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Galea

The helmet is probably one of the most distinguishable elements of any period or any army.  The Roman Galea (Latin for helmet) is no different.  Throughout the Roman period there have been many styles ranging from the Greek Corinthian and Attic styles to the late Roman Itercisa.  Each one of these styles were designed for a unique purpose.  Each one made with very different materials and elements.
 
For the time period that Legio VI recreates we accept the helmets from the Imperial-Gallic series A through H, Coolus series C through G, and Imperial-Italic series A through D.  The Imperial Gallic series of helmets goes from A to K.  The Coolus series of helmets goes from A to I, and the Imperial Italic goes from A to H.  While most of the helmets that are listed, and accepted by Legio VI, are readily available from Deepeeka the rest can be done by custom armorers on request. 
 
** = Helmets provided by Deepeeka

Pictures Coming Soon!

Imperial-Gallic A (Nijmegen): **
            This helmet was found with fragments of a shield and known type of Augustan pottery outside the defences of the fort at Nijmegen, Netherlands.  The helmet is made of iron and closely resembles the helmet from Port near Nidau.

Imperial-Gallic C (Krefeld): **
            This helmet was found near Krefeld, Germany.  Evidence dates the loss of this helmet to AD 69 during the Batavian revolt.  This helmet was a unique find because is was covered by an organic fur-like material (marten), no cheek peices, no neck guard, or any attachments.  The rivets remained for evidence of cheek peices and the neck guard appeared to be chiseled off.

Imperial-Gallic D (Mainz):
            This helmet was found in Tomb 17, Idria pri Baci, Verdun, Slovenia.  The neck guard is horizontal, the cheeck peices feature four ornate rivets, and was found with no ear protectors.

Imperial-Gallic E (Amsterdam):
            This helmet was found near the fort at Valkenburg, Netherlands.  It is made of Iron.  The right bronze ear guard is still with the helmet and the front ring to hold the crest is still intact.

Imperial-Gallic F (Besancon): **
            This helmet was found in 1885 in the amphitheatre ruins at Besançon, in one of the entrance passages, beneath a votive plate, France.  Made of Iron.  Originally, the helmet may have been plated in silver and decorated with copper rivets.  The interior of the skull showed traces of leather.

Imperial-Gallic G (Worms): **
            This helmet was found near the Rhine River near Worms, Germany.  Made of Iron with bronze edging.  It features three brass bosses on the cheek peices and neck guard, and has two more brass bosses around the rivets holding the cheek peices.  It also features a hinged carrying handle on the back of the neck guard.

Imperial-Gallic H (Augsburg):  **
            This helmet was found near the River Lech, near Augsburg, Bavaria, Germany.  It is made of Iron with bronze edging.  The condition of this helmet is in horrible same.  No cheek, ear, or forehead protection and the metal is all but gone! 

Coolus C (Augsburg): **
        The copy appears to have had a crest knob added, although for this model this should not be the case. Alternatively, it may simply be the angle from which the photograph is taken and the crest knob is attached to the helmet behind, which is otherwise invisible.

Coolus D (Nijmegan): **
         This helmet was found at a dredging site on the Rhine at Lobith, Province of Gelderland, Netherlands.  This helmet has an inscription on the neck guard that reads "IRVI/IVNI SENCVDI" and the plume on the top of the helmet is sodered on.

Coolus E (London):  **
        This helmet is made of bronze.  Found near Northcott Hill, Northchurch, Hertfordshire, during the digging of the Grand Junction canal between Tring and Berkhampstead.  The crest holder knob is soldered to the top.

Coolus F (Sussex):
        This helmet is made of bronze.  It was found in the Bosham Harbour, the white object on the top of the helmet bowl is an oyster that grew in that position. The helmet is too delicate for it to be removed.

Coolus G (Leiden): **
        This helmet was made of bronze.  Three punched inscriptions on the brow band and the neck guard: (a) C(enturia) QUINTI .PETRONI Q(uinti) VALERI, (b) C.CATVLI/C(aius).API, (c) C. CATVLI.L(ucii). CORNELI. The helmet therefore had three owners one after the other: from the Century of Q. Valerius: Q. Petronius, C. Apius and L. Cornelius from the Century of the Catulus. Dated before 30 AD because of the absence of the Cognomina.  This helmet is from Waal at Nijmeden 1881 in the Netherlands.

Imperial-Italic A (Naples):
        This helmet was made of bronze.  This helmet was found in Herculaneum, Italy.  The embossed decoration on the brow of the helmet bowl seems to suggest the frontal portion of an 'attic' helmet. The rear neck guard, very small in size, seems to be edged with a bronze strip. The cheek guards are very large and carry several small holes that may have been used to attach a lining of some kind.

Imperial-Italic B (Zagreb): **
        This helmet is made of Iron.  This helmet was found at Klakanje in modern day Croatia.  Iron helmet bowl, with an appreciable step down behind the ears.  There are three embosssed ridges at the rear of the skull.  Around the brow there is a reeded strip of bronze. The rear of the neck guard also has a bronze strip applied.

Imperial-Italic C (Cremona): **
        This helmet is made of bronze.  This helmet was found in the River Po at Cremona, Italy.  There are three embossed ridges at the rear of the occiput. The crest holder at the apex of the crown is of the twist-on type. A hook is riveted at the front and back to secure the crest box. The neck guard also has a single embossed ridge.  The cheek guards have a hollow rim combined with a raised panel in the centre.

Imperial-Italic D (Worms): **
        This helmet is made of Iron with brass sheet decoration.  This helmet was found on the Rhine in Mainz, Germany.  The crest attachment, a variant of 'twist-on' type has a T-shaped slot.  The reinforcing peak (of bronze) is flattened and tapers to a thin forward edge that is notched at intervals, indicating that it may have suffered several blows.  The decorative brass work applied at the rear of the helmet covers the reinforcing ridges (3) and continues down over the neck guard. Similar strips cover the hinge plates of the cheek guards.

 
Here is what “Roman Military Equipment: From the Punic Wars to the Fall of Rome” by M.C. Bishop & J.C.N. Coulston has to say about the Galea.
 
Perhaps one of the best attested forms of Roman equipment from this period, the helmet can be seen to have had a number of different traditions which gradually began to blend.  However, helmet studies are hindered, rather than furthered, by the various systems of classification in use: continetal scholars preferring a clumsy type-site nomenclature, and the British using Robinson's inflexible scheme (with its implied linearity of development).  The essential characteristics of the helmets introduced in the 1st century AD were a bowl and broad, ribbed neck-guard manufactured in one piece, a browguard, and large hinged cheek-pieces.  Helmets now also began to feature cut-outs on the side of the bowl for the ears, some even having added ear-protectors.  The browguard and ribbing on the neck were probably designed to counter (or at least hinder) slashing blows travelling downwards, whilst the neck-guard quite clearly protected the back of the head and shoulders.
 
The Coolus and Montefortino types continued from the Republic, whilst the Imperial-Gallic (also known as 'Weisenau') and Imperial-Italic types soon came to the fore, so that a trend towards a deeper neck and broader neck-guard is detectable amongst the better-dated pieces.  The earliest piece that is recognisably Roman was found in an Augustan grave at Nigmegen, but there are a number of similar helmets from undated contexts which appear to belong to the same stage of development.  However, examples of the Agen-Port type of helmets, although technically pre-Roman, may well have been used by Celtic auxiliaries in the service of the Romans,  and this would provide a likely mechanism for the introduction of this helmet to the regular soldiers of the legions.
 
The Imperial-Gallic helmet was usually (but not exclusively) manufactured of iron, the bowl having to be beaten out over a former.  It was characterized by a pair of stylized eyebrows on the front of the helmet bowl.  Trimmed with brass piping and decorated with brass bosses (sometimes enamelled), these are amongst the finest helmets produced by the Romans.  Imperial-Italic helmets, on the other hand, lacked the quality of finish displayed by their Imperial-Gallic counterparts, although they had many of the same design tendencies.  Crests could be fitted to helmets, for which purpose a forked crest-box holder could be slide or twistedinto a plate on top of the bowl, and plume-tubes on the side of the bowl could receive decorative plumes.  No example of a crest-box has survived from this period, but we know how wide they must have been from the crest-box holders.  Nor, curiously enough, have any fittings been identified that might have belonged to the transverse crest worn by centurions.  Many helmets, both iron and copper-alloy, were tinned or silvered.
 
When not in use, helmets might be protected by leather covers and an example enclosed in this way has been found at Vindonissa. 

 
Suppliers:
 
Deepeeka offers the Gallic helmets A, C, F, G, H, Coolus helmets C, D, E, G, and Italic helmets B, C, and D .  Most if not all have these have been updated and improved by the help of RAT.  Remember, all Deepeeka products can be purchased through Soul of the Warrior.
 
Manning Imperial makes a couple of Roman helmets; Coolus and Imperial-Gallic.  The pictures are a little off but also a couple of years old.
 
Lonely Mountain Forge makes several Roman helmets; Montefortino, Gallic G and I, etc...  These are custom helmets he always has orders ahead of yours so it will take some time but well worth the wait!

Pictures and information on orginal helmets from Roman Army Talk helmet data base.

LEG VI Ferrata Fidelas Constans * 104 Hunters Wood Drive * Summerville * SC * 29485 * 843-437-5587 * The Iron Legion!