Perhaps most amazing of all is that it bears an inscription, one of a man called Aristodms of Argos. This small bronze relief panel dating back to 575 BC was once sewn onto the leather strap inside a shield. The Persian soldiers, called Sparabara, held only wicker shields in front of them in battle, which were far inferior to the heavier wooden shield of the Greeks.Īlthough even larger than the Argive shields of the Greeks, the wicker shield naturally had no such protective capacity despite the two meter-long spears that the Persians used in battle. Beginning in the late 5th century BC, Athenian hoplites, or soldiers, commonly used an owl, the emblem of the goddess Athena, to signify their identity while the shields of Theban hoplites could be decorated with a sphinx, or the club of Heracles. And the figures painted on its exterior were also often meant to show the courage of its bearer and to strike fear into the enemy.Īrguably the most famous such decoration is that of the Spartans, also called the Lacedaemons, with a capital lambda (Λ). Often called an “Argive” shield, it not only protected its owner in battle but showed his allegiance to a particular city-state or leader.

The designs, or blazons, on these shields would go on to strike fear in the hearts of their enemies. Credit: Marie-Lan Nguyen/Public domainĪs far back as the eighth century BC, the ancient Greeks had invented a large, round shield called an aspis that would serve as an essential part of warfare through the Hellenistic era. Ancient Greek pottery portraying Achilles and Penthesileia by Exekias, c.

Hoplite shield medusa coloring page