Help and suggestions needed on helmet!

[Martin Wallgren]

If you are going to do a officer of a auxiliae cohort in the end of the first C. early second, what helmets are plausible. My caracter is probaly going to be a non-roman senior soldier on his way to earn citizenship. My plan is to wear very roman clothes, in opposite to the lower ranked troopers in the groupe who will serve in fairly native stuff. I have a hemata with dagged edges and now I wonder what you suggest. The thing is I realy like the Imerial Italic D from depeeka but just for estethical reasons. My second choise just estethicaly would be the Coolus C it´s so wonderful in its simplisity.

Help please!

Martin

[Virilis]

Have you checked this site?:
http://www.armae.com/antiquite/11antiquitecadre.htm

In this site there are ACTUAL photographs of Deepeeka helmets, not just promotion photos (Deepeeka`s helmets can look very different in real life :wink: ...)

All the coolus type helmets are good for that time period for auxiliary purposes. Brass helmets could have lasted in use almost hundred years, from father to son, who knows? It is often claimed that auxiliary troops used somehow simpler and not so elaborate equipment as roman legionaries (no Lorica Segmentata, oval shields, simpler helmets etc.).
With our current knowledge this is not necessarily true. All the gallic type helmets are propably right, also Imperial Italic D, I think.

Auxiliary troops are depicted often wearing simpler brass-helmets in re-enactment, it is a convention which doesn`t necessarily have very strong historical basis....

I am not an expert on this but hope that this will at least provoke the real experts to arise :wink: ...

[Martin Wallgren]

Thanx man! Yes I looked at the site and was refering to the pictures on there.

[Peroni]

Salve,

Following on from Virilis' comments regarding the use of (primariliy) coolus style cupric alloy helmets within reenactment for the auxilia, (initiated by H R Robinson I believe)

Please have a look at a great article written by Tim Edwards on Legio II AVG (UK) website regarding the use of 'Imperial Gallic' helmets by the auxilia. It makes perfect sense to me!

http://www.legiiavg.org.uk/articles/art ... lmets.html

Regards,

[Crispvs]

"a non-roman senior soldier on his way to earn citizenship."

Pardon me for seeming a bit dense, but I always though that officers *were* citizens, promoted from citizen units to command non-citizen units, or is that just another factoid. Certainly it seems to have been the case with Ti. Claudius Maximus.

Crispvs

[TFLAVIUSAMBIORIX]

the highest rank possible for non-citizens at this time was probably centurion, and rarely even that, the best is optio if you are not yet citizen most likely, or a lower centurion, certainly not normally a primus pilus. just my .02

[Martin Wallgren]

Thanks! an Optio it is then.

Suits well because I will be in charge of the closecombat training of the troops and something of a drillseargent.

Martin

[Praefectusclassis]

the highest rank possible for non-citizens at this time was probably centurion, and rarely even that, the best is optio if you are not yet citizen most likely, or a lower centurion, certainly not normally a primus pilus. just my .02

That is discounting the 1st century examples of allied chieftains (Arminius ) who commanded their auxiliary units and got citizenship at some point. Of course the situation was also different in citizen-auxiliary units, some of which dated back even to the Augustan era.
However, as a general rule you are right. And since non-citizens in the legions would be an exception (although they do exist, just to confirm the rule of course), the primipilares (who qualified for the Ordo Equester after service) certainly would have been citizens.