The Roman Imperial Gallic Helmet

The Romans copied many elements of weaponry from their enemies. This is especially true of the helmet that was adopted from the Gauls as the standard imperial issue helmet. The helmet worked especially well for Roman tactics, which required that the soldiers be able to see and hear well in order to hear orders and keep the disciplined ranks of soldiers in order despite the chaos of battle.

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These two helmets show some of the variations in style of helmets, which were made in mass production in shops throughout the empire. The helmet on the left has features of a helmet found in modern Hungary (type J), such as the embossed eyebrows and the fold in the lower back corners of the cheek plates. The helmet on the right is under construction and will be similar to the later type H helmet, as H. Russell Robinson classifies helmet types.

The ear guards are made of bronze in this example helmet which is based on the type "J" found in Hungary. The Roman soldier had excellent hearing and was able to hear and obey orders which allowed the legion to keep order. The brow reinforcement piece across the front of the forehead or located higher is designed to protect the front surface of the helmet from being caved in from blows from edges weapons. A blow along an edge can cave in or split a curved bowl of a helmet if it meets the surface dead on. The brow ridge piece meets the edge of a sword with the localized contact area of another edge, damaging a striking edged weapon and also transferring the blow over a large area of the helmet, which in turn lessen the impact to the wearer's head. The reinforcement can be forged hot in one piece like the one shown or cut out of from 1/8" thick plate steel. You see the two rosettes with the third rivet directly below them forward of the ear guard? Those three rivets attached the iron hinge to the inside surface of the helmet. The hinge is just folded sheet metal (iron, or you can use 18 gauge low carbon steel). A 16 gauge length of wire goes through the hinge to attach the cheek plate. Each end of the wire is 1/4" longer than the width of the hinge itself and the ends of the wire are folded around to the inside of the helmet. Make sure that there are no burrs or sharp edges anywhere on the helmet to avoid getting annoying cuts. There are three offset steps around the back of the neck on the helmet. They can be made with hammer and chisel or a sheet metal roller that has offset rollers fitted on it. The ear guards are made from bronze. They are flange of each ear piece are bent out cold with a hammer on the anvil in three or four passes, with the piece being heated to cherry red and quenched in cold water to soften it between each cold working pass. This allows the bronze to slowly take its final shape without cracking while hammering it. The flange must be carefully shaped to fit the curves of the helmet bowl before being riveted on to avoid gaps.

The top of the helmet has a crest holder that is formed from a piece of bronze. The crest holder would have a forked tab of metal that would slide under this fitting from the front. The crest was fitted fore-aft with the center supported by the bronze or brass crest holder. The front of the crest had a loop of metal or leather which hooked onto a bronze hook between the embossed eyebrows near the front of the helmet. The back of the crest was tied to a ring which was riveted to the back of the helmet. The crest (not shown) was only used during ceremonies or for display and never in combat. It is surmised that the crest was made of wood and horsehair with no metal since no crest parts have ever been found in spite of the many crest holder posts found. The eyebrows on my helmet were created starting with a chisel and lead block from the inside before the two halves of the helmet bowl were welded together. The same effect can be made the old fashioned way using a stake on the inside and a tack hammer to raise the edges of the eyebrows from the outside. The style, exact location, and shape of the eyebrows varies between the styles of Gallic helmets founds throughout the Roman empire. The ones shown here on the Hungarian type "J" helmet are rather simple.

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Type "H" Imperial Gallic Helmet, 2nd Century A.D.

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