Intercisa Helmets

Intercisa Helmets

A late Roman helmet that has proven the favourite of re-enactors, reconstructors, and scholars of the Dominate-era army, this set of helmets boast a simple but dependable design that also proved popular in the Roman army for over a century.

Overview

Another of the helmets from the Dominate period which lends its name to a typology, the Intercisa helmets boast considerably different features to their Berkasovo cousins - no less iconic for this, the Intercisa type is one recognisable by enthusiasts of Roman history around the world due to its prevalence in modern artwork and reconstructions featured in several media productions regarding the later Roman era. This article will, as per usual, delve into the context and specifics of this finds group and in particular ask whether the Intercisa type was necessarily as commonplace compared to the Berkasovo type as we are led to believe. 

Location and Context

As the name implies, the Intercisa helmets were found in the same context in a hoard of between 14 to 19 other helmets (currently four of which, the now-dubbed Intercissa I-IV, have been reconstructed and are on display in the Magyar Nemzeti Muzeum, Budapest) in 1909 in a fort; as Miks wisely points out this does mean the association of various parts in these reconstructions is at best supposition and we cannot guarantee the correct parts have been put together with each other. 

Little is known about the site on which the helmet was found during the Roman period, other than the presence of a military base and town on the site at the border of the Pannonian province; the town itself was called Intercisa, and the site later became known as Dunapentele (leading some to dub the Intercisa helmets the “Intercisa-Dunapentele type”). The modern city of Dunaujvaros which sits upon the site is a new construction, dated to the 1950s, and as such has nothing in common with the Roman history of the region. 

Unfortunately, this helps us very little in determining exactly when these helmets may have been deposited, or by whom, other than that they were found in a former military base in Pannonia. It is possible that these were items awaiting repair in a workshop, or in storage waiting to be used and they never left, however we will (as ever) never know for certain. 

Image featured is a detail from the fresco of San Giovani, Syracuse (Sicily), dateable to the early-mid 4th century that depicts a soldier wearing the Intercisa IV helmet. 

Type, Construction, and Materials

All helmets in this grouping are formed from two halves of a helmet bowl (bipartite) with a central adjoining ridge. They also lack a base ring (sometimes called an “interior headband”) as we see on some of the Berkasovo examples (and typically also lack a nasal guard accordingly). Whilst the helmets all feature cheek and neck guards (as we have come to expect), they are attached directly to the helmet bowl in the absence of the base ring.  All four helmets also feature ear-holes formed from a cutout in both the bowl and the cheek-pieces which has led to a supposition (when combined with the lack of earholes on the Berkasovo-type helmets and the references to a cavalry regiment inscribed on the Deurne helmet) that this differentiated the “infantry” and “cavalry” helmets of the late Roman army; this is of course entirely circumstantial. One important differentiation to point out here as well is that the Intercisa IV’s central adjoining ridge is seemingly non-existent; Miks attributes this to the bowl halves being joined internally rather than externally.

The helmet fragments all have suggestions of a silver sheet, as has become rather common in the helmets we’re looking at, although sadly it appears the precious metals have been removed and stolen a long time ago. The rivets pinning the ridge to the bowl halves appear to have been decorative; the III and IV were found with a silver rivet each, and the IV with silver and copper rivets in several places on the left cheek-guard – it therefore stands to reason that the entire grouping would have used such rivets, and as with the Berkasovo-type helmets seen so far they would have become an integral part of the helmet’s decoration.

Side view of the Intercisa I, image courtesy of Christian Miks
Side view of the Intercisa II, image courtesy of Christian Miks
Side view of the Intercisa III, image courtesy of Christian Miks
Side view of the Intercisa IV, image courtesy of Christian Miks

Unique Details and Analysis

All of the Intercisa helmets feature an eye motif on the front half of the bowl (clearer on some than others), roughly above where the wearer’s actual eyes would sit, pointing directly forwards. It has become something of a trend for re-enactors to paint the eyes on their helmets, perhaps inspired by the relief in the Via Maria catacomb painting (as seen in the image above) which shows the eye motifs standing out prominently from the rest of the helmet due to their being depicted entirely in black rather than simply a black outline. This is of course only one interpretation of why the relief is decorated so and does raise the question of why the original helmet would have been painted if it was covered in a sheet of precious metals; more elaborate helmets in the Berkasovo family have a similarly placed and shaped eye motif decoration, albeit decorated with intricate reposse work and/or with glass stones in the eye “sockets”. It is entirely possible that the Via Maria relief is instead trying to depict this method of decoration, or simply that the artist wanted the eye motifs to stand out and it is mere artistic convention.

The II also features ten sunken “star” shapes (four-pointed crosses) across the surface, while the IV features recessed crescent moon shapes on the sides of the bowls as well as recessed line work around the edges of the bowl. The IV also features a crest which, unlike most other examples of crest attachment methods we can find in the archaeological record (slots in the central ridge by which the user could attach their crest and remove it as they wished), appears to be welded directly to the central spine. The presence of the crest has led to the Intercisa IV being considered something of an “officer’s helmet”, although (a) the prevalence of helmets with a “fin” crest in artwork seems to imply they are something of a commonplace item and (b) more elaborate decoration survives in examples such as Richborough (amongst many others); it seems fair to say instead then that the Intercisa IV is more likely a common trooper’s helmet, especially given the plethora of repousse-decorated helmets available, to say nothing of the bejewelled Berkasovo I and Budapest. This assertation also does not account for the staggering number of Chi-Rho plates found in the archaeological records that attached to the front of these crests, as well as the frequency these helmets are seen in artworks adorning the heads of what appear to be standard soldiers (see the accompanying picture, a 5th Century boxwood relief from the Museum of Byzantine Art, showing rank-and-file soldiers wearing crested helmets).

What we can surmise reliably is that, whether reconstructions are correct about the jigsaw of pieces discovered at Intercisa or not, it is highly likely the helmets will have looked as lavishly-decorated as we have come to expect (and can see in the reconstruction below) - indeed, whilst some suggest the Intercisa family remained undecorated, the Augsburg helmet (link below) demonstrates that helmets of this type were indeed subject to as much repousse work as some of their Berkasovo family cousins. 

As for datation, this type of helmet is seen frequently in artwork from at least the 4th century AD, likely suggesting an earlier presence due to finds paucity, and goes on to feature in Roman artwork from the Eastern Empire well into the 6th century AD, giving it a date range of several centuries. Whilst useful for re-enactment, this sadly does not help us pin down the exact date at which the Intercisa helmets were deposited in the ground. 

The Intercisa is still the most enduring helmet seen in the late Roman sphere, partially due to its presence on iconography and partially due to the relative ease with which re-enactors can get their hands on one. It makes sense to use the Intercisa as a “mainstream” helmet for the bulk of reconstructions; due to the sheer amount of them found on-site and the apparent common nature of the pattern, the original Intercisa series can be considered a real workhorse piece of equipment for the Late Roman army.

With thanks to Pavel Simak and Francis Hagan of The Barcarii for help tracking down a relevant source, below can be seen a collection of images showing the superb detailing on the Pustelak Brothers' reconstruction of an Intercisa IV. 

Top view of the Intercisa I, image courtesy of Christian Miks
Front view of the Intercisa II, image courtesy of Christian Miks
Front view of the Intercisa III, image courtesy of Christian Miks
Front view of the Intercisa IV, image courtesy of Christian Miks
Top view of the Intercisa IV, image courtesy of Christian Miks
5th Century boxwood relief, Museum of Byzantine Art, showing rank-and-file soldiers wearing crested helmets
Ross Cronshaw
By Ross Cronshaw
Categories:
Helmets