We have a Gold Helmet!

   We have a really exciting and sensational find here in Budapest, namely a gilded Roman helmet. It can rightly be world famous, really few such magnificent pieces have been produced so far. Even nicely crafted mini reliefs can be seen on it. You are not at fault, if you have not heard of it.

   Let’s see the adveturous story of the gold helmet, for its significance far surpasses the publicity which it has caused. The helmet was unearthed from the Danube on June 25, 1898, during the construction of a bridge in Budapest. It was sunk in the mud, headless, because that’s a very important issue with a helmet. I mean it was only a helmet, without a head inside it. So it isn’t a part of a funeral rite, it was waiting for better times in the depths of the Danube, dreaming its endless dream.

  The first study was written about it by Géza Nagy, published in 1900, a long and exciting study of the helmet, similar helmets and possible connections. In connection with the sensational find, I was expecting a handful of publications, a library of material about the helmet, since 123 years have passed since then, I thought it upset the mood of many and it awake the research spirit of many. Well, that’s not what happened. Aside from a few publications, I could also say that the shooting range dog wasn’t interested in the find either (this is a Hungarian expression, translated word by word). Recent publications also cite a thorough comparative study of Géza Nagy, but they tent to be more bizarre as times goes on.

the restored helmet

  But let’s finally see the helmet. The material of the helmet is iron on which gold plates are attached. In addition, its surface is adorned with color stones, which researchers have underestimated because are not precious stones. Ancient man’s notions of value of the stones were very different from our ideas today. Just think of the Homeric worldview: what is beautiful is good and what is good is beautiful by nature. So it is not the physical value that matters in the stones of the helmet, but its beauty. And it is enough to take a look at the restored helmet to understand it provides a dazzling sight even in the sense of precious stones in today’s sense! There are also small reliefs on the helmet for decoration: winged Victoria ( goddess of victory in honor of the outstanding warriors), a stepping lion and Iuppiter Conservator (Iuppiter the Protector) and an unfortunately severely damaged relief that can no longer be taken out of what it depicted. According to Géza Nagy there should be another crater (mixing vessel) therefore, the symbolism depicted on the helmet is related to the cult of Mithras. There was also an insription on the helmet, but it was distorted by the god Danuvius almost unreadable over the centuries. A letter „o”, an „r” and an „m” can be read.

the engraved motifs of the helmet

  It although a Roman Product, is not really a Roman Helmet, as it was made for Barbarians. What? Gilded helmet? For the barbarians? There, in Contra Aquincum? My heart was pounding in my throat as I read these lines. But 123 years have passed and generations of researchers and archaeologists have been able to resist this exciting tingling that fires that curious man. The answers are still given by Géza Nagy in 1900. Let this article pay tribute to his work for presenting us with an exciting and adventurous investigation from an archaeological study and inspiring writing from the perspective of so many years.

the helmet in the Aquincum Museum

  The study puts the helmet into context, it takes stock of the findings known at the time, which show similar features or are related in some way. That is why it would be very exciting to deal with the helmet even today, as countless new finds have been made and many new discoveries have been made in the meantime. The pearl of the study is the comparison of the finds found in the Hungarian land. Excavation of the Alföld of the mound tombs, what is almost taboo today, at least is not appropriate to deal with. Somewhat, the use of ’migratory age’ and ’Avarian’ and dozens of other adjectives, which practically means ’we have no idea’. Perhaps our barbaric past not European enough? How many Hungarians know the gold treasures of a mound tomb named Borsa? Hardly anyone. And these are sensational findings. Most shocking is the little paragraph about the golden helmet from a little village named Alpár. It was found at the beginning of the 19th century and it was used as a hen drinking (yes, as a bowl for domesticated birds), and then it discreetly disappeared. But not as an ordinary museum robbery, but when the helmet visited Vienna to introduce itself to the Governor. Well, uh…it didn’t come home anymore.

Március 15. Square, home of the helmet

  Then there is the famous Lechfeld helmet, which was supposedly found on a mummy’s head. Throughout the study is so exciting, full of long-forgotten treasures, that have been lost somewhere in the course of history. It’s like walking in a sunking museum…

  Each helmet is a bit like ours, and it’s not. The conclusion is that altough they are similar, and the different findings can be linked, but they are not the same. Something is always different. Roman but it’s not. According to Géza Nagy, it could have been made for a Jazyg prince. But why? And who could have made it? He wore it in battle or just wore it as a fortification in parade processions? Has anyone ever worn this helmet at all, or was it just a rich gift, a means to buy trust, and then spent its days deep in a chest?

excavation at the bridge (later)

  It was thought as a third or fourth centuries AC helmet. Contra Aquincum is a military fortress on the Pest side of the Danube. This is the Barbaric side because Aquincum, Pannonia Provincia and Roman culture mean the Buda side of the Danube. Contra Aquincum is the eastermost checkpoint, a Roman authority for the control of the Danube crossings and the supervision of the barbaric territories at the Danube Bend.

  The question is here at the eastern ends, what is Roman, how Roman is actually. We can see the tombstones that althought the ’natives’ were nominally Romanized, they were hardly in their souls and in their wear (especially the women) too. And what about the non-natives, the later settlers? For example, there were Persian people who brought respect for Mithras, relocated from the ‘Barbarian side’, and there were those who joined the Barbarians, leaving behind the comfort of the Roman Empire. We look at the ancient world through the eyes of the Romans. Obviously, the winner writes history, but in this case, this is not necessarily true. Here in Hungary, we tend to think that there is the Roman Empire on the one hand and the Big Barbarian Nothing on the other hand. Barbarians is a pleasant collective term for not really knowing the peoples of the Carpathian Basin. Who are these Barbarians? Germans? Celts? Jazygs? Persians? Let’s face it, we don’t know for sure. Okay.

   But let’s turn the question around: are the Romans in their hearts really Romans here along the Danube? What does it mean to be a Roman? Maybe this difference isn’t as sharp as we might think.

an old postcard of the bridge

  Why does a Barbarian (committed non-Roman) get a Roman helmet? And why is a helmet ‘Romanlike’, if it doesn’t belong to a Roman? Nor was the Imperial Eagle made a badge to be worn by all tourists who like it. Did he get the helmet? Did he prey it? Did he pay for it? Was it transformed for him? Was it a unique piece or were there more than one (like a diplomatic gift)? Who gave this to a non-Roman someone? And most of all WHY?

  The helmet raises many new questions that go far beyond the question of an ancient find. We may never get exact answers, but we can’t stop searching. And this helmet saw a lot of the world, even if it spent most of its life in the mud of the Danube.

  We have a gold helmet. A magnificent find, a valuable work of art, a witness to bygone ages, a trigger for thoughts. Don’t let indifference bury it!

the square and the bridge nowdays