"Attic" and "Chalcidian" Helmets

     Peter Connolly, in Greece and Rome at War, distinguishes three kinds of Chalcidian helmet: those with fixed cheek pieces, those with hinged cheek pieces and those with hinged cheek pieces but no nose guard, which last group he terms "Attic" (pp.61-2).

     Petros Dintsis in Hellenistische Helme makes a distinction between "Attic," "Chalcidian" and "Tiaraartigen" types. Dintsis collects 51 examples of his "Attic" type, of which only three are actual helmets, dating to the 1st and 2nd c. CE; the rest come mostly from depictions on Attic figured pottery. Dintsis collects under the term Tiaraartigen (that is, "tiara-like," a shape like a Phrygian cap) both "Thracian" and "Thraco-Attic" types. Finally, he divides Chalcidian helmets into four subgroups based on type of cheek-piece, each of which may be either fixed or hinged:
  1. (Chalcidian) Helmets with sickle-shaped cheek-pieces (sichelförmigen Wangenklappen).
    1. Fixed (unbeweglich) cheek-pieces
    2. Hinged (beweglich) cheek-pieces
  2. Helmets with lobed-shaped (lappenförmigen) cheek-pieces.
    1. Fixed
  3. Helmets with arched/curved (geschweiften), pointed (spitz) or round (rund) tapering (zulaufenden) cheek-pieces.
    1. Fixed
      1. Pointed
      2. Round
    2. Hinged
      1. Pointed
      2. Round
  4. Helmets with ram's-head (widderkopfförmigen) cheek-pieces.
    1. Fixed
    2. Hinged
Helmets on this page with known provenance:

Dintsis Chalcidian Type 1: Helmets with sickle-shaped cheek-pieces (sichelförmigen)


Unprovenienced, probably not Italian, but an example of this type.
The cheek-pieces may have been "killed" by puncturing.
6th c. BC. via Sotheby's.

Dintsis Chalcidian Type 2: Helmets with lobed-shaped cheek-pieces (lappenförmigen)
Currently no examples on this page

Dintsis Chalcidian Type 3: Helmets with arched/curved cheek-pieces (geschweiften), pointed (spitz) or round (rund) tapering (zulaufenden)

Chalcidian 3A (Fixed): Pointed:


Helmet from Paestum with triple feather-holder. 		Helmet with horns on a painted
horseman, from a tomb at Capua; now in Naples. 		Warrior from a Nola tomb,
wearing a feathered helmet. Now in Naples.

Warrior from Capua, wearing a helmet with crest and two feathers. Horseman in helmet with crest and two feathers. Paestum, tomb 12, Andriuolo necropolis. 360 BC. Warrior in helmet with crest and two feathers. Paestum, tomb 114, east wall, Andriuolo necropolis. 330-320 BC. Helmeted terracotta head. 5th C. BC Etruscan(?). Ex-Guttmann collection.


Chalcidian 3B (Hinged): Pointed:

Helmet from Ruvo, late 4th c.BC, now in the
Karlsruhe Museum (F 431). Dintsis Beil. 10, 404.
Photos from ArtServe.
Helmet with two feather-holders.
Helmet, 5th -early 4th C BC
ex-Guttmann Collection, via
Royal Athena Galleries.


Helmet, 5th-4th C.
Ex-Guttmann Collection.
Helmet from Paestum, tomb 174,
Gaudo necropolis, with (broken)
triple-feather holder
Helmet with wings.


Chalcidian 3B (Hinged): Round:

5th c.? BC with silver
satyr's head.
British Museum.
Helmet in the Getty Museum, 350-300 BC.
Photos from Getty and ArtServe.
Late 4th c. BC. Ex-Guttmann
Collection via Sotheby's.
Paestum, late 4th c. BC.


Helmet with triple-feather holder from Eboli, tomb 37 (340-330 BC).
Helmet. 4th c. BC. Ex-Guttmann collection.
Warrior in helmet, from a Campanian amphora by the Painter of the Libation (ca. 350-330 BC), found in the same Nolan tomb as above.

Dintsis Type 4: Helmets with ram's-head cheek-pieces (widderkopfförmigen)
Currently no examples on this page

Chalcidian Helmets, Unclear or unclassifiable by Dintsis' system: (missing or unclear cheek-pieces)

Helmet, 5th-4th C. from Locri. Bears
the inscription "Xena[---] dedicated me
to Persephone." Now in Naples
(Inv. MANN 5736)
Helmet, with nose guard and hinged
cheek pieces (now missing). 5th or
early 4th C. Ex-Guttmann Collection,
via Royal Athena Galleries.
Helmet, Late 4th c. BC, recovered
from the sea off of Sicily. Now in the
Palermo Archaeological Museum.
Horseman in helmet with
crest and two feathers.
Paestum, tomb 114, north
wall, Andriuolo necropolis.
330-320 BC.


Horseman in crested helmet. Paestum, tomb 58, west wall, Andriuolo necropolis. 340 BC.
Horseman in helmet with crest and two feathers. Paestum, tomb 86, west wall, Andriuolo necropolis. 340-330 BC.
Helmeted warriors. Both have central crests.
The one on the left has three feathers, on the
right only two. Paestum, tomb 28, west wall, Andriuolo necropolis. 340-330 BC.
Crested helmet from an arms frieze. Paestum, tomb 28, north wall, Andriuolo necropolis. 340-330 BC.

Dintsis' Tiaraartigen (~"Thracian/Phrygian" types):

Hybrid helmet showing elements of Chalcidian and Tiaraartigen helmets.
Ex-Guttmann Collection. Photos courtesy Legio VI's "Real Gear" page.		Detail of left
cheek piece		Detail of left wing
Apulian red-figure amphora attributed
to the Baltimore Painter. ca. 350-340 BC.
via Sotheby's.


Helmet from Marcellina
(ca. 320 BC)
Helmet from Conversano (second half of the 4th C. BC). Now in the Bari Museum. Dintsis, Hellenistiche Helme (Table 17, no. 5; Insert 2, no. 99).
Helmeted man on a volute crater by the Painter of Loebbecke (340-330 BC). Berlin, Staatliche Museum 1984.42.
Helmet on an amphora from Canosa by the Chiesa Painter (350 BC). Naples, Mus.Arch.Naz 82383.
Crested helmet from a frieze of arms. Paestum, tomb 61, Andriuolo necropolis. Mid 4th c. BC.



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