Question about reenactors

[Giannis K. Hoplite]

Hey hey.
Some more research please.
My current corinthian helmet (can see it in the apropriate thread) has a metal cover for its wooden crestbox.This is not bases in any find or depiction. In fact,i'm thinking of painting it,leaving only partially the metal to be visible.Yes,this is an expensive piece that today would cost around 1300 euros. And i'm about to paint it. Actually,since i'm waiting for my other order from manning imperial,i'd consider painting also part of the helmet itself. And that would be with a checker or scale design in bright colours of red,white,blue or black. And i'm not crazy (ok,debatable) and i usually portray a Spartan hoplite. I would indeed like the crest to be lighter,but it isn't unstable. You can feel the difference on your neck if you take the crest away,however.
Now,there IS evidence for wooden crests. Part of a high wodden crest box was found stuck on its bronze crest holder. And this was a higly decorated archaic corinthian helmet. No cover for the wood. No paint was preserved either,but this mean not that it wasn't painted enough.
Metal crest boxes have survived from the geometric era. It would be highly unlikely that none would have survived from a later date.
And Polinik,our research is not restricted only in pottery. Wall paintings (usually from italian graves) show often painted attic,chalkidean and corinthian helmets. With bright colours. In art,the "scaled" helmets are very frequent. Yet,no such helmet has been found,nor has survived in sculpture. However,statues from the temple of Aphaia in Aegina have partial paint preserved. One of the warriors' helmet was brightly painted in a scale pattern with various colours.
Same applies for shields. We don't have only once source,the vases. In fact for shields we ave plenty of literal evidence for various colours used. And there are even coloured vases to justify it,together with the paintyed sculpture and wall paintings of cource.
Warriours back then were not influenced by Batman yet. Colours were not for the poor but for the wealthy. The same with shiny bronze. And it was expected to be very bright and shiny. Spartans were expected to polish their shields well,as Xenophon says.
And i will say it one more time. No ancient source says that Spartans looked different. No equipment,vases,statues and statuettes from Sparta shows any difference for archaic Spartans than in say,Attik art of the same time.

As has been said,in your original post with the two photos you compare apples with pears.
And though you are right in some of your points about illustrations and bad quality re-enactor stuff,your impression of what a normal hoplite looked like should be revised.

As has been said,decoration amount and style changed over time. There is no group,to my knowlege, that re-enacts greeks of the period that would have worn the helmets on your second photo. Why? Because its before the popular persian wars, and it's a time when hoplites were fewer,wealthier,wore the bronze(expensive) bell cuirass, much more armour, and they didn't represent the famous classical ideal that we see in the early classical temples and sculpture.

So,to sum up,you are right in some points but they largely apply to re-enacting shortage and lack of interest in accuracy by tv programs and children book illustrators. But even the non-perfect re-enactor stuff is often closer to reality than you imagine,and is getting better and better, but not in the --fictionary-- direction that you would like.
Khaire
Giannis