Montefortino-type helmets

Of this style, Peter Connolly says, "The Montefortino helmet was the most successful type ever designed. It won almost total acceptance in the Roman army, where it was used virtually unchanged for nearly four centuries. At a conservative estimate some three to four million of these helmets must have been made" (Greece and Rome at War, p.122).

Montefortino-type helmet with shallow scalloped cheek-pieces. Note that this is a view of the back-side.

Etruscan bronze Montefortino with embossed triple-disc cheek-pieces (notice the embossing on the rear cheek-piece). These are clearly in imitation of the triple-disc cuirass favored by the Samnites; the style seems to have travelled north. Note that the front of the helmet is to the left. Villa Giulia Museum, Rome.

Etruscan?? bronze Montefortino helmet, missing cheek pieces (though two rivet holes for the hinges are visible). 3rd c. BC. "VII S" is incised on the underside. Ex-Guttmann Collection.

Recovered from the sea off Sicily, subsequently de-barnacled. Palermo Museum.

Two Montefortino helmets encrusted with molluscs, off the coast of Sicily. Palermo Museum.


4th C. BC Etruscan? University Museum, Philadelphia (MS 1606). The puncture may have been used to hang the helmet on the wall of a tomb after being captured in battle.						Detail of rear chin-strap attachment

Montefortino helmet from
the Samnite sanctuary at
Pietrabbondante. 4th c. BC.
Now in Naples.

Bronze helmet with elaborate iron
crest-holder, from the Senones
necropolis at the site of Montefortino.
Mid 3rd C. BC. Ancona Museum.

1st c. BC???

4th c. BC???

Bronze Gallic (not Italian) Montefortino,
3-2nd C. BC. Ex-Guttmann Collection.

Gallic helmet (not Italian).
British Museum.

Montefortino helmet in the Karlsruhe Museum.
Photograph from ArtServe.


Ex-Guttmann Collection via Christie's, courtesy of Legio VI's "Real Gear" Page.

Horseman from a painted tomb at Nola; now in
the Naples Museum. A Montefortino-type helmet
with scalloped cheek-pieces and (presumably sheet-bronze) horns.

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