The remarkable Illyrian helmet

Illyrian helmets truly stand out and are immediately recognizable. Their particularity is the rectangular opening for the face and two parallel ridges on the top of the crown for the crest.

They may be found all over the Balkan but also in Macedonia and Greece proper and evolved from the 8^th to the 3^rd century BC. The earliest version had a low crown and lacked a neck guard. It was soon followed by a helmet with a more pronounced back guard, the typical horizontal ribs, and a decorative edge around the face often using a series of studs. The most recent model showed elongated cheek pieces and a simple decoration around the edges.
 

An early example is in the Museum of Olympia, Greece which dates from the end of the 7^th century/beginning 6^th century BC. It clearly shows the framing studs. The horizontal ribs are already more pronounced than those shown in my previous post, A rare Illyrian Helmet.

 

The Archaeological Museum in Athens has two beautiful specimens from the 6^th century BC. One is this helmet from Pengaion,  550-500 BC
 
The other is the very telling Funerary Mask (see top picture) from 530-510 BC, which is missing the horizontal slit for the crest between the ridges. It is framing the face of the deceased covered in gold foil.

 

As expected, the Museum of Tirana in Albania has a well-preserved helmet on display. It has been dated to 550-500 BC.

 

The Illyrian helmets are in the news after excavations of the burial mounds on the Peljesac Peninsula in Croatia. Several tombs from the 4^th century BC yielded well-preserved Illyrian helmets that have been dated to the 6^th century BC.

 
The eastern Adriatic coast looks very promising since at least a dozen helmets were found in Dalmatia, and even more in Herzegovina.