EVIDENCE FROM DURA EUROPOS FOR THE ORIGINS OF LATE ROMAN HELMETS

BY

Simon James British Museum, London

Summary. The design of helmets used by the Roman army changed radically about the end of the third century AD. An hitherto unpublished helmet from Dura Europos * provides strong evidence that the "ridge helmets" which make up the bulk of the known example are indeed of Partho-Sassanian inspiration, as has long been suspected. The relationship of "ridge helmets" to two late Roman Spangenhelme from Egypt is reassessed, and a Danubian origin for the latter is proposed. A new model for the development of the various late Roman helmet types is presented.

Introduction

Of the many discoveries made at Dura by Gumont and, later, the Franco-American expedition, the large quantities of remarkably well preserved military equipment rank high in importance. The preservation of organic parts of shields, armour and weapons in the dry desert conditions constituted an unparalleled treasure trove for the military archaeologist. However, in the half century since the great excavations, the material has been unaccountably almost completely neglected. The excavators' original plan was that the series of Final Reports on the Yale/French Academy excavations should include a volume wholly devoted to this material. However, this, the projected Volume VII, the Arms and Armour, was never written (although Donald Wright did prepare a preliminary study in the early 1960s).