By the Numbers: Contextualizing the Inscribed Numerals on the Haspnaś Helmets from Vetulonia

While the armies of Etruscan cities battled the Romans, fellow Etruscans, Gauls, and other peoples, little is known about the nature of the Etruscan army. The largest surviving cache of Etruscan helmets, many of which were inscribed with the family name Haspnaś , offers an opportunity to learn more about Etruscan armies and who might have been supplying armor to them in the late Archaic to early Classical period. These helmets are also tantalizing because a few of them were inscribed sets of numerals. The function of these numerals has never been explored in print and this study is augmented by the discovery of two additional helmets with inscribed numerals from this collection. A number of possible interpretations for these inscriptions will be considered, including whether these might have been inventory numbers, or whether the numbers counted enemy kills. Two of the more tantalizing possibilities are that these numbers might reflect rank or unit, which might offer insight into the nature of the Etruscan army.