Norse did not wear helmets with horns?

“I appreciate your statements. One thing though… The Norse did not wear helmets with horns. Even when they went on their trips called “viking”. The horned helmet thing comes from the Nazi era -opera. Do you want to be associated with Nazis? I’m basing my statements on content in a recent exhibit at the Canadian Museum of History.” – Commenter

Roman authors such as *Diodorus Siculus (1st century BCE) had described Gauls as wearing winged helmets or helmets with horns or antlers attached. *Plutarch (CE 46 – CE 120) described the Cimbri, at the time resident in Jutland, as wearing “helmets, made to resemble the heads of wild beasts,” horns included. Diodorus Siculus (1st century BCE) had earlier described Gauls as wearing winged helmets or helmets with horns or antlers attached.Ref

The Gauls were Celtic people inhabiting Gaul in the Iron Age and the Roman period (roughly from the 5th century BC to the 5th century AD). Their Gaulish language forms the main branch of the Continental Celtic languages of the La Tène culture north of the Alps (spread across the lands between the Seine, Middle Rhine and upper Elbe). By the 4th century BC, they spread over much of what is now France, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Southern Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia by virtue of controlling the trade routes along the river systems of the Rhône, Seine, Rhine, and Danube, and they quickly expanded into Northern Italy, the Balkans, Transylvania, and Galatia. Gaul was never united under a single ruler or government, but the Gallic tribes were capable of uniting their forces in large-scale military operations. They reached the peak of their power in the early 3rd century BC. The rising Roman Republic after the end of the First Punic War increasingly put pressure on the Gallic sphere of influence; the Battle of Telamon of 225 BC heralded a gradual decline of Gallic power over the 2nd century until the eventual conquest of Gaul in the Gallic Wars of the 50s BC. After this, Gaul became a province of the Roman Empire, and the Gauls were ethnically and culturally largely assimilated into Latin (Roman settlers) majority, losing their tribal identities by the end of the 1st century AD. Origins and early history of Gaulish culture developed out of the Celtic cultures over the first millennia BC. The Urnfield culture (c. 1300 BC – c. 750 BC) represents the Celts as a distinct cultural branch of the Indo-European-speaking people. The spread of iron working led to the Hallstatt culture in the 8th century BC; the Proto-Celtic may have been spoken around this time. The Hallstatt culture evolved into the La Tène culture in around the 5th century BC. The Greek and Etruscan civilizations and colonies began to influence the Gauls, especially in the Mediterranean area. Gauls under Brennus invaded Rome circa 390 BC. Following the climate deterioration in the late Nordic Bronze Age, Celtic Gaul was invaded in the 5th century BC by tribes later called Gauls originating in the Rhine valley. Gallic invaders settled the Po Valley in the 4th century BC, defeated Roman forces in a battle under Brennus in 390 BC and raided Italy as far as Sicily. In the 3rd century BC, the Gauls attempted an eastward expansion in 281-279 BC, towards the Balkan peninsula which, during that time, was a Greek province, with the ultimate goal to reach and loot the rich Greek city-states of the Greek mainland, but the majority of the Gaul army was exterminated by the Greeks and the few Gauls that survived were forced to flee. A large number of Gauls served in the armies of Carthage during the Punic Wars, and one of the leading rebel leaders of the Mercenary War, Autaritus, was of Gallic origin. Ref

So yes, it was not common to have Horns in relation to Nordic helmets, especially not as most people think but there were horned helmets associated with Norse. Horns are a few thousand years before the Vikings and it started as religion. Here is a reference from 150 BCE. Ref

It is still a reasonably popular misconception that the Scandinavian warriors that terrorized Europe between the 8th and 12th Centuries CE had iron head-gear sprouting either horns or wings. However, here are some helmets from Denmark that date to around 900 BCE. Ref

The Wenceslas helm and Gjermundbu-style helmets: it is thought most battle-helms would have a relatively clean design, so as to allow a sword blade to be more easily deflected. Horns would simply allow the helmet to be knocked off the head more easily. Ref

We don’t have any evidence they did wear horned helmets.

Weapon – A Visual History Of Arms And Armor, describes viking equipment on pages 53-56; the most common viking helmets were the simple metal plated helmet, Gjermundbu-style helmets, and Wenceslas helmets. Horned helmets are not even mentioned. There is one reference that may be involved, a well-preserved Viking ship discovered in a large burial mound at the Oseberg farm near Tønsberg in Vestfold county, Norway. This ship is commonly acknowledged to be among the finer artifacts to have survived from the Viking Era. Ref

It is possible that the idea of Vikings wearing horned helmets originated from one of the tapestries discovered on the Oseberg ship:

“What we do have is one single piece of evidence, the ninth century Oseberg tapestry, suggesting a rare ceremonial use (the relevant figure on the tapestry may even be that of a god, rather than representative of real Vikings)” Ref

The oars found in the Oseberg ship showed no signs of use. Was the ship custom-built as an exclusive “coffin” ordered by the two women in the grave? Right at the mast there was built a burial chamber. Inside, the walls were decorated with a wonderful woven tapestry, and the dead women were placed together in a made bed. The grave contained hundreds of items for both everyday use and solemn occasions. Investigations of the skeletons show that the elder of the two woman was between 70 and 80 years of age when she died. She probably died of cancer, was overweight and in her belt she was carrying a leather purse containing cannabis seeds. The use is uncertain, but some believe she used cannabis for pain relief while others think the seeds were used to grow hemp for making ropes. The other woman was younger, but still between 50 and 55 years old. Scientists do not know what she died of. Both of the women passed away at a very high age considering the fact that they were living in the Viking Age where the normal life expectancy for women was about 39 years. The embroidered tapestry from the Oseberg burial probably portrays a religious procession. Ref

Norse did not wear helmets with horns?

The Atheist-Humanist-Leftist Revolutionaries Shows in the prehistory series:

Damien Marie AtHope (Said as “At” “Hope”)/(Autodidact Polymath but not good at math):

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