Brass Greek Helmet with Liner and Stand  SBH-CORINTHIAN-BRASS   $139  Expedited Shipping Available! E-mail service@strongblade.com or call 866-7SWORDS On Sale! Originally $189 In Stock - Ships in 1-3 days    The Corinthian-style military helmet has got to be the coolest helmet in ancient history. Don't just take my word for it though. Take a look at historical artwork, decorations, pottery and ceramics: almost every ancient Mediterranean civilization used images of this helmet to signify power. Roman emperors were often depicted wearing these helmets, and in just about every major archaeological dig another piece of pottery or artwork shows someone with one of these babies on his or her head (yes, I said her: There were certain ceremonies where very attractive women were dressed up in armor and given non-lethal weapons to beat the snot out of each other. This was in tribute to the warrior Goddess Hesta/Athena and was no doubt quite popular with the men back then. Come to think of it, it would probably be fairly popular today. I'm picturing a pay-per-view event... say Paris Hilton versus Charlize Theron ... hmm....). The helmets themselves were a marvel of design in the classic world. Typically made out of a single piece of bronze, this helmet looked killer and provided fantastic protection. The long cheek plates protected the cheeks (duh) as well as the neck and jaw. The jutting nose piece provided protection for the nose both from attacks delivered by your enemy and head-butts delivered by the wearer. Visibility in these helmets was surprisingly good despite the full enclosure style. Early versions of these helmets had perfectly rounded tops, which often gave soldiers headaches (and usually death) when they were struck on the top of the head. Later versions developed a larger, beveled top segment which still led to headaches, but tended to avoid the whole death part of the equation when they were struck on the top of the head. Soldiers used leather arming caps or cloth wraps on their head under this helmet to fit it correctly. Higher ranking soldiers bore horse-hair crests like the one on this helmet to identify themselves.

When besieging the Muslim city of Antioch in the 12th century, European knights catapulted the heads of slain muslims into the city to demoralize the soldiers inside. While we don't condone lobbing heads of your enemies into cities, Strongblade does sell knight swords, knight weapons and knight armor, as well as crusader swords, crusader costumes and crusader armor.