Onward and Upward - Carthaginian reenacting

[Dan Z]

Images of Athena wearing helmets are NOT valid sources for information on local equipment. Like the Dioskourides and the pilos helmet, the Italo-Corinthian was associated with Athena and so is not indicative of local helmet types.

Are you sure that's a guy? It looks very feminine to me.

Are you serious, or are you just trying to provoke conversation? You admit that you know very little about the Western Med so I am going to guess it is the latter.

It makes no sense for the Italo-Corinthian helmet to be associated with Athena what with Athena being a Greek goddess and the Italo-Corinthian being not only an Italian helmet, but a helmet considered to be unique to Italy. Pictures of Athena certainly do exist with with her wearing a Corinthian helmet pushed back on her head, but an Italo-Corinthian helmet? You can produce some images of that if you wish - it would be interesting, however, this coin is not Athena. The image has already been identified as that of a man, possibly Hannibal, and the coin has been identified as one that was minted in Spain, in New Carthage, and during Hannibal's lifetime. In fact, the low end dating of 221 BC is when Hannibal became general and if a man with a helmet was going to be portrayed on a coin at that time, there is a good chance it would be Hannibal. If it isn't Hannibal then I imagine it might be either his uncle or his father.

Regardless of who the man is, that the Carthaginians would choose to portray him as wearing an Italo-Corinthian helmet - it is most definitely not a Corinthian as you can clearly see the cheek piece and the helmet strap under the man's chin - is interesting. As I said the helmet is classified as uniquely Italian, but if it was then why would a man important to Carthage be shown wearing one? We know the Carthaginians looked like Romans at Cannae, but it is an assumption that they did not look anything like Romans, or other Italians, prior to that. Since Hannibal planned on recruiting local Italians to his cause for both manpower and supplies I would even be willing to theorize that his army was already equipped a more Italian manner.

Since the Romans were so very thorough at wiping Carthage off the face of the Earth, any pre-Cannae portrayal will be theoretical and will have to be based on what little information we do have. What we do have are two Carthaginian coins each showing a different helmet. From this we can say for certain that the Carthaginians knew what those helmets looked like. Can we say with equal confidence that, having seen these helmets, the Carthaginians also wore them? Of course not - since the Carthaginians had contact with just about everyone in the Mediterranean through their merchant fleet, it is at least theoretically possible.