Helm of Cannae Helm of Cannae The Helm of Cannae is an artefact in the antiquities collection of Franz, Count of Erbach-Erbach, at Erbach Palace in Erbach im Odenwald. It is, reputedly, one of the few surviving helmets from the field of the Battle between the Roman Republic and the Carthaginians under Hannibal in 216 BC. It is most famous for a legend about its acquisition by the count. Legend has it that the helm was stolen from the Vatican Museum by a member of Count Franz I's staff at his direction during his second tour of Italy in 1791. The story of
Campaign history of the Roman military was the costliest Rome had suffered since the Battle of Cannae. After the Cimbri inadvertently granted the Romans a reprieve by diverting to plunder Iberia, Rome was given the opportunity to carefully prepare for and successfully meet the Cimbri and Teutons in the Battle of Aquae Sextiae (102 BC) and the Battle of Vercellae (101 BC) where both tribes were virtually annihilated, ending the threat. The extensive campaigning abroad by Rome, and the rewarding of soldiers with plunder from those campaigns, led to the trend of soldiers becoming increasingly loyal to their commanders rather than to the state, and a