page_title: Emblem of the Republic of Albania
section_title: Significance of the helmet
hierarchical_section_title: Emblem of the Republic of Albania / Significance of the helmet
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Le "casque de Skanderbeg" Prince des Albanais (1403-1468), Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienne, Autriche. N°A 127. Apparu en 1593 dans les inventaires, ce n'est qu'au cours de la deuxième moitié du XVIème siècle que l'Archiduc Ferdinand II décida qu'il pourrait bien s'agir de la coiffure (de style italien, peut-être d'Urbino) de ce héros...English: the Skanderbeg (1403-1468) Helmet, Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna, Austria, N°A127. This (probably italian) helmet was attributed to Skanderbeg only in the 2nd half of the 16th-century by Archduke Ferdinand II.Deutsch: Prunkhelm, A127, Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien. Georg Kastriota, genannt Skanderbeg, Fürst der Albaner (1403-15-1468) zugeschrieben. Italienisch, um 1460. Dieser Helm wurde erstmals 1593 im Ambraser Rüstkammerinventar erwähnt und 1601/03 im Armamentarium Heroicum des Schrenk von Notzig abgebildet. Erzherzog Ferdinand II. hat in der zweiten Hälfte des 16.Jahrhunderts diesen Helm als persönliche Waffe des Skanderbeg (wohl in Italien, vielleicht in Urbino) erworben...
context_page_description: The Emblem of the Republic of Albania is an adaptation of the flag of Albania. It is based on the flag and seal of Gjergj Kastrioti Skanderbeg. The crest above the head of the two-headed eagle is the helmet of Skanderbeg, surmounted with billy goat's horns. The eagle is considered to violate the conventional rule of tincture, which forbids placing a colour upon another colour.
context_section_description: Skanderbeg's helmet is made of white metal, adorned with a strip dressed in gold. On its top lies the head of a horned goat made of bronze, also dressed in gold. The bottom part bears a copper strip adorned with a monogram separated by rosettes: * IN * PE * RA * TO * RE * BT *, standing for Iesus Nazarenus * Principi Emathie * Regi Albaniae * Terrori Osmanorum * Regi Epirotarum * Benedictat Te (Jesus the Nazarene Blesses Thee, Prince of Mat, King of Albania, Terror of the Ottomans, King of Epirus).
  The inscriptions on the helmet may refer to the unsettled name by which Albania was known at the time, as a means to identify Skanderbeg's leadership over all Albanians across regional denominative identifications. Contemporary sources show that 14th century Albanians were invariably identified as a tribal peoples, with no state of their own. Thus, depending on where they lived – North or South, in the plains or in the mountains, and to which civilization they subscribed to - we have Turkish Arnauts, Greek Arbanites or Albanoi, Albanian Arber, Arben, Arberesh, Epirotas.
  According to a report by historian Shefqet Pllana, Sami Frashëri in his Kamus-al-Alam maintains that the wording "Dhu lKarnejn" (owner of the two horns) was an appellative attributed to Alexander the Great of Macedon, the very name which Skanderbeg bore in the Islamic form. This second explanation may not be the truer, since the theory of the Macedonian-Albanian and Epirot-Albanian continuance is strong among Albanians but not among all the peoples of Europe. This opinion agrees with the work of Marin Barleti who writes: "When the people saw all those young and brave men around Skanderbeg, then it was not hard to believe that the armies of Murad II were so defeated by the Albanians. Indeed, the times when the star of Macedon shone brilliantly had returned, just as they seemed in those long forgotten times of Pyrrhus and Alexander."
caption: The helmet of Skanderbeg.
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