Praetorian at villa albani?

[caiusbeerquitius]

Exactly, Dany Boy. The Apulo-Corinthians do not have the deep slope on the back side you see in the side-view of the Villa Albani relief. Also, the Apulo-Corinthians do usually have a straight lower edge, and a small neck-guard, both missing on the helmet on the relief:


For comparison:

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Corinthian:


Also weird is the high relief, which would not be found on Apulo-Corinthian helmets. They are decorated with engraving.

I do not think it is astonishing to find an actual Corinthian helmet or a mix of a Corinthian and an Apulo-Corinthian on such a relief. The archaizing character of military objects in Roman art has been shown extensively by

G. Waurick, Untersuchungen zur historisierenden Rüstung in der römischen Kunst, in: Jahrbuch RGZM 30, 1983, 265-301, Tab. 37-62.

In regard of setting up a soldier impression contemporary to this relief with reconstructions I would avoid an Apulo-Corinthian helmet, since they do not pop up in archaeological record after the 4th century BCE, although some may have been worn by Romans right after Cannae. The Autun helmet is, since it apparently was part of a statue, rather subject to the rules of Roman art than to those of the Roman Army. Of course, this is just my point of view, there are also others.