By Brian Stobbs
The German word "Varusschlacht" translates as the Varus Battle, though it was less of a battle than a slaughter. It took place in the Teutoburger Wald, where the three legions of Quinctilius Varus, the 17th, 18th and 19th, perished. The face is of iron and was found in more recent times; it is now a treasured possession of the Kalkriese Museum. Many find this Roman facemask macabre, indeed very sinister in appearance. I have visited Kalkriese, and I have to admit one tends to feel that even the place itself has something sinister about it. There can be a sense of something terrible, but of course the events in question all happened some two millennia ago. On my first day there, while walking in the forest, I tripped over a tree root and fell flat on my face. I was not hurt, of course, though maybe I suffered a dent in my pride. Then, as I approached the clearing, there were loud claps of thunder, lightening and a torrential downpour from a very black sky. The modern Roman event I had gone to see had to be shut down, of course. That was when I began to wonder: Are the very gods trying themselves to tell me something? Most strange.
However, I would like to try and explain the Kalkriese face, ask what is through the eyes of an armourer. That is the way I like to see myself, having, over a period of twenty-five years, reproduced a lot of Roman armour and weaponry. In my view, this Roman facemask was part of a cavalry sports helmet some years before A. D. 9, and was maybe even used in Hippica Gymnasia. Then, I believe it went through two phases of very dramatic alteration. I base this view not only on my experience in the field, but also on serious studies of the original piece, as well as photographs and a fibreglass copy which I now own with a view to reproducing the original.
Sometimes, it's hard to see the wood for the trees, but over many years of making such things, you find that very close observation helps. There is in fact evidence on this mask that suggests alterations. Looking at the Kalkriese face, what we find today is a mask that still has much of the bronze edging, originally silvered. This edging still holds parts of silver sheet, which once covered the whole face. One must assume that a German barbarian from the Cherusci tribe perhaps looted this sheet of silver in the Varus disaster. If that is correct, the evidence that has been handed down to us from history may reveal the possible alterations to the mask.
We are dealing with an iron mask, which, as I discovered, has nine holes in it. These holes need to be explained (as does their large number). There are also two dull rectangular areas on the brow that have to be considered. In its original form, I believe the mask was simply an iron face that was tinned, with just two holes in the brow area and no edging. These two holes are the first pair in the sequence of its working life; and they are within the two dull rectangular areas. This suggests that there were originally metal blocks that held a horizontal pin; these blocks and pin would have been in the region of the dull areas of the brow. They would have formed part of a hinge which was made of leather, folded through the pin, then riveted permanently to a helmet (a cavalry sports parade helmet for Hippica Gymnasia use).
At this point we must try and consider the second phase of the mask's working life. As a cavalry sports helmet, it may have dated to between 5 and 4 A. D. or even earlier, maybe even to the moment of midnight Anno Domini. The second phase began with the removal of the hinge arrangement -- though for what reason? We may never know. The sports helmet may have been damaged, or it may have changed hands, as did many pieces of Roman military equipment. There were many reasons for such a change od ownership. Now, there is a further sequence of holes to be considered, because at this point, another four holes were made in the mask. These are found in the two upper corners and in the lower cheek areas on each side, giving us a total of six holes in the face.
