The collection of Corinthian style helmets at the Higgins Armory Museum Worcester, Massachusetts, USA

The Higgins Armory Museum Worcester, Massachusetts, USA, has a small but interesting collection of Corinthian style helmets on display. 

We will post a couple of photos of the complete display of five helmets, followed by individual close-ups of each. The Higgins Armory display the following generic description:

Bronze Corinthian helmet, c. 650 – 600 BC. Higgins Armory.

“These helmets trace the increasing sophistication of Greek culture from its revival around 800 BC to the advent of the “classical” age of Greece about 500 BC. 

Bronze Corinthian helmet, c. 650 – 550 BC. Higgins Armory.

The oldest examples are relatively simple bowls with holes punched around the edge to secure a thin lining. The more recent helmets from around 450 BC (around the time of the Parthenon) are beautiful and with a mysterious presence. 

Bronze Corinthian helmet, c. 550 BC. Higgins Armory.

They are sculptural works of art, but art with a purpose, for details such as the contoured lower edge raised the helmets off the shoulders, increasing freedom of movement.

Bronze Corinthian helmet, c. 550 BC. Higgins Armory.

Bent noseguards or cheekpieces indicate a helmet symbolically destroyed and presented at a shrine to honor a dead warrior.”

Another bronze Corinthian helmet, c. 650 - 550 BC. Higgins Armory.