Feathers??? Why???

[emj1s]

Where, why, and how were the feather tubes attached.

[Chuck Russell]

so... in the thick of battle when your pilum is thrown and your gladius breaks you can tickle your foe to death

[emj1s]

lol, I truly cant stop laughing. But seriously what are the feather for, how are the mounted, and what "ranks" wore them? I kinda forgot to say im talking about the helmet feathers, sorry.

[Matthew Amt]

Where? On the helmet, of course!

Why? To put feathers in!

All seriousness aside, feathers go way back in Italian helmet crest fashions. The Samnites especially liked feathers--check out Connolly's reconstructions. Feather tubes of spiral wire behind sheet bronze wings, or a spread of 5 tubes across the top the helmet from side to side, etc. Polybius mentions black and purple feathers being worn by legionaries. They're supposed to make you distinctive and recognizable, as well as increasing your (apparent) height when facing an opponent.

Now for the Imperial period, there is a modern convention to associate feathers at the side of the helmet with the optio, but there is no solid evidence for that. At least one gravestone shows a legionary with side feathers, but according to the inscription he was never an optio. So it looks like any grut can wear them. Remember that some regular crests were feathers instead of horsehair--there are a couple very clear illustrations from centurions' grave stones.

Some feather tubes are riveted on, like the Coolus G from Nijmegen, others are soldered on. There is at least one Coolus E in which the feather tubes are simply extensions of the ends of the brow reinforce. There is also a Montefortino with a small tube soldered on behind its crest knob, which is solid with no hole, but that might just be for holding a horsehair plume.

For us reenactors, a feather crest is a heck of a lot quicker to make than a horsehair one!

Enjoy,

Matthew

[Chuck Russell]

ah so i can wear a feather in my cap.... i have an E

[Peroni]

It wasn't just the Italic peoples that wore feathers either, there is evidence that Germanic auxiliaries had a penchant for feathers too!

Other than basic Roman military finds there have been two archaeological finds of Roman helmets, both imperial Gallic type, in a cut down version, with the cheekguards and neckguard removed. One was found at the Kopsplateau, Nijmegen and one just across the border at Gelduba, modern Krefeld, Germany. The circumstantial evidence of the Krefeld find points to the loss of this helmet in 69AD during the Batavian revolt, during an attack by the forces of the Batavian commander Julius Civilis on the troops under the Roman commanders Dillius Vocula and Marcus Hordionius Flaccus.

Thanks to good conservation, remains of an animal pelt (marten) a leather band and some feathers were preserved. The find spot, the shape and decoration support make it likely that the user was not a Roman by origin. It appears plausible that this was a helmet from one of the Batavian auxiliary regiments, which were then in revolt against the Romans. Though the helmet from the Kopsplateau is at least half a century older in date, it strongly resembles the one from Gelduba; the covering however has not been preserved or was lacking.

The suggestion has been made that the helmet from the plateau also belonged to a Batavian who would have been stationed at the base around 10-20AD. He may have been part of the Batavian auxiliaries participating in the 16AD expedition of Germanicus in German territory on the other side of the Rhine. The Batavian chieftain Chariovalda led the infantry and cavalry units during this campaign. The helmet bowl was of an imperial Gallic type helmet with its neckguard and cheek pieces removed by its user. The helmet is rather dented, but the recess for the ear is clearly visible. The Krefeld helmet and my own reconstruction of what the helmet may have looked like can be seen here....



The feathers at the front of the helmet are similar to the decoration worn by two soldiers depicted on the arch of Constantine, which have been identified as tribesmen of the Cornuti, a regiment that was originally recruited along the Rhine frontier. No doubt the Germanic auxiliaries would modify their equipment to suit their own tastes and needs, or indeed their vanity.



Regards,

[Caballo]

Thanks , Peroni- a great reconstruction!

I also wonder whether we are wrong to assume that the side holders generally held feathers rather than horsehair- which would create the triple crested plume effect (cf the Cohors II Asturum Equitata stone at Chesters).

As Matthew Amt wrote in his post:"There is also a Montefortino with a small tube soldered on behind its crest knob, which is solid with no hole, but that might just be for holding a horsehair plume. "

Thoughts?

Caballo

[emj1s]

If i wanted to reconstruct a helm with these tubes for feathers or even horsehair plumes, exactly where should I mount them?

[Matt Lukes]

Well if you're talking about the ones that people associate with an Optio (not necessarily correctly it seems), they are just behind the ends of the browguard on either side.

[Peroni]

As Matthew Amt wrote in his post:"There is also a Montefortino with a small tube soldered on behind its crest knob, which is solid with no hole, but that might just be for holding a horsehair plume. "

Thoughts?

it's the helmet Robinson classified as a Montefortino type D from Nijmegen. [p 22/23]. The crest knob is solid, therefore a modification was made to add a tube to accept a crest. It could have been feather, or a plume of horse hair.

The tube is only 4-5mm internal diameter.

Regards,

[emj1s]

Thanks Matt, That works great.

[A_Volpe]

I bet a drop or two of Hide glue would be good to secure the feather, other than just stuffing the quill down the metal tube (makes transporting the helmet easier, just pull em out) - if the feathers are too loose, probably wrap the quill in some linen or maybe light leather, then [glue] it in

[Chuck Russell]

what about a cork? like the coolus e has a bigger tube. stuff a cork down there and drill a small hole, push the feather down in the cork and a dot of glue to hold it in the cork.

hmm

[emj1s]

ill probably go linen or leather. Did they have cork back then?

[Peroni]

What's to stop you using more than one feather in each tube?

Why not fill the tube with two/three feathers?

You might also make small horse hair plumes such as can be seen here...


Regards,