Fig. 77.—Parade Helmet Masks (Nos. 209, 208).
A peculiar fashion of Roman helmet is represented by two bronze vizor-masks in Case 117 (Nos. 208, 209, fig. 77). A complete helmet of the same kind, exhibited in the Room of Roman Britain, was found at Ribchester in 1796, and two other specimens, a fragmentary iron helmet and a bronze mask, have recently been excavated at Newstead on the Tweed. The Newstead helmet has remains of padding still adhering, which prove that these strange helmets were actually worn, though Arrian, writing on tactics in the second century A.D., says that they were used for display, and not in battle. The earlier of our examples (No. 208, fig. 77, right), which probably belongs to the first century A.D., is said to have been found on the face of a skeleton in a grave at Nola in Italy in the eighteenth century. The other (No. 209, fig. 77, left), which has the more usual type of features, has lately been presented to the Museum, having been purchased at Aintab in Syria during the occupation of the country by British troops. Both masks are pierced at eyes, nostrils and mouth, and show traces of attachment to the helmet above the forehead. No. 209 has remains of white metal plating on the face, the hair being left in the colour of bronze.
Fig. 78.—Helmets with Wooden Peg for Plume and Tube for Feather (Nos. 189, 199). 1:5.
Fig. 79.—Italian Helmet decorated with Horns,
Wings and Plume.
Crests are shown on all kinds of helmets, as in the Greek, Etruscan and Roman statuettes (figs. 66, 81, 85), and the drawings on Greek and Italian vases (figs. 79, 86, etc.); it is not uncommon to find three on one helmet. They had thick horsehair plumes, sometimes simply wired to the helmet, sometimes mounted in sockets. Very few helmets show original fittings for the crests. These must have been added by the owners. Some helmets have holes drilled in the crown; No. 186 has remains of wire in the holes. No. 189 has a bronze socket still holding a wooden peg, but this is only fastened with cement, and its rough make is not in keeping with the fine finish of this helmet (fig. 78). The flanged channel and pins of No. 193 (fig. 67) are peculiar to that type of helmet. An Etruscan helmet of Attic shape (No. 199, fig. 78) had a pair of tubes to carry single feathers, only one of which remains (cf. fig. 80). It was an Italian habit to wear fantastic ornaments. The head of a horseman from a wall-painting at Capua shows horns, wings, and a plume or feather (fig. 79). A Corinthian helmet from Apulia has a pair of curved horns like those in the wall-painting (No. 190). An Attic helmet belonging to a suit of armour which was found in a grave at Capua, and is exhibited here on loan from H.M. Armoury in the Tower of London (No. 210), has horns of coiled wire (perhaps clips for feathers), and a pair of wings. The oval bronze hat (No. 202, fig. 72) has two crests of sea-horses mounted as horns, with the support for a plume between them. These accessories are detachable; they are cut out of thin sheet metal and fit on to flat ears on the helmet. Two of the latest of the Corinthian class (No. 191, fig. 68) have such attachments.
Fig. 80.—Italian Vase-Painting, showing Feathered Helmet and the Metal Cuirass.
