Time for me to waste more bandwith. These pictures are either from the book by David Alexander "The Arts of War" or from another book called ummm...stupid UCSB library catalog. It was something like "Treasures of the Islamic World" or equally generic. Whatever, here are some helmets.

For your viewing pleasure I have:

a 7-8th century steel helmet with nasal that has been gilt at some time.

a 16th century Mamluk or Ottoman helm that is very nifty

a 14th century Anatolian helm

a 15th century Iranian face mask (I think I forgot to record the century)

a 15th-16th century Iranian helm

a 15th century sword hilt with a helmet from the same period

a 16th-17th century Iranian helmet

Okay, that's it for now I think. I didn't realize I got 7 helm pics...

The second one downs a beaut! The (not a prayer i'm gonna spell this right) szeichak helm is where the zischagge comes from. Eastern Europe was a melting pot of eastern and western fashion and military technology and the zischagge was the European version of this helm and its name a European corruption of the Turkish one. Great pics Alina.

Hey Alina,

Interesting stuff, I generally prefer things with less decoration but those are interesting none the less. Thanks for posting the pics. Also, you may know this already, but you can add captions to the pictures themselves. When you are attaching the files, you can put your caption/info in the "File Comment" space and it will display below the picture in your post.

Cheers,

Can someone explain more about the mask (or mask-type visor) portrayed in Alina's photos. Was this a common Islamic helmet frontpiece (presumably attached to the brow of the helmet looking at the holes).?

The reason I ask is that I recently saw very similar masks in the Leeds Royal Armouries and the Wallace Collection in the 14th ~ 15th century European helm cases. They immediately struck me as being very un-European in practical style and also in decoration (One was decorated like the face of a lion). Seeing Alina's photos I wondered whether these might have been adapted from Islamic styles of armour seen by people who had travelled/lived/fought there, or even be ' tourist souvenirs' ( I intend no flippant treatment of any cultural or military interaction by that phrase) from the near east. When I saw them I was most reminded of Japanese armour masks. I would be interested if anyone has some further info on this style of mask (origin, usage, dates etc).

Daniel

Steve #6 six is called a khula khud and this type of helm was used from India and Turkey to Egypt and the Sudan. There were small regional differences in things like bowel depth, top spike or peaked top, and decorative motifs. The gold work on this helm is called khaftari and refers to the process of crosshatching either with a file or light chisel work the surface to be covered then hammering gold or silver foil into it and the burnishing it which results in the gold or silver remaining in the low areas creating you design. This mode of decoration was very popular for weapons in these areas as well. The khula khud Alina posted looks to be a particularly fine example.

Alina, the links don't seem to be working. :(

I'm glad Hisham posted on this thread, thereby bumping it up near the top and bringing it to my attention. It just made me realize that Alina hasn't posted in a long time (over a month it seems). Though Islamic weapons aren't my primary interest, I always found her posts infomative and interesting. I wonder what has become of her. :?: :eek: :?:
(Sorry, Nathan, I know it's off-topic, but in this instance I thought this the best place to put this particular question. :) )

I am interested in Islamic armour, and I'm gutted that I missed this post. Oh well...

Sorry I have no idea where she is.

A thought about Alina's whereabouts: she is (graduated?) student at the University of California at Santa Barbara. Since it is now June, the regular academic year is probably over or finishing. So she is likely in transition - to a summer job, summer school, the "real world", or whatever. ;) I trust she is doing fine, and hope to hear from her soon - she is very well-versed in Islamic warfare and weapons.

I guess Alina made quite an impression on us. Her last posts were May 6, and she mentioned then that she had until June to finish up her term. Ahh, the joys of preparing for final examinations.

Alina has quit our site and she won't be returning. She called a person a name which resulted in her post being removed and her being moderated for it. She became "disproportionately upset" (her words) and quit in a huff (my words), deleting all of her attachments in anger and asking for her account to be deactivated.

I wish this hadn't happened. I wish she was continuing to share with us. And I wish she didn't feel compelled to sabotage her previous posts. Life goes on.

I want to get back on the subject of arms and armour and off this subject. If you have any comments or questions, direct them to me via Private Message.. if you must.

Thanks.

For those interested, Alina is still active on the SFI.

David