Embossed decoration is also found on Roman horse armor.įinally, mention must be made of the gladiators, many of whom were to some extent protected by armor. Some cavalry helmets for mounted military games were embossed in the shape of human heads, or with figures and floral decoration, and sometimes fitted with a mask in the shape of a human face. Helmets with crests were worn by the centurio (a rank roughly equivalent to that of a captain), while the signifer (the standard bearer) adorned his armor with the hide of a lion, bear, or wolf, with the animal’s head worn over the helmet. Those in command, on the other hand, would often wear decorated armor, although some of the pieces were of a ceremonial rather than functional nature. Evidence provided by painted vases reveals that many warriors had their helmets adorned with large crests, usually a comb of horse hair, while their large round shields were elaborately painted with geometric patterns, animals, or mythological scenes.Īs part of Europe’s first standing army, the soldiers of the Roman Republic and empire were equipped with plain and serviceable armor of bronze or iron, and shields often painted with devices signifying the unit to which the soldier belonged.

Many helmets ( 1989.281.49-.50) are engraved with simple geometric patterns along the edges, but some are further embossed with geometric or figurative decoration. While the lower leg defenses are mostly undecorated and simply shaped to closely fit the limbs, the breastplate and backplate (cuirass) were often embossed to mimic the anatomy of chest and back. The Greeks usually protected only their heads, torsos, and lower legs with armor of hammered bronze sheet. Although the plain examples of Classical Greek armor often possess a superb sculptural beauty, many specimens, especially helmets, were frequently also decorated with engraving and embossing. In Greece, too, the tradition of decorated armor reaches back into the Bronze Age. However, some of the more lavishly decorated items, such as shields and some helmets, were probably not made for warfare but intended solely as offerings to Celtic deities. A helmet with a flattened triple-pointed crest, found at Moosbruckschrofen in Austria, probably dates from the fourteenth century B.C., and may thus be the earliest European helmet in existence. Those decorated with pairs of horns probably date to the twelfth or eleventh century B.C., and, incidentally, seem to be the only Scandinavian helmets to be adorned with horns (there is little evidence to suggest that Vikings ever used horns as crests). These crests could take the shape of two horns or of a flattened triangular profile, sometimes both. Especially famous are the shields found at Battersea and Winchelsea, decorated with embossed Celtic scrollwork, or the helmets adorned with embossed geometric patterns and crests.

Some of the earliest decorated armor was produced during the Celtic Bronze Age in Great Britain and Ireland, Scandinavia, and the area of modern-day France, Germany, and Austria.

Pictures of medieval helmets