ROSS H. COWAN AN IMPORTANT ITALIC HELMET REDISCOVERED Helmet number 57 in Markus Egg’s monumental catalogue Italische Helme is 2 most interesting example of a »Buckelhelm mit Kehle« of the Montelparo type. These pot helmets, which developed in the first half of the sixth century B.C., are distinguished by deep waists, turned brims, embossed decoration and a hemispherical boss attached to either side of the bowl. However, Egg's helmet number 57 was notable for *s distinctive medial ridge and volutes (perhaps inspired by very early examples of the Chalcidian helmet), rather than the stylised horns and ears motif common to other helmets of this type. It demonstrated the transition of »Buckelhelmec to the Negau type. Indeed, Egg’s helmet number 57 can be considered the direct precursor of the Picene Belmonte variant of the earliest Negau type helmets! 'S study of this particular helmet could not extend to the actual object because its location was unknown. He was limited to a photograph and description in the catalogue of an auction of antiquities at the Hotel Drouot in Paris in 1910 (fig, 1)2. Interestingly, the catalogue stated that the helmet came from Southern Italy; Eaq believes this origin could be genuine, corresponding with the spread to the south of Montelparo type helmets from Picenum?. The helmet was probably plundered from a warriors tomb in modern times. Its exact find spot will never be known, but its present location and a little of its recent history can now be revealed in April 2005 Tobias Capwell, then Curator of Arms and Armour at Glasgow Museums, invited me to examine a number of ancient bronze helmets in the store of the Burrell Collection. Ega's Montelparo number 57 was among these helmets (figs. 2-8)*. According to its object file, Sir William Burrell purchased Fig. 1 Photograph of the Montelparo heinet in Drouat auction cata- laau=, 1910 (After Eo9 1986, pl, 24), ARCHAOLOGISCHES KORRESPONDENZBLATT 37 - 2007 | 379Fig. 2. Montelparo helmet, Giasgom Museums, Burrell Collection. - Front right (Glasgow Museums Photo library 2.8) Fig. 3. Montelparo helmet. Glasgow Museums, Burrell Collector. - Front left (Glasgow Museums Photo Library 2) 380 | Cowan - An important italic helmet rediscoveredFig. 4 Montolpara helmet. Glasgow Museums, Burrell Cllecton. - Right profile (Glasgow Museums Photo Library 2.8). Fig. 5 Montelparo helmet. Glasgow Museums, Burrell Collection. - Volute detail (Glasgow Museums Photo Library 2.8) ARCHAOLOGISCHES KORRESPONDENZBLATT 37 » 2007 | 381Fig. 6 Montelparo helmet. Glasgow Museums, Burtell Collection. - Side boss and tab detail the helmet in October 1952 from the National Magazine Company in London for the sum of £76 and 10 shillings. This company belonged to the tycoon William Randolph Hearst, who had died in the previous year. This ancient helmet, and two others purchased by Burrell at the same time, therefore formed part of the famous Hearst collection of art and antiquities®. The two other helmets are an Illyrian type of the sixth century B.C. and a Montefortino or Etrusco-Roman type of the late fourth to early third centuries B.C. The face rim of the Illyrian helmet has a narrow, relatively uncorroded band, suggesting it was once decorated with gold edging or even a death mask (figs. 9-10). Prior to this, Burrell purchased a fine Corinthian helmet of the sixth century B.C. from W. Williams (fig. 11) in 1948, The helmet is punctured by nail holes indicating that it was once part of a battlefield trophy or display of spoils in a temple precinct. The cheek pieces were also wrenched outwards, presumably during an act of ritual destructio itis possible that Hearst or one of his agents purchased the Montelparo helmet at the sale in Paris in 1910, but this remains unconfirmed. Enquiries made to the National Magazine Company and the Hearst Art Archive about this matter have gone unanswered. The helmet was presumably kept at St. Donat's Castle in Wales, where Hearst housed a considerable part of his collection, until the National Magazine Company oversaw the disposal of St. Donat's and its varied contents®, 382 | Cowan - An important italic helmet rediscoveredFig. 7 Montelparo helmet. Glasgow Museums, Burell Collection. ~ interior. ~ ‘A head of piniivet securing boss (Glas- ‘ow Museums Photo Library 2.8) Fig. 8 Montelparo helmet. Glasgow Museums, Burrell Collection. ~ Interior. = A head of pinfvet securing boss. — 8 securing tab (Glasgow Museums Phato Library 2.8) ARCHAOLOGISCHES KORRESPONDENZBLATT 37 2007 383Fig. 9 Montafortin/Etrusca-Roman helmet Glasgow Museums, Burll Collection Burrell signed the deed of gift of his extensive art collection to the City of Glasgow in 1944, and it is probable that the National Magazine Company sent the helmet directly 10 Glasgow Art Galleries and Museums rather than Hutton Castle, Burrell’ residence in the Scottish Borders where much of his collec- tion was kept. When the helmet was last examined in June 1966, it was recorded as an »Etruscan helmet, end of 6" century B.C... Except for occasional display it appears to have been in storage since that time at Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, and from 1983 in the purpose-built Burrell Collection building in Pollok Country Park. ft thus escaped the attention of Markus Egg and other scholars. Unfortunately, as can be seen by comparison between the Paris auction catalogue photograph (fig. 1) and more recent images (figs. 2-4), the helmet has suffered damage since 1910. Part of the crest holder is now missing and @ major crack has opened on the left of the helmet bowl. A small crack, possibly cut mark, to the right front volute (fig. 5) is discernable in the photograph of 1910. However, the damage does not look recent at all; the helmet was presumably in this condition when Burrell bought it. Otherwise it is in a good state of preservation and we may move on to discuss some of its more notable features, The dimensions of the Burrell Montelparo helmet are height: 21.5em, width: 28.5cm, and depth: 26.0cm, The helmet was probably beaten from a sheet of bronze, though as Hermann Born suggests to me, it remains 2 possibility that it was cast and then overworked by hammering. The similarities between the Burrell Montelparo helmet and the Negau type it inspired are immediately apparent in the more sharply domed skull (when viewed from the front) and the prominent medial ridge and volutes The function of the bosses, which, as examples of other helmets show, are filled with lead and attached to the helmet bowl by a single central pin or rivet, is uncertain (figs. 6-8). The shape of the helmet bowl itself would serve to deflect blows onto the robust turned rim®, but Peter Stary suggests to me that the bosses were positioned so as to give additional protection to weak areas of the skull. Battle-axes and maces were still used in Italic warfare, especially in Picenum, and any extra protection would have been welcome. One of the plates of the Rapagnano doubledisc cuirass, for example, is decorated with a scene depicting an infantryman armed with a mace being trampled by two horsemen, and on the grave slab from San Nicola in Valmanente a warrior armed with what appears to be an axe features in the combat 384 | Cowan - An important Italic helmet rediscoveredscene. On other helmets the heads of the riv- ets/pins may have helped to secure linings, but on the Burrell Montelparo helmet the heads are hammered flush onto the metal of the helmet bowl (they are thus hard to discern amid the traces of corrosion), leaving no gap for a lining (figs. 7-8, where the letter A indicates the flat- tened heads of the pins/rivets). The lining of this helmet was presumably glued to the interior of the bowl. It might be worth considering that, apart from offering additional protection, the side bosses also had a symbolic function. Seen in the context of the horns and ears motif on other Montelparo helmets they might have repre- sented eyes. Riveted under each boss is a substantial rectan- gular bronze tab (figs. 6 and 8, where the letter B indicates the pin/rivet securing the side tab to the helmet). On other Italic helmets of this era such tabs were either pierced or hook-shaped Fig. 10 tvian helmet. Gsgow Musurs, rel Clecion.~ and sewed to anchor ces ties, Located on the Nae tie uncorade ind wound he an (lag sides of the helmet, the tabs may have secured a transverse crest. Such crests identified certain officers in Spartan and Italic armies, most cer- tainly centurions in the Roman army''. One of ‘the decorated plates of the Rapagnano disc cuirass, worn by a Picene warrior around 5008.C. (when the Burrell helmet might still have been in service), shows a triumphant horseman wearing a helmet with a transverse crest (even though the helmet is of a different type'?). The side tabs on the Burrell helmet are not pierced but once had something soldered to them, perhaps metal ex- tensions to carry the ties of a transverse crest away from the protruding bosses, or decorative finials. However, what remains of the actual crest-holder suggests a crest of the more usual type, running front-to-back (figs. 10-11). Plume tubes were pethaps once soldered to the tabs. Hopefully the Burrell Montelparo helmet will be displayed in the future as part of an exhibition of ancient bronze arms and armour from the collec- tions of Glasgow Museums. It would make a Fig. 11. Burcell Corinthian helmet (Glasgow Museums Photo plendid centrepiece brary 19.69) ARCHAOLOGISCHES KORRESPONDENZBLATT 37 - 2007 | 385Notes 1) Egg 1986, 16-17 and 148, no. 57. Cf. E99 1988, 227-230; 9g 2001. Also called the Aufidus-Cannae type aftr the find spot of two prominent examples, see Stary 1986, 26. 2) Catalogue des objets et antiques du moyen-age. Hatel Drouot {Pats 1910) 14, no. 126, 3) Egg 1986, 16-17. - Same helmets presumably trevelled as a result of trade but many will have accompanied warriors fon a ver sacrum of on mercenary service. See Taghamonte 2000. 4) Montelparo helmet: Buell Collection reg, no, 2/8, int. no. 104. 5) For Burrells acquisitions from the Hearst calection and his dealings with the National Magazine Company see Marks 1983, 181-183, ©) Ilyrian helmet: Burrell Collection reg, no. 2/7, inv. no. 105, Gold decoration and death masks: Pug 1988, 60 Fig. 15-16. ‘Montefortine/Exusco-Raman helmet: Burrell Collection reg, no. 2/9; inu.no. 106. 7) Corinthian helmet: Buell Collection reg. no, 19/60; inv. no. 24a, Bibliography Beard 1939: C.R. Beard, Helmets at St. Donat’ Castle in the Col lection of william Randolph Hearst, 5a, The Conacisseur 103, 1939, 129-35. 177, Connolly 2006: P. Connolly, Greece and Rome at War (London, rev ed, 2006), gg 1986: M. Egg, alische Helme: Studien 2u den Alteresenzeit- lichen Heimen taiens und der Alpen. Monographien RGZM 11 (Mainz 1986), 1988: M. Eg, talishe Helme mit Krempe. In: Anke Hele Sammlung Lippetheide und andere Bestande des Antiken- ‘museums Berlin. Monographien RGZM 14 (Mainz 1988) 222-70, 2001: M, E99, Glielmi. In: Piceni. Popolo & Eurepa (Roma 2001) 11720. ‘Marks 1983: R. Marks, Burl: A Portrait of a Collector (Glasgow 1983), Zusammenfassung / Abstract / Résumé Ein wichtiger italischer Helm wieder entdeckt Der Verbleib eines wichtigen picenischen Bronzehelms vom 8) Beard 1939 focuses on a selection of medieval and Renais- sance period helmets, 3 Roman helmet being the only excep tion. See aso Robinson 1975, 26, 9) The helmet would orginaly have had a thick lining to protect the wearer from the shock of blows. A Picene helmet fom Novilara actualy retains is lining of woven rushes and goat skin, ee Naso 2000, 157-158. 10 "Naso 2000, pl. 49, 72. For examples of weapons see: Ficeri Popolo d'Europa (Roma 1999), catalogue numbers 173-80, 435, 453, 467 (maces), 461 (ax). Lachagot: Connolly 2006, 41, 99. Centurions: Vagetius, Ep tome 2.13; Robinson 1975, 142-3 1" 2 ‘The mounted warriors helmet is simular to a Carinthian type but lacks a nasal guard 3 There is passibly a filed hole atthe front of the helmet, but ‘no corresponding mark tothe reat. 4 Special thanks to Tobias Capwell for giving me access to the helmet, and to Markus Eog, Peter Stary, Hermann Born end Jean Macintosh Turfa for their invaluable advice. Thanks also ta Simon Ecdes and Winnie “yrell for aranging photography of the helmet at short notice. ‘Naso 2000: A. Naso, | Picen, Storia e archeologia delle Marche in ‘epoca prerormana (Milano 2000). Plug 1988: H. Pug, irsche Helme. In: Antke Helme. Sammlung, LUpperheide und andere Bestande des Antikermmuseurs Beri, ‘Monograghien RGZM 14 (Mainz 1988) 42-64, Peni 1998. Piceni, Populo d'=uropa (Roma 1599), Robinson 1975: H.R. Robinson, The Armour of Imperial Rome (ondon 1975) Stary 1986: P. Stary, Italische Helme des 1. Jahrtausends vor ‘Christus. In: J. Swadling (ed), italian ron Age Artefacts in the British Museum (London 1986), Taglamonte 2000: G. Tagliamonte, | mercenari italic, In: Studi sulltaa dei Sanniti (Milano 2000) 202-207 Typ Montelparo war seit seiner Versteigerung in Faris im Jahre 1910 unbekannt geblieben: An Details lassen sich der Ubergang zwischen fradhen Picenischen Buckel- und Negauer Helmen (schrittweise in ganz Italien Gbernommen) erkennen, 2005 konnte der Helm im Depot der Burrell- Sammlung, die Tel der Glasgow Museen ist, identifiziet werden. Der Helm war 1952 von Sir Willarn Burrell angekauft tnd den Bewohnern von Glasgow zusammen mit dem Rest Helm hauptséchlich im Depot aufbewahrt worden zu sein ‘Wissenschafter. 386 | Cowan - An important Italic helmet rediscovered t der Sammlung gestiftet worden. Allerdings scheint der und entging deshalb der Aufmerksamkeit interessierterAn important Italic helmet rediscovered The whereabouts of an important bronze Picene helmet of the Montelparo type, the features of which demonstrate the transition from earlier Picene pot helmets to the Negau helmet type (subsequently adopted throughout fev. has been unknown since it was auctioned in Pars in 1910. In 2005 the helmet was identified in the store oF the Bure Collection, part of Glasgow Museums. The helmet had been purchased by Sir Wiliam Burrell in 1952 and donated, along with the rest of caletions, to the people of Glasgow. However, the helmet appears to have Been mostly kept in storage and thus escaped the attention of interested scholars Redécouverte d'un important casque italique Le devenir d'un casque de bronze picénien de type Montelparo était inconnu depuis sa vente aux enchaves 3 Paris en 1910. Des détails aisent reconnaitr une phase de transition entre les premiers casques picéniens de type »Buckelhelms et es casques de type Negau (qui se développent pas-a-pas dans toute Italie). En 2005 ce casque a été identifie dans Je depot de la collection Burel, qui est une consttuante des musées de Glasgow. Le casque avait été racheté en 1952 ar Wiliam Burrell puis léqué avec le reste de la collection aux habitants de Glasgow. II semble que le casque ne soit as sorti des réserves depuis, ce qui explique qu'il soit passé inapercu aux yeux des chercheurs concerns LB Un importante elmo italico ritrovato In seguito ad unvasta tenuta a Parigi nel 1910, il luogo di canservazione di un elmo piceno in bronze del tipo Montel- ato rimase sconosciuto fino @ quando nel deposito della collezione Burrell, la quale fa parte dei musei di Glasgow, & stato ritrovato e identificato. Lelmo, comprato da Sir William Burrell nel 1952, venne donato agli abitanti di Glasgow come tutto il resto della sua collezione; a quanto pare & stato conservato sempre nel deposito per questo sfugai alinteresse scientfico. L’elmo piceno permette, grazie ai suoi particolari dettagli, di determinare meglio il passaggio tipologico daaliantichi elm piceni a calotta con borchie agli elmi del tipo Negau (assunti gradualmente in tutta Italia) A. Weidlig Schlisselwerter / Keywords / Mots clés Vortomisches Italien / Picenum / Buckelhelm /italische Bewaffnung / Schutawaffen Pre-Roman Italy / Picenum / Buckelhelm / Italic armament / defensive arms Italie preromaine / Picenum / Buckelhelm / armement italique / armement défensif Ross H. Cowan ARCHAOLOGISCHES KORRESPONDENZBLATT 37 - 2007 | 387