The bronze helmet survived the eruption of Mount Vesuvius and was worn by a heavily armoured gladiator called a 'murmillo'
Posted on 03/15/2015 1:25:12 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
The bronze helmet survived the eruption of Mount Vesuvius and was worn by a heavily armoured gladiator called a 'murmillo'
Thanks NYer. Checked, this 2009 story doesn't seem to have been posted.
I’ll never forgive Russel Crowe for subverting the honor of that cutie pie Meg Ryan. I’m glad the Emperor had him done in.
Amazing find. I had not seen this article before
Darling, wake up! Please, wake up!
Oh man, that’s beautiful!
I’m Spartacus!
Does the metal “plume” on the top of the helmet have a functional purpose? I would think that thing would be heavy as it is without adding metal decoration.
That’s a bit more than a “linen arm protector” on his right arm, I’d say.
I think it’s supposed to mimic the crests that were used on Assyrian, Urartian, Persian, and eventually Greek and Roman helmets.
Perfectly preserved!
That is an awesome artifact. Looks to be very heavy though.
There’s a lot of myths about gladiators. For one thing, most fights were not to the death, but to first blood. Gladiators were expensive investments, and their owners couldn’t afford to lose half of them in every fight. Death matches were generally only the last fight of the day, kind of the main event. Even then, if both fought well, they were often spared. And if they did survive, winning gladiators were usually freed after 3 years.
Finally, thumbs down didn’t mean death. It meant weapons down, let him live. Death was signified by a finger across the throat. Thank Cecil B. DeMille for that particular myth.
SOME helmet crests and/or points do serve a purpose. The most common being to deflect blows from above. Usually this can be accomplished by simply rotating the head. The danger of this tactic is that the blow can often slide down to the shoulder with enough force to damage.
The crusader flat top helm (called a pot helm) has a flat top and does not deflect blows. It was not that effective against hammer based weapons.
Linen doesn’t sound so impressive with people swinging swords at you does it? Could I at least upgrade to leather?
So THAT’S where I left it.
The thumbs up or down thing is more dramatic
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