The Hallaton Helmet is another expensive and even very expensive decorated iron ceremonial helmet that belonged to a Roman cavalryman, originally covered with sheet silver and in some places decorated with gold. It was found in 2000 near the town of Hallaton, in Leicestershire, shortly after Ken Wallace, a member of the local search team, found coins from the Roman era here. Archaeologists from the University of Leicester Archaeological Survey are interested in this place. They started looking and found! However, what they found resembled a helmet very little. Therefore, it took as much as nine years of hard work to restore it. The work was carried out by experts from the British Museum with the support of a grant from the Lottery Foundation in the amount of £ 650,000. Today, the helmet is on permanent display at the Harbow Museum in Market Harboud, along with other artifacts from the Hallaton finds.
A helmet from Hallaton. Front view.
The helmet was found smashed into thousands of pieces and badly damaged by rust. But despite this, the helmet is an excellent example of Roman blacksmithing skills. It is all covered with silver and decorated with engraved images of goddesses and horses. It is believed that it was worn by a Roman cavalryman of auxiliary units both at parades and, possibly, in battle. The fact that it was found next to thousands of coins from the Roman period suggests that it may have belonged to a local resident who fought alongside the Romans during the Roman conquest of Britain.
Such helmets were also used by the Roman cavalry of auxiliary units in hippie gymnasium competitions. To participate in them, riders put on luxurious clothes, armor and helmets, decorated with plumes of ostrich feathers, and recreated historical and legendary battles on the field. It is known, for example, that masks on helmets could have feminine features - and then it was a team of Amazons, and men - who copied the image of Alexander the Great.
Helmet-mask with the face of Alexander the Great, bronze. Smederevo, 2nd century A. D. (People's Museum, Belgrade)
The helmet consists of three parts and is made of sheet iron. Today it is the only Roman helmet ever found in Britain that retains most of its silver plating. The helmet originally had two cheek pads attached to it through holes near the ears.
The "Emperor" cheek piece (No. 1), depicting the Roman emperor, crowned with the figure of the goddess of Victory, and trampling the barbarian with the hooves of his horse.
As with other Roman cavalry helmets, the Hallaton helmet is very richly decorated. Similar to it is the helmet found in Hanten-Ward in Germany, which, like the Hallantonian, is made of silver-gilded iron with a crown in the shape of a wreath, a central figure above the eyebrows and a garland of flowers on the collar. The bowl of the English helmet is also decorated with laurel wreaths, and in the center of the crown is the (now badly damaged) bust of a woman surrounded by lions. Perhaps she was an empress or a goddess. The iconography resembles images of Cybele, the Great Mother, whose image was used during the era of Emperor Augustus.
It is interesting that in the bowl of the helmet they found six cheek pads and the split remnants of the seventh, although only two were required. Hinges were also found, as were the pins of one of the cheek pads. It is unclear why so many were made for one helmet. Are they really "spare parts" in case of damage? Or were they changed depending on … what? It should be noted that the surviving cheek pads are structurally very complex. Five of them depict equestrian scenes; one depicts the triumph of the Roman emperor. The cunning barbarian is pictured below and trampled by the hooves of his horse. Another less well-preserved cheek piece depicts a figure with a cornucopia, a Roman helmet and shield.
Helmet of the Montefortino type (350 - 300 BC). (Museum of National Archeology in Perugia. Italy)
The helmet was found along with 5,296 coins from the Roman era, mostly dating from the 30-50s. AD, and it is the largest coin collection of this time ever found in Great Britain. They were buried on the spot … of the "slaughter of animals"; in the same place where about 7000 fragments of their bones were found, 97 percent of which were pigs, on the top of a hill, surrounded in addition by a ditch and a palisade. That is, it was clearly some kind of altar, where pigs were brought from all over the area and where they were killed. Or they were first killed, the meat was eaten, and the bones were taken here. You can't say more precisely today. In any case, archaeologists believe that finding a helmet in such a place is very unusual. Taking into account its possible dates, it can be argued that today it is one of the earliest Roman helmets ever found in England. Other helmets, like the same "Gisborough helmet" or the "Crosby Garrett helmet" already known to us, as well as the "Newsted helmet", belong to a later time. Various suggestions have been made as to why the helmet ended up in Hallanton; perhaps it belonged to a Briton who served in the Roman cavalry, perhaps it was a diplomatic gift from the Romans to some local leader, or, on the contrary, he was captured as a trophy in the war and then sacrificed to local deities. According to Dr. Jeremy Hill of the British Museum, the first explanation is most likely: "Most likely there was a situation where local warriors fought on the side of the Romans."
"The Captivity of the Decibal." Scene on Trajan's Column in Rome. Roman helmets with a carrying ring, the plate armor of the lorica segmental and chain mail with a scalloped hem - lorica gamata are clearly visible.
This point of view is based on the fact that the Romans used to recruit cavalry from the aborigines, rightly believing that local horses and people are most suitable for local conditions. They served as scouts and sentinels, but the Roman cavalry played a minor role in battles. The fact is that Roman horses were small in stature. In addition, the Romans rode them without a saddle or stirrups. The Nimidian cavalry did not even have reins. Like the Indians, the Numidians controlled the horse with their legs and only had a belt around the horse's neck, which, in principle, they could grab onto. And that's it! On Trajan's column, where Numidian horsemen are depicted, their horses do not have any other harness. The weapons of the Numidians were two darts, which they threw at a gallop, which increased the range of their flight and the force of the blow, and the sword of the falcata.
Bronze bit from a hoard at Polden Hill, Somerset.
As for the equipment of the auxiliary cavalry of the Roman troops on the lands of Britain, its soldiers had a helmet, chain mail, an oval shield, a spatu sword and a ghastu spear with a tip in the shape of a bay leaf. Again, during the attack, they threw spears and … returned to the camp for new ones. That is why, by the way, hippie gymnasium games were so popular at that time: it required the ability to accurately throw spears and darts at a gallop, and … in general, nothing more! Luxurious scenes from the movie "Daki", where the Roman cavalry at a gallop chops down its opponents with swords, nothing more than a colorful picture that has nothing to do with reality.
The tactical unit in the cavalry was the ala (in Latin - "wing"), a unit numbering 512 soldiers and divided into smaller units - turms, each consisting of 32 cavalrymen. Compare this with the size of the legion, which in the era of the Empire consisted of 6,000 soldiers, and we get … the importance of cavalry in the Roman army. And the reason was simple: the Roman horsemen did not know stirrups, although they knew spurs. However, for some reason, the spur was worn only on one leg, the spurs were not paired.
A rider of the Roman cavalry in equipment for a hippie gymnasium. The dart tips were wooden. But if they hit the open parts of the body, injuries were inevitable, so the helmets had masks without fail. Rice. A. Shepsa.
The restored helmet was presented to the public in January 2012. Leicester County Council was able to raise £ 1 million to buy the entire treasure and pay for the preservation of the helmet with donations from the Charity Lottery Foundation. The helmet was valued at £ 300,000. In accordance with the provisions of the Treasure Act, Ken Wallace and the landowner on whose land the helmet was found were paid £ 150,000 each. It was then put on display at Market Harbow, nine miles from where the treasure itself was found, along with other artifacts found at Hallaton.
The helmet is on display in the museum.
It is believed that the helmet looks lush, but is extremely tasteless in design, reflecting the decadence of Roman culture during the empire. However, if it was made for the aborigines, then this should not be surprising. Tasteless, but beautiful. Glitters, a lot of figures, silver, gold, what else does a person who wants to adopt the high standards of the life of such successful conquerors need ?!
