Mysterious pre invasion Roman helmet goes on display

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The pre-invasion Roman helmet, known as the Oyster Helmet of Chichester, will go on display. The mystery is how the helmet got to Britain in the first place.

“A mysterious Roman helmet that pre-dates the Roman invasion of Britain is to go on display at Fishbourne Roman Palace next month. Alongside the helmet, other pre-invasion artefacts – a sword scabbard fitting and an Iron Age crucible – will also be displayed.

The helmet, known as the Oyster Helmet of Chichester, is one of just four Coolus helmets in the UK. It was produced during the first century AD, before the Romans began their conquest of Britain. It was acquired by the Sussex Archaeological Society in 1893, and though much of its journey has been lost to history, it is thought to have been found in the mud flats at Chichester Harbour, just a few miles from the Roman Palace at Fishbourne.

“We know that the helmet was mass-produced, made cheaply for a lower status soldier, because it has very few decorations and was ‘spun’ on a lathe. It almost certainly wasn’t made in Rome. It could even be that this helmet was worn by an enslaved person, perhaps someone from Gaul, a region that spanned across modern Europe, who had been conscripted by the Roman army.

 It could be that a Roman soldier had kept his Coolus helmet even after newer helmet designs had replaced it. Maybe a local person had acquired and had decided to dress in Roman gear, we just don’t know!

"Though the helmet had little in the way of decoration when it was worn, the passage of time has rectified this as, from its years underwater, today it boasts an oyster shell!”

 

 

Tom Holland holding the helmet 

 

https://ace.media/press-releases/gBJM