Wednesday, September 8, 2021

Punic Wars Spanish Helmet Query

 




The first of my Punic Wars Spanish infantry arrived the other day and I will be cleaning and preparing them for primer later this week. However, I am a bit perplexed by the style of headgear that some of the Spanish soldiers wore. The helmets have something that resembles a havelock sun covering that hangs down the sides of the helmet and also seems to cover the neck.

I’m trying to figure out if this item is some sort of horsehair decoration or some intricate metal smithing of brass for a brass helmet. You can find pictures of the headgear in question at the top of this page.

Somewhere I read that these Spanish helmets were made from sinew, which might suggest that the helmets were woven rather than fashioned out of metal.

If anyone can shed some light about these strange looking helmets, then please leave your input in the comments section below.



11 comments:

  1. I've got the Iberians in 20mm, I just assumed they were metal with a crest and painted them accordingly! I can't recall what Armies and Enemies of Ancient Rome had to say about them.

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  2. This was raised at the last VWC meeting. I've painted my Spanish with headwear to match the mounted figure at the head of your article. However, consensus suggests that it should be a leather covering (I know a few gamers who have painted it as such). But I like the white which is historically inaccurate and probably comes from those WRG books of my youth.

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    1. I checked my old WRG Punic Wars book and could not find the reference to this headgear so perhaps it came from elsewhere though equally i could have missed something.

      Stephen

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    2. Wow, what a major coincidence! I should have been on the VWC last weekend. I will do so this weekend. How did this topic come up?

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  3. A quick Google throws up a reenactment group who suggest leather with an iron or hair crest. Most images you find have it in off white shades with coloured crests, so I went with that for my Punic period Iberian figures.

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  4. Hi Jim,

    my understanding is that these are not metal helmets. I have seen the caps on miniatures painted white or sometimes a pale brown like beige or fawn.

    Peter Connolly in Hannibal and the enemies of Rome has a good illustration. He says Strabo says they are made of sinew. His illustrations are off white with a faint brown or yellow tinge.

    I thought I'd read they were layers of glued linen but I have no idea where that thought comes from

    all the best

    Stephen

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  5. Alte - you are solely responsible for a most enjoyable lunchtime spent Googling... :o) I found these that may help???

    https://wildfiregames.com/forum/uploads/imageproxy/Lusitanians5.jpg.861e4cf710006e03bd08f5530e8ee860.jpg

    This one would bear out what people mentioned above that it was leather strips...

    https://wildfiregames.com/forum/uploads/imageproxy/697509872_fragor_hannibalis_anibal_en_hispania-vestimentaylasarmasdeunguerreropC3BAnico.jpg.06e1d0ed1f496cd57b07dd63a552b685.jpg

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  6. I’m glad that I posted this query because originally I had thought that they were made of bronze. You all have saved me from painting and then having to repaint the headgear. 😀

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  7. The WRG reference is in The Armies of the Macedonian and Punic wars P147 The 'headgear is the sinew helmets described by Strabo, one with a horsehair crest'
    Hope this helps!

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    1. That's how I missed it. My 1971 version only has half that number of drawings!
      Stephen

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    2. Lol! I remember that version! I updated ASAP when the new one came out to correct the errors in version 1, and expand the range of the book!

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