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Description: | The copper-alloy helmet crest, probably originally from a figurine of the Roman God Mars or Goddess Minerva. The crest is curvilinear in shape, to accomodate the curve of the now missing helmet and incomplete due to old breaks which can be seen along its inside edge. The crest measures 62mm in length, measures straight from tip to tip. The incomplete inside edge of the crest thickens towards its upper tip, measuring 13mm in width and 14mm in thickness, the terminal of which would not have been attached to the rest of the helmet but which have overhung it. The crest narrows towards the base of the crest, which would have been positioned at the base of the helmet, it measures 8mm in width and 5mm in thickness at this point. Behind the incomplete edge there is a longitudinal groove on both faces. Beyond this there are two longitudinal curvilinear projections, creating the two halfs of the helmet crest proper. Each projection flares outwards at about 45 degrees from the inside edge, and has elogated mouldings with rounded terminals along its length. These could represent feathers or leaf fronds, there are 16 of these along each outer face, each one with a central incised groove with smaller diagonal grooves on either side of this. There is a deep central longitudinal groove in between the two halfs of the crest on the back face and at the wider top end of the crest there are three parallel forwards slanting mouldings. Both Minerva and Mars bronze religious figurines have been discovered with helmet crests of this type and without the rest of the figurine it is impossible to say with certainty which God or Goddess is being represented here. A large ten inch high Mars bronze figurine with a very similar large flaunting crest and otherwise naked has been discovered in Foss Dyke, Lincolnshire and dated to the 2nd or 3rd century AD (Toynbee 1962, no 16, p131, fig 19), a smaller similar figure of Mars, 3 1/4 inches high, has been found at the temple site of Bruton, Somerset as well as a bronze fingurine of Minerva with a heavily crested corinthian helmet these examples are again dated to the 2nd or 3rd century AD (Toynbee 1962, no 17, p131, fig 15 and no 26, p136, fig 23-24). This crest is therefore likely to have derived from a bronze figurine of religious significance and of a similar date and is likely to have been nearer in size to the Somerset examples rather than the large Foss Dyke example.
Original Image | Publisher: | http://finds.org.uk | Source: | Portable Antiquities | Identifier: | http://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/r... | Go to resource |
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