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Lot Essay
According to Connolly (Greece and Rome at War, p. 60), early Illyrian helmets were derived from the Iron-Age Kegelhelm and are the first of their type to have crested ridges rather than the high crest of the Insular helmet, which had been popular in Crete through the end of the 7th century B.C. While earlier forms were fashioned from two halves and riveted together along the interior, later examples are formed of a single sheet, as here. For a similar example from Olympia, see no. 4, op. cit.
Engraved decoration on Illyrian helmets is rare. See, for example, an Illyrian helmet with lions above the brow, p. 61, nos. 17-18 in Bottini, et al., Antike Helme. For confronting sphinxes, somewhat earlier in date, compare a bronze mitra (belly guard), no. 38 in Picón, et al., Art of the Classical World in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Engraved decoration on Illyrian helmets is rare. See, for example, an Illyrian helmet with lions above the brow, p. 61, nos. 17-18 in Bottini, et al., Antike Helme. For confronting sphinxes, somewhat earlier in date, compare a bronze mitra (belly guard), no. 38 in Picón, et al., Art of the Classical World in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.