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+--- Thread: Is There A Gladiator Helmet database? (/showthread.php?tid=14042)
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Re: Is There A Gladiator Helmet database? - richard robinson - 11-12-2009
As mentioned elsewhere
i have trawled flickr and found some great images.
However i need to ask
If the Higgins Helmet is one of three gladiator helmets in the western hemisphere,
where are the other two located? and what types are they?
Curious
Richard
Re: Is There A Gladiator Helmet database? - john m roberts - 11-12-2009
The other two are in the Detroit Art Museum and the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto. Like the Higgins example, both are brimmed but visorless. I've seen the Toronto helmet and the brim seems to be made up of 6 segments. It has narrow cheekplates and large bosses.
Re: Is There A Gladiator Helmet database? - marcos - 11-12-2009
are there some images available?
Re: Is There A Gladiator Helmet database? - Olaf - 12-26-2009
There are some pictures of the Higgins helmet - which isnt pictured in the Junkelmann catalogue - on flickr.
You can see those that I found in one of my gallerys:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/40060535@N ... 918570600/
Re: Is There A Gladiator Helmet database? - marcos - 12-26-2009
nices images, Olaf, thank you.
Where the first helmet on your page on flickr is from ?
Re: Is There A Gladiator Helmet database? - Olaf - 12-27-2009
If you mean the one without visor and cheekpieces, it is the one from the Higgins Armory museum:
http://users.wpi.edu/~jforgeng/Collecti ... ?anum=1129
(The first three and last four pictures in the gallery show this helmet)
Its included in the Junkelmann "Gladiatoren" catalog of gladiatorial armament as H3.
The findspot is supposedly Orvieto and was bought 1930 in London.
Junkelmann was nor able to inspect it in person and suggests that this piece needs a thorough examination.
Re: Is There A Gladiator Helmet database? - john m roberts - 12-27-2009
I have good-quality, black and white photos of the Royal Ontario and Detroit Art Institute helmets, if I can ever figure out how to post them.
Re: Is There A Gladiator Helmet database? - marcos - 12-28-2009
Yes it is.
is it of a murmillo? looks a no common shape. I guess the visor is now lost but present in the original shape.
Re: Is There A Gladiator Helmet database? - john m roberts - 12-28-2009
Neither the Royal Ontario nor the Detroit helmets have visors, they have cheek plates, and their crests are unlike any of the familiar gladiatorial types. This causes me to speculate that they are from the Republican era, or are for parade, or are not gladiator helmets at all. It's odd that all of the gladiator helmets on this side of the Atlantic are visorless.
Re: Is There A Gladiator Helmet database? - Olaf - 12-29-2009
Junkelmann considers them pre Augustan - Republican helmets.
There is a lot of iconographic evidence that Gladiators fought without visors before the Augustan reforms.
They would have had cheek pieces though, which sadly have been lost.
Actually the visors of later helmets are also cheek pieces that grew to cover the face more and more and finaly met in the middle of the face.
I would realy love to see your pictures John, as Junkelmann has only very small pictures of those helmets in his book.
Re: Is There A Gladiator Helmet database? - caiusbeerquitius - 12-29-2009
Do we know anything about the Higgins helmet´s context?
Re: Is There A Gladiator Helmet database? - Olaf - 12-29-2009
I only have the info from Junkelmann:
The findspot is "supposedly" Orvieto and was bought 1930 by a collector? in London.
Junkelmann sees a similarity to the Detroit helmet in the contuniation of the crest reaching over the neck guard.
Bu he also implies that only an examination will confirme the authenticity of this helmet.
By the way, I just found a picture on flickr that also shows the Detroit helmet:
[url:3tm345f3]http://www.flickr.com/photos/tomatotornado/4020415869/[/url]
And here is the Ontario helmet:
[url:3tm345f3]http://www.flickr.com/photos/arney79/453399698/[/url]
Re: Is There A Gladiator Helmet database? - john m roberts - 12-30-2009
I'm searching for those photos but no luck yet. Several years ago I sent them to Marcus Junkelmann for copying and he returned them so I know I've seen them that recently. But I've been through some moves and remodeling since then so they're probably in a box somewhere. Back in the early '80s I wanted to write a book on gladiatorial arms and armor so I wrote every museum I knew had pieces on exhibit and asked for photos of their specimens. I got these from Detroit and Toronto. The Higgins didn't have any photos available at that time. I also got nice pictures from the British Museum and the Louvre, but I had to give up the project because I got absolutely no cooperation from the Naples Museum. They helpfully referred me to a catalogue published by them in 1885.
Incidentally, has anyone got a close enough look at the Higgins helmet to see if it once had cheekplates or a visor?