Sochi Imp. Gallic bronze helmet

[M. CVRIVS ALEXANDER]

Another article in Russian I came by - N. I. Sudarev, "Two findings of the Roman period from Sochi", published in 1991. The article is here (thanks to Ildar for the link). The pic of the helmet and the sword (which is not Roman) is attached.

The findings were made wide plowing a field in 1977. The characteristics of the helmet:

Bowl material - bronze (brass?)

Bowl dimensions - hight 140mm, width 220mm, length 195mm.

The front guard is made of bronze, its dimensions - width 18mm, thickness 4mm. Attached with 3 rivets, one in the front, 25mm from the bottom edge, and 2 in the temple areas.

On each side, there are two holes 4mm in diameter, used for attaching the cheek guards, which are missing, but from their traces left on the bowl, were probably made of iron.

The neckguard was attached, according to the author (no further info given), to the bowl. The neckguard dimensions: length 90 mm, width 210 mm, thickness 1 mm. It has two rivets intact - one on the right, one in the center. The left one was apparently lost. Could serve for attaching a padding. The central rivet holds a metal piece from the inside, probably used for straps.

By its type, the author dates the helmet to the middle-second half of the 1st c. CE.

[Celer]

Salve Marcus,

Many thanks for the detective work, another brass gallic helmet, they are springing up everywhere!

Vale,

Celer.

[Magnus]

I like how the brows on that one shoot up at a sharp angle.

[Peroni]

Excellent stuff Alex!

It doesn't say whether there were any traces of a soldered-on crest spike, but I bet there is!

Also ...

On each side, there are two holes 4mm in diameter, used for attaching the cheek guards, which are missing, but from their traces left on the bowl, were probably made of iron.

Rather like the Carnuntum example we've recently reconstructed!! Same dating too!

[Caratacus]

Alex: do you have the name of the journal in which this article appeared? I have a friend who actually lives in Sochi and I'd like to see if he knows anything about this excavation/find.

The picture you provided won't load on my machine (doesn't recognise the file type, apparently). However, from what I can see, this helmet has an uncanny resemblance to the Imperial Gallic J we have at Caerleon. The major area of interest is the angle of both the neck guard and the brow guard, which in the 'J' are steeply angled. Hitherto, this has been the only example to show this feature but this bronze (OK, copper alloy) example from southern Russia extends the field somewhat. It's difficult to argue cases from one example, but two examples opens up a whole new set of possibilities!

Mike Thomas (Caratacus)

[M. CVRIVS ALEXANDER]

Hi Mike,

Does your friend read Russian? I supplied the link to the article online in my above post. Just in case, in transliteration it is Sudarev N. I., "Dve nahodki rimskogo vremeni iz g. Sochi," in Drevnosti Severnogo Kavkaza i Prichernomor'ja (Moskva: 1991), pages 143-6.

It says in the article that the findings - the helmet, 2 iron swords, pottery pieces, and other items (?) were found in 1977 during plowing of a sovkhoz field near Sochi. In 1990 the helmet and one of the swords were transferred to the USSR Science Academy; the destiny of the other items is unknown. :? Thus, I believe the helmet is now in Moscow, possibly burried somewhere in the archives...

[Peroni]

However, from what I can see, this helmet has an uncanny resemblance to the Imperial Gallic J we have at Caerleon.

The Brigetio helmet's brow guard and eyebrows are positioned a little higher on the bowl than this one, but I can see your point Mike. Steep angle! I don't thing the neck guard angle is AS steep as the Brigetio though.
http://www.romanarmy.com/cms/component/ ... Itemid,96/

Interesting to compare the two though - definately.

[Caratacus]

Thanks for that, Alex. Yes, my pal Gennady is Russian! I've e-mailed him with the link you gave above. Actually, I think that you provided most of the information (maybe all of it) in your original post. Details of measurements, etc. are not often given in papers, so this is valuable for comparisons to be made with other, possibly similar, helmets. This one is an Imperial Gallic 'I' type (these were the only IG made from copper alloy).

Adrian - you're right, the angles are not so steep as the 'Bregetio' helmet at Caerleon. What I find of interest, however, is that the angles of the neck and brow guard are 'almost' the same. This does seem to be a tendency and suggests (to me) that Connolly may have had something with his theory that this indicated a crouched stance for the infantry in this period.

It would be nice if we could get a better set of pictures of the item, but I fear that Alex is right and the thing has disappeared into the archives in Moscow, never to be seen again! As it is, it took them 14 years to even report it properly! I will eventually add it to the helmets database here but there isn't much point in doing this yet as Jasper is so busy with his editor duties as well as that 'little thing' - his Ph.D. thesis!

[Caratacus]

Further to my post above, I've just heard from my Russian friend. It turns out that I have this paper in my [voluminous!] records already! (Doh!) In fact, he sent it to me a couple of years back.

More interestingly, he has just informed me that the remains of the helmet were stolen soon after they were found and thus never made it to the Academy of Sciences of the USSR at all! Now we will never see it for sure. What a shame!

Mike Thomas
(Caratacus)

[M. CVRIVS ALEXANDER]

Well, as Gennady said on a Russian forum, he saw the helmet and even tried it on. Perhaps, he has some photos?

[Peroni]

Fingers crossed for that!

[Gaivs Antonivs Satvrninvs]

Could this be a new project for Armamentaria ? A brass gallic would be nice.

[Peroni]

Come on Andy keep up old son! We've just made one!

http://w10.eleven2.com/~joorthuy/rat/vi ... 6ab#166563

[Gaivs Antonivs Satvrninvs]

:oops: Ouch, so you did. Looks great, too. (I've been sporadic lately in my RAT-ting.) Sorry.