Ancient Roman military masks on Wikimedia Commons



Ancient Roman military masks on Wikimedia Commons.
If any of you have visited the museum at Kalkriese, you have probably seen one of its most important artifacts, a once-silvered mask worn by either a Roman cavalryman or possibly a standard bearer. I found a discussion thread up on Reddit in which noted historian Adrian Goldsworthy pointed out, "For a long time, these helmets were designated as "parade helmets" by historians and archaeologists, and it was assumed that they would not be used in battle. They seemed too ostentatious and impractical.
Then we found the battlefield at the Teutoburger Wald and discovered a masked helmet among the debris. A Roman tombstone in Germany even seems to depict an infantry signifer (standard bearer) wearing such a helmet.
Add in the fact that we've found almost as many of these "parade" helmets as we have "normal" helmets, and it seems quite possible to me that these masked helmets would sometimes be used in battle. It certainly makes sense for standard bearers and such to do so, since they have a more symbolic and inspirational battlefield role anyway, and the masks fit in with the animal hides and polished scale armour such men also tended to wear.
Even for ordinary soldiers it is not out of the question: Splendour and spectacular display were an important part of ancient warfare. Richly decorated shields, polished and ornamented armour, helmet plumes and crests were all important parts of warfare. The goal was both to inspire and encourage your fellow soldiers, and to intimidate the enemy. In this regard, a masked helmet may well be a very useful tool, and even if it wouldn't be practical for most or all men to wear them, the added protection combined with the above considerations may have made them seem a worthwhile trade-off for some.
In a nutshell: we're still not sure, but historians are less doubtful than they used to be. - Adrian Goldsworthy, The Complete Roman Army
The variety of military masks used by the Roman army is fascinating and if you search Wikimedia Commons for the category "Ancient Roman Military Masks" you can view a number of them from a variety of museums all in one place including this excellent example I photographed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Bronze Cavalry "Sports" Mask Roman 2nd century CE

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Imperial Italic G Roman helmet found near Hebron at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem

Image
Imperial Italic G Roman helmet found near Hebron at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. This distinctive Imperial Italic G-style helmet was a 2nd century development derived from the earlier Coolus-style helmets with a domed bowl fashioned after La Tène III helmet types. The original Coolus-style helmets were named after the city of Coolus in northeastern France where a helmet of the Coolus type was dredged from the River Marne. Ro man helmets were typically constructed of a copper alloy or bronze. Some were spun on a lathe rather than hammered into shape with a turned, cast-soldered or riveted crest knob. The brow-guard was designed to protect the front of the face from downward-slashing sword blows, just as the neck-guard was intended to deflect blows aimed at the nape of the neck and shoulders. The Hebron helmet is also constructed with post-Dacian Wars crossbars on the crown, thought to have been part of the original construction, as evidenced by the brass lunate decorations applie...
Read more

The iconic kausia hat of ancient Macedon

Image
 While researching artwork of ancient Macedon this morning, I stumbled across an interesting image of a 3rd Century BCE Macedonian wearing a kausia, headgear said by some scholars to be adapted from a style worn in the Hindu Kush during Alexander the Great's campaign there.  Other scholars think the kausia was identified with Macedonia for too long to have been imported from Asia.   Depictions of the kausia can be found on a variety of coins and statues found from the Mediterranean to the Greco-Bactrian kingdom and the Indo-Greeks in northwestern India. The Persians referred to both the rest of the Greeks and Macedonians as "Yauna" (Ionians), but made a distinction between "Yauna by the sea" and those "with hats that look like shields" (yauna takabara), probably referring to the Macedonian kausia hat.  You can see Alexander himself wearing a kausia and fighting an Asiatic lion with his friend Craterus in a late 4th century BCE mosaic from Pella as well...
Read more

Roman and Byzantine mosaics at the Haleplibahçe Mosaics Museum in Şanlıurfa, Turkey.

Image
Roman and Byzantine mosaics at the Haleplibahçe Mosaics Museum in Şanlıurfa, Turkey. Opened in 2015, the modern 6,000 square meter Haleplibahce Mosaic Museum houses the remains of the mosaic pavements of a large Roman villa uncovered during a municipal construction project i n Şanlıurfa, Turkey. Şanlıurfa, also known as Urfa, is built on the site of the ancient Greek city of Edessa. Discoveries include mosaics depicting the life of Achilles, including his mother, Thetis, holding him by the heel and dipping him into the waters of the River Styx, his training by the centaur, Chiron, and his departure for the Trojan War. Another pavement depicts Amazon queens hunting wild beasts. Mosaics from other archaeological areas depict various animals, Ktisis, a figure personifying the act of generous donation or foundation often found in 6th century Greek mosaics, and a 2nd century CE depiction of the myth of Orpheus. The Orpheus mosaic was recently repatriated from the Dallas Museum of Art. ...
Read more