The bronze helmet survived the eruption of Mount Vesuvius and was worn by a heavily armoured gladiator called a 'murmillo'
The bronze helmet survived the eruption of Mount Vesuvius and was worn by a heavily armoured gladiator called a 'murmillo'
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.
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.
So THAT’S where I left it.
Ah... was the head still in it?
Most gladiators were much younger than that.
Trying to find a photo of Harry Morgan, the last scene in WHAT DID YOU DO IN THE WAR, DADDY? where he is wondering through the catacombs and finds various pieces of gladiator armor.
WOW! Thanks for posting. Good, informative/humorous thread. Thanks to all posters.
Purple sweater, white gloves and a pillow? It reminds me of a gladiator movie.