Located near the coast towards Italy's north-eastern border, the helmet fragments (two intact cheek pieces and a neck guard) from San Giorgio di Nogaro provide us with our only example of a late Roman helmet from the motherland herself. It also poses something of a mystery regarding its final form due to the bowl not being present upon discovery, however the intricately decorated pieces give us plenty of inspiration to work from when imagining how this gorgeous piece may have looked. 

This particularly beautiful helmet example was found among the remains of Roman brick buildings around the Zumello drainage canal within the modern town of San Giorgio Di Nogaro. Unfortunately little information remains about the Roman presence in this specific spot, in particular any datation of the buildings in which it was found or their purpose. Sadly as we can see from the images, the only preserved parts are the cheek and neck guards, although admittedly they are in very good condition.

Nearby to San Giorgio Di Nogaro however lie two key Roman settlements, Udine (a town that gained importance following the fall of the Western Empire, but according to legend played host to the hordes of Attila the Hun during his invasion) and Aquileia - site of an imperial palace following the reign of Diocletian and proving a favourite sojourn of Constantine I. The site was also that of a mint, meaning this area was of great importance to the empire throughout the period in question. 

According to Miks’ work based on the original finds reports, the pieces were found in the same context as several bronze objects of Roman origin, being an iron bridle with coloured rings and a stone with a Latin inscription. What the inscription reads and what the bronze objects were we cannot currently say, unfortunately, as those original investigation reports are proving elusive and Dr. Miks has not gone into detail on the topic.

We can only speculate therefore at who the owner of this helmet was and why it was deposited, although Miks suggests as per his analysis of the Deurne helmet that it was an accidental loss. 

The remaining pieces of this helmet are made of iron, covered (as per usual for this helmet type) with a precious metal sheeting of silver and gold. As discussed in the above paragraphs, the only remaining pieces are the cheeks and neck-guard, leaving us with only a few clues as to exactly how the bowl may have looked. We can see rivets which would have held the piece to a central base rim, identifying this helmet as a Berkasovo-type (although the shape of the cheeks and neck guard would also already suggest this), which helps us build up a rough profile of the helmet's outline (likely similar to the Berkasovo or Augsburg helmets we have discussed in other articles). 

We can also see intricate repousse work across the surface of all three pieces, as well as fully intact buckles on the neckpiece (a feature usually absent from Intercisa models, further suggesting it would bear a resemblance to the Berkasovo family), and each segment has punch holes around the edges to incorporate a leather lining. 

In conclusion regarding the typology of this example, we can suggest with some certainty it would have looked similar to other members of the Berkasovo family including a base ring and nasal guard as well as a bipartite or quadrupartite bowl.

Analysing the appearance of the helmet itself, we can infer a few likely scenarios from the decorations and precious metal sheeting and can build a rough picture of what the helmet bowl may have looked like.

As per all helmets with a sizeable portion of their protective silver/gilt coating remaining, the surface is decorated with some elaborate repousse work. Whilst a common feature of such helmets, we see some variations in quite how elaborate these decorations can be; for example on the Augsburg I and II, as well as the Concesti, the decorations are limited mostly to the outer edges of the plates. On the Deurne and Berkasovo I/Budapest helmets, however, the decorations cover far more of the helmet’s surface area (particularly in the case of the latter two where we see decorative glass gems embedded into sockets).

The latter grouping of these tend to be considered higher status as a result, the prerogative of officers and wealthier soldiers rather than a regular legionary (although this is far from confirmed). We can assume it is unlikely the San Giorgio helmet’s missing bowl had the decorative glass gems of the Berkasovo/Budapest helmets, as they are also seen on the cheek plates in addition to the bowl and the San Giorgio seemingly does not even have an open socket for a glass bead, let alone an intact one remaining (whilst it is perhaps possible as a small section of each cheek-guard is missing, it seems very unlikely).

Without the glass beads, however, this could still remain a high-status helmet; as with the Deurne, elaborate repousse work continuing over the bowl’s surface sheeting, combined with decorative silver rivets, could easily make this helmet stand out a level above the average soldier’s headgear; certainly the headgear of a middle-ranking officer, and maybe a regimental commander. The presence of a piece of horse equipment in the same context could imply a cavalryman but could also be part of an officer’s panoply. The presence of multiple bronze objects also speaks of some form of wealth, however without further information on what those objects are it is difficult to say anything further.

While we may never know for certain how this helmet would have looked when complete, the closest helmet bowls discussed so far that may fit convincingly on top would perhaps be either the Deurne or Berkasovo II; highly decorative helmets with decorative rivets but no glass gems.

The rather mysterious context of the helmet and the missing bowl make this one of the less-discussed ones amongst the community, as it is very difficult to decide who this helmet was used by and belonged to, or even to form a reconstruction of the bowl itself without wholesale speculation.

We can make some estimations based on the context, but mostly we can infer a few details about the owner from the decorative patterns in the helmet’s repousse work.