Army composition of the 3rd century crisis?

[Nathan Ross]

Do you agree with me that the helmets to the left and right have (horse)hair crests, and only the one in the middle looks like the (smaller) metal Intercisa IV crest?

Could be. But there are several examples of later Roman helmets (the 'cavalry sports' variety) with very tall elaborate metal crests, sometimes with sculpted feathers. Possibly these in turn would have had real feathers or horsehair added. The shape of the helmets in the mosaic do suggest the Intercisa type, and clearly the crests are different, but could just as easily relate to something like this:



Although I don't think it's possible to determine exactly what sort of things we're seeing here - they could represent something otherwise unknown, of course!

- Nathan