Roman Infantry Face Masks

[DecimusCaesar]

I've been fascinated for a while now by the controversial idea by Italian archaeologist Raffaele D'Amato that face masks recovered in Roman military contexts, such as forts etc, are not simply parade items or for use in the Hippika Gymnasia, but were worn for battle too, perhaps by the infantry as well as the cavalry. His arguement seems to be that so many have been discovered in forts, and even in contexts such as battles (the famous mask uncovered in Teutobergerwald being a famous example)would put it beyond use by only the cavalry units - who were small in number compared to the infantry.

 

Also in Arrian's description of the Cavalry Sports in AD 136 he mentions that only the most distinguished men wore decorated helmets, and not all of them had face masks. This would again limit their use, but too many masks have been recovered from military sites to put it down to just use in cavalry sports. Could it be that the infantry wore masks too, perhaps to terrify the enemy as the cavalry were known to do?

[caldrail]

I wouldn't rule it out but Roman policy on helmets was to avoid obstructing the senses as much as possible, thus ears, nose, mouth, and eyes are not covered and incidentially whilst I understand the researchers inferences, there's nothing I've seen to suuggest that infantry used masks. It might simply be religious in nature if they did, not necessarily for combat.

[Bryaxis Hecatee]

Like Caldrail I would not rule it out but when I look at the evidences as presented, for exemple, in Michel Feug

[DecimusCaesar]

I wouldn't rule it out but Roman policy on helmets was to avoid obstructing the senses as much as possible, thus ears, nose, mouth, and eyes are not covered and incidentially whilst I understand the researchers inferences, there's nothing I've seen to suuggest that infantry used masks. It might simply be religious in nature if they did, not necessarily for combat.

 

I think you are both right. There isn't much in the way of direct evidence for masks worn by infantrymen, but it is not entirely outside the scope of possibility. I think most Roman inftantrymen favoured sensory abilities over protection, as the Greeks did before them. The Pileus helmet was favoured by most Greeks during the Peloponnesian War, but the Corinthian types, which favoured protecting the face and ears over the ability of the wearer to see and hear properly, was still used. The same could be said for Medieval Knights who wore helmets that often restricted their vision and hearing considerably.

 

* edited: changed Pylos helmet to Pileus helmet.

Edited February 10, 2013 by DecimusCaesar