The Emesa helmet is an iron Roman cavalry helmet from the early first century AD. Its face mask, covered in a thin sheet of silver, presents the individualised portrait of a face, likely that of its owner. Decorations, some gilded, adorn the head piece. Ornately designed yet highly functional, the helmet was probably intended for both parades and battle. Its delicate covering is too fragile to have been put to use during cavalry tournaments, but the thick iron core would have defended against blows and arrows. It bears acanthus scroll ornamentation, indicating that the helmet may have come from the luxury workshops of Antioch. Confiscated by Syrian police in 1936 soon after looters discovered it amidst a complex of tombs in the modern-day city of Homs, the helmet was eventually restored at the British Museum. It has been exhibited internationally, and is now in the collection of the National Museum of Damascus. Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emesa_helmet> _______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries: 1848: Scottish settlers on the John Wickliffe, captained by William Cargill, arrived at what is now Port Chalmers in the Otago Region of New Zealand. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Cargill> 1931: Bhagat Singh, one of the most influential revolutionaries of the Indian independence movement, and two others were executed by British authorities. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhagat_Singh> 1989: Two researchers announced the discovery of cold fusion, a claim which was later discredited. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_fusion> 2007: The Iranian military arrested 15 Royal Navy personnel, claiming that they had entered Iran's territorial waters. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Iranian_arrest_of_Royal_Navy_personnel> _____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day: bulldog clip: 1. A binder clip with rigid handles. 2. (surgery) A surgical instrument with serrated jaws and a spring- loaded handle used to grip blood vessels or similar organs. <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bulldog_clip> ___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:   Man's life cannot "be lived" by repeating the pattern of his species; he must live. Man is the only animal that can be bored, that can be discontented, that can feel evicted from paradise. Man is the only animal for whom his own existence is a problem which he has to solve and from which he cannot escape. He cannot go back to the prehuman state of harmony with nature; he must proceed to develop his reason until he becomes the master of nature, and of himself.   --Erich Fromm <https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Erich_Fromm>