Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Periklis Deligiannis
The peoples of ancient Italy, initially the Etruscans and the Iapyges (later
known as ‘Apulians’ in Latin) were using almost all the types of the Archaic,
Classical and Hellenistic Greek helmets: the Corinthian, the Chalkidean, the Attic
(Athenian), the Boeotian (for the cavalry) and later the Thracian, the Phrygian, the
Neo-Attic and all the Hellenistic types. They had a special preference for the first
three types. In this article, I will deal specifically with two types of helmets in Italy
which originated from the evolution of the original Greek respective ones: the Italo-
Corinthian and the Italo-Attic helmets. The Osco-Attic is the main variety of the Italo-
Corinthian or Etrusco-Corinthian) was born out of the habit of the warriors of Italy to
wear their Corinthian helmet raised, even when the battle began. Because of this, the
protective visor gradually evolved into a decorative pseudo-visor while the helmet
was manufactured in order not to cover the face anymore. In the later centuries, Attic-
the developers of the Italo-Corinthian helmet, hence its original archaeological name
Etrusco-Corinthian. In the last decades it is evident that its creators were the Apuli
(Apulians, known as Iapyges in ancient Greek) of Southeastern Italy (1). There were
several varieties of the Italo-Corinthian helmet. The Etruscans, the Romans, the
Latins, the Umbrians and the Iapyges were the peoples who had a special preference
for it, but this type was generally popular throughout Italy.
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The Attic helmet was equally esteemed by the Etruscans, who very often were
wearing it with the cheek-protectors raised. This type of helmet has a course of over a
arsenal, rather than to the Greek arsenal from which it originates. It was possibly an
invention of the Athenians of the 5th century BC (2), and from the late 4th century
BC it was spread throughout the Hellenistic and later throughout the Greco-Roman
world. At the same time, the peoples of Italy have adopted it massively. Gradually, it
was informally established as a helmet of the senior officers. In Italy, the Etruscans
and the Oscans developed their own Etrusco-Attic and Osco-Attic types. The Apulian
Oscans and the Messapians as well developed their own Apulo-Attic types. The
Romans established the typical Hellenistic Attic helmet as the type worn by their
senior officers, from the chiliarch (tribunus) up to the consul, including the emperor
himself later – unlike the centurions and the common legionnaires wearing Italic,
Celtic and later Gallo-Roman types of helmets. It was also used by the Praetorian
Guard, at least officially. At the same time, its use spread to additional Mediterranean
service until the fall of the Western Roman Empire (476 AD).
The Attic helmet was particularly popular among the Oscans and the Southern
Umbrians. The Oscan and South Umbrian peoples of Central Italy (Pentri, Vestini,
Alfaterni and others) used to be standard mercenaries of the Etruscans. The Oscans
were not fighting as hoplites, using the mobile and elastic warfare of the
mountaineers. By the middle 5th century BC they started to play a very important
political and military role in Italy, when they comprised new tribal confederations that
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Apulians and others) becoming great rivals of the Romans and the Greeks of Magna
Graecia. The Oscan peoples adopted the classic Attic helmet from their Iapygian and
At the same time the peoples of Italy were using alongside the original Greek
types, with almost the same frequency with which they used the Italo-Corinthian and
Italo-Attic types. In contrast, the latter Italo-Greek types did not become popular
among the Greeks of Italy and Sicily, while their rather rare presence in mainland
Greece and the Hellenistic World is due more to a number of Etruscan and Oscan
mercenaries in these regions and later to the Roman campaigning and garrison troops
in them.
It has been stated that in reality, the use of the Attic helmet was eliminated in
the Hellenistic armies and the Roman army sometime in the Hellenistic period, on the
argument that no archaeological remains of this type of helmet have been found to
date (3). And the same source also notes “As an artistic motif, variations of the attic
helmet long outlasted other contemporary helmet types, being used to impart an
Hellenistic and Roman periods. As such, a form of attic helmet has become part of the
popular image of a Roman officer, as found in art from the Renaissance onwards or in
helmet have been found to date. The closest surviving Imperial Roman helmet to the
type illustrated in relief sculpture dates to the 2nd century AD, and was found in
Bavaria.” I think that this is an oversimplified view on this problem. The Attic helmet
is very often depicted to have been just an ‘artistic memory’ in order just to give an
archaic and I presume glorious look in generals, emperors and Praetorians throughout
the Hellenistic and Roman periods. And the practices, including the artistic ones, of
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the Imperial Roman period has nothing to do with the practices of the Renaissance or
early Hollywood. I think that the only reason that no archaeological remains of this
type of helmet have been found to date (at least of the Roman imperial period I
presume, because there are archaeological remains almost to the end of the Hellenistic
and Republican Roman Period) is the rarity in the use of the Attic helmet, more and
more with the passage of the centuries. It seems that the expensive Attic helmet was
Roman Empire were becoming more and more pressing (4). But rarity in use may
mean large difficulty in finding archaeological remains of this type of helmet today
(after all it was a rather valuable item) but does not mean elimination in use by the
NOTES
(1) The Iapyges originated from the fusion of Illyrian colonists from the opposite
coast of the Adriatic Sea with native Ausones and Oenotri. Later the Iapyges were
becoming the Apuli (Apulians). Only the Messapii (Messapians) retained their
(2) The respected researcher Peter Connolly mentions in his book Greece and Rome
at War: “Terms such as Illyrian and Attic are used in archaeology for convenience to
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denote a particular type of helmet and do not imply its origin” (p. 60) but these terms
are used for a reason. In the case of the Attic helmet, it initially appears on Athenian
vase depictions around 500 BC thus it is probable but certainly not sure, that it was a
local Attic transformation of the older Chalkidean casque. But in any case, it was a
Greek helmet.
(3) Wikipedia, article: “Attic helmet”. It is not mentioned of which period, but I
(4) But finally there was a “rebirth” of the Attic helmet in the Eastern (Byzantine)
Empire, due to the “awakening” of the Greek elements of the state. In the Byzantine
centuries of use exclusively by officers. Its use may finally have been abolished in the
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SOURCES
Pallottino M., Rasenna: Storia e civilta degli Etruschi (Antica madre), Libri
Scheiwiller, 1986.
Chieco Bianchi An. Maria et al., Italia. Omnium terrarum alumna: La civiltà
dei Veneti, Reti, Liguri, Celti, Piceni, Umbri, Latini, Campani e Iapigi (Antica
Choni, Ausoni, Sanniti, Lucani, Brettii, Sicani, Siculi, Elimi (Antica madre),
Libri Scheiwiller
Megale Hellàs. Storia e civiltà della Magna Grecia (Antica madre), Libri
Scheiwiller
Bretschneider, 2001
© Periklis Deligiannis
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IMAGES
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An Osco-Attic helmet of the Lucanians with many characteristic Oscan novelties
(Wikimedia commons).
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Etruscan hoplites of Tarquinia with Greek arms and armour, 4th century BC. The
hoplite on the right wears a proper Attic helmet. The left one wears a Phrygo-Attic
helmet.
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Etruscan helmet of the Corinthian proper type.
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Italo-Corinthian helmet
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A rather impressive Osco-Attic helmet of the Samnites.
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The almost ‘standard' type of Attic helmet of the Roman officers until the fall of the
Roman Empire.
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A Chalkidean bronze helmet, the ancestor of the Attic and Osco-Attic helmets. The
typical Chalkidean helmet was also popular among the Italian Peoples.
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