One of my favourite artifacts hosted temporarily at the Keltenmuseum in Hallein, Austria.Bas-relie
One of my favourite artifacts hosted temporarily at the Keltenmuseum in Hallein, Austria. Bas-relief depicting two human figures on the fragment of a stele or altar from Bormio (Lombardy), Italy, found in 1944 in the dry stone wall of a church (early 4th century BCE). The curved figure on the left could be a performer blowing a horn and wearing a dagger on its belt, or a warrior; in the centre there’s a long spear, holding a round shield (possibly a votive offer to the god), and a trident-shaped militar insignia piercing a fish or more plausibly a bird, maybe a corvid, perching on it, held by the figure on the right, identified with the god Nethuns or Volcanus by some authors; this human figure, possibly a statue (due to its bare feet and position) is the most prominent and almost entirely hidden by a large hexagonal shield with spirals and linear decorations, it wears a horned Negau helmet. This scene could be linked to the worship of the healing waters of Bormio, and the Rhaetian or Etruscan people. While horned helmets among the Celtic tribes are well documented in artwork and coins from the period, actual archaeological confirmation of the existence of this particular type of helmet has been rare. . “On their heads they put bronze helmets which have large embossed figures standing out from them and give an appearance of great size to those who wear them; for in some cases horns are attached to the helmet so as to form a single piece, in other cases images of the fore-parts of birds or four footed animals”. Diodorus Siculus (on Celtic helmets) (History V.30.2) -- source link