Peter Finer ANTIQUE ARMS and ARMOUR

Peter Finer ANTIQUE ARMS AND ARMOUR A "CORINTHIAN" HELMET, circa 580 -520 B.C. Stock No. 2209 Height: 26 x Width: 19.5 x Depth: 25 cm / 10.2 x 7.7 x 9.8 in Height with mount: 41 cm / 16.1 cm Formed from a single sheet of bronze, of curvilinear form, the skull domed and the sides and back concave, the back flaring outwards at its base to form a neck guard and the sides being indented at the centres of their bases, over the shoulders; with a long spatulate nose guard between large eye holes tapering to points at their outer ends and above a wide opening for the mouth and chin; the border pierced all round with small rivet holes – some rivets remaining on the nose guard and above the eye holes – for the attachment of a padded lining and border; the crown of the skull pierced with two small pairs of holes and the nape of the neck retaining a small bronze loop for the attachment of a crest. Our fine helmet, which survives in remarkably good condition, is one of a small group of this particular form that has been recorded, many of which are now in museum collections throughout the world. Its shape and style place it towards the beginning of the development of this type of classical Greek helmet, associated since the time of the historian Herodotus (c. 484– 425 B.C.) with the city of Corinth, and it represents the fully developed hoplite helmet so characteristically emblematic of that type of classical Greek warrior. The term ‘hoplite’, meaning a heavily armed infantryman, was in use in the late classical period and derived from the ancient Greek word ‘hopla’, the plural form of ‘hoplon’, meaning the arms and armour of the armed man. The hoplite’s arms and armour comprised a helmet, breastplate and back-plate, greaves, shield, spear and sword: the weight of this ensemble, or ‘panoply’, has been estimated at between 50 and 70 pounds and, of this total weight, the helmet generally weighed more than 5 pounds. Hoplites, independent and free citizens of Greece who had voting rights, were mainly farmers and their attitude to warfare tended to be fiercely parochial: their local assemblies decided where, when and why to engage in battle. ‘Corinthian’ helmets, named after the city-state, seem first to have appeared in classical Greece in about 700 B.C. : they were a development of and a major improvement on previous helmets which had generally been made from several small parts, usually riveted together, or made in two parts, joined longitudinally along the crest of the skull. Part of the significance of the Corinthian helmets lies in their having been made from single sheets of bronze, worked over an anvil or other shaped former to produce the shape now so much associated with that period of classical warfare: this is indicative of an important development in metalworking skill and technology. The form of the Corinthian helmet changed over the long period during which it protected the head of the hoplite (c. 700–300 B.C.): beginning with relatively vertical sides and back and with a comparatively wide T-shaped opening at the front, the shape developed into one with pronouncedly concave sides and back, with a flaring neck guard and with an opening at the front that narrowed as the period progressed. Our fine helmet falls into what Anthony Snodgrass called Group 3, which he described as the ‘first “classical” phase of the Corinthian helmet’, a group categorised by their possession of marked concavity at the sides and back and, particularly, with the indentation at the sides that was intended to allow the helmet to sit comfortably just above the shoulders. The gradual widening of the base of the Corinthian helmet allowed it to be pushed back on the head when the wearer was not in combat. This allowed the wearer not only to hear better but also to cool down – the disadvantages of this type of helmet being that it restricted hearing and would have been very hot to wear, particularly in summer in Greece (the time of year at which most military campaigning took place) and by hoplites who traditionally wore their hair long and cultivated full beards. A Corinthian helmet worn on the back of the head by a bearded warrior remains one of our most evocative images of Antiquity, in the form of the marble bust of the statesman, orator and warrior Pericles (c. 495–429 B.C.) (British Museum, inv. No. GR 1805.7–3.91): although Pericles’s helmet is of a later style than ours, with a more defined crown, narrower frontal opening and with surface decoration around the edges, it is this striking image that has so evoked ‘classical Greece’ for connoisseurs and scholars for more than 1,800 years. A few excavated examples survive, but much of what we know of how these helmets appeared at the time when they were worn is derived from contemporary images, frequently painted on vases. A few bronze statues survive that show hoplites in their full panoply of arms and armour and indicate what a fearsome sight they must have been en masse. From these images we know that the helmet was generally fitted with a crest and it is noteworthy that our helmet retains both small holes in its crown and a loop at the nape of its neck where a crest would have been attached. Ancient images also show crests fixed to run either along the middle of the skull from front to back or across it from side to side, or positioned centrally and forming an erupting and cascading tuft. Scholars generally agree that the helmets’ crests were probably formed of horsehair, which, being an organic material, rarely survives. The linings and edgings of the helmets would likewise have been of organic material – padded or quilted leather – and similarly do not usually survive. The crests must have added height and fearsomeness to the appearance of the wearer but they cannot have been so extravagant or heavy that they affected the function .

Load more