GREEK CHALCIDIAN BRONZE HELMET
Ca. 550-300 BC. A bronze helmet of Chalcidian type. Crown domed with a mask-like front featuring high-arched eyebrows, the eyes have been carefully cut out. A short tear-drop-shaped nose guard is reaching down, moveable cheek guards are hinged on the sides, rounded, and tapering towards the chin allowing binding. It comes with a custom-made stand. Chalcidian helmets are named after similar helmets depicted on pottery vases from the Euboean city of Chalcis. This type of ancient Greek helmet was a lighter and less restrictive form of the Corinthian helmet. The hinged cheek pieces were anatomically formed to fit closely to the face and tended to curve upward towards the eye, where large circular openings provided a wider field of view than the Corinthian helmets. By the time of Alexander the Great, the helmet was still worn by soldiers, most notably the hoplites, the heavy infantrymen who carried long spears; the helmet would later go on to develop into the Attic helmet which is iconic of Classical soldiers. For more examples of Chalcidian helmets, see Everson, T. (2004). Warfare in Ancient Greece: arms and armour from the heroes of Homer to Alexander the Great. The History Press, 116-124. Size: L:300mm / W:250mm ; 775g Provenance: Private UK collection; From an old British collection formed in the 1990s; formerly in an old German collection.

Estimate: GBP 3000 - 6000