The Cumae armour group: a South Italic panoply at the Royal Armouries

Abstract

In 1853, at the sale of the collection of the Count of Milan of Sicily, the Ordnance Office at the Tower of London purchased a South Italic panoply, ostensibly from Cumae, for £200. The set included a winged helmet, a cuirass, a pair of greaves, thigh protectors, a belt, a sword and scabbard, and a spearhead. The Cumae armour, belonging to a high-status warrior, can be broadly dated on stylistic grounds to about 375–25 BC and exhibits a sophisticated interplay of imagery relating to Hermes, Gorgons, and boars. The weapons date to the eighth century BC and are thought to have been added to the panoply in the nineteenth century to make a more attractive and visually ‘complete’ collection for display or sale.