09-16-2016, 01:08 AM (This post was last modified: 09-16-2016, 06:50 AM by Celtic505.
Edit Reason: Spelling error
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Does anybody know anything about this helmet(pictured below)? It was in an article entitled "Der Helme dead Bassus" by T. Fischer but was in German which I unfortunately cannot read or speak. It was also included in a paper written by Andrei Negin about the existence of Attic Helmets in the Roman Army. Anyhow, this is a beautiful helmet and would love to know more, or even a translation if the article which I interpreted was trying to say the helmet found appeared to be what was portrayed on the Bassus gravestone. IMO this helmet kinda proves that attic helmets in some form existed. Anyway here's a picture.
The helmet is from a private collection, so there is no archaeological context. The German article you refer to provides a few more photos but does not go beyond describing the helmet and liking it to the Bassus gravestone. I believe the helmet is now in the Musee d'Art Classique de Mougins, France. The museum staff may be able to answer any more specific questions you may have.
Andy, that helmet would definitely bean attic helmet IMO, or what the statues/reliefs were attempting to portray. I thought the one you posted was of a kind that started appearing in the late 2nd & early to mid 3rd century, but the newly reconstructed Hallaton helmet changes all of that. It was dated to around the invasion of Britain in the mid 1st century AD. So combined with the "Bassus" helmet as I've been calling it, I think there were probably a wide variety of pseudo Attic types, but all of them with ear guards which I think most attic helmets used by Tribune benefactors are lacking. However, these helmets combined with finds like the plovdiv "Thracian" helmet and the Ostrov eagle helmet of phyrgian type, the autun helmet, etc. that there clearly was a wide array of decorative helmet types an officer type could have had, so it I tend to think there are so many helmets of extravagant design that were lost to history that we can never truly know the extent of individual pieces that could have been worn. Personally for my Tribune impressiohn, I'd like to have a copy of the Bassus helmet made, perhaps with a crest attached.
With regard to the decoration and style, I would imagine a Trubune would have commissioned a craftsman to make a helmet following whatever the fashion of the moment was .
Andy Ross
"The difference between theory and practice is that in theory, there's no difference"
