[Regia-NA] The Nasal: What's it for?

[Steve Etheridge]

Nathan wrote
>If you look at the period illustrations large numbers (i would say a high
>proportion) of conical helms (spangen or single) are depicted _without_ 
>nasals.

Thanks for saying that, Nathan.  I was trying to find a way of wording it 
without setting up a (groundless) "he's going to ban nasals" scare.  Now I 
don't have to :-)


>Given that period helms were probably not held in place with a cradle and
>chinstrap a nasal is poor defense against a mass impact to the face (the 
>shield-
>boss to the face is liable to drive the nasal into your nose and break it
>anyway).

I don't think that they had chinstraps - simple reason, a blow to the top of 
an unstrapped helmet knocks the helmet off.  A blow to the top of a strapped 
helmet _can_  break the neck.  plus no evidence.

>Without cheekplates (or aventail) a solid strike to the side of the head is
>generally not going to be resisted by the presence of a nasal, the strike 
>will
>hit the face anyway (though the nasal won't make the situation any worse.

I think that aventails grew to replace cheekflaps, possibly because it's 
easier to hear out of an aventail than it is out of cheeflaps.  Beleive me, 
I know :-)

I think that perhaps there might have been a thought that nasals could be 
done away with for similar reasons, to make the helmet lighter and easier to 
see out of.  Practical experimetation (or the theory of evolution) showed 
that the gains were less than the risks, and the nasal was adoped.  All this 
based on illustrative evidence, as we don't _have_ too many finds :-(

>Aly,
>
>You may well be right, your theory sounds quite plausable.  However i doubt 
>it
>is the only reason why the nasal persists when the cheekplates are lost.

The early empire Roman helmets have brims above the face to ward off blows.  
they do this quite adequately - sadly, they trasfer the weight of the blow 
to the head.  Evolutionary principle again.  "His face ain't cut, but his 
neck's boke"

My Thruppence Ha'pny

Steve
(none of this is a ruling.  Hopefully that will be obvious, but I never 
underestimate the ability of a Regia member to let the facts stand in the 
way of a good rumour)

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