Why are you applying modern aesthetics to ancient mentality? We know that helmets were painted, we have evidence for this (frescoes that still hold their colour). However there is no evidence that the majority of helmets were painted, and we have to follow the evidence not join the dots with modern understandings of aesthetics. Case in point is the painted statues. They are ugly when painted, but look sombrely austere and attractive in their original stone colour. For the ancients of Rome painted statues were a sign of wealth of beauty.
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