On the helmet types of the Late Roman Cavalry

Periklis Deligiannis
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 During the Late Imperial period, the cavalry gradually became the main

Weapon of the Roman army supplanting the legions, the “old glory of Rome”. This

development was due to the influence of the Iranian peoples (Sarmatians and Sassanid

Persians) and especially to the Roman need to confront the enemies who had a

powerful cavalry (light, medium, heavy and cataphract) which could defeat the

legions, that is to say the Sarmatians (including Alans), Sassanids, Goths and Huns.

The Roman cavalry helmets of the Late imperial period belonged to the following

four major groups.

LATE GALLO-ROMAN

The classic Gallo-Roman type of a Middle Empire legionary, the ancestor of the Late

Gallo-Roman helmet of the cavalry (photo credit: www.romancoins.info)

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Gallo-Roman ceremonial helmet of the Late era, with visor (photo credit:

www.romancoins.info).

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Late Gallo-Roman type (photo credit: www.romancoins.info).

The Late Gallo-Roman group of helmets came from the evolution of the old

Gallo-Roman type of the Middle Empire, the classic type of the legionnaires. It was

gradually adopted also by the cavalry during the Late Roman period. However, the

use of this group gradually became limited until it disappeared in the Eastern Roman

Empire until the end of the 5th century AD (while the Western Empire had ceased to

exist since AD 476).

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SPANGENHELM

A typical spangenhelm (Hofbourg Museum, Austria)( photo credit:

www.romancoins.info)

The spangenhelm group, of Sarmatian origins (at least in my view, because

there are objections to this theory) became popular in both Romans and barbarians

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because of its cheap cost of construction and the effective protection that offered. Its

construction was simple, made of metal fragments which were bound tightly together.

Especially towards the end of the Western Empire, it rather became the most popular

group among the Romans, but it seems that it was used even more frequently by the

Gothic and Sarmatian peoples.

PERSIAN

Persian type (photo credit: www.romancoins.info)

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 Sometimes this group is considered to be of Persian origin (this is also my

view) although there are strong objections to this view. But I have to remark that it

bears strong resemblances to Sassanid helmets of an earlier era and this can not be a

coincidence. It was another popular group of helmets which was characterized by

large cheek-protectors and a strong backing in the eyebrow area.

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‘ATTIC’

Roman figure bearing an Attic helmet (Deutsche archaeologische institute, Rome)

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 This type of helmet is usually considered to be a new variation of the Late

Roman type of the ancient Attic-Athenian helmet, a variation which appeared in the

Roman East since the 4th century AD when the turn in the Greek-Hellenistic past

started in all its forms, and ultimately led to the evolution of the East into the

Byzantine Empire. The use of this group went on until the 7th century. The Attic-

Athenian helmet which was possibly invented in Attica around 500 BC (1); it became

popular in Italy (especially in the Oscan peoples) and Rome, had not ceased to be

used by the Romans, but by the 1st cent BC it was used almost exclusively by the

senior officers, including the consul and then the emperor. The main reason for this

was its expensive construction comparing to the mass manufacture of the

Montefortino and Gallo-Roman types.

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 (2). 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

archaic look to depictions of generals, emperors and Praetorians throughout the

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

earlier Hollywood productions. However, no archaeological remains of this type of

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

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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

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

limited to increasingly higher grades of officers as the financial problems of the

Roman Empire were becoming more and more pressing. 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 Roman

army officers.

Besides these main groups of helmets, there were some more which were used

rather rarely. The barbarians of Europe were using almost the same types. The

Sassanid Persians were using their own types (similar or even identical to the

aforementioned Persian group) and some other Asiatic ones.

Finally, we must point out that two of the four basic types above are of Iranian

origin (Sarmatian and probably Persian); another evidence of the decisive military

influence of the Iranian peoples on the Late Roman army.

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 NOTES

(1) 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 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, by

simply removing the nose-protector from the latter. It has been stated in some other

studies that it was called “attic” by some modern scholars because they simply wanted

to use a ‘romantic’ glorious name as a reminder of the artistic use of this type of

helmet as the standard casque of the gods, heroes, commanders and other remarkable

figures, in the relieves, depictions, statues and other artistic items of the Classical

Hellenic and the Hellenistic era. But we think that this is an oversimplified view.

Another evidence for the Attic/Athenian origins of this casque is the close relationship

of the Athenians and the Chalkideans, the inventors of the Chalkidean helmet: an

ethno-linguistic close relationship due to the fact that both of these sub-ethnic groups

were Ionic-speaking and partly of Ionic origins, and a geographical close relationship

because Attica is neighboring the island of Euboea. After all, it seems that until the

start of the 7th century BC, the Atticans and the Euboeans were united in a single

tribal state of the ‘Ionians’.

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 (2) Wikipedia, article: “Attic helmet”. It is not mentioned of which period, but

I suppose at least of the Roman imperial period.

NOTE on the credit of the helmets’ photographs: these photographs are used

under license of the site’s www.romancoins.info owner, whom I thank for his

contribution.

SOURCES - BIBLIOGRAPHY

• Notitia Dignitatum.

• Flavius Vegetius, The Art of War.

• Bishop M.C. and Coulston J., Roman Military Equipment, London 1993.

• Barker P., Armies and Enemies of Imperial Rome, Worthing 1981.

• Boss Roy, Justinian’s Wars, London 1993.

• MacDowall S., Late Roman Cavalryman, London 1995.

• Connolly P., The Roman Cavalryman, Oxford 1988.

• Dixon K. and Southern P., the Roman cavalry, London 1992.

• Dupuy and Dupuy, the Encyclopedia of Military History, New York 1970.

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 • James, S. Evidence from Dura Europos for the Origins of Late Roman

Helmets in Revue d’ art Oriental et d’ Archeologie, Paris 1986.

• Robinson H.R., What the soldiers wore on Hadrian’s wall, Newcastle, 1976.

• Robinson H.R., The Armour of Imperial Rome, London 1975.

Periklis Deligiannis

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