helmet

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Object Type
Museum number: 1823,0610.1
Description: Bronze Etruscan helmet of the Negau type with an inscribed text in the Syracusan Greek alphabet; domed body made of hammered sheet bronze, lower part concave, with a small lip around the bottom edge; the inscription translates 'Hieron, son of Deinomenes, and the Syracusans, [dedicated] to Zeus Etruscan [spoils] from Cumae': the object is believed to have been captured at the battle of Cumae in 474 BC and deposited in the Sanctuary of Zeus at Olympia as a dedication to the god.
Cultures/periods
Production date: 474BC (circa)
Production place: Made in: Etruria (Italy - archaic)
Findspot: Excavated/Findspot: Olympia
Materials
Type series
Technique
Dimensions: Height: 19.80 centimetres; Weight: 744 grammes; Width: 21.70 centimetres; Depth: 24 centimetres
$Inscriptions
Curator's comments: See S. Haynes, Etruscan civilization. A cultural history (London: British Museum Press, 2000), pp. 261-262.
Bibliographic references: Bronze / Catalogue of the Bronzes in the British Museum. Greek, Roman & Etruscan. (250); Cook 1987 / Greek inscriptions (p. 56, fig. 52); Inscription / The Collection of Ancient Greek Inscriptions in the British Museum (1155); CIG (16); Cristofani 1985 / Civilta degli Etruschi (9.21.1)
Location: On display (G73/dc54)
Exhibition history: 1980, 5 Jun- 26 Oct, London, BM, The Ancient Olympic Games 2008, 1 May-12 Jul, Shanghai, The Ancient Olympic Games 2008, 2 Aug-31 Sep, Hong Kong, The Ancient Olympic Games 2012-2013, Sep- Jan, Sicily, Museo Archeologica Regionale "Paolo Orsi" di Siracusa. 2013, 3 Apr-19 Aug, Los Angeles, Getty Villa at the J Paul Getty Museum "Sicily: Between Greece and Rome" 2013-2014, Sept-Jan, Cleveland Art Museum, 'Sicily: Between Greece and Rome' 2016, 28 Apr-14 Aug, London, British Museum, Sicily: Culture and Conquest 2017, 11 Apr-27 Nov, Scavi di Pompei, Pompei e i Greci
Subjects
Associated names: Named in inscription: Hieron I, Syracuse; Named in inscription: Zeus/Jupiter
Associated places: Named in inscription: Cumae (Campania - archaic)
Acquisition name: Donated by: George IV, King of the United Kingdom; Donated through: Capt Sir Everard Home
Previous owner
Acquisition date: 1823
Acquisition notes: The Donation Letter is bound in the volume D. Bronsted, Sopra un'Iscrizione Greca scolpita in un antico elmo di bronze rinvenuto nelle ruine di Olimpia del Peloponneso (Naples, 1820), in the Library of the Department of Greece and Rome. It reads "The accompanying helmet is most respectfully offered for His Majesty's gracious acceptance by Major General Sir Patirck Ross, late Resident in the Island of Zante. This valuable antique was found amidst the Ruins of Olympia in the year 1817, and belonged, as its inscription derides, to a monument dedicated in the 5th century before Christ, to Jupiter by Hiero the 1st of Syracuse in commemoration of his victory at the Olympic Games. The monument is described in the 3rd volume of Pausanis. (address) August 1821."
Department: Greek and Roman
Registration number: 1823,0610.1
Conservation: Treatment: 09 Apr 2003; Treatment: 29 Jun 1992

Free entry

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