Subject: ὁπλίτης heavy infantry hoplite

Culture: Archaic Greek

Setting: Archaic period, Greece 8th-6thcBC

Object: helmet

* Metropolitan Museum of Art

"Two bronze helmets

Cretan, late 7th century B.C. ...

These helmets and the three mitrai exhibited below them are the finest pieces of a large cache of armor that came to light in south central Crete, where it was undoubtedly made. The inscriptions suggest that the armor was captured as booty adn offered as a dedication. In repoussé on both sides of one helmet is a pair of winged youths grasping a pair of intertwined snakes. Below them are two panthers with a common head. The helmet is inscribed 'Neopolis.' In repoussé on both sides of the other helmet is a horse; incised on each cheekpiece is a lion. The inscription states that Synenitos, the son of Euklotas, took this object."

* Manchester Museum > Golden Mummies of Egypt

"Greek helmet During the 7th century BC, Pharaohs employed many Greek mercenaries to help fight Egypt's enemies. This distinctively Greek-style helmet dates to around that time and was likely to have been left at a Greek temple as a religious gift to the gods."