"chin straps on helmets" Topic

I was wondering how warriors kept their helmets on their heads in the heat of battle. It seems to me that it would have tipped off very easily. Hardly ever do we see warriors portrayed with chin straps. Is this just artistic licence or some kind of a vanity thing on the part of the wearer (don't want to be seen wearing a sissy chin strap)?
Is there evidence of fittings or holes for attaching chin strap? I know the Romans had some kind of tie down but what about all the others…Greeks, Barbarians, late Romans, Saxons, Normans…?

Often (usually) there would be an arming cap under a helmet, which would help to make it a nice snug fit.

I can think of images of some ancient Greek helmets with straps, especially cavalry helmets.

Some bronze helmets, like the classic Greek Corinthian helmet, were probably so snug there was no need for a strap.

Greek greaves worked the same way: there were no straps, instead, the bronze could be flexed enough to fit over the shin, and then the metal would hold itself in place.

In addition to what Ivan said, no chin strap on the Corinthian helmet because it was made to pull back when not in active combat. Hence that Apulo-Corinthian helmet popular in Italy with the eye holes around the forehead area because it was made in imitation of the Corinthian (though that helmet is usually pictured with the tie-downs from the cheek pieces).

This bust of Pyrrhus –

– is famous for showing how chinstraps were arranged on Hellenistic helmets. Russell Robinson established that Montefortino and other Roman helmets were secured in this way, with a chinstrap attached to the underside of the neckguard and crossing over to fasten to studs or rings on the cheekpieces. Basically anything with hinged cheekpieces needs some sort of chinstrap.

Even the conical Persian helmet from Olympia has one surviving ring at the rim which was probably for attaching a chinstrap –

– presumably there were originally at least two.

thanks gents for the input on the more classical type helmets. What about the dark age type helmets worn by European warriors such as Frank, Saxon, Viking, Norman? are there any indications as to chin strap utilization. A helmet toppling off when locked into combat when ducking a blow could spell disaster.

How about those Gallic helmets which look ridiculously top heavy with all the decoration on the top ? Does anyone know if there are any signs of straps or ties on those ?

In Iliad Book 3, Menelaus is dragging Paris by his horsehair helmet crest and almost strangling him until Aphrodite intervenes and causes the leather chinstrap to break…

thanks bilsonius, I had forgotten about that passage in the Illiad. So if the Trojans and presumably Myceneans were wearing chinstraps I bet most of the later helmets probably had some kind of a securing system… for what it's worth… You don't see the American footballers running around without their chin straps fastened