Helmet of Coţofeneşti
Encyclopedia
The Golden Helmet of Coţofeneşti is a Geto-Dacian helmet dating from the first half of the 4th century BC.
In 1929, a child named Traian Simion uncovered the helmet by chance on the territory of the village of Poiana Coţofeneşti (now called Poiana Vărbilău), Prahova County
, Romania
, in the location called "Vârful Fundăturii". At that time it was part of the Mălăieşti commune.
Thereupon, Ion Andriesescu, professor of Prehistory at the Bucharest University conducted a thorough investigation at the site. The team of archaeologists noticed that helmet was not part of a gold treasure or grave but it was part of a local Geto-Dacian La Tène settlement. Archaeologists concluded that the helmet was a stray find, as only a few late Hallstatt
pottery fragments were found, some of them wheeled. The helmet is kept at the National History Museum of Romania (inv 11420).
and magic spells. It was established that it belonged to an unknown local Geto-Dacian king or to a local aristocratic noble, from around year 400 BC
.
One theory — without any poof, however — is that this item was the sacred helmet of Zalmoxis
, the living god-prophet of the Dacians
.
Helmet decorations depict a range of mythical creatures, and an illustration, on either cheek-piece, of a ritual enactment.
The cheek-pieces of the Poiana-Coţofeneşti helmet show a ram being sacrificed by a man who kneels on its body and is about to cut its throat with a short knife. The iconography on the right side of the helmet is of a great interest, and has been interpreted in light of the tauroctony
scene from the Mithraic Mysteries. Environment and affluence might well account for a change to a larger beast in the species offered and a similar interpretation of a bull-slaying episode.. This sacrifice of the ram might have been performed by the "king-priest-god" .
The pair of Voracious Beasts on the Coţofeneşti neck-guard occupy a lower register along with a similar creature deprived of a victim’s leg.
This motif of the "Voracious Beast" is found earlier in Assyria
n art, and was popular among the Etruscans
. Phoenicia
was probably the intermediary for its transferral to Italy and around the Adriatic, but Voracious Beast must also have traveled through Asia Minor
to appear in a North Thracian idiom not only on the Coţofeneşti neck-guard but also in high relief on the base of the Aghighiol beakers (Aghighiol is a village near the Danube Delta
in eastern Romania).
The upper register displays a row of three seated or squatting winged creatures, rather monkey-like with human faces, long forearms, and long tails. These, however, are surely direct, if run-down, descendants of the sphinx
es on a gold beaker
from Amlash
.
The eyes on a Greek
battle-shield may be designated to ward off evil blows, but once translated onto a helmet, and above the eyes of a North Thracian noble who wore it, could mean "I see twice as well, I have eyes like my hawk". The Thracian gold and silversmiths who manufactured the objects were aware of other contemporary art styles — those of Scythia
, Greece
, northeast Italy and now modern Slovenia were known through trade, travel and meetings — and they adapted conventions of representation suitable for their own purposes. The meaning of these motifs was no doubt context-specific.
The decorations such as rosette, strips, triangles, spiral and others are specific Geto-Dacian art motifs. The scene of sacrifice the ram is an oriental Iranian theme that entered in the Greek art and from there in the ‘barbarian’ art. Therefore, the helmet seems to have been realized in a Greek workshop. But, in the same time the awkward technique of execution that contrasts with the perfect technique of a Greek craftsman points out to an autochthonous one.
(The Dacians) by Sergiu Nicolaescu
, though it took place at least 500 years after the period to which the helmet has been dated. Worn by the Dacian king Decebalus
, the movie helmet had a flat top, an inaccuracy that entered the vernacular of popular culture
. The comic strip
s "Din zori de istorie", published in late 1970s in "Cutezătorii" magazine, written by Vasile Mănuceanu and drawn by Albin Stănescu, also depicts the helmet with a flat top. It is worn by the Getian king Odrix during the conflict with the Persian king Darius I who in 513 BC was campaigning against the Scythians. The action takes place within roughly the period that produced the original helmet. A similar comic strip written by Vasile Mănuceanu and drawn by Sandu Florea
depicts the king Burebista
wearing the helmet as well.
In 1929, a child named Traian Simion uncovered the helmet by chance on the territory of the village of Poiana Coţofeneşti (now called Poiana Vărbilău), Prahova County
Prahova County
Prahova is a county of Romania, in the historical region Muntenia, with the capital city at Ploieşti.-Demographics:In 2002, it had a population of 829,945 and the population density was 176/km². It is Romania's most populated county, having a population density double than the country's mean...
, Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
, in the location called "Vârful Fundăturii". At that time it was part of the Mălăieşti commune.
Thereupon, Ion Andriesescu, professor of Prehistory at the Bucharest University conducted a thorough investigation at the site. The team of archaeologists noticed that helmet was not part of a gold treasure or grave but it was part of a local Geto-Dacian La Tène settlement. Archaeologists concluded that the helmet was a stray find, as only a few late Hallstatt
Hallstatt
Hallstatt, Upper Austria is a village in the Salzkammergut, a region in Austria. It is located near the Hallstätter See . At the 2001 census it had 946 inhabitants...
pottery fragments were found, some of them wheeled. The helmet is kept at the National History Museum of Romania (inv 11420).
Analysis
Almost a kilogram heavy, the gold helmet is very well-preserved, missing only the part of its skull cap. The form of the helmet and its decorations reveal the autochthonous character of this Geto-Dacian artwork. The helmet is decorated with large studs on the top of the skull and two very large apotropaic eyes, meant ward off the evil eyeEvil eye
The evil eye is a look that is believed by many cultures to be able to cause injury or bad luck for the person at whom it is directed for reasons of envy or dislike...
and magic spells. It was established that it belonged to an unknown local Geto-Dacian king or to a local aristocratic noble, from around year 400 BC
400 BC
Year 400 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Tribunate of Esquilinus, Capitolinus, Vulso, Medullinus, Saccus and Vulscus...
.
One theory — without any poof, however — is that this item was the sacred helmet of Zalmoxis
Zalmoxis
Zalmoxis , is a divinity of the Getae, mentioned by Herodotus in his Histories IV, 93-96...
, the living god-prophet of the Dacians
Dacians
The Dacians were an Indo-European people, very close or part of the Thracians. Dacians were the ancient inhabitants of Dacia...
.
Helmet decorations depict a range of mythical creatures, and an illustration, on either cheek-piece, of a ritual enactment.
The cheek-pieces of the Poiana-Coţofeneşti helmet show a ram being sacrificed by a man who kneels on its body and is about to cut its throat with a short knife. The iconography on the right side of the helmet is of a great interest, and has been interpreted in light of the tauroctony
Tauroctony
The tauroctony scene is the cult relief of the Mithraic Mysteries. It depicts Mithras killing a bull, hence the name 'tauroctony', given to the scene in modern times possibly after the Greek ταυροκτόνος "slaughtering bulls", which derives from ταῦρος "bull" + κτόνος "murder", from κτείνω , "I...
scene from the Mithraic Mysteries. Environment and affluence might well account for a change to a larger beast in the species offered and a similar interpretation of a bull-slaying episode.. This sacrifice of the ram might have been performed by the "king-priest-god" .
The pair of Voracious Beasts on the Coţofeneşti neck-guard occupy a lower register along with a similar creature deprived of a victim’s leg.
This motif of the "Voracious Beast" is found earlier in Assyria
Assyria
Assyria was a Semitic Akkadian kingdom, extant as a nation state from the mid–23rd century BC to 608 BC centred on the Upper Tigris river, in northern Mesopotamia , that came to rule regional empires a number of times through history. It was named for its original capital, the ancient city of Assur...
n art, and was popular among the Etruscans
Etruscan civilization
Etruscan civilization is the modern English name given to a civilization of ancient Italy in the area corresponding roughly to Tuscany. The ancient Romans called its creators the Tusci or Etrusci...
. Phoenicia
Phoenicia
Phoenicia , was an ancient civilization in Canaan which covered most of the western, coastal part of the Fertile Crescent. Several major Phoenician cities were built on the coastline of the Mediterranean. It was an enterprising maritime trading culture that spread across the Mediterranean from 1550...
was probably the intermediary for its transferral to Italy and around the Adriatic, but Voracious Beast must also have traveled through Asia Minor
Asia Minor
Asia Minor is a geographical location at the westernmost protrusion of Asia, also called Anatolia, and corresponds to the western two thirds of the Asian part of Turkey...
to appear in a North Thracian idiom not only on the Coţofeneşti neck-guard but also in high relief on the base of the Aghighiol beakers (Aghighiol is a village near the Danube Delta
Danube Delta
The Danube Delta is the second largest river delta in Europe, after the Volga Delta, and is the best preserved on the continent. The greater part of the Danube Delta lies in Romania , while its northern part, on the left bank of the Chilia arm, is situated in Ukraine . The approximate surface is...
in eastern Romania).
The upper register displays a row of three seated or squatting winged creatures, rather monkey-like with human faces, long forearms, and long tails. These, however, are surely direct, if run-down, descendants of the sphinx
Sphinx
A sphinx is a mythical creature with a lion's body and a human head or a cat head.The sphinx, in Greek tradition, has the haunches of a lion, the wings of a great bird, and the face of a woman. She is mythicised as treacherous and merciless...
es on a gold beaker
Beaker (archaeology)
A beaker is a small ceramic or metal drinking vessel shaped to be held in the hands. Archaeologists identify several different types including the butt beaker, the claw beaker and the rough-cast beaker, however when used alone the term usually refers to the pottery cups associated with the European...
from Amlash
Amlash
Amlash is a city in and the capital of Amlash County, Gilan Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 15,047, in 4,350 families. Amlash sits at an altitude of 13 metres ....
.
The eyes on a Greek
Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...
battle-shield may be designated to ward off evil blows, but once translated onto a helmet, and above the eyes of a North Thracian noble who wore it, could mean "I see twice as well, I have eyes like my hawk". The Thracian gold and silversmiths who manufactured the objects were aware of other contemporary art styles — those of Scythia
Scythia
In antiquity, Scythian or Scyths were terms used by the Greeks to refer to certain Iranian groups of horse-riding nomadic pastoralists who dwelt on the Pontic-Caspian steppe...
, Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
, northeast Italy and now modern Slovenia were known through trade, travel and meetings — and they adapted conventions of representation suitable for their own purposes. The meaning of these motifs was no doubt context-specific.
The decorations such as rosette, strips, triangles, spiral and others are specific Geto-Dacian art motifs. The scene of sacrifice the ram is an oriental Iranian theme that entered in the Greek art and from there in the ‘barbarian’ art. Therefore, the helmet seems to have been realized in a Greek workshop. But, in the same time the awkward technique of execution that contrasts with the perfect technique of a Greek craftsman points out to an autochthonous one.
In popular culture
A replica of the helmet appeared in the 1967 historical movie DaciiDacii (film)
Dacii is a 1967 historical drama film about Domitian's Dacian War fought between the Roman empire and the Dacians in AD 87-88. This film was directed by Romanian director Sergiu Nicolaescu...
(The Dacians) by Sergiu Nicolaescu
Sergiu Nicolaescu
Sergiu Florin Nicolaescu is a Romanian film director, actor and politician. He is best known for his historical films, such as Mihai Viteazul , Dacii , Razboiul Independenţei , as well as for his series of...
, though it took place at least 500 years after the period to which the helmet has been dated. Worn by the Dacian king Decebalus
Decebalus
Decebalus or "The Brave" was a king of Dacia and is famous for fighting three wars and negotiating two interregnums of peace without being eliminated against the Roman Empire under two emperors...
, the movie helmet had a flat top, an inaccuracy that entered the vernacular of popular culture
Popular culture
Popular culture is the totality of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, memes, images and other phenomena that are deemed preferred per an informal consensus within the mainstream of a given culture, especially Western culture of the early to mid 20th century and the emerging global mainstream of the...
. The comic strip
Comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
s "Din zori de istorie", published in late 1970s in "Cutezătorii" magazine, written by Vasile Mănuceanu and drawn by Albin Stănescu, also depicts the helmet with a flat top. It is worn by the Getian king Odrix during the conflict with the Persian king Darius I who in 513 BC was campaigning against the Scythians. The action takes place within roughly the period that produced the original helmet. A similar comic strip written by Vasile Mănuceanu and drawn by Sandu Florea
Sandu Florea
Sandu Florea is a Romanian-American comic book and comic strip creator, also known as an inker and book illustrator. A trained architect and a presence on the science fiction scene during the 1970s, he became a professional in the comics genre with albums such as Galbar, and was allegedly the only...
depicts the king Burebista
Burebista
Burebista was a king of the Getae and Dacians, who unified for the first time their tribes and ruled them between 82 BC and 44 BC. He led plunder and conquest raids across Central and Southeastern Europe, subjugating most of the neighbouring tribes...
wearing the helmet as well.
External links
- Archaeology at Coţofeneşti - cIMeC' Digital Archives of Archaeology
- Synthesis of the monography of Dumbrăveşti commune - Includes a detailed account of the discovery
- Article on the helmet
- Helmet in the comic strips "Din zori de istorie", published in "Cutezătorii" magazine
- The helmet in 3D by 88millimeters
- Gold and Silver Armour of the Getian-Dacian Elite. Military Equipment and Organization.
- Thracian beaker with birds and animals at the Metropolitan Museum of Art