Chalkidian Helmet and Greaves, 4th-5th century BC

The Chalkidian (Chalcidian) helmet was especially popular in Greece in the fourth and fifth centuries BC. The helmet was also worn extensively in the Greek (Southern) parts of Italy in the same period. The helmet is so-called because it was first, and is most commonly, depicted on pottery once thought to derive from the Euboean city of Chalcis. The helmet appears to have been a development of the Corinthian helmet, its improvements in design giving the wearer better hearing and vision, resulting in a lighter and less bulky helmet.

By the time of Alexander the Great, the helmet was still worn by armored soldiers, especially Hoplites, the spear-armed heavy infantrymen (other than those of the Spartans, who instead wore the much plainer Pilos type helmet). It is likely that some of the Macedonian soldiers who ruled the rest of Greece and went on to forge a substantial Hellenistic empire also wore the Chalcidian helmet. The helmet is thought to have developed in turn into the Attic helmet which is iconic of classical soldiers.