Fig. 66.—Greek Soldier. Cast of Bronze Statuette from Dodona (No. 185). 2:3.
It would seem that the Corinthian helmet at its best was a cumbrous piece of armour. The ears of the wearer were covered, and the ill-fitting shell must have sat loose upon the head, so as to be easily displaced by a sudden turn. This and the chafing of the metal were obviated in some degree by a lining of felt or leather, which was sewn inside the helmet in the rows of holes along the edges. In No. 189 the actual fastenings may be seen as well as the holes: thin twine along the bottom rim, and rivets in the holes elsewhere. This is an unusually well preserved helmet; the wooden peg on which the plume was tied is still in place (fig. 78). A leathern cap was also worn, and is seen on the coins of Corinth (fig. 12e), where the helmet is represented in the position in which it was carried when the wearer was not fighting, i.e., pushed back until the lower rim projected in a peak over the forehead. This position came to be adopted in battle also; for in the last of the Corinthian series (Nos. 190, 191, fig. 68, 192) there is not sufficient depth to the helmet to admit of its being worn over the face in the original way, nor are the eyeholes large enough to be of use, while in two examples these are represented only by engraving, a traditional design which shows the evolution of the helmet (No. 192). Such examples are, however, not really Greek. They come from South Italy, and belong to a late period, when the art and manners of Greek colonists were reproduced in barbarous form among the natives. Drawings of this helmet on Italian vases of the third century B.C. give a date for the class.
Fig. 67.—Greek Helmets of "Corinthian" and "Island" Types (Nos. 187, 193). 1:5.
An additional value is given to three of the early helmets by inscriptions which they bear and which help to date them. The first (No. 188) is a record of a dedication of Corinthian spoils to Zeus by the Argives: ΤΑΡΓ[ΕΙ]ΟΙ ΑΝΕΘΕΝ ΤΟΙ ΔΙϜΙ ΤΟΝ ϘΟΡΙΝΘΟΘΕΝ, in lettering which belongs probably to the end of the sixth century B.C.[40] The helmet was found in the bed of the river Alpheios, near Olympia, and was doubtless dedicated in the sanctuary. A shield bearing the first word of a similar inscription has since been found at Olympia, and was probably part of the same offering. Another helmet (No. 186) has five letters, ΟΛΥΜΠ, scratched on the corner of one of the cheek-pieces in characters of about 500 B.C. The complete word was perhaps Ὀλυμπίῳ, "To the Olympian Zeus." This is said to have been found at Dodona in Epeiros. The third is inscribed on the front with the name of its owner, ΔΑΣΙΜΟΣ ΠΥΡΡΟΥ, "Dasimos son of Pyrrhos" (No. 194). The date of the writing is the beginning of the fifth century. This helmet, which comes from South Italy, differs from the Corinthian only in having holes for the ears, but it is really the first of a new type, the so-called Attic.
Fig. 68.—Graeco-Italian Helmet of Debased Corinthian Form (No. 191). 1:6.
The evidence of inscriptions, painting and sculpture shows that the Corinthian helmet was generally worn by the Greeks from the first appearance of metal armour in the eighth century B.C. to the early years of the fifth. It then became less common, but never quite disappeared, and was used, certainly as a decorative type, by the Romans of the Empire.
