Roman Helmet Goes Sci-Fi

[Alanus]

Sorry. No outer space, Nixons, or dinosaurs. No talking dragons or elves, either. The tale is based on Greek mythology, so it does have gryphons. :grin:

One half of the novel is the War for the Worlds, and it is based on the same tactics that eventually defeated the Western Roman Empire. It's a tale of how the "barbarians" win, just as they did in history. ;-)

[Draconis]

The barbarians ALWAYS win... There was a story written years ago called, I believe, Lest Darkness Fall, where this person from the future, manages to cut short the Dark Ages after the fall of the Western Empire. Uses the Goths I think. Not sure but might have involved some speculation on what if Rome had undergone The Industrial Revolution? Or maybe that was a different story... interesting to speculate What if...?

[Alanus]

Yup! What if? After the Big Fall, nothing happened until Edison invented the light bulb. Conastoga wagons looked just like the Alanic ones that crossed Asia, plumbing went to hell, roads grew weeds, and people forgot how to speak Vulgar Latin.

But the silliest notion was hard armor and gigantic goofy swords. The medeival period was the dumbest head-trip in poorly-recorded history! :lol: :roll:

[Flavivs Aetivs]

I really mucked the helmet up. I used duct tape to attach a spot flashlight and two arm sections of lorica segmentata on the inside. What a mess! Goo all over the interior.

Ah, a true Redneck-quality work. That's southern intuition at it's finest!

In al seriousnes it looks pretty cool. The Helmets in Star Wars and Halo have been based off of Roman and Greek Helmets, not to mention hundereds of other Sci-Fi movies/games/books.

[Alanus]

True.
Maybe it's hard to come up with new helmet styles. The riders of Rowan in the "Ring" series look half Goth and half Wendel. The elves wear Greek.

But there are exceptions. I've just watched "Immortals," and most of the helmets look like they came from outer space. Of course, the "Greek" swords are aluminum gladii, even the trousers are Roman, and they call themselves the "Hellenics." Amazing! Not one thing in this movie was historically accurate.

Personally, the more memorable helmets in my library reocurr in the original "Conan the Barbarian," as worn by Sven Thorensen and Ben Davidson (who autographed my copy). But to find the originals of these two helmets, you have to watch Eisenstein's "Alexander Nevsky."