09-29-2019, 01:13 PM
(09-25-2019, 01:12 AM)Marc Byrne Wrote: Absolutely agree with this. The reasons for adoption of Ridge Helmets seems to me to be part of a number of complex and intertwined factors but tactical and fashion are two of the predominate one's.I honestly don't believe that fashion has much to do with it, the Romans adopted the enemy's weapons when they believed they gave him an advantage. For example, the spanish gladius was immediately adopted because it fit perfectly with Roman tactics.
The Ridge Helmet no. It was already well known, but not adopted. It was adopted probably around the the peak of the crisis of the third century and following recovery. Around Diocletian the number of legions doubled. Despite the fact that effectively the number of men for each legion was drastically reduced, the global amount of soldiers was increased probably up to 33% (Heather 2005).
A Ridge helmet is significantly easier to build, this could easily justify its adoption, despite the different kind of structure is conceptually more subject to breakage, especially in a time of constant crisis that led to an increasing preference for the immediacy of the cavalry on the solidity of heavy infantry.
