04/26/2019
This isn't any war helmet -- it's one that was given to Zeus himself at his sanctuary at Olympia, Greece around 474 BC. How do we know? The inscription on it, the translation of which reads: "Hieron the Son of Deinomeneus, and the Syracusans, to Zeus from the Tyrrhenians at Cyme". Hieron ruled Syracuse (now in Sicily) and had led his ships to victory in a naval battle over the Tyrrhenians that year... at Cyme (or Cumae) in the Bay of Naples.
We tend to know the Tyrrhenians by another name: the Etruscans. They were the people who inhabited Italy before the Romans, and who gave their name to that Italian region we all know -- Tuscany. And this battle, at Cumae, was their death knell. After the defeat, their territory, which once stretched from the Bay of Naples up to Mantua, ultimately was taken over by the Romans, Gauls and Samnites.
People sometimes ask how we can trust ancient historians when they talk about a certain battle or event. We can't always, not completely. Which is why art and archaeology are so important. We know about the Battle of Cumae from ancient historians like Diodorus of Sicily (1st century BC) -- but it's artifacts like this one that support those writings and add to our confidence that, yes, this happened. Not to mention that objects like this make these events come to life even more... don't you think?
By the way, this wasn't the only helmet donated to Zeus by grateful ancient warriors after a battle -- for other bronze helmets from 2,500 years ago, check out my mini IG story today ☝️
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