[Low-Tech Loadouts] Etruscan Warrior, 7th to 3rd century B.C.

[DanHoward]

Originally Posted by Anders

Would such a helmet be practical on the battlefield? IIRC, horns on helmets are a very bad idea for several reasons. Maybe it's a ceremonial helmet.

The word "ceremonial" is a term that archaeologists use when they can't work out the function of an item. A far as I can tell there was no such thing as ceremonial armour or helmets until the late Renaissance. Horned helmets were definitely worn in battle. Most people have seen the ones that the Japanese wore but plenty of other cultures from the Bronze Age onwards used them. Their practicality is questionable but fashion plays just as much a role in armour design as function. There is a passage in the Iliad where Menelaus raises his sword to strike Paris and his blade clips one of the horns on his helmet and breaks.