New Finding of an Imported Helmet in a Sarmatian Burial on the Right Bank of the Kuban

Abstract

The article is devoted to the publication of an iron segmented helmet found in mound 2 of the Beysuzhek 36 burial ground in the Kuban steppe region. Ciscaucasian Sarmatian burials with helmets belong to the culture of nomads of the 2nd – 1st centuries BC, identified with the Siraces of Strabo. It is obvious that the helmet from the Beysuzhek 36 burial ground is imported. It was made by a professional armourer and certainly does not belong to Greek, Celtic or Roman traditions of armour production. Middle Eastern helmets of the first millennium BC are represented by single finds. The lack of archaeological finds is partly compensated by images of similar helmets on the Bosporan tombstones, reliefs of Trajan’s column and Nile mosaic of Palestrina. The burial inventory is dated back to the late 2nd – 1st centuries BC. According to literary sources, the Sarmatians fought against the commanders of Mithridates VI Eupator, and later, as a part of the army of Mithridates, against the Romans in Asia Minor. The Sarmatians also made up a significant part of the army of the Bosporus of Cimmeria King Pharnaces II during his attempt to recapture the Pontic Kingdom. Thus, the appearance of the helmet in question in the North Caucasus region could be associated both with the participation of the Sarmatians in the Mithridatic wars, and with the events of 48–47 BC, when King Pharnaces II tried to take back the territories that had previously belonged to his father. During these wars, a Sarmatian soldier somehow received the rare Middle Eastern helmet.