Athenian Helmet

Athenian helmet. Ancient warrior’s helmet,handmade and  painted with metal oxidation patina.

The battle helmet in Greece

The helmet was a protective head covering that was part of the soldiers defense equipment. The helmets were originally made of animal skins, and in the process evolved into bronze and often had a horsetail at the top.  Over the years, the designs changed. The warriors who returned victorious from the battlefields, showed their gratitude to Zeus by offering their weapons (the so-called medals). That is the reason that ,at some particular temples of gods,archaeologists found a lot  of weaponry.

The Athenian helmet(corinthian) appears for the first time in the 7th century b.c. .  And is known to this day as the pre-eminently ancient greek war helmet. It was widely spread beyond the geographical borders of ancient GREECE. The art of its construction required great skill, as the helmets of kings, generals, were decorated with various representations, and had a rich horse mane.

BODY ARMOUR

Equipment was not standardized, although there were doubtless trends in general designs over time, and between city-states. Hoplites had customized armour, the shield was decorated with family or clan emblems.  Although in later years these were replaced by symbols or monograms of the city states. The equipment might be passed down in families, as it was expensive to manufacture.

The hoplite army consisted of heavy infantrymen. Their armour, also called panoply, was sometimes made of full bronze for those who could afford it, weighing nearly 32 kilograms (70 lb). Armor was more commonly made out of linen fabric glued together, called linothorax. The average farmer-peasant hoplite who could not afford any armor typically wore no armour, carrying only a shield, a spear, and perhaps a helmet plus a secondary weapon. The linothorax was the most popular type armour worn by the hoplites, since it was cost-effective and provided decent protection.

The richer upper-class hoplites typically had a bronze cuirass of either the bell or muscled variety, a bronze helmet with cheekplates, as well as greaves and other armour. The design of helmets used varied through time. The Corinthian helmet was at first standardized and was a successful design. Later variants included the Chalcidian helmet, a lightened version of the Corinthian helmet, and the simple Pilos helmet worn by the later hoplites. Often the helmet was decorated with one, sometimes more horsehair crests, and/or bronze animal horns and ears. Helmets were often painted as well. The Thracian helmet had a large visor to further increase protection.