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Decorated helmets fitted with a metal mask in the form of a human face have been found throughout the lands of the Roman empire, and sometimes beyond it. Despite the significant number of examples (whole or in part) surviving from the 1st to the 3rd c. A.D., these helmets remain an enigma to students of the Roman army. They have usually (though not exclusively) been found either at or close to forts garrisoned by cavalry or in hoards or graves containing other military equipment, often cavalry-specific such as horse-chamfrons. Most have therefore been identified as cavalry helmets, and it is widely accepted that many are of the type referred to by the 2nd-c. general Arrian in his treatise Tactica whilst describing cavalry exercises (hippika gymnasia): these helmets, unlike those made for battle, do not protect just the head and cheeks, but are made to fit the faces of the cavalrymen completely, with openings for the eyes so as not to interrupt the vision whilst nevertheless providing protection for the eyes.1

The need for experiments to study physical aspects of craft of the past is stated, as well as the necessity for them to have clear aims and to follow the established principles of scientific enquiry. These principles are discussed in this joint paper by ten maritime archaeologists and others, together with methods and some points of management critical to their application in this field.

The agentes in rebus appear to have been set up by Diocletian at the end of the third century ce to replace the corps of frumentarii–imperial couriers and secret policemen–whom he had abolished because of their abuses and unpopularity. Keywords: military history; political history; Roman history