Horned helmet
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Horned helmets were worn by many people around the world. Headpieces mounted with animal horns or replicas were also worn since ancient history, as in the Mesolithic Star Carr Frontlets. These were probably used for religious ceremonial or ritual purposes, as horns tend to be impractical on a combat helmet. Much of the evidence for these helmets and headpieces comes from depictions rather than the items themselves.
Prehistoric Middle East & CyprusEdit
Horned hats have been used to signify deities in Mesopotamia and Cyprus, and also kings, as seen on the Victory Stele of Naram-Sin. More horns signified higher importance.Template:Cn
- Horned deity.jpg
Near Eastern horned deity copper statuette (proto-Elamite 3000–2800 BC)
- Victory stele of Naram Sin 9062.jpg
King Naram-Sin on the Victory Stele of Naram-Sin (2254–2218 BC).
- Gehörnter Gott, Enkomi.jpg
Bronze "Horned God" from Enkomi (12th century BC), Cyprus Archaeological Museum, Nicosia.
- Barren-Gott, Enkomi, 12. Jh. v. Chr. C.jpg
Bronze "Ingot God" from Enkomi (12th century BC), Cyprus Archaeological Museum, Nicosia.
EuropeEdit
Prehistoric EuropeEdit
Two bronze statuettes dated to the early 12th century BC, the so-called "horned god" and "ingot god", found in Enkomi, Cyprus have horned helmets. In Sardinia warriors with horned helmets are depicted in dozens of bronze figures and in the Mont'e Prama giant statues, similar to those of the Shardana warriors (and possibly belonging to the same people) depicted by the Egyptians.
A pair of bronze horned helmets, the Veksø helmets, from the later Bronze Age (dating to Template:Circa) were found near Veksø, Denmark, in 1942.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Another early find is the Grevensvænge hoard from Zealand, Denmark, (Template:Circa, now partially lost).
The Waterloo Helmet, a Celtic bronze ceremonial helmet with repoussé decoration in the La Tène style, dating to Template:Circa, was found in the River Thames, at London. Its abstracted 'horns', different from those of the earlier finds, are straight and conical.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Late Gaulish helmets (Template:Circa) with small horns and adorned with wheels, reminiscent of the combination of a horned helmet and a wheel on plate C of the Gundestrup cauldron (Template:Circa), were found in Orange, France. Other Celtic helmets, especially from Eastern Europe, had bird crests. The enigmatic Torrs Pony-cap and Horns from Scotland appears to be a horned champron to be worn by a horse.
- Veksø-hjelmene DO-2348 original.jpg
The Veksø horned helmets, from the later Bronze Age (Template:Circa).
- Man with horned helmet Grevensvænge Nationalmuseet.jpg
Horned helmet bronze figurine (c. 8th century BC), Denmark.
- Taranto (forse), elmo di tipo corinzio aracico, 650 ac ca..JPG
Taranto (perhaps), horned Corinthian helmet (Template:Circa).
- Horned helmet.jpg
The Waterloo Helmet (Template:Circa), Thames, England.
- Gundestrup cauldron 20170717 detail n2 (cropped 2).jpg
Horned helmet figure on plate C of the Gundestrup cauldron (2nd–1st century BC).
- Bronze Gladiator Helmets & Breastplate, The British Museum, Bloomsbury, London (cropped).jpg
Horned bronze gladiator helmet.
European Migration PeriodEdit
Depicted on the Arch of Constantine, dedicated in AD 315, are Germanic soldiers, sometimes identified as "Cornuti", shown wearing horned helmets. On the relief representing the Battle of Verona (312) they are in the first lines, and they are depicted fighting with the bowmen in the relief of the Battle of the Milvian Bridge.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
A depiction on a Migration Period (5th century) metal die from Öland, Sweden, shows a warrior with a helmet adorned with two snakes, or dragons, arranged in a manner similar to horns. Decorative plates of the Sutton Hoo helmet (Template:Circa) depict spear-carrying dancing men wearing horned helmets,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> similar to a figure seen on one of the Torslunda plates from Sweden.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Also, a pendant from Ekhammar in Uppland, features the same figure in the same pose and an 8th century find in Staraya Ladoga (a Norse trading outpost at the time) shows an object with similar headgear. An engraved belt-buckle found during excavations by Sonia Chadwick Hawkes in a 7th century grave at Finglesham, Kent in 1964 bears the image of a naked warrior standing between two spears wearing a belt and a horned helmet;<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> a case has been made<ref name=Simpson-1979>Template:Cite journal</ref>Template:Efn that the much-repaired chalk figure called the "Long Man of Wilmington", East Sussex, repeats this iconic motif, and originally wore a similar cap, of which only the drooping lines of the neckguard remain. This headgear, of which only depictions have survived, seems to have mostly fallen out of use with the end of the Migration period. Some have suggested that the figure in questionTemplate:Which does not portray actual headgear, but a mythological object of a god like Odin.Template:Citation needed A one-eyed figure with similar headgear was found at the site of Uppåkra temple, an alleged center of an Odinic-cult activity. A similar figurine from Levide, Gotland, lacked an eye, apparently removed after its completion. This would link the headgear as a mythological representations rather than depictions of actual helmets.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Note that the similar crests to the animal figures on the helmets of the warrior's depicted on the Sutton Hoo helmet has been demonstrated on helmets from Valsgärde, but the depicted crests where grossly exaggerated.
- Sutton Hoo helmet fig1 - reconstructed-known.svg
Figures with bird-horned helmets from the Sutton Hoo helmet (Template:Circa).
- 40DB05a (FindID 191137).jpg
Early Anglo-Saxon gilded copper-alloy mount of bird-horned helmet figure (Template:Circa).
- Torslundaplåtarna - Historiska museet - 618349 HST - 324349 (cropped).jpg
Bird-horned helmet figure on one of the Torslunda plates (Template:Circa).
European Middle AgesEdit
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During the High Middle Ages, fantastical headgear became popular among knights, in particular for tournaments.<ref>See the depiction of Wolfram von Eschenbach, and others, in the Codex Manesse.</ref> The achievements or representations of some coats of arms, for example that of Lazar Hrebeljanovic, depict them, but they rarely appear as charges depicted within the arms themselves. It is sometimes argued that helmets with large protuberances would not have been worn in battle due to the impediment to their wearer. However, impractical adornments have been worn on battlefields throughout history.
- Hyghalmen Roll Late 1400s.jpg
The German Hyghalmen Roll, c. late 15th century, illustrates both winged helmets and a horned helm crests in the arms of Dalheim, bottom row.
- Horned helmet (14203682544) (cropped).jpg
Great helm of Albert von Pranckh, 14th century, showing the style often used by the Teutonic order.
- Ströhl Heraldischer Atlas t11 4.jpg
Some horned great helms depicted among jousting frog-mouth helms.
- Coat of arms of Valdemar IV of Denmark.svg
Coat of arms of medieval Danish King Valdemar the Conqueror depicting horns on his metal helmet.
In AsiaEdit
In pre-Meiji Restoration Japan, some Samurai armor incorporated a horned, plumed or crested helmet. These horns, used to identify military commanders on the battlefield, could be cast from metal, or made from genuine water buffalo horns.
Indo-Persian warriors often wore horned or spiked helmets in battle to intimidate their enemies. These conical "devil masks" were made from plated mail, and usually had eyes engraved on them.
- "Samurai Art of War" exibition (Выставка "Самураи Art of War") (5911457625) (helmet).jpg
Japanese kabuto with buffalo horns.
- 0710 Waffen und Rüstungen aus dem Historischen Museum in Sanok (cropped).JPG
Indo-Persian Devil Mask, cuirass and scimitar.
Popular association with VikingsEdit
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Viking warriors are often associated with horned helmets in popular culture, but this is merely a modern association starting in the 1800s, initially popularized by the Norse operas of Richard Wagner, which depicted horns and wings on the helmets of the Vikings.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Contemporary Viking Age texts and stories regularly mention helmets, but never mention horned headgear. Christian writers, who were keen to portray the Vikings as barbaric and uncivilized, omitted the mention of horns.<ref name="varldenshistoria">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The few period helmets found thus far do not feature horns, instead coinciding with the construction of earlier Vendel Period spectacle helmets. The helmet descriptions found in the period epic poem Beowulf also coincide with the Vendel era helmets, as well as earlier Germanic boar helmets, which also lack horns. The only find of Scandinavian horned helmets are the Bronze Age Veksø Helmets and depictions of ceremonial "bird horned" headgear on Migration Period trinkets – see Template:Section link. Historians generally believe that if horned headgear existed during the Viking Age, it was not worn regularly.<ref name="varldenshistoria"/> This misconception has been debunked repeatedly by historians and archaeologists, but it persists widely in pop culture due to its strong visual symbolism.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
A 20th-century example is the Minnesota Vikings American football team, whose logo carries a horn on each side of the helmet. The comic strip character Hägar the Horrible and all male Vikings in the animated TV series Vicky the Viking are always depicted wearing horned helmets, as are numerous characters in the DreamWorks How to Train Your Dragon franchise and in The Lost Vikings video game series. Another popular culture depiction is the homage to Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen by Merrie Melodies in the Chuck Jones-directed cartoon What's Opera, Doc?, which depicts Elmer Fudd wearing a magical horned Viking helmet as he chases Bugs Bunny.
GalleryEdit
- Man in horn helmet.jpg
Man in horned helmet, Ghana
- Medieval azerbaijani helmet 3.JPG
Horned medieval azerbaijani helmet
- Medieval azerbaijani helmet 6.JPG
Horned medieval azerbaijani helmet
- Horned Helmet Royal Armouries Museum leeds.JPG
Austrian 16th century horned helmet, Royal Armouries Museum
- Celtic horse helmet - geograph.org.uk - 1341264.jpg
Celtic horned horse helmet
See alsoEdit
FootnotesEdit
ReferencesEdit
External linksEdit
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