 It is thick and heavy, which would have offered protection against heavy blows or arrows, the former of which may have caused the dent on the head piece.Exceptionally narrow eye-slits also indicate care taken to increase protection; the rough manner in which the holes underneath were enlarged is likely the consequence of an emergency requiring a better field of vision.Although classified as a cavalry sports helmet, the type worn in equestrian displays and tournaments known as the "hippika gymnasia", it was unlikely to have been used in such events.