Pages: 237-256

In 1988, a bronze hammered helmet was found by chance on the territory of the burial ground near Apostolidi’s farm in Adygeya. According to P. Dintsis’s classification, this helmet belongs to the pseudo-Attic type. Such helmets appeared at the end of the 4th century BC in Macedonia and Epirus, and were used by Greeks and Galatians during the Hellenistic time mainly in Asia Minor and the Seleucid Middle East. They penetrated far to the east, up to Central Asia.
Ten intact and fragmented pseudo-Attic helmets have been also found by chance in the Sarmatian and Graeco-Roman assemblages in the North Pontic region, from the Danube to the North Caucasus. These helmets appear in two variants: with ridge (such as the helmet from Apostolidi’s Farm) and without it, with a smooth hemispherical calotte. It seems that the ridged version is a bit older than the “smooth” one. Assemblages with the pseudo-Attic helmets could be dated to the period from the end of the 3rd century BC till the end of the 1st century BC. In this article, the authors clarify the terminology and typology of helmets, and discuss the morphology and origin of helmets, chronology and historical context of the pseudo-Attic helmets.

Keywords: North Black Sea region, helmet, cheek-piece, pseudo-Attic type, dating, chronology.

Information about authors:

Boris Raev (Rostov-on-Don, Russian Federation). Candidate of Historical Sciences. Southern Scientific Center of Russian Academy of Sciences. Chekhov Ave., 41, Rostov-on-Don, 344006, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]
Oleksandr Symonenko (Kiev, Ukraine). Doctor of Historical Sciences. Archaeology Institute, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. Geroev Stalingrada Pr., 12, Kiev, 04210, Ukraine
E-mail: [email protected]