Antaeus - Communicationes ex Instituto Archaeologico Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 24. (A Magyar Tudományos Akadémia Régészeti Intézetének közleményei, 1997-1998)

László Kocsis: A cavalry sports helmet find from Albertfalva

dangered by the edge of the cheek-piece, the rim was shaped as an embossed rib. Further decorations or coating were note observed on the surface. The motif of the eagle on military equipment and armour is not a rarity, and similarly to the representations of Mars, Victoria, Minerva, or a lion and other heraldic supporters on the shields of troops, they formed part of triumphal symbolism. It seems nevertheless, that the eagle turning back is found only in the Danube region. Its places of occurence from north to south-east are: the cheek­­piece of the copper-alloy helmet from Theilenhofen,2 on the horse armour from Eining,3 on the horse armours from Straubing,4 on the mask-helmet from Asch­­berg,5 on a cheek-piece from Weis,6 on a cheek-piece from Carnuntum,7 further­more on the cheek-piece from Gerulata.8 On these pieces the embossed picture of an eagle turning back its head apperas, fluttering its wings and holding a wreath in its beak. The eagle representations on breastplates belonging to scale armour must also be mentioned; the decorative elements of this group, in a similar way to the former one, are also characteristic to the Danube region.9 The figure, appearing on the Albertfalva piece, is known only from one of the Eining horse armours,10 where the eagle stands on a stylized solar disc or a globe decorated with the four spokes of a wheel. In the overwhelming majority of the cases, except the breastplates, the eagle turning back its head, holds a wreath in its beak. In our case, in a unique manner, the eagle holds an ivy leaf with a long stem. Among the helmet types of Pannónia, and in the same time those of the Roman Empire, the repoussé helmets with or without masks occupy a separate place. The Greeks used such helmets at sports during the classical era.11 It was already known at the beginning of the 2nd century B. C. on the territory of the Kingdom of Pergamum, where it appears as a piece of equipment worn by Greek warriors on the reliefs from the temple of Athena Polias Nikiphoros.12 The Romans had got acquainted with and used them until the end of the 3rd century. Robinson, who had worked out their typology, calls this helmet type cavalry sports helmets13 On the basis of their formal appearance and manu­ 2 Klumbach - Wämser 1978 54 sqq.; Garbsch 1978 55, PI. 10. 3 Kellner 1978; Garbsch 1978 46/9, 5/A Figs. 9-10. 4 Keim - Klumbach 1951; Garbsch 1978 49:18, 21, 5/1-2, PI. 6/1. 5 Klumbach 1932 52, Fig. 1/2; Garbsch 1978 74/63, PI. 30/3. 6 Reiß 1973 159; Garbsch 1978 75:69, PI. 33/2. 7 Garbsch 1978 76:80, PI. 33/4. 8 Snopko 1988 29 and picture on p. 7. 9 L. Borhy had analysed the scale armour breastplates from Brigetio, or perhaps from Car­nuntum, preserved in the Hungarian National Museum, from Orgovány, from Carnuntum and Mus2ov. Judging from the conformity of minute details, certain similarities and inscriptions on the plates, he came to the conclusion that they may have been made in the same workshop. He identified the workshop as the 2nd-3rd century forerunner of the Late Roman CARNUNTENSIS SCUTARIA in Carnuntum. See: Borhy 1990 306; Borhy 1991 91. 10 Gerbsch 1978 46, 9. 11 Robinson 1975 107. 12 Robinson 1975 107. 13 Robinson 1975 107-135; Recently a collective of authors had handled this group of finds, where Maria Kohlért published her own classification, which only partially coincides with the typo­logy worked out by Robinson. See: Garbsch 1978).

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