A LATE ROMAN IRON HELMET

CIRCA 4TH-EARLY 5TH CENTURY A.D.

Details

A LATE ROMAN IRON HELMET
CIRCA 4TH-EARLY 5TH CENTURY A.D.
Formed of several sections hinged and riveted in place, the domed cap with a brow band off set by horizontal ribs, the two halves of the cap joined to a central ridge by rivets, the nose-guard and ornamental arching brows riveted to the brow band, the cheek-pieces flanged toward the neck and hinged to the brow band, each perforated below the chin, the neck-guard with an everted hemispherical flange hinged to the back of the brow band
11½ in. (29.2 cm.) long

Provenance

German Private Collection, acquired in the early 1970s.

Further details

END OF SALE

FORTHCOMING SALES:
LONDON: 26 April 2006
NEW YORK: 16 June 2006

Lot Essay

The present example illustrates the popularization of a new type of helmet construction. Since it was produced in sections then fitted together, they were more easily mass produced. As Southern and Dixon inform (The Late Roman Army, p. 94), "...at a time of crisis in armament procurement, resulting in the establishment of state arms factories under the Tetrarchy, ridge helmets, with their simple design and easier construction, fitted the pressured requirements of the state, who were more interested in the quantity produced rather than the decorative quality." However, many of these same iron helmets were embellished with silver or silver-gilt. See pls. 7-10 in Southern and Dixon, op. cit.

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