Helmet of Coțofenești

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Helmet of Coțofenești
MaterialElectrum (gold-silver-copper alloy)
Createdbetween 450–400 BC
DiscoveredLate 1920s
Coțofenești, Vărbilău, Prahova County, Romania
Present locationUnknown (after 2025 theft)

The Golden Helmet of Coțofenești (Romanian:

Coțofenești, it was exhibited at the National History Museum of Romania in Bucharest before being stolen in 2025 during a robbery at the Drents Museum in Assen
, the Netherlands, where it was being displayed as part of a travelling exhibition.

Provenance

Discovery

The helmet was discovered in 1926 on a grassland by a farmer's child named Traian Simion who was herding sheep in the village of Poiana Coțofenești (now part of Vărbilău commune), Prahova County, Romania, at a location called "Vârful Fundăturii"[citation needed]. The child reportedly wore the helmet for two weeks and used it as a toy, causing some parts to become detached from the helmet. According to archeologists analysis, the top part of the helmet was damaged by being hit or pulled on while hanging on a tree. The helmet was also used as a watering trough for chickens, and eventually the farmer placed it on top of his chicken coop.

At some time, a Ploiești merchant by the name of Ion (or Jean) Marinescu-Moreanu bought the helmet, including the detached upper part,[clarification needed] for the sum of 30,000 lei, equivalent to up to 30 years' income for the farmer. Marinescu offered the helmet to head of the Ministry of Arts Ion Marin Sadoveanu. In April 1929, the helmet was purchased by the Ministry of Public Instruction and Cults for the National Museum of Antiquities, now the National History Museum of Romania. Initially, Marinescu was celebrated for saving a national treasure, but after the landslide 1928 Romanian general election, Marinescu, presumably a sympathizer of the losing Liberal Party, was vilified for 'enriching himself'.[1][2][3]

The helmet was kept since the 1970s at the National History Museum of Romania.[4]

Site survey

Archaeologist Ioan Andrieșescu [ro], professor of prehistory at the University of Bucharest, conducted a thorough investigation at the site. The team of archaeologists noticed that the helmet was not part of a gold treasure or grave but it was part of a local Geto-Dacian La Tène settlement.[5] Archaeologists concluded that the helmet was a stray find, as only a few late Hallstatt pottery fragments were found, some of them wheeled.[clarification needed][citation needed]

Analysis

Mythological scene on the side
Mythological scene on the back

Weighing almost a kilogram, the gold helmet is very well preserved, missing only part of its skull cap. The form of the helmet and its decorations reveal the autochthonous character of this Geto-Dacian artwork. The helmet is decorated with large studs on the top of the skull and two very large

apotropaic eyes, meant to ward off the evil eye and magic spells.[5] It was established that it belonged to an unknown local Geto-Dacian king or to a local aristocrat, from around year 400 BC.[5]

View with the damaged top

The helmet's decorations depict a range of mythical creatures, and an illustration, on either cheek-piece, of a ritual enactment.[6]

The cheek-pieces show[

Mithraic Mysteries. Environment and affluence might well account for a change to a larger beast being offered as sacrifice and a similar interpretation of a bull-slaying episode.[clarification needed][7] This sacrifice of the ram might have been performed by the "king-priest-god".[8]

The pair of "Voracious Beasts" on the Coțofenești neck-guard occupy a lower register along with a similar creature deprived of a victim’s leg[clarification needed] .[7] This motif of the "Voracious Beast" is found earlier in

village near the Danube Delta in eastern Romania where they were found.[7]

Silver beaker from Agighiol
Silver beaker from Agighiol

The upper register displays a row of three seated or squatting winged creatures, rather monkey-like with human faces, long forearms, and long tails. These are direct, if run-down, descendants of the sphinxes on a gold beaker from Amlash .[7]

The eyes on a

North Thracian noble who wore it, they could mean "I see twice as well, I have eyes like my hawk".[9] The Thracian gold and silversmiths who manufactured the objects were aware of other contemporary art styles—those of Scythia, Greece, northeast Italy, and what is now modern Slovenia were known through trade, travel and meetings and they adapted conventions of representation suitable for their own purposes.[9] The meaning of these motifs was no doubt context-specific.[9]

Drawing of the mythological scenes in full
Graphic reconstruction of the damaged helmet, with the scene resembling a Mithraic tauroctony

The decorations, such as rosettes, strips, triangles, spirals and others are specific Geto-Dacian art motifs. The depiction of the sacrifice of the ram is an

Iranian theme that entered Greek art and from there 'barbarian' art. Therefore, the helmet seems to have been realized in a Greek workshop. But, in the same time the awkward technique of execution that contrasts with the perfect technique of a Greek craftsman points out to an autochthonous one.[clarification needed][10]

Theft

Main article: 2025 Drents Museum heist

On January 25, 2025, Dutch officials announced the helmet had been stolen from the

Natalia Intotero fired the museum's director, Ernest Oberländer, saying that he had "failed to adequately protect the national heritage".[14]

Incorrectly reconstructed replica, worn by Decebalus in the movie Dacii (The Dacians) (1967)

A replica of the helmet appeared in the 1967 historical movie

Darius I, who in 513 BC, was campaigning against the Scythians. The action takes place within roughly the period that produced the original helmet. A similar comic strip written by Mănuceanu and drawn by Sandu Florea depicts the king Burebista
wearing the helmet as well.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Ilinca, Dan (2025-01-26). "Povestea Coifului dacic de la Coțofenești. Găsit acum aproape 100 de ani, a fost folosit pentru a bea găinile apă din el". B1TV.ro (in Romanian). Retrieved 2025-01-29.
  2. ^ Toboc, Luiza (2021-07-18). "Este unic în lume și e din Prahova. Coiful de aur de la Coțofenești, găsit de un copil care mergea cu oile la păscut". Observatorul Prahovean (in Romanian). Retrieved 2025-01-29.
  3. ^ "Dit oude koninkrijk was zo rijk dat het de Romeinen kon uitdagen. Wat je moet weten over Dacië en de nieuwe expositie in het Drents Museum" [This ancient kingdom was so rich that it could challenge the Romans. What you need to know about Dacia and the new exhibit at the Drents Museum]. Dagblad van het Noorden (in Dutch). 2024-07-04. Retrieved 2025-01-27.
  4. ^ Wizovich, Eli (27 January 2025). "Art Thieves Blew Up a Dutch Museum's Door to Steal an Ancient Golden Helmet From Romania". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved 29 January 2025.
  5. ^ a b c Berciu 1969, p. 77.
  6. ^ Powell, Brown & Boardman 1971, p. 193.
  7. ^ a b c d Powell, Brown & Boardman 1971, p. 193-194.
  8. ^ Polacco 1989, p. 177.
  9. ^ a b c Taylor 1987, p. 127.
  10. ^ Berciu 1969, p. 81.
  11. ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved 2025-01-27.
  12. ^ Reyes, Ronny (2025-01-27). "Experts fear thieves will melt 2,400-year-old golden helmet stolen from Dutch museum: 'It is simply unsellable'". New York Post. Retrieved 2025-02-06.
  13. ^ "Veldkamp: alles op alles zetten om gestolen kunst Drents Museum te vinden". NOS (in Dutch). 27 January 2025. Retrieved 28 January 2025.
  14. ^ "Verdachten kunstroof komen uit Noord-Holland, directeur Roemeens museum ontslagen". NOS (in Dutch). 28 January 2025. Retrieved 28 January 2025.

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Helmet of Coțofenești.
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