Emesa helmet

The Emesa helmet (also known as the Homs helmet) is a Roman cavalry helmet from the early first century AD. It consists of an iron head piece and face mask, the latter of which is covered in a sheet of silver and presents the individualised portrait of a face, likely its owner. Decorations, some of which are gilded, adorn the head piece. Confiscated by Syrian police soon after looters discovered it amidst a complex of tombs in the modern-day city of Homs in 1936, eventually the helmet was restored thoroughly at the British Museum, and is now in the collection of the National Museum of Damascus. It has been exhibited internationally, although as of 2017, due to the Syrian civil war, the more valuable items owned by the National Museum are hidden in underground storage.

Ornately designed yet highly functional, the helmet was probably intended for both parades and battle. Its delicate covering is too fragile to have been put to use during cavalry tournaments, but the thick iron core would have defended against blows and arrows. Narrow slits for the eyes, with three small holes underneath to allow downward sight, sacrificed vision for protection; roughly cut notches below each eye suggest a hastily made modification of necessity.

The helmet was found in a tomb near a monument to a former ruler of Emesa and, considering the lavishness of the silver and gold design, likely belonged to a member of the elite. As it is modelled after those helmets used in Roman tournaments, even if unlikely to have ever been worn in one, it may have been given by a Roman official to a Syrian general or, more likely, manufactured in Syria after the Roman style. The acanthus scroll ornamentation seen on the neck guard recalls that used on Syrian temples, suggesting that the helmet may have been made in the luxury workshops of Antioch.

The Emesa helmet is made of iron and consists of two parts: a head piece and a face mask. The head piece, which includes a neck guard, is made of one piece of iron and attached decorations. Attached to it are silver decorations, some of which are gilded in whole or in part: a diadem, a circular forehead rosette, a strip of metal serving as a crest, two ear guards, and a decorative plate over the neck guard. The ear guards are each attached by three rivets, the top and bottom of which help hold the diadem and decorative plate, respectively, to the head piece; the edges of the diadem and plate are folded over the iron core for additional support. The face mask hangs from the head piece by a central hinge, and would be fastened with straps connecting a loop under each ear with corresponding holes in the neck guard. The entire helmet, the iron core of which is between 1 and 6 millimetres thick, weighs 2.217 kg (4.89 lb), of which the face mask comprises 982 g (2.16 lb).

The head piece is made of iron, now rusted. The top contains a dent, and shows the rusted impression of what once was a woven and likely colourful or patterned fabric. From ear to ear around the forehead runs a gilded diadem in the image of a laurel wreath, a traditional symbol of victory. Each side contains thirteen elements, each of three leaves and two berries. The leaves are worked in repoussé, and stand out in strong relief with nearly straight walls. Above the centre of the diadem is a rosette; it shows a flower with two rows, each of six petals, and an outer beaded border. The beading and the outer row of petals are in white silver, contrasting with the gilding of the inner row, the background, and the central rivet anchoring the rosette to the head piece. A narrow fluted strip serving as a crest, smooth silver with beaded edges, runs down the middle of the head piece from the rosette to the neck guard. The relative simplicity and inferiority of artisanship expressed by the crest and rosette may reflect repairs made locally, away from the luxury workshops of Antioch; unlike with the diadem, for example, the background of the rosette was not carefully punched down, but was flattened with a tubular instrument and now presents as a series of rings.

The neck guard, flared outward to protect the shoulders, is covered with a decorative plate consisting of three horizontal designs. At the top, over the base of the skull, a large torus of ivy leaves is bordered by cords; the ivy is gilded, though the cords are not. In the middle, a smooth and concave transitional zone corresponds to the hollow of the neck. At the bottom, an acanthus rinceau, or scroll, is interspersed with birds and butterflies. Portions of the bottom ornamentation are gilded, giving the helmet, with all its silver, gold, and iron components, a polychrome appearance. The ear guards encroach slightly on the bottom design, suggesting that they were not created specifically for the helmet.

The face mask is made of iron, and covered with a sheet of silver. The central hinge from which it hangs is made of three parts: an iron tube welded to the interior head piece with an exterior silver tube, a notched silver tube fixed to the face mask that envelops the first part, and a pin which passes through both and has a silver knob at each end. The mask is shaped in the form of a human face. Holes are drilled between the lips and as nostrils; the eyes each have a narrow slit, with three holes in a trefoil design, two round holes outside and a heart-shaped hole in the middle, underneath each eye to allow for a greater range of vision. These apparently were not enough, for a small and rudimentary notch was carved into each of the heart-shaped holes to increase the wearer's vision. The mask is approximately 2 millimetres thick, of which the silver, which is folded around both the edges and each hole to hold it to the iron, accounts for between .25 and .5 millimetres.

Distinctive features cover the face mask. The nose is long and fleshy with a prominent bump, and extends high between the eyes. The cheekbones are low yet prominent, and the small mouth, which droops toward the sinister side, shows a thick lower lip. Other features—the eyes and eyebrows, and the chin—are more conventional. The distinctive features suggest that the maker of the Emesa helmet attempted to translate some of the individual characteristics of the wearer's face into the helmet.