Helmet. A piece of defensive armor or covering for the head. Among the early nations of antiquity the helmet forms a prominent feature in all military costume, and is often of very great utility in distinguishing the age or country of the wearer. The Egyptian kings had them of brass, while the soldiers wore linen ones thickly padded. The crests of the royal Egyptian helmet were the heads of the lion, bull, or dragon. The Milyans had helmets of skins; those of a fox formed the early Thracian helmet; and this ancient fashion of the heroic ages appears in the galerus of the Roman light troops. The Phrygian bonnet was a skull-cap, with a bent peak projecting in front, like the bust of a bird, with an arched neck and head. It is certainly the most ancient form of helmet. Strabo says the ancient Persians, and probably their oriental neighbors, wore modern turbans; in war, a cap cut in the form of a cylinder or tower. This Asiatic fashion extended itself widely. The helmet of the Grecian soldier was usually made of brass, and sometimes of the skins of beasts, with the hair still on; and to render them more terrible, the teeth were often placed in a grinning manner. The crest was made of horse-hair or feathers, and was curiously ornamented. In the early period of the Greeks, helmets had been composed of the skins of quadrupeds, of which none were more common than the dog. After the time of Alexander the Great, common soldiers had only small crests; chieftains, plumes or two crests. The helmet of the Romans was a head-piece of brass or iron, which left the face uncovered, and descended behind as far as the shoulders. Upon the top was the crest, in adorning which the soldiers took great pride. The usual ornament was horse-hair or feathers of divers colors; but the helmets of the officers were sometimes very splendid, and adorned with gold and silver. Helmets occur with cheek-pieces and movable visors. Singular helmets, with aigrettes, plumes, wings, horns, double crests, double-cheek pieces (some of which are seen on the Hamilton vases), and others, with fantastical additions and overloaded crests, are either barbarian, or subsequent to the removal of the seat of empire to Constantinople. The Gauls wore helmets of brass, with monstrous appendages for ostentation, as the shapes of birds, beasts, etc. In the Middle Ages the knights of Europe were distinguished by helmets adorned with the figure of a crown, or of some animal. The king wore a helmet of gold, or gilt; his attendants of silver; the nobility of steel; and the lower orders of iron. In European armies helmets are worn by the horse-guards and heavy cavalry. In the United States, helmets made of felt and adorned with horse-hair plumes are worn by light artillery and cavalry troops.
Helmet-shaped. Shaped like a helmet; galeate.
Helmless. Destitute of a helmet; without a helm.
Helos. In ancient geography, the name of several towns, so called from their position among or near fens. The most important town of this name was in Laconia, at the mouth of the Eurotas, in a plain close to the sea. In the Dorian conquest of the Peloponnesus Helos was taken, and its inhabitants carried off to Sparta and reduced to slavery. Their name is said to have been applied by their masters generally to all the bondsmen or helots that fell into their power.
Helots. The lowest class of the population of ancient Sparta, which was formed of serfs or slaves. They are supposed to have formed the original population of the country, and to have been reduced to bondage by their Dorian conquerors. In war, they served as light troops, each free-born Spartan who bore heavy armor being accompanied to battle by a number of them, sometimes as many as seven. In order to keep their numbers within bounds the Spartans organized secret companies, who went abroad over the country armed with daggers, and both by night and day assassinated the unfortunate Helots, selecting as their special victims the strongest and most vigorous of the oppressed race.
Helsingfors. A fortified town, and seaport in Finland, on a peninsula in the Gulf of Finland. It has a good harbor, and is defended by the almost impregnable citadel and fortifications of Sweaborg, which stand on a number of rocky islands at the entrance of the harbor. This town was burnt in 1741, during the war between Sweden and Russia. In 1855, Sweaborg was bombarded for two days by the allied English and French fleet, when some damage was done to the interior defenses of the place.
Helvetian Republic. Switzerland having been conquered by the French in 1797, a republic was established in 1798 with this title.
Helvetii. A Celtic people inhabiting, according to Cæsar, the region between the mountains of Jura on the west, the Rhone on the south, and the Rhine on the east and north, the region corresponding pretty closely with modern Switzerland. The great and fatal event in their history is their attempted irruption into and conquest of Southern Gaul, in which they were repulsed by Cæsar with frightful slaughter in 58 B.C., and compelled to return to their own country, where they became subjects to the Romans. In the commotions which followed the death of Nero, the Helvetians met with another terrible catastrophe. Remaining faithful to Galba, they were fallen upon by Cacina, a general of Vitellius, who gave them up to the rapacity of his legions, and from this time they scarcely appear in history as a distinct people.
Helvoetsluys. A fortified town of Holland, on the south shore of the island of Voorn, 17 miles southwest from Rotterdam. At this place the Prince of Orange, afterwards William III., embarked for England in 1688. It was taken by the French in 1798, and evacuated by them in 1813.
Hem In. To surround an enemy, whether on land or sea.