Very Early Roman Armies

[Mithras]

Is that why the Romans had a tradition of eyebrows on their helmets then? And why eyes still appeared on some Late helmets - because of the peculiar Etruscan 'looks-like-a-Corinthian' helmet styles?

Well bless me!!

Nice pic!

Etruscan 'hoplite' helmets always amuse me because it seems like they liked how the Greek-style hoplite helmets looked, but then couldn't figure out how they were supposed to use them! If you look carefuly at the pic of the helmet, you'll see that there is no way the 'face' section of the helmet could actually cover a warrior's face comfortably... and its because the helmet was never designed to cover the face! It was designed to be worn back on the head, like the pictures of Athena or Greek warriors before they went into battle.

[Matthew Amt]

Is that why the Romans had a tradition of eyebrows on their helmets then? And why eyes still appeared on some Late helmets - because of the peculiar Etruscan 'looks-like-a-Corinthian' helmet styles?

No, Roman eyebrows developed from the eyebrows on Gallic helmets (mid-first century BC). Though there is a growing number of original Roman helmets showing up now that have more eye-like features, so perhaps those are the remnants of the Etrusco-Corinthian style. And of course it's hard to say how the Gauls first got eyebrows--maybe Greek influence, possibly even via Italy?

Matthew