Heraklion Archaeological Museum - CollectiveAccess System : Bronze objects : Bronze helmet [Χ5950]

Bronze helmet

Χ5950

Metal (Bronze)

Restored from many fragments.

Height of helmet cap and socket: 24 cm. Maximum height of cheek guards: 16.5 cm.

Knossos

Venizeleio, Tomb V

Late Bronze Age. Final Palatial period, Late Minoan II period.:

1450-1400 BC:

Gallery:

Case:

102

Exhibition thematic unit:

Late Bronze Age - Neopalatial period (1700-1450 BC) - Final Palatial period (1450-1300 BC).The cemeteries

The cemeteries of Knossos

Description

Bronze conical helmet with cheek guards to protect the warrior’s face. It is made of a single thin sheet topped with a separate spool-shaped socket secured by rivets. The socket probably held a decorative crest or plume similar to those seen in various depictions of helmets. The helmet would have been lined with some kind of organic material (leather or cloth), attached to the inside of the helmet and the cheek guards by rivets though the holes in the metal. This is an especially important find, as it is the first known bronze helmet of the Late Bronze Age in Crete, probably signalling the beginning of the production of this type. It is worth noting that such helmets are recorded on the Linear B tablets from Knossos, in the context of the distribution of military equipment to warriors. Some of these helmets, produced by one or more Aegean workshops, would have been exported to northern Europe, while a second production centre later arose in the Carpathian Basin.

Bibliography:

Hood, M.S.F. and P. de Jong. "Late Minoan Warrior-Graves from Ayios Ioannis and the New Hospital Site at Knossos". Annual of the British School at Athens 47 (1952): 256-260, pls. 50-52. Borchhardt, J. Homerische Helme. Helmformen der ?g?is in ihren Beziehungen zu orientalischen und europ?ischen Helmen in der Bronze- und fr?hen Eisenzeit. Mainz, 1972, E 65, Taf. E III. M?dlinger, M. “From Greek Boar’s-tusk Helmets to the First European Metal Helmets: New Approaches on Development and Chronology". Oxford Journal of Archaeology 32(4) (2013): 395, fig. 5.1. Steinmann, B. Die Waffengr?ber Der ?g?ischen Bronzezeit: Waffenbeigaben, soziale Selbstdarstellung und Adelsethos in der minoisch-mykenischen Kultur. Philippika 52. Wiesbaden, 2012, 177, Taf. 40b.

Author:

G. F.

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