Negau helmet
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A Negau helmet is an Iron Age helmet shape, named after the helmet depot discovered in 1811 in Ženjak near the hamlet of Obrat, in the former dominion of Negau, today Negova , Slovenia .
Location
26 helmets from the 5th to 2nd century BC were found in the depot. BC, so that the time of creation of these helmets is more than 300 years apart.
Development and dissemination
This Iron Age helmet shape developed around the middle of the 6th century BC. From the humpback helmets with throat, which were mainly produced and widespread in the Picenum . Later, however, the manufacture of the Negau helmets relocated to Etruria , the Alpine region and Slovenia. Excavations in Idrija near Bača showed that the helmets in the south-eastern Alps were used until the last century BC. Were in use. In the meantime about 340 helmets or helmet fragments of the different types of Negau helmets are known.
Shape and decor
The Negau helmets are almost always made of bronze , the majority were cast and additionally driven out inside the helmet. Their sheet thickness varies from 1 to 3 mm. Typical features are the brim, the throat at the base and a separate lining sheet inside the helmet. The most important innovation compared to the preforms is the semicircular dome with a ridge.
In addition to a few helmets with inscriptions, most of the helmets are decorated with rows of circular eyes, spiral eyes, rectangles, trees, palmettes with stamped ornaments or with braided ribbons.
Based on occurrence, manufacturing characteristics and decorative elements, Negau helmets are divided into regional groups and assigned to types:
Negau helmets in central Italy ( Etruria , Picenum, Emilia-Romagna )
- Belmonte type
- Type Volterra
- Vetulonia type
- Ornamental helmets close to the Ventulonia type
Negau helmets in Slovenia (Lower Carniola)
- Italo-Slovenian type
- Slovenian guy
Negau helmets in the alpine region (northern Italian lake region, upper reaches of the Etsch , Inn , Rhine and their side valleys)
- Italic-alpine type
- Alpine type
Labeled helmets
The helmet A
The so-called helmet A from the Negau (Ženjak) depository bears four inscriptions that can be relatively safely assigned to the Rhaetian . Three inscriptions can possibly be interpreted as consecration formulas with the naming of the wearer of the helmet and the worshiped deity. The fourth inscription consists of only one word.
The helmet B
This bronze helmet, exhibited in the Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien, is adorned with punched ornaments and has several incised inscriptions on the brim. It is one of the oldest helmets from the Negau (Ženjak) depot. The helmet probably dates back to the 5th century BC. BC, but it was probably only in the 2nd or early 1st century BC. BC in Negau. The shape of the helmet is Etruscan.
This helmet is famous for the carved inscription on the brim in a Venetian or Rhaetian alphabet. The inscription, read from right to left:
?????????????? /// ??
harikastiteiva \\\ ip (one of several possible readings).
Since the 1920s, the inscription has been interpreted as the name of a Germanic owner ("Harigast") or a Germanic religious dedication ("the divine guest of the army"). Following this thesis, one of the oldest surviving text documents of the Germanic language with a completed sound shift would be found on the helmet . The assumption that the inscription is Germanic is, however, phonetically and grammatically problematic and therefore not undisputed.
The dating of the inscription is uncertain, but is more likely towards the end of the helmet's useful life.
literature
- Markus Egg : Italian helmets. Studies on the Elder Iron Age helmets of Italy and the Alps (= Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum . Monographs Volume 11, 1). Volume 1: Text. Publishing house of the Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum u. a., Mainz 1986, ISBN 3-88467-015-8 .
- Thomas L. Markey: A tale of the two helmets Negau A and B. In: Journal of Indo-European Studies . 29, 2001, pp. 69-172.
- Robert Nedoma , Otto H. Urban : Negauer helmet. In: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde (RGA). 2nd Edition. Volume 21, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2002, ISBN 3-11-017272-0 , pp. 52-61.
- Robert Nedoma: The inscription on the helmet B of Negau. Possibilities and limits of the interpretation of northern Italian epigraphic monuments. (= Philologica Germanica . Volume 17). Fassbaender, Vienna 1995, ISBN 3-900538-51-4 , abstract (PDF; 137 kB).
- Massimo Palottino: Etruscology. Etruscan history and culture. Birkhäuser Verlag, Basel 1988, ISBN 3-7643-1874-0 (reprint 2014, ISBN 978-3-0348-6048-2 ).
- Diether Schürr: On the writing and language of the inscription on helmet B von Negau: 'Germanicity' and inner-alpine references . In: Sprachwissenschaft , 26, 2001, pp. 205-231.
Video
- The Negau helmets - a search for clues . InterArch-Steiermark, Universalmuseum Joanneum , Vis-à-vis Film, Graz 2012; DVD, 30 minutes
Web links
Remarks
- ^ Massimo Pallottino: Etruscology. Birkhäuser Verlag, Basel 1988, p. 375.
- ↑ This form of the Etruscan alphabet was in Veneto until 181 BC. In use
- ↑ Diether Schürr: On the writing and language of the inscription on helmet B von Negau: 'Germanicity' and inner-alpine references . In: Sprachwissenschaft , 26, 2001, pp. 205-231.
- ^ Robert Nedoma, Otto H. Urban: Negauer helmet . In: Heinrich Beck , Dieter Geuenich , Heiko Steuer (Hrsg.): Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde . Volume 21: Naualia - Østfold. 2nd, completely revised and greatly expanded edition. de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2002, pp. 58–60.