Trajan's Helmet

[Corvus]

What could be the helmet of Emperor Trajan that is depicted on the Great Trajanic Frieze?

Are there any reconstructions of the helmet?

   

[Benjamin N.]

I'm not sure what type it is, but it has some sort of crest / feathers on the top, and what looks like a horizontal ridge on the front (the side facing the viewer of the frieze). I can't really tell anything other than that.

When I searched this question on google, the second result was a paper on JSTOR (https://www.jstor.org/stable/298282). I could not read the full paper because you have to pay to download it, but on the google search page, the keywords found mentioned a helmet worn by cavalry officers on the Great Trajanic Frieze. (Google search)

Hope that was at least somewhat helpful. Good luck!

[Arius]

The helmet in the paper on JSTOR is the silver one presented to the Toledo (Ohio) museum. The helmet, on metallurgical and stylistic grounds, is not widely regarded as genuine. The paper proceeds on the assumption that it's a real Roman "battle helmet", though. After a description, it ultimately mentions the very scene shown in the previous post and says that the guy standing behind Trajan is holding up a helmet (presumed to be the emperor's own) that looks like the silver one in the Toledo museum. The paper also mentions other scenes on the Trajan and Marcus columns that show these ring topped helmets.

- Harry