Pottery depictions of warriors

[Dan Diffendale]

I always wondered, why if the Chalcidian with hinged cheek piece were so popular than corinthian helmet in vases greek art, why there is not evidence of those helmet today? except few in Italy?

I think the frequent appearance of the Chalcidian-type helmet on Attic red-figure pottery can be attributed in part to the fact that it doesn't obscure the face, as Paul already mentioned.

One of the reasons it doesn't turn up in Greece archaeologically, I think, is because the Greeks stopped burying their dead with their armor while (non-Roman) Italians continued to do so. Most of our provenanced helmets from Italy were either deposited in graves or dedicated at sanctuaries. As an aside, there were more than a few found in Italy, but they also show up all over the Balkans and Scythia -- again regions on the fringe of the Greek world where the dead were buried with their armor. I think that, had the Greeks continued to bury armed men, we would see Chalcidian helmets in mainland Greece.

The big cache of Corinthian-type helmets from Olympia came from fill: apparently when the sanctuary had filled up, they buried some of the older dedications to make room.