Mennyt aika: lokakuuta 2023

Figure 1. Three Mesembrian bronze coins featuring odd-looking helmets.

There is a series of copper-alloy coins from the Greek apoikia (colony) of Mesembria in ancient Thracia on the coast of the Black Sea, which depicts a strange looking helmet, like a combination of Corinthian helmet with the neck guard and cheek guards of an open-faced helmet style. And that is exactly what it is, a combination of two different helmets. In this article I will discuss why Mesembrian coins do not depict an Apulo-Corinthian helmet, and conclude with the evolution of this style of helmet art in coins.

When this subject was first discussed in a public forum related to Greek military affairs (at 10.10.2023), practically all commentators identified this as a depiction of an Apulo-Corinthian helmet. But this must not be the case, and these opinions were based merely on the image of the Apulo-Corinthian helmet in modern popular imagination, which itself is incorrect.

Apulo-Corinthian helmets in popular imagination

First of all, what made people think the helmet in these Mesembrian coins would be an Apulo-Corinthian helmet? This was certainly based on the notion that this helmet looks somewhat like Corinthian helmet pushed back on top of the head, but with additional cheek guards and a neck guard added at its lower rim. This reminds us of a popular image of Apulo-Corinthian helmets.

Figure 2. These are some early and influential depictions of Apulo-Corinthian helmet in modern popular history books, which have shaped public imagination about this helmet style. 1: From Warfare in the Classical World by John Warry 1980. 2: From Greece and Rome at war by Peter Connolly 1981. 3: From Armies of the Carthaginian wars 264–146 BC, illustrated by Richard Hook 1982. 4: Painting by Nicholas Subkov 1995.

Figure 3. These are real Apulo-Corinthian helmets. There are five developmental phases in the history of this helmet style: A–E. Type A has separate "cheek guards" like in Corinthian helmets, but this helmet was never meant to be worn over the face, but on the top of the head. Type B has a bridge connecting the "cheek guards" together. Type C has the whole lower "face" area connected together. Type D omits the "noseguard". And finally type E gets rid of the "eyeholes" too.

The Apulo-Corinthian helmet was an Apulian helmet style which was in use from circa 525 to 350 BCE (for a more detailed analysis of dating see Kools 2013). It was derived from the Corinthian helmet used in Magna Graecia by Greek colonists. While Corinthian helmet was mostly used covering the face of its wearer, outside engagement in combat it could be pushed back on top of the head for easier ventilation. This is the origin of the Apulo-Corinthian helmet, which was always meant to be worn like a pushed back Corinthian helmet, never covering the face. Since the eyeholes and face opening no longer served a true purpose, they diminished in size and finally disappeared altogether.

The important thing to note is that the Apulo-Corinthian helmet was never fitted with cheek guards. 116 helmets of this type are known archaeologically, but not a single one had separate cheek guards. Nor does any helmet bear traces of hinges for attaching cheek guards, just one small hole for a chin strap on each side of the helmet. The whole cheek guard addendum has its origin in ancient artists' imagination, which mixed together different helmet styles. The Apulo-Corinthian helmet with hinged cheek guards was popularized by a painting of a Roman triarius in John Warry's 1980 book Warfare in the Classical World, which countless imitators have copied ever since. Ironically, this helmet was probably never used by Romans at all, but nowadays it is impossible to search pictures of Roman triarii without encountering this helmet in practically all depictions of them.

Figure 4. This comparison should make it clear that the Mesembrian coins do not depict Apulo-Corinthian helmets. This type C Apulo-Corinthian helmet does not have cheek guards. It also does not have a neck guard such as depicted on these coins. The neck guard on real Apulo-Corinthian helmets is flat and protrude backwards, not downwards like in the coins. The shape of the skull is wholly different, because Apulo-Corinthian helmets did not cover the whole head, just the top half. Thus the crown part separated with a carination is much smaller than in Corinthian helms proper. In the coins however the crown of the helmet is depicted as large as in real Corinthian helmets.

Other notable details are the size of the eyeholes, much larger in the coin images than in Apulo-Corinthian helmets, the shape of the carination, much different in coins than in helmets, the fact that some Mesembrian coins show these helmets with cut-out earholes as well, a feature never found on Apulo-Corinthian helmets, and finally the longitudinal crest, that in the coin images is attached directly on top of the helmet, but in Apulo-Corinthian helmets was raised over the helmet with a metallic crest holder as in the photograph.

Distribution of Apulo-Corinthian helmets

Figure 5. A distribution map of all types of Apulo-Corinthian helmets (from Paddock 1993). Ninety percent of them have been found in the region of Apulia in southern Italy, the coast of which had been colonised by the Greeks. Outside the sphere of direct Apulian influence, two helmets have been found in Etruscan controlled places in Campania (Nos. 29 and 50), four in northern Italy (Nos. 53, 55 and 56 in Etruria, and No. 16 in Venetia), one from Slovenia (no. 34), one from Syracuse (No. 3) and another one somewhere else in Sicily (No. 1). One helmet (No. 35 on the map; Berlin, Staatliche Museen 31590) is said to have been found in Athens, but this is not clear.

John Miles Paddock, who wrote his doctoral thesis on Italic bronze helmets has this to say (Paddock 1993, p. 86): "Three examples have findspots outside the Italian peninsula and Sicily, these are helmet No. 16 from Friuli, helmet No. 34 from Krsko in Yugoslavia [now Slovenia] and helmet No. 35 from Athens. As these three finds fall not only so far outside the spatial bounds set by the distribution of other examples but also are from museum collections established before 1896, when they were recorded by Lipperheide, (1896) they must be viewed with some caution. However it is possible and even probable that the examples from the head of the Adriatic reached there as the result of trade. On the other hand without further corroborative evidence the Athenian provenance must still remain questionable." The question of this helmet's provenience has not been answered in the thirty years that have passed since Paddock's thesis was published, and will likely remain unanswered.

Paddock tells us about the Sicilian helmets (p. 88): "Outside Apulia the distribution is more sporadic, the two helmets from Sicily (Nos. 1 and 3.), which are both of type I and therefore early in the sequence possibly belonged to mercenaries serving there. This would seem to agree with other evidence for Italian mercenaries at this period as attested by finds of Italic defensive equipment found on Corsica and in North Africa." I find this hypothesis plausible.

Figure 6. A distribution map of Apulo-Corinthian helmets (yellow dots) compared to the location of Mesembria on the Black Sea coast. Possible trade routes marked by arrows. The provenience of a helmet from Athens is questionable. Map made by the author based on Paddock (1993) and Kools (2013).

No Apulo-Corinthian helmets have been found in the region of ancient Thracia. Apulo-Corinthian helmets concentrate in Apulia, with a few examples found in central and northern Italy and one from Slovenia, most probably as a result of trade. Couple of helmets ended up in Sicily, possibly by Italic mercenaries serving there. The provenience of the so called Athenian helmet is uncertain. Apulo-Corinthian helmets are clearly Italic helmets, made in a few centres in Apulia. There is no evidence to suggest that these helmets would have been traded to Thracia and the Black Sea region, where Mesembria is situated. Not including the questionable helmet said to be from Athens, the Apulo-Corinthian helmets traded outside Apulia have been found in regions further away from Thracia, not towards it.

Corinthian helmets on Mesembrian coins

Mesembria was a Greek apoikia on the Thracian coast of the Black Sea. According to geographer Strabon (64/63 BCE – c. 24 CE) Mesembria was founded by Dorians from Megara, but Arrianos of Nikomedeia in Periplus of the Euxine Sea (in 130–131 CE) writes that Khalkedonians founded Mesembria at the time of Dareios' Scythian campaign (513 BCE). Herodotos places the founding of Mesembria after the suppression of the Ionian revolt (493 BCE), when the fugitives from Khalkedon and Byzantion fled there. Since both Khalkedon and Byzantion were founded by Megarians originally, it is possible to say that Mesembria was a Megarian apoikia, whether or not its metropoleis included Megara itself in addition to Khalkedon and Byzantion.

In a web-catalogue of ancient coins Corpus nummorum it says: "Mesembria was one of the most important economic centres of the Classical and Hellenistic periods, which is reflected not least in the lively minting activity from the late 5th century until the conquest of the city by the Romans." Being a Greek apoikia, Mesembria had a tradition of depicting Greek equipment on its coins. Mesembrian currency from ca. 450–275 BCE often depict Corinthian helmets on them.

Figure 7. A selection of Mesembrian coins from Münzkabinett, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. 1–5: Silver diobols, 450–350 BCE. 6: Clay impression of a silver tetradrachm, 360–340 BCE. 7–8: Middle denomination bronze coins, 325–275 BCE. In all of these coins, obverse shows a Corinthian helmet depicted frontally, with a transverse crest (a standard practise in art), reverse shows four-spoked chariot wheel with letters M, E, T, A, abbreviation of Μεσαμβρια (Mesambria, a variation of the polis' name, The 'T' is not a 't', but archaic Greek letter sampi, which was pronounced possibly as double sigma [ss], or [ts]).

In the Classical period, Mesembria minted numerous diobols and other coins with Corinthian helmet on the obverse and four-spoked wheel with letters on the reverse. The iconography of these coins cannot be interpreted with certainty, but the helmet might depict that of hero Melsas, the mythical founder of Mesembria, who gave the city its name. The helmet is distorted to some degree, the eyes looking sad, cheek guards flaring out at the bottom, and the skull portion enlargened to a great extent, perhaps to enhance the phallic appearance of the helmet.

Corinthian helmet seems to have been quite rare in Thracia. No Corinthian helmets have been found in Mesembria, and only two examples are known from the plain of Sofia, both from uncertain find context. They come from the villages of Chelopechene and Chelopech, both in the Sofia province of Bulgaria.

Figure 8. A Mesembrian coin depicting Corinthian helmet and the two extant Corinthian helmets from Thracia, left one from the village of Chelopechene, the right one from the village of Chelopech, both from the plain of Sofia. Helmets are located in the National Museum of History, in Sofia, Bulgaria. Many internet photography sites claim that the Chelopechene helmet would be in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, but this is untrue. The Chelopechene helmet represents the last phase of the evolution of Corinthian helmets, called Hermione type from a helmet found in Hermione, Greece. The Chelopech helmet is very near that type, differentiating features include embossed eyebrows, and less angular point in the ridge on the forehead. Both belong to the final third of the sixth and the early fifth century, circa 530–475 BCE.

The last archaeological evidence of the use of Corinthian helmets is about that time. In the words of Emil Kunze, arguable the biggest authority on Greek helmets ever: ''...not a single Corinthian helmet preserved can with certainty or even probability be set in the Classical era [post c. 475 BCE].''

Figure 9. Three Mesembrian coins from 450–350 BCE. These are some of the many examples of coin depictions of helmets, which are seriously deformed, a far cry from the original beauty of the Corinthian helmet. Since the artists did not see the actual helmets but instead copied pictures from earlier coins, the quality of the images gradually fell down like in a game of "Chinese whispers" or "telephone". Wrong features got exaggerated, especially the width of the skull, so that the helmets started to resemble mushrooms more than anything a man could wear on his head.

In addition to the frontally depicted Corinthian helmets, there is a group of Mesembrian coins that portrayed the helmet from the side. These are always worn by humans or deities, most often the goddess Athena. Also another group of sideways helmets existed in Mesembria, those worn by the hero Melsas. They were Chalkidian or Attic in style.

Figure 10. A selection of Mesembrian coins with a profile view of the Corinthian helmet. 1–2: Silver obols, 450–350 BCE. 3: Bronze coin, 400–200 BCE. 4: Bronze coin, 350–200 BCE. 5: Bronze coin, unknown dating. 6: Gold stater, 225–190 BCE (British Museum). Coins 1–5 depict on their obverse a helmeted head of Athena. Coin No. 6 is a commemoration coin for Alexander the Great, minted a century after he passed away. It depicts either Alexander or Athena on its obverse (British Museum thinks it's Athena), and Nike, the goddess of Victory on the reverse, with a tiny representation of a Corinthian helmet at her feet. The inscription on the stater reads ΒΑΣΙΛΕΑΣ ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΥ ("King Alexander").

As these coins demonstrate, there was a tradition of portraying Corinthian helmets on Mesembrian currency, which started around 450 BCE and continued well into the Hellenistic period, at least to the early second century BCE. Because of the dating, it is unlikely that the artists based these images on real helmets, but instead of earlier art. If Corinthian helmets were depicted on their own, they were always placed frontally, but if they were worn by a human or deity figure, they were depicted from the side. Profile depictions of helmets without a human figure never show true Corinthian helmets.

What then is depicted on these Mesembrian coins?

Figure 11. A selection of Mesembrian bronze coins. 1–3: Classical period, 450–350 BCE. 4–7: Hellenistic period, 250–200 BCE. 8: Hellenistic period, 216–188 BCE. These represent a different version of the Mesembrian helmet coin discussed earlier. Obverse showing a helmet in profile, reverse showing still the four-spoked chariot wheel, but in perspective. This has lead to many misunderstandings in numismatic books and especially websites, which have interpreted this image as a shield viewed from the inside, either a Greek round aspis, or an oval Celtic-style thyreos. But this is incorrect, the Mesembrian coins continued to depict the chariot wheel, in perspective, omitting the letters between the spokes. Instead the coins now have a full name METAM-BΡIANΩN.

Some of these coins feature a helmet that is an amalgamation of Corinthian and Thracian types. These coins date approximately from 450 to 188 BCE, a long period of time from the Classical to Hellenistic eras. The last use of Corinthian helmets predates this period by a generation, but other helmets such as Chalkidian and Thracian types, both of which have been found in abundance in Thracia, were contemporary to these coins.

The Chalkidian helmet type was typical in Thracia from the fifth to the early third century BCE, more than 60 examples are known archaeologically. The Thracian helmet type was popular in southern Thracia beginning in the late Classical period, more than 20 helmets of this type have been found. Both of these helmets had some common features, mainly hinged cheek guards (not in all Chalkidians), and a downwards sloping neck guard that often times left a hole for the ear. On top of that Thracian helmets had a peak at the forehead, and above that a raised pediment-shaped brow-band ("fronton, "Stirnband"), terminating into volutes at the temples. Chalkidian helmets differ by having a nasal, which Thracian helmets don't have.

Based on these characteristics, it seems clear that the coin artists in Mesembria combined features from the memory of the Corinthian helmet (reserved for heroes like Melsas) together with contemporaneous Thracian helmets, which were well known in the area. Indeed I would qualify the coins Nos. 6 and 7, possibly also No. 3 in figure 11 as depictions of pure Thracian helmets.

Figure 12. A selection of Mesembrian bronze coins. 1: Classical period, 450–350 BCE. 2–6: Hellenistic period, 300–250 BCE. 7: probably Hellenistic period, 300–250 BCE. 8: Hellenistic period, 250–200 BCE. These coins show on their obverse a helmet in profile, which is clearly of Thracian type. There is no room for error here, all the features: the separate cheek guards, neck guard with ear-cutouts, peak at the front, fronton above it with volutes at the temples, and an integral crest block running longitudinally on top of the skull.

Figure 13. Two Thracian helmets compared to a Mesembrian coin featuring the same helmet type. On the left is a silver-plated helmet from the famous Prodromi grave in Epeiros, housed in the Archaeological Museum of Igoumenítsa, Greece. It is dated to 290–270 BCE. On the right is a bronze helmet from Bubuieci, Moldova. It is dated between late 3rd and 1st centuries BCE. The Bubuieci helmet is missing cheek guards, but it could have had those originally. It belongs to a group of north Pontic Thracian helmets, found around the Black Sea, where Mesembria is also situated. The coin dates to 300–250 BCE, roughly contemporary to these helmets.

Figure 14. Hypothetical development of stylistic changes in Mesembrian bronze coins. The artists have combined features of Corinthian helmets with Thracian ones. The upper part of the mixed helmets have been taken almost straight from Corinthian helmets. The differing feature is the carination of the Corinthian helmets, which is now combined with the fronton of the Thracian helmet: two embossed ridges with volutes on the sides. The lower part of the mixed helmets have been taken quite directly from Thracian helmets: hinged cheek guards, downwards protruding neck guard, earholes in some examples, and the frontal peak, which has been combined with the cheek guards of the Corinthian helmet.

Innovative artists created this amalgamation of two different helmet types, perhaps to give an archaisizing look compared to more contemporaneous style. If it were real, we would expect to find at least some examples of it archaeologically, since Thracian area has produced over a hundred Greek helmets, and the Mediterranean world thousands. This being the case, I think it is safe to say this mixed helmet type never existed outside the imagination of ancient artists.

Sources:

Apulo-Corinthian helmets, University of Pennsylvania. Accessed 10.10.2023: https://www.sas.upenn.edu/~dpd/italica/apcor/apcor.html

Connolly, Peter (1981) Greece and Rome at war. Prentice-Hall.

Kools, Sander (2013) The Apulo-Corinthian Helmet: A south-east Italic helmet type and what it can say about the social and cultural context in which it was used. Bachelor thesis, University of Leiden. Accessed 10.10.2023: https://www.academia.edu/11958190/The_Apulo-Corinthian_Helmet_A_south-east_Italic_helmet_type_and_what_it_can_say_about_the_social_and_cultural_context_in_which_it_was_used_unpublished_2013

Paddock, John Miles (1993) The bronze Italian helmet: the development of the Cassis from the last quarter of the sixth century B.C. to the third quarter of the first century A.D. Doctoral thesis, University of London. Accessed 11.10.2023: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1348999/

Subkov, Nicholas (1995) Painting of Roman Republican legionaries.

Symonenko, Oleksandr (2015) ‘Sarmatian-age helmets from Eastern Europe’ in P. B. Golden, R. K. Kovalev, A. P. Martinez, J. Skaff, A. Zimonyi (ed.) Archivum Eurasiae Medii Aevi 21 (2014–2015). Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, pp. 277–303. Accessed: 12.10.2023: https://www.academia.edu/35730690/The_Helmets_of_Sarmatian_Age_from_the_Eastern_Europe

Valeva, Julia, Nankov, Emil & Graninger, Denver (eds.) (2015) A Companion to Ancient Thrace. Wiley-Blackwell.

Warry, John (1980) Warfare in the Classical World. University of Oklahoma Press.

Wise, Terence, illustrated by Hook, Richard (1982) Armies of the Carthaginian wars 264–146 BC (Men at arms series, 121). Ospray Publishing.

Mesembrian coins:

https://www.corpus-nummorum.eu/resources/typology/19

https://www.wildwinds.com/coins/greece/thrace/mesembria/i.html

https://www.coinarchives.com/a/results.php?results=100&search=Mesembria

https://www.coinarchives.com/a/results.php?results=100&search=mesambria

https://www.forumancientcoins.com/catalog/roman-and-greek-coins.asp?vpar=1564&pos=0&sold=1&vorderby=dateaddeddesc

https://www.cointalk.com/threads/ancient-helmet-types.297306/

https://www.vcoins.com/en/stores/marc_breitsprecher_classical_numismatist-8/search/all/0/Default.aspx?store_search=Mesembria&store_between=0&store_between_and=99999&searchMaxRecords=100&searchDisplayAsList=False&searchDate=&searchDateType=0&store_order_by=&solditems=False

https://www.vcoins.com/es/stores/romae_aeternae_numismatics/136/product/mesembria_thrace_ae11_decorated_corinthian_helmet_facing__meta_wheel_rare/1819126/Default.aspx