Help with the Vergina helmet...

[Virilis]

Khairete!

I am thinking of making a reconstruction of this so-called "Philip the second helmet" from the Vergina tombs. I would like to have some more detailed photos than the usual ones from the quick google search. I know Manning Imperial is making one:
http://www.manningimperial.com/item.php ... =3&c_id=56 . So does anyone have any more detailed info about this helmet? One quick question: is the front rim of the helmet straight or does it have these low and wide archs for the eyes like with the samnite helmets etc. The original helmet is so badly corroded that it is quite impossible to find that out. Thanks in advance !

[Giannis K. Hoplite]

Hello. The front brow of the helmet is straight,no indication of any nasal or something. Something that cannot be visible in any photo and thus nobody has recreated,but it is visible if you look closely on the original,is that it's made of several pieces. There is a band that runs round the back ridge of the helmet and since the top ridge is all hemed,the bowl is no doubt made of two pieces. So as has been discussed in another thread,the Vergina helmet is a trypical example of the seven-pieces attik helmets. Two for the bowl,one for the neck,two for the chiek guards one for the forehead and one little pieve abobe the forhead that covers the seam between the two bowl halves and in the vergina helmet is decorated with Athena's head.
One thing i am not sure is if the forehead decoration was a separate piece. If it wasn't this would mean that the bowl would be one piece,together with the forhead triangle. But i find this unlikely,so the fact that the decoration seems one piece with the rest of the helmet must be because of the corrosion.
The cheek guards have scales. Again,it is impossible to recognise if those are separate real scales or if they are carved on the cheak guards. Each scale has a central ridge. They are imitations of snake scales.
Khaire
Giannis

[Virilis]

Thanks Giannis, very helpful !