Centurions (late 2nd century AD)

[Paul Elliott]

I am never far away

Thank you very much... ehm, you are quite fast. It seems I am lucky you are online.

[MVinc]

So you think that this helmet (eventually with crest for centurion) would be accurate? I think there are no doubts now that helmets of the Niederbieber type were used during the period of the Marcomannic Wars, but question is: were they used in infantry or cavalry? One of our Slovak archeologist suggests that Niederbieber could be rather cavalry helmet in this period and was adopted by infantry a bit later. I really dont know.I hate Niederbieber helmet because nothing is certain...

[Paul Elliott]

From my reading a Niedermormter helmet is more likely, the last Italic helmet. Or an Imperial-Italic like the Hebron find or Thielenhofen find for mid-2nd century.

[MVinc]

Yes, I thought the same... Thank you.

[MVinc]

I will return once more to that Niederbieber crest.
Do we know some details how could be that crest attached to helmet? What about that typical cross skull cover on the top of the helmet? It seems to me that on that brooch there is no cross reinforcement.

[Nathan Ross]

What about that typical cross skull cover on the top of the helmet? It seems to me that on that brooch there is no cross reinforcement.

Some examples of this style of helmet feature a crest knob rather than bracing, so both styles were possible and maybe coexisted.

Jens Horstkotte mentioned in this post here that a helmet found at Poitiers and dated to the 270s resembles the Niederbieber, but with an intercisa-style 'fin' crest rather than cross bracing. It could be that this was a later third-century development - the 'fin' crest could have replaced the 'fore-and-aft' horsehair crest shown on this broch. However, I believe helmet fragments from Dura Europos, probably from Niederbieber types, still feature the bracing, so it was still being used c.260.

I don't know what the earliest secure date for the Niederbieber is, but I've always considered it as a more 3rd than 2nd century helmet.

[MVinc]

I don't know what the earliest secure date for the Niederbieber is, but I've always considered it as a more 3rd than 2nd century helmet.

Thank you,

yes I agree. I always considered it as 3rd century helmet, but we also know about fragments from Burgstall (Mušov) in Czech Republic and I think there are no doubts about the period. That military camp was occupied sometime between 172 - 180 so I have to consider the usage of Niederbieber helmet directly at this time too.