Chalcidian Helmet

The helmet has the distinctive form of the Chalcidian type with fixed cheek-pieces, leaving uncovered only the middle of the face. This type of helmet appears for the first time in the decorations of vases by the Chalcidians, a Ionic population, who began to colonize Southern Italy in the eighth century B.C. Chalcidian helmets were widely used by the Italic peoples and the helmet in the Poldi Pezzoli is an example of Apulian production.
Along the lower edge a votive inscription in Greek characters and in the Oscan language enables to date the helmet to the early 4th century B.C., when Osco-Lucanian rule extended as far as Metapontum. It was customary in the Greek and Italic world to present personal objects to a shrine, inscribed with the name of the deity venerated and that of the donor.