Cavalry Sports J -Anybody know its backstory?

[Celtic505]

I was going through the helmet database the other day and came across a very unique helmet I have never seen before, it is a Roman Cavalry sports J helmet and it is very interesting. It looks to be a cross between the Theilenhofen and Phyrgian helmets with the lobated brow and protruding eagles head at the top. It actually has embossed scales on the skull of the helmet if you look closely and has an aventail made up of scales. It honestly reminds me much of one of the helmets depicted on the Ludovisi Sarcophagus which I originally took to be artistic liscence by the sculptor. But if you examine the specific figure I am talking about the helmets while not exact side by side duplicates they do look to be the same helmet. The Ludovisi figure I refer to is the second one from the left and he appears to be grabbing a barbarian by his beard. His helmet looks to be a psuedo-Attic type, it has the attic brow plate but that is where similarities to the Attic helm end. The skull of the helmet is either covered by or embossed with scales and in lieu of a crest it has an eagles head protruding outwards from the top of the skull. It seems obvious that rather than artistic liscence the artist mustve seen and been familiar with the helmet and the military in general. If that figure which from first glance appears so fanciful is actually real then perhaps other aspects may be as well? There appears to be several Etrusco-Corinthian helms shown as well as a parazonium/gladius with a vertical facing lions head for the pommel and multiple musculatas with scales on them, I once thought them to be lorica squamata just sculpted by the artist to take on musculata characteristics but now I think like the Cavalry sports J helm they are actually embossed onto a genuine lorica musculata. Anyways, whilst digging for info on the cav sports J helm I found nothing. No details on where it was found, when it was dated to, its construction, etc. I assume it must be contemporary to the Thielenhofen and cavalry sports I helmets, as it appears to have the same lobated attic brow plate. If anybody else knows any details of this helmet I'd be grateful to hear. Any opinions or thoughts on it too would be welcome, I find it to be a simply fascinating helmet. More and more I am suprised by the archeological record of our knowledge of the Romans and how artistic and elaborate they could be at times. I often like to think about all that is out there or was out there at some point that we have yet to find and/or will never know...BTW here is a link to the above mentioned helmet:

Cavalry Sports J Helmet

[Decebalus]

I found pictures of this helmet some time ago in the Internet with this text:

These pictures were taken at a large art fair in the US in 2008. The helmet is privately owned. These pictures are from the internet - which were taken at the fair. It's in remarkable condition. Stylistically dated to probably late 2nd to mid 3rd C.

These informations are of course unproofed and, apart from the database-pdf there is nothing known of this helmet.
But there is a very similar example, also of bronze, which was found in Ostrov (DVROSTORVM), Rumania in the graveyard near the fort in 1960.
It is now in Constantsa, Muzeul Regional de Arheologia Dobrogea Inv. 1681.

It is described/pictured in the following works:

- A. Radulescu, Elmi bronzei din Ostrov, in: Dacia NS 7, 1963, 535pp.
- H. Daicoviciu, in: Römer in Rumänien, Catalogue Cologne 1969, 121 no. C 51
- E. Condurachi - C. Daicoviciu, Rumänien. Archaeologia Mundi 23, 1972, 193 fig. 165-166
- H.R. Robinson, The Armour of Imperial Rome (London 1975) 109. 134pp. pl. 407-410
- J. Garbsch, Römische Paraderüstungen (Munich 1978) 73 No. O 58 pl. 32
- R. d'Amato - G. Sumner, Arms and Armour of the Imperial Roman Soldier, from Marius to Commodus (London 2009) 187pp. fig.. 273a (with the most clear pictures)

It is dated to mid./2nd half 2nd Century AD and could be a hint that the example from the art market might be no fake.

Greets

[Nathan Ross]

It's actually fairly restrained for a 'sports' helmet - there are some right shockers out there hock: . Actually, of course, it's almost certainly not 'sports', if indeed such a category even existed. Still, it must have been tricky to wear while riding through forests - got to look out for low branches... :roll:

It reminds me of the 'Bryastovets' helmet (a picture here, although the gentleman's post got no replies so that's probably the only one), and a couple of others from the Danube region commonly associated with eastern cohors sagittarii in particular.

[jho]

The helmet from Ostrov was apparently found together with a second helmet of the mask helmet type. PETCULESCU ('Contributions to Roman decorated helmets and breastplates from Dacia, in H. Vetters & M. Kandier (eds.) Akten des 14. Internationalen Limeskongresses 1986 in Carnuntum) believed this to be a combat helmet based on the fact that it was found together with a masked helmet and a similar pairing of a "combat" and mask helmet at Nawa (see Abdul-Hak, S. 1954-5: 'Rapport préliminaire sur des objets provenant de la nécropole romaine située a proximité de Nawa (Hauran), Les Annales Archéologiques de Syrie, 4-5, 163-88; see also the two helmets from (Ain) El Grimidi, near Sidi-Aissa Algeria)

[Celtic505]

Thank you for the information, I really appreciate it. Though I must say I have been very suprised in the amount of odd looking or elaborate, ornate Roman helmets that are out there that do not seem to be well known, obviously some will never be as well known or in keeping with the popular image of a Roman soldier as the infamous Imperial Gallic types or the Attic helmets that oversaturate hollywoods version of Rome. But it just seems to me that they are rather obscure when I feel in fact they should be the opposite and more often displayed in books or artistic reconstructions or reenactment, to show just how diverse armor could be as well as using the various artistic styles as a window into their culture and beliefs and as well its implications for use in battle. I don't know, maybe I'm going a bit overboard here...