Two Aspects of Islamic Arms and Armor

TURBAN HELMETS, SO called because of their oversized bulbous shape, and the armor and shields to which they can be related have long been a problematic group in the study of Islamic arms and armor. They have been described as everything from Mongol to Mamluk,' and dated from as early as the fourteenth to as late as the seventeenth century. As a class of objects they differ greatly among themselves, and the group can be divided into a number of subgroups. Nevertheless, the features they share indicate that although they do not have a common provenance they are at least the products of a continuing tradition. This study of eight such helmets is intended to illustrate the complexity of the problem of their provenance, and to demonstrate that they were produced over a long period of time and in a number of centers. One should regard this study as a first step in solving a problem whose unraveling will be completed only when the hundreds of such objects in Istanbul have been fully analyzed and grouped according to their type and epigraphical content.2 The earliest surviving helmet of this type was found in Bursa, where it may have been made. It is inscribed: "Let the government and sovereignty of the Emir Sultan Orhan be permanent" (Figure 1).3 Orhan, the son of the Emir Othman, was born in 1288 and ruled from 1326 to 1360. He is credited with having strengthened and expanded the Ottoman army and with the founding of the Janissary corps. In 1326 he conquered Bursa, which became his capital, and shortly afterwards the ancient city of Nicaea (now Iznik). With the capture of Gallipoli in 1354 he extended Ottoman power into Europe. The inscription on the helmet includes the title "sultan," not generally used by the Ottomans at this time, and thus provides a reason for assuming that the helmet may have been made as a commemorative piece at a slightly later date. Nevertheless it establishes the fact that helmets