Left to right: The Nugent ”Marathon helmet”, ”Thermopylai helmet” and ”Plataiai helmet”, in the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada.
There are three ancient Greek helmets in the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) in Canada, which are quite famous as they are said to be found from ancient battlefields. Battlefield finds of Greek helmets are so rare that they are almost non-existent excluding these three helmets. What is even more remarkable, is that these are said to come from the three most famous battlefields of the Graeco-Persian Wars: Marathon (490 BCE), Thermopylai (480 BCE), and Plataiai (479 BCE). And they were all found by the same man. If this sounds a bit too good to be true, then it most probably isn't.
The man in question was George Nugent-Grenville, 2nd Baron Nugent of Carlanstown (1788–1850), an Irish politician and antiquarian who served as Lord High Commissioner of the Ionian Islands in Greece in 1832–1835. At the time, seven main islands (Kerkyra, Paxi, Lefkada, Kefallonia, Ithaki, Zakynthos, Kythira) with some smaller islets in the Ionian Sea formed a republic called United States of the Ionian Islands. It was a Greek state and amical protectorate of the United Kingdom between 1815 and 1864. The British had taken the islands from the French Empire in 1809–1810, which in turn had taken them from the Republic of Venice in 1797, which had ruled the islands since the Middle Ages. The State was ceded by the British to Greece as a gift to the newly enthroned king George I of Greece (great-grandfather of current king Charles III of the United Kingdom) in 1864.
Baron Nugent served as the ninth ruler (and fourth Lord High Commissioner) of the Ionian Islands just after the Greek War of Independence (1821–1832). During this war the British navy had been very influential, so Lord High Commissioner probably would have had no trouble carrying out archaeological digs around Greece. However, he need not have done the excavations himself, and it is equally possible that the helmets were gifted to him while he was in office. Baron Nugent was a true philhellene, who was deeply respected by his protégés in the islands. Two previous Lord High Commissioners had been authoritarians, so the islanders put a lot of hope to their new liberal protector, and he did not let them down. He listened his subjects, instituted humane policies and favoured learning and science by founding a university library, botanical gardens, and an archaeological museum in the Ionian islands.
It is possible that these helmets were excavated or purchased by Baron Nugent, or gifted to him, but their original finding places are not so clear. It is implausible that the three helmets would come from Marathon, Thermopylai and Plataiai. The odds are severely against that kind of luck, since no other helmets have been found in any of these battle sites before or since. Lord High Commissioner's office was in Kerkyra (Corfu), far removed from the previously mentioned battlefields. Maybe at least some of the helmets came from nearer Kerkyra, perhaps very near indeed. While military works were being commissioned on the islet of Vidos, at the coast of Kerkyra, archaeological findings were discovered there. That led the Commissioner to propose to the Senate the establishment of an archaeological museum. This museum was perhaps the one in the palace of Mon Repos, which was built a few years before Baron Nugent's stay there, and currently still has a public archaeological collection. That any of the helmets would have been found at the Vidos dig is however speculation, that I cannot prove, and it is equally possible that the helmets came from elsewhere in Greece. Or even outside of Greece.
The only source telling that the helmets were found in Marathon, Thermopylai and Plataiai is not from the pen of Baron Nugent himself, but from a letter written nearly a hundred years later by the man who sold them in Sotheby's auction house. This makes me seriously question the authenticity of the provenience of these objects. Baron Nugent died without issue in 1850, and the helmets eventually ended up with certain T. Sutton, who sold them via Sotheby's (auction of 22nd July 1926, lot 160), where Royal Ontario Museum bought them. According to letters from Sutton dated 2 and 20 of August 1926 Baron Nugent had excavated these helmets in the battle sites in the 1830s, and that the helmets were in excavated condition, with the ”Marathon helmet” still having a human skull inside. And indeed the helmet came with a skull to the Royal Ontario Museum, and has since been exhibited with it.
The man in question was George Nugent-Grenville, 2nd Baron Nugent of Carlanstown (1788–1850), an Irish politician and antiquarian who served as Lord High Commissioner of the Ionian Islands in Greece in 1832–1835. At the time, seven main islands (Kerkyra, Paxi, Lefkada, Kefallonia, Ithaki, Zakynthos, Kythira) with some smaller islets in the Ionian Sea formed a republic called United States of the Ionian Islands. It was a Greek state and amical protectorate of the United Kingdom between 1815 and 1864. The British had taken the islands from the French Empire in 1809–1810, which in turn had taken them from the Republic of Venice in 1797, which had ruled the islands since the Middle Ages. The State was ceded by the British to Greece as a gift to the newly enthroned king George I of Greece (great-grandfather of current king Charles III of the United Kingdom) in 1864.
Baron Nugent served as the ninth ruler (and fourth Lord High Commissioner) of the Ionian Islands just after the Greek War of Independence (1821–1832). During this war the British navy had been very influential, so Lord High Commissioner probably would have had no trouble carrying out archaeological digs around Greece. However, he need not have done the excavations himself, and it is equally possible that the helmets were gifted to him while he was in office. Baron Nugent was a true philhellene, who was deeply respected by his protégés in the islands. Two previous Lord High Commissioners had been authoritarians, so the islanders put a lot of hope to their new liberal protector, and he did not let them down. He listened his subjects, instituted humane policies and favoured learning and science by founding a university library, botanical gardens, and an archaeological museum in the Ionian islands.
It is possible that these helmets were excavated or purchased by Baron Nugent, or gifted to him, but their original finding places are not so clear. It is implausible that the three helmets would come from Marathon, Thermopylai and Plataiai. The odds are severely against that kind of luck, since no other helmets have been found in any of these battle sites before or since. Lord High Commissioner's office was in Kerkyra (Corfu), far removed from the previously mentioned battlefields. Maybe at least some of the helmets came from nearer Kerkyra, perhaps very near indeed. While military works were being commissioned on the islet of Vidos, at the coast of Kerkyra, archaeological findings were discovered there. That led the Commissioner to propose to the Senate the establishment of an archaeological museum. This museum was perhaps the one in the palace of Mon Repos, which was built a few years before Baron Nugent's stay there, and currently still has a public archaeological collection. That any of the helmets would have been found at the Vidos dig is however speculation, that I cannot prove, and it is equally possible that the helmets came from elsewhere in Greece. Or even outside of Greece.
The only source telling that the helmets were found in Marathon, Thermopylai and Plataiai is not from the pen of Baron Nugent himself, but from a letter written nearly a hundred years later by the man who sold them in Sotheby's auction house. This makes me seriously question the authenticity of the provenience of these objects. Baron Nugent died without issue in 1850, and the helmets eventually ended up with certain T. Sutton, who sold them via Sotheby's (auction of 22nd July 1926, lot 160), where Royal Ontario Museum bought them. According to letters from Sutton dated 2 and 20 of August 1926 Baron Nugent had excavated these helmets in the battle sites in the 1830s, and that the helmets were in excavated condition, with the ”Marathon helmet” still having a human skull inside. And indeed the helmet came with a skull to the Royal Ontario Museum, and has since been exhibited with it.
The Nugent ”Marathon helmet” exhibited with a human skull (ROM No. 926.19.5) in the Royal Ontario Museum.
The Sutton letters state that the finds ”came by descent in the family into the possession of the Boileau family, and remained with them until they were sold to me by Lt. Col. R. F. Boileau of Ketteringham Park, Norfolk”. The Boileaus are a family of baronets in Norfolk, the baronetcy was created in 1838 by John Boileau (1794–1869), who was also an antiquary and archaeologist. Since he was a contemporary to Baron Nugent, and outlived him by nineteen years, and they both shared love for archaeology, it is entirely possible that the helmets were inherited by him. Lieutenant-Colonel Francis William Boileau (1835–1915) would have been the one selling the helmets to T. Sutton. This must have happened of course before Boileau's death in 1915, so Sutton had the helmets for more than a decade, and then decided to sell them. Now I must remind you that all this information is solely based on letters by T. Sutton writing nearly a century years later than Baron Nugent reportedly got the helmets. If we are to believe Sutton, the helmets were in the property of Baron Nugent, then in the Boileau family, and then in Sutton's hands, before they were purchased by the ROM. It is a plausible chain of ownership, yet something that I can't prove.
Whatever the case, I don't believe that the helmets were found in the aforementioned battlefield sites. Lying about the provenience of objects to make them more valuable in auctions is sadly not unheard of, and it is possible that Sutton invented the find places to get more money from the helmets. Sutton got 80 pounds of the ”Thermopylai helmetv, a hefty sum nearly a hundred years ago. In today's money it would be over 6000 pounds, although now such a helmet would be several times more valuable, because of higher demand. It is also possible that Sutton was innocent of the fabricated provenience, and it was devised by some of the previous owners of the helmets. Robert Mason of ROM in his 2014 article about the ”Marathon helmet” says that ”Nugent may have been a romantic, but nothing in his biography would necessarily indicate a tale-spinner”. This inclines me to think that Baron Nugent did not fabricate the provenience of the helmets himself, but perhaps they were presented to him as being found from these sites, to make a gift more prestigious, or a sale worth more money.
What we know is that Baron Nugent might have acquired the helmets during his stay in the Ionian Islands in 1832–1835. We cannot know for certain if he really had them, and if so, did he got them by his own excavations, or by purchasing them from somebody else, or even as gifts. Nothing about the helmets' find places is recorded until 1926, when Sutton sold them in Sotheby's. There is a skull that was sold inside the ”Marathon helmet” to ROM, but it is unlikely that it belongs to the same find. That would be another very rare occurrence. Mason wrote in his article that ”we cannot be certain that the skull belonged to the owner of the helmet, but really we cannot discount it either. A DNA study and radiocarbon study could tell us that it was a Greek of the time, but that is not presently planned”. It has been ten years since Mason wrote this, and no study of the skull has been made. Museums are not too enthusiastic on spending money on studies that could prove their objects as fake, even though that would be the right thing to do in case of doubt.
Even if we were to believe Sutton that Nugent really found the helmets in Marathon, Thermopylai and Plataiai, the objects themselves do not date to the time of those battles. I will talk about each helmet separately.
Whatever the case, I don't believe that the helmets were found in the aforementioned battlefield sites. Lying about the provenience of objects to make them more valuable in auctions is sadly not unheard of, and it is possible that Sutton invented the find places to get more money from the helmets. Sutton got 80 pounds of the ”Thermopylai helmetv, a hefty sum nearly a hundred years ago. In today's money it would be over 6000 pounds, although now such a helmet would be several times more valuable, because of higher demand. It is also possible that Sutton was innocent of the fabricated provenience, and it was devised by some of the previous owners of the helmets. Robert Mason of ROM in his 2014 article about the ”Marathon helmet” says that ”Nugent may have been a romantic, but nothing in his biography would necessarily indicate a tale-spinner”. This inclines me to think that Baron Nugent did not fabricate the provenience of the helmets himself, but perhaps they were presented to him as being found from these sites, to make a gift more prestigious, or a sale worth more money.
What we know is that Baron Nugent might have acquired the helmets during his stay in the Ionian Islands in 1832–1835. We cannot know for certain if he really had them, and if so, did he got them by his own excavations, or by purchasing them from somebody else, or even as gifts. Nothing about the helmets' find places is recorded until 1926, when Sutton sold them in Sotheby's. There is a skull that was sold inside the ”Marathon helmet” to ROM, but it is unlikely that it belongs to the same find. That would be another very rare occurrence. Mason wrote in his article that ”we cannot be certain that the skull belonged to the owner of the helmet, but really we cannot discount it either. A DNA study and radiocarbon study could tell us that it was a Greek of the time, but that is not presently planned”. It has been ten years since Mason wrote this, and no study of the skull has been made. Museums are not too enthusiastic on spending money on studies that could prove their objects as fake, even though that would be the right thing to do in case of doubt.
Even if we were to believe Sutton that Nugent really found the helmets in Marathon, Thermopylai and Plataiai, the objects themselves do not date to the time of those battles. I will talk about each helmet separately.
The Nugent ”Marathon helmet”
The Nugent ”Marathon helmet”, ROM No. 926.19.3.
Stylistically this helmet belongs to a group created around 550 BCE, roughly two generations before the battle of Marathon (490 BCE). Helmets of this group have a slightly bulbuous shape without a carination separating the skull from the lower helmet. They feature tall leaf-shaped eyeholes, a thick round-tipped nasal, cheek pieces that terminate to an acute downwards-pointing tips, and a neckguard which protrudes far back of the recessed occiput. Often these helmets have tiny holes going around the perimeter of the helmet, not meant for sewing a helmet liner, but for attaching decorative silver pins that are present in some originals.
Evolution of Corinthian type helmets. I added the Nugent ”Marathon helmet” under the one in 550 BCE to show the similarities.
Helmet of Miltiades, identified by inscription (ΜΙΛΤΙΑΔΕΣ ΑΝΕ[Θ]ΕΚΕΝ [Τ] ΟΙΔΙ, ”Miltiades dedicated [me] to Zeus”), for sure dates to the period of the Persian Wars.
Archaeological Museum of Olympia, Greece. The museum dates it to 500–490 BCE.
Randall Hixenbaugh in his book Ancient Greek helmets, a complete guide and catalog (2019) dates the Nugent Corinthian helmet (Catalogue number C656, page 424) to 525–475 BCE (perhaps due to its association with the battle of Marathon), but I disagree because of stylistic reasons. This is not the only time I disagree with him, such a large book is sure to contain some errors in it, and the datings in it are many times pretty vague. Hixenbaugh is unsure about the provenience of the helmet: ”Purportedly found in 1834 at Marathon, Greece with an accompanying skull inside.”
The Royal Ontario Museum dates this helmet to 500–490 BCE, solely because of the association with the battle of Marathon, but they also admit that it was ”allegedly found” there. Sadly the description of the helmet is taken straight out of the 2014 article written by Mason, and it includes this statement: ”they [these three helmets] are indeed of the types that would be used on these dates”. I dare to say this is not correct. Robert Mason who is responsible for cataloguing Egyptian, Greek, Roman, West Asian and East Asian art in ROM graduated as a doctor in archaeological science in Oxford in 1994, but his expertise lies in Medieval Europe and the Islamic world. Thus the lack of technical expertise on the minutiae of ancient Greek helmets is a pity but understandable.
This helmet is of the Chalcidian type (not made in Chalkis, but that's another story), which is mainly found in Italy. Examples in Greece are known, though rarer, and mostly as dedications in Olympia, which could have been made anywhere. The museum states that the helmet is ”said to be from Thermopylae, Greece; alternatively from Southern Italy”. The shape of its frontal carination, which curves down to a point instead of going up is a feature seen in many southern Italian helmets, both in Corinthian and Chalcidian forms. It is not completely unknown in Greece either, couple of examples are known in Chalcidian helmets, although fewer than those with upwards turning frontal carination.
The Royal Ontario Museum dates this helmet to 500–490 BCE, solely because of the association with the battle of Marathon, but they also admit that it was ”allegedly found” there. Sadly the description of the helmet is taken straight out of the 2014 article written by Mason, and it includes this statement: ”they [these three helmets] are indeed of the types that would be used on these dates”. I dare to say this is not correct. Robert Mason who is responsible for cataloguing Egyptian, Greek, Roman, West Asian and East Asian art in ROM graduated as a doctor in archaeological science in Oxford in 1994, but his expertise lies in Medieval Europe and the Islamic world. Thus the lack of technical expertise on the minutiae of ancient Greek helmets is a pity but understandable.
The Nugent ”Thermopylai helmet”
The Nugent ”Thermopylai helmet”, ROM No. 926.19.4.
Chalcidian helmets with downwards curving frontal carination. L to R: a helmet in the Archaeological Museum of Gela, Sicily, the Nugent ”Thermopylai helmet”, and a helmet in the Archaeological Museum of Piraeus, Athens.
Hixenbaugh lists this helmet (X42, page 452) as: ”purportedly found at the battlefield of Thermopylae, Greece in the 1830s”, and he gives it a dating of 500–400 BCE. Royal Ontario Museum dates it to 520–480 BCE. This helmet could perhaps be from the time of the battle of Thermopylai (480 BCE), or it could be newer by half a century. It is very hard to date because so few extant helmets of this type come from proper archaeological excavations, which could determine their age and find place, instead most are from illegal digs and ended up in auctions.
It is technically possible that this helmet is from Greece from the time of the battle of Thermopylai, but that itself doesn't convince me that it would have been found on that famous battlefield. Equally (or perhaps more) possible is that the helmet comes from Southern Italy, where this style was most popular. The dating of this helmet style is so vague that it is not possible to say for certain if the object in question really was contemporaneous to the battle or not.
It is technically possible that this helmet is from Greece from the time of the battle of Thermopylai, but that itself doesn't convince me that it would have been found on that famous battlefield. Equally (or perhaps more) possible is that the helmet comes from Southern Italy, where this style was most popular. The dating of this helmet style is so vague that it is not possible to say for certain if the object in question really was contemporaneous to the battle or not.
The Nugent ”Plataiai helmet”
The Nugent ”Plataiai helmet”, ROM No. 909.14.7.
Evolution of Illyrian type helmets. From left to right: type I, type II, type III A (top) and III B (bottom). It is clear that the Nugent ”Plataiai helmet” belongs to type II.
Conclusion
All this being said these helmets are wonderful specimens by themselves, examples of beautiful craftsmanship, and interesting pieces of ancient and modern history, regardless of where they originally came from. However, it is important that we acknowledge that they most likely are not from the battles of Marathon, Thermopylai and Plataiai. Battlefield finds of ancient Greek helmets are extremely rare, so these helmets would represent three unbelievably lucky cases in a row. The attribution of the helmets to these battles comes from a much later source than their purported finding time, and conveniently happens to turn up right when the helmets were sold in an auction. No studies have ever been made to try to date these helmets with scientific methods, nor to link the Corinthian helmet to the skull that came with it. Comparative analysis makes it clear that the Corinthian and Illyrian helmets in question are older than the battles they are associated with, and while the Chalcidian helmet could be from the same time period, the dating of that style of helmet is vague, on top of which it is not sure if it even comes from Greece, Southern Italy being a likelier alternative.
Sources:
Bottini, Angelo, Egg, Markus, Von Hase, Friedrich-Wilhelm, Pflug, Hermann, Schaaff, Ulrich, Schauer, Peter, Waurick, Götz (1988) Antike Helme, Handbuch mit Katalog. Verlag des Römisch-Germanischen Zentralmuseums, Mainz.
Hixenbaugh, Randall A. (2019) Ancient Greek helmets, a complete guide and catalog. Hixenbaugh Ancient Art Ltd, New York.
Kourkoumelis, N. (2024) A Philhellene Lord High Commissioner of the Ionian State, diligently ignored: George Nugent-Grenville, 2nd Baron Nugent of Carlanstown, GCMG. Accessed 11.10.2024: kourkoumelis-english.pdf (albertcohen.gr)Mason, Robert (2014) Weapon wednesday: The Nugent Marathon Corinthian helmet. Royal Ontario Museum. Accessed 11.10.2024: Weapon Wednesday: The Nugent Marathon Corinthian Helmet | Royal Ontario Museum (rom.on.ca)
Norman, Matthew (2024) Ancient Greek and Etruscan helmets from battle of Alalia discovered in Italy. Greek Reporter. Accessed 11.10.2024: Ancient Greek and Etruscan Helmets From Battle of Alalia Discovered in Italy - GreekReporter.com
Corinthian type helmet – Results – Search Objects – ROM Online Collection
Chalcidian type helmet – Results – Search Objects – ROM Online Collection
Illyiran type helmet – Results – Search Objects – ROM Online Collection