By KENNETH WALTERS
It has long been thought that Gjergj Kastrioti’s striking and remarkable war helmet was modeled on the helmet of Alexander the Great.
It is believed that Kastrioti’s helmet was designed in 1464 by Pal Angeli, the Catholic archbishop of Durr쳬 and crafted by the master armorers of Milan. Pope Pius II intended to present the helmet to Kastrioti as the commander of a crusade against the Ottomans which never materialized. For over a century it disappeared from view until resurfacing in 1578, when it was transferred by the Duke of Urbino, Francesco Maria II, to Archduke Ferdinand II of Austria, an avid collector of arms and armor. Today the helmet resides in the Kunsthistorisches Museum of Vienna.
To many the derivation from Alexander the Great’s helmet has seemed assured נnot least of all because of Kastrioti’s surname, Skanderbeg (“Lord Alexander”), conferred on him by the Ottoman Sultan Murad II for his prowess as a general. Noting the goat head surmounting Skanderbeg’s helmet, with two very prominent horns, proponents of this interpretation often cite the Koran (18.83), where there is a reference to Alexander as Dhul Qarnain, “the two horned”. Similarly, in the Old Testament (Daniel 8.3-4) there is a passage commonly taken to refer to Alexander the Great, in a vision of a powerful two horned ram: “No beast could stand before him, and there was no one who could rescue from his power.”
However, we can show conclusively that Scanderbeg’s helmet had nothing to do with Alexander’s helmet.
In antiquity Alexander was depicted on coinage as wearing the horns of a ram, not those of a goat. (See IMAGE 1) This is an important difference. Alexander believed he was the son of the Greek god Zeus – so he had been told by his mother, the Illyrian princess Olympias – and he obtained confirmation of his lineage from the oracle of Zeus-Amon, a syncretistic god of North Africa, in the Libyan oasis of Siwa. Zeus-Ammon was a god portrayed with ram’s horns, that is the horns grew right out of his skull. There survive many such images of this god on coins of ancient Cyrene. And thus later Alexander is so depicted on coins. But it is important to note his horns are the horns of a ram – not the horns of a goat, that they are part of his head and are not located on a helmet.
More importantly, we do know what the war helmet of Alexander the Great actually looked like. It did not bear goat horns. In fact, it did not bear any horns at all. For this we have the testimony his ancient biographer Plutarch (Life of Alexander):
נ16.7 “And Alexander, [was] quite visible because of his shield, and for the crest of his helmet, on either side of which there was a feather plume, remarkable for its size and whiteness. Ů 32.9 [Alexander’s] helmetŠwas steel, but so polished it glistened like pure silver.”
This was as noted not a horned helmet. More than that, given the many issues of ancient coins that show Alexander sporting the horns of Zeus-Amon, if he had ever worn a goat-horned helmet, his ancient biographers surely would have commented on it, as it would have been controversial. But there is not the slightest mention in the copious surviving literature.
But we can go a step further, because in fact Alexander’s helmet has been recovered – from the royal Macedonian tombs in Vergina, Greece. It is steel (just as Plutarch said), not bronze, nor does it bear horns. But it does have fixtures for two feather plumes, and this we know from Plutarch was the style of Alexander’s helmet. There also survive seven examples of a very rare medallion from Babylon, struck probably in 324 BC, a year or less before Alexander’s death. On this medallion a figure identified as Alexander is depicted wearing a war helmet with feathered plumes, but no horns.
In short, the evidence shows that Skanderbeg’s helmet was not based on that of Alexander the Great.
What, then, did Pal Angeli have in mind when he designed the helmet? In particular, why was it surmounted by goat horns, for many Christians diabolical in their significance? In other words, how were the horns of a goat appropriate for Scanderbeg, praised by Pope Pius II as the “athlete of Christ”?
The answer to these questions lies in the far distant past, a past even more remote than the time of Alexander.
First, we need to consider the meaning of the goat horns. In very ancient times, as today, the goat was a semi-domestic animal. That is, it was not wholly domesticated, and often allowed to graze wild, only casually attended by goatherds. Thus it was an animal betwixt and between, part of nature, part of culture. Even today it retains its unruly and ambiguous nature. Indeed, the goat is sometimes seen by Christians as the icon of Satan. In other words, the goat symbolizes the possibility of the unruly, dangerous, and fearsome power of nature intruded into civilized life.
In ancient times, the goat was associated with the god Pan. Pan was the god of pasturage (the Indo-European root *PA- is the same for both.) Typically Pan was imagined as bearing goat horns. Pan was himself an ambiguous god. He presided over the welfare of the flocks; but he could also cause trouble – much trouble. In particular he might strike panic into the flock, causing it to stampede and destroy itself. “Panic” of course is the fear that “Pan” causes – a mindless, uncontrollable fear.
From this it was a simple step that the god Pan might also strike terror into the heart of humans, especially in battle. We can consider a single case, one very apropos to the matter we are investigating. In 279 BC the Gauls, also known as the Galatians, invaded Greece, led by their chieftain Brennus. They were defeated by the Greeks with aid of the god Pan, they said, at the battle of Delphi. Pausanias recounts the story Description of Greece, 10.23.6-8:
[6] At the beginning of the fight the Gauls fought back stoutlyŮ But after Brennus himself had been wounded and was carried unconscious from the battle, the barbarians, with the Greeks attacking on all sides, retreated grudgingly.Š[7] They made camp where night overtook them in their retreat. During the night there fell upon them a “panic.” For baseless fears are said to come from this [Pan]. Š At first just a few lost their wits, and imagined that they heard the hoof beats of charging horses, and the approach of the enemy. Not much later the delusion spread to all. [8] So taking up arms they squared off and began to kill each other… The madness from the god wrought a very great mutual slaughter among the Gauls.
Following this battle, Antigonos Gonatas, King of Macedonia, minted coins celebrating the god Pan. Several feature busts of Pan, with his goat horns. (See IMAGE 2)
We have seen the power of the goat-horned Pan, god of the pastures. Now we need to consider the power of the aegis of Zeus. In ancient Greek religion, the supreme god of the Greek pantheon, Zeus, had a simple but overpowering weapon. It was called the aegis, a simple fringed goat-skin (the Greek word for goat was aix ( = *aigs). The goat-skin had miraculous powers: shaken at one’s enemy it terrified, stunned, and bewildered. But held over the weak and defenseless it was a shield warding off harm. Often Zeus loaned the aegis to other gods. Apollo, for instance, borrowed it to assist the Trojans:
But once [Apollo]ō
Shook the aegis and raised aloud his battle cry,
It quelled the Greeks’ courage in their heartsō
They forgot the fury of their fighting prowess.
As a herd of cattle or a great flock of sheep stampedes…
So the Greeks fled in panic, bereft of courage. [Iliad 15.321-326]
Or Athena routed the suitors of Penelope trapped in the great hall by Odysseus after his home-coming:
And now Athena, from high in the rafters above them,
Held out the aegis, destroyer of mortals, and the suitors’
Minds were thrown into panic. Down the hall they ran
In terror, like herds stampedingŠ[Odyssey, 22.297-299]
It is no coincidence, of course, that it is the goat-skin that displays this magical power. It is the symbol of Pan, the goat god who strikes panic into men’s hearts. We can now understand the reverse of one of Antigonos Gonatas’s most famous coins, on which is depicted the goddess Athena advancing into battle, wearing the aegis. With this she will bewilder and terrify her opponents. Thus on both faces Antigonos’s coin doubly features the terrifying power of the goat god.
The same may be said for a more obscure Roman goddess, Juno Sospita. Scholars have often been misunderstood her attire. She wears the goat skin, complete with headdress and horns, advancing into battle with spear and shield. Her image appeared on many ancient Roman coins. Here is an image of a 1st cen. BC Roman coin depicting Juno Sospita on the reverse. (See IMAGE 3). The purpose of her goat skin? Like Athena’s aegis, to bewilder and panic her enemies.
Still, these goat skins are not helmets. But there is a connection. Pyrrhos, king of Epiros, was accounted second only to Alexander the Great in prowess of warfare. In a famous encounter he actually entered an enemy general’s camp to persuade his troops to defect. Plutarch relates [Life of Pyrrhos, 11]:
“Most of [Demetrios’s] army Šwent looking for Pyrrhos; He had absent- mindedly taken off his helmet, and he was not recognized until he understood and put it on again, when its high crest and its goat’s horns identified him to everybody.”
I suspect (as have others) that this notice may have been Bishop Angeli’s stimulus for the design of Scanderbeg’s helmet.
There is still a final knot to be tied.
It has been established that Pan struck terror into the heart of the enemy. We know of the aegis; we know of the goat-horned helmet. Bear in mind, too, the inscription around the base of Scanderbeg’s helmet. It is acronymic, bearing the initial two letters of successive two word phrases. IN PE RA TO RE BT (“Iesus Nazarenus Principem Emathiae Regem Albanorum Terrorem Osmanorum Regem Epirotarum Te Benedicat”: “May Jesus of Nazareth, bless you, Prince of Emathia, King of the Albanians, Terror of the Ottomans, King of Epirus.”)
The learned cleric Pal Angeli drew upon his knowledge of the classical world to transform a pagan icon of invincibility in battle into a modern symbol, on a helmet whose goat horns would strike terror, that is, panic, into the hearts of Skanderbeg’s Ottoman foes. Thus was Scanderbeg’s connection with the ancient past and with his great Epirote forebear, Pyrrhus, firmly established.
This article has its origin in the research Prof. Walters did to prepare for an interview with Nua Gjelaj and Nik Gjonaj in summer 2005, for their film, “Scanderbeg, Warrior King of Albania”. Thereafter Prof. Walters presented more detailed versions at Saint Paul’s Albanian Catholic Church, Rochester Hills, Michigan, and at Michigan State University for the inaugural of the Bennett Memorial Lecture series. Walters is currently completing a longer scholarly version of this article to be published in 2009.
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Dr. Kenneth R. Walters is currently Associate Professor of Classical Languages in the Department of Classical and Modern Languages at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan (USA). He earned his Ph.D. from Princeton University (USA) in 1975 in Classical Philology (the linguistic and historical study of classical languages). Professor Walters has published several articles on the classical world and is currently working on publications which address the influence and importance of the classical world on our modern world. You may communicate with him at kenneth.r.walters@wayne.edu.
