  About the Artwork
  
  
  This spectacular helmet was formed from a single piece of silver, its surface skillfully embossed and chased by the smith. A pair of eyes stare outward from the wearer's brow. A goat emblazons the left cheek, while an eagle flies across the right, grasping a hare in its talons and a fish in its beak.

The helmet was among the grave goods of a thracian nobleman or king whose territories lay along the Danube River in southeastern Europe. It is strikingly similar in style and imagery to other sumptuous silver items, including a beaker worked with the very same tools (Metropolitan Museum of Art) and two helmets from tombs in present-day Romania, leading scholars to identify them with the same workshop. Such a royal atelier attested to the ruler's command of precious natural resources and of artistic talents.
  
  
  Title
  Helmet
  
  
  Artwork Date
  4th century BCE
  
  Artist
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  Life Dates
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  Nationality
  
  
  
  Please note:
  Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events.
  Some definitions include:
  Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation.
  
  
  
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  Culture
  
  
  
  Please note:
  Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group.
  
  
  
  
  Thracian
  
  
  Medium
  Silver
  
  
  Dimensions
  Overall: 9 1/2 × 7 1/8 inches (24.1 × 18.1 cm)
  
  
  Classification
  Arms and Armor
  
  
  Department
  Greco-Roman and Ancient European
  
  
  Credit
  Founders Society Purchase, Sarah Bacon Hill Fund
  
  
  
  Accession Number
  
  
  
  This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection.
  Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings.
  For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups.
  
  
  
  56.18
  
  
  Copyright
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