A Greek Chalcidian style helmet, found near the Greek harbor city of Elea (Roman Velia), in Campania, South Italy. Dated between 541-535 BC

 

Researchers, who have been working the site since last July, announced in a translated statement that they believe that these artifacts are linked to a major maritime battle that changed the balance of power in the Mediterranean nearly 2,500 years ago.

Ancient Greeks may have left the items behind after the Battle of Alalia. Between 541 and 535 BC, a fleet of Phocaean ships—who had set up a colony, Alalia, on the island of Corsica—set sail on the nearby Tyrrhenian Sea to fend off attacks from neighboring Etruscan and Carthaginian forces

Though the Greeks emerged victorious, the costly sea battle ultimately spurred the Phocaean colonists to leave Alalia and establish a colony closer to other Greek settlements along the southern coast of Italy. Settlers from Phocaea sailed for the mainland and purchased a plot of land that would eventually become Velia.

This helmet was designed in the Greek Chalcidian style.