Bronze helmet

Syracuse was a Greek colony founded by Corinth, and between about 500 and 200 BC it became the most prosperous city on the island of Sicily. In 474 BC Hieron I, Syracuse's king, responded to an appeal from the Greeks at Cumae and defeated the Etruscans in a naval battle. The poet Pindar described this victory as 'freeing Greece from slavery' in a poem written in honour of Hieron's success in the chariot race of 470 BC at Delphi. This Etruscan helmet was captured at the battle. The inscription translates 'Hieron, son of Deinomenes, and the Syracusans, [dedicated] to Zeus Etruscan [spoils] from Cumae'. It was then deposited in the Sanctuary of Zeus at Olympia as a dedication to the god. The same inscription was also found there on a Greek bronze helmet of Corinthian type, which is now in the Olympia Museum.