I want to get a tattoo of giaus julius Caesars helmet and sword and shield, my question is does is face mask that he wore as a helmet actually exist and what would be an accurate description to it, I want the tattoo to be somewhat historically accurate
Quote:my question is does is face mask that he wore as a helmet actually exist
Did it ever exist? I very much doubt it.
I think he is talking about the Kalkriese face mask from the Teutoburg forest battle...
Jake,
We have never found a helmet that was for sure worn by Julius Caesar, but since he was a general, we can assume is was either a Hellenistic type or an Attic style, as high ranking officers of the period are usually depicted wearing those helmet types.
Quote:I think he is talking about the Kalkriese face mask from the Teutoburg forest battle...
By which time Caesar had been dead for 53 years.
Yes, wearing a Kalkriese helmet and face mask while trying to portray Julius Caesar would be a problem... Its not period.
Jake, where did you get this idea of face masks? They were used only by cavalry and standard bearers, and are uncomfortable to wear. When you have to command troops, you do not want your senses restricted by a face mask. Did you get the face mask idea by looking at the avatar of the member here Gaius Julius Caesar?
Quote:They were used only by cavalry and standard bearers, and are uncomfortable to wear
May I ask where you got this idea from?
A nice collection of masks but I would be a tad wary of a site that lists the iconic Sutton Hoo helmet as Late Roman.
They do call it late Roman, but also Germanic and Saxon later on.
Spreading their bets then?
I guess. A little odd though since everyone knows it is not " late Roman " and was instead Saxon.
Basically, mate, no one has any idea of exactly what would be historically accurate for a Roman general of this period beyond the following: a muscled cuirass, pyteruges, perhaps a parazonium, most likely a cloak of some sort (Caesar's was reputed to be scarlet), a hellenistic (not necessarily attic) helmet, perhaps with some of Italo-corinthian theme...it's all actually quite vague as to what a general would have been wearing on the field or during campaign. Most of our interpretations come from statues of later period emperors, and to my knowledge, only one of them depicts a helmet, which is incorporated into the base of the statue, and appears to be a very hellenistic design (as opposed to the oft assumed attic helm).
If you really wanted to get a tattoo relating to Caesar that had any sort of legit value in the eyes of anyone who actually knows anything about Roman military history, I'd shy away from any of his "supposed" kit. To be honest, were Gaius Julius to magically appear through some wormhole and see your body marked in tattoos he'd be obliged to automatically consider you a slave or some sort of barbarian (likely both). Tattoos were only associated with said societal echelons in the Roman world (at least, as far as we know).
Italo Corinthian helmets!!! That would be a definite good one! Great officer's helmets! Good suggestion!