Budapest Régiségei 32. (1998)
TANULMÁNYOK - Kocsis László: Lovassági sisak Albertfalváról 135-142
been found in one of het buildings of the southern sector of the settlement which came into being around the fort. In the possession of informations at our disposal, we know, that the industrial quarter was located north of the fort, 6 so we may render the idea probable, that our piece did not belong to the stock in hand of a workshop, but rather it was part of an inventory in an officer's quarter. (Fig 3.) The notice "between the two walls" in the inventory book, refers to the circumstance, that this building did not belong to the timber period, and it is dated to later times. The objects is a 179 mm high, 118 mm wide and 0,5-0,7 mm thick left-side cheek-piece made of a copper-alloy sheet in the repoussé technique. The surface is slightly curved. Its shape is a rectangle, slightly narrowing towards its base, with a curvilinear rim following the outline of the eye, the protruding cheekbone, the drawn back mouth and the pointed chin. At the back, along the line of the ear, the rim is vertical, and the edge running parallel with the jawbone ataches to it at an obtuse angle. The upper part is a horizontal, rather fragmentary band formed by the U-shaped recurving of the sheet into a hinge. The cheekpiece was attached with this hinge to the calotte. A representation of an eagle standing on a solar disc, or a globe looking back while fluttering its wings and holding an ivy leaf in the beak in repoussé technique, occupies almost the whole surface of the cheek-piece. The plumage is elaborated and in spite of the wear on the protruding parts of the sheet, it is clearly visible. On the right upper part, attaching to the bowl, emerging to some extent from the horizontal line, a stylized line of an ear in natural size was embossed. This part constitutes the upper and rear rim of the cheekpiece. On the ear-lobe a hole is indicated with a small depression, corresponding to a hole for wearing an earring in practice. The main motif, the eagle, is framed by an ambossed ropeshaped garland, running parallel with the rim of the cheek-piece. This frame is partly covered by the ivy leaf and its stem hanging from the ear and held by the eagle. The lower part of the sheet is fragmentary, but the embossed solar disc and the four-pointed, asimmetrically carved spokes of the chariot of fire relatad with it, are still visible. On the rear part of the cheek-piece, under the ear-lobe a rivet hole can be observed, which in all probability served for the fastening of the leather lining inside. Due to the damages on the sheet, we possess only indirect evidences regarding the tie-ring and its riveting at the end of the lower jawbone. 7 Beside the reinforcement of the relatively thin sheet of the cheek-piece, the rim served the safe wear of the helmet. In front and at the right upper corner of the sheet, at the height of the stylized ear, where the face might have been endangered by the edge of the cheek-piece, the rim was shaped as an embossed rib. Further decorations or coating were note obeserved on the surface. The motif of the eagle on military equipment and armour is not a rarity, and similarly to the representations of Mars, Victoria, Minerva, a lion or shields of troops and other heraldic supporters they formed part of triumphal symbolism. It seems nevertheless, that the eagle turning back is found only in the Danube region. Its places of occurence form north to south-east are: the cheek-piece of the copper-alloy helmet form Theilenhofen 8 , on the horse armour form Eining 9 , on the horse armours from Straubing 10 , on the maskhelmet form Aschberg", on a cheek-piece form Wels 12 , on a cheekpiece from Carnuntum 13 , furthermore on the cheek-piece from Gerulata 14 . On these pieces the embossed picture of an eagle turning back its head apperas, fluttering its wings and holding a wreath in its beak. The eagle representations on breastplates belonging to scale armour must also be mentioned; the decorative elements of this group, in a similar way to the former one, are also characteristic to the Danube region. 15 The figure, appearing on the Albertfalva piece, is known only from one of the Eining horse armours 16 , where the eagle stands on a stylized solar disc or a globe decorated with the four spokes of a wheel. In the overwhelming majority of the cases, except the breastplates, the eagle turning back its head, holds a wreaths in its beak. In our case, in a unique manner, the eagle holds an ivy leaf with a long stem. Among the helmet types of Pannónia, and in the same time those of the Roman Empire, the repoussé helmets with or without masks occupy a separate place. The Greeks used such helmets at sports during the classical era 17 . It was already known at the beginning of the 2nd century B.C. on the territory of the Kingdom of Pergamum, where it appears as a piece of equipment worn by Greek warriors on the reliefs from the temple of Athena Polias Nikiphoros. 18 The Romans had got acquainted with and used them until the end of the 3rd century. Robinson, who had worked out their typology, calls this helmet type cavalry sports helmets 19 . On the basis of their formal appearance and manufacturing technologies he divided the helmets and masks belonging to these types into several groups. According to the formal analysis of our cheek-piece, and its comparison with the possible types of calotts to which it may have belonged, we may reckon with two helmet types of different functions: on the one hand with a battle helmet for everyday use, and with a parade helmet worn at special occasions, on the other. The first possible type is the Auxiliary Cavalry H 20 , which is not a parade helmet. (Fig. 4.) On the calotts of this type, which could have been made of iron or copper-alloy, or eventually the combination of these two, a cheek-piece almost identical in form with that from Albertfalva were applied. The protruding earguard kown from earlier helmet types, plays no part on these types indeed, but rather a representation of a natural sized ear appears on the cheek-pieces, which latter wrapped totally enven those parts of the head (i.e. the ears) which were left earlier uncovered. This type of cavalry helmets represents the latest phase of that development which had begun in the middle third of the 2nd century, with the aim to create types serving cavalry purposes as well, form helmet types used by the infantry. 21 At the consideration of the next possibility regarding the use of our cheek-piece, we may reckon with two typological variants. In both cases we may seek the calotte, to which our piece had belonged originally, among the furher developments of the Cavalry Sports parade helmets G-H, furthermore the typological variants of "I" according to the terminology and classification of Robinson. At one end of the typological series stands the almost entirely intact crested copper-alloy helmet with a decorated brow plate from Theilenhofen, (Fig. 5.) made with the raised relief technology 22 , which is equipped with a cheek-piece having minor differences in comparison to that from Albertfalva. On this calotte the embossed shape of the eagle with fluttering wings or the eagle-headed crest appears, konwn also from tow low-backed helmets preserved in the 139
