The cavalry mask could either be a one-piece helmet hinged above the brow and tied at the base of the neck or a detachable one where the mask and helmet separated, the mask being carried in a bag between postings. The one featured here is the former and once again would be carried with extreme care owing to its expense. Its construction renders it useless for battle as it is of lightweight bronze or iron construction silvered over the more decorative areas of the face and head. It would have been handcrafted to suit and designed as either male or female. This could have possibly represented the legends of the battles between the Greeks and Amazons of old, legends themselves the Romans were very fond of. Yellow plumes were the order of the day as detailed by Arrian.
The fact that helmets have been discovered as far afield as Scotland, Germany, Romania and Syria all bearing different designs, tells us a lot about the cavalry trooper - boys, women, iron, bronze, hair, diadems, teardrops, peaks, crest holders etc; the variety was enormous. The soldier was not the homogenous commodity we like to think he was. He was an individual expressing his own national identity a long way from home.
The chamfron, the leather horse mask, is again thought to be parade wear and unsuitable for battle. Its decoration is in metal studs and the horseman's unit stitched below the eyes on a label called the tabula ansata. The eye guards are of bronze and stitched to the mask although pairs of these have been found separately with the suggestion that they were attached to the bridle only and may have been worn in combat. The mask is tied to the bridle and is detachable and may have on occasions been made of bronze plates hinged to fit around the horses face although these are of a later date.
