that its main use was to inflict terrible injuries to unprotected legs, arms, etc.

There is another helmet from probably the same period, found at nearby Brigetio on the Danube. It's also a Gallic type, usually (I think) classified Gallic J:

   

As you can see, it features no skull reinforcement. However, I've recently seen this helmet dated to the early 1st century, although on what grounds I do not know! Perhaps just because it is not reinforced... It still looks very 'late 1st / early 2nd century' to me. There's a very nice reproduction here.

A bit later, and we have the Hebron Helmet, an 'Imperial Italic' type with integral skull reinforcement. It was found at Hebron and probably dates from the Bar Kokhba war (c.AD132-135).

Then again, the division between Gallic and Italic helmets might be rather artifical anyway. The famous Italic D has been variously dated between the mid 1st and late 2nd century. Quite possible all these different helmet styles were in use at more or less the same time, rather than being a sort of evolutionary family tree!

Here's some more discussion on the Berzobis, from 2007. Most of the links appear to be dead, sadly:

https://www.romanarmytalk.com/rat/showth...?tid=10387

[Arius]

I wonder if the "spangenhelm" looking headpieces worn on the Adamklissi metopes are just a crude representation of a thing like the Berzobis helmet. Rather remarkable to have actually found one.

-- Harry

[Darrell Hindley]

Many thanks Nathan. Much to meditate upon