The snake, another common blazon, represented wisdom and immortality since snakes sloughed off their skins at regular intervals and were thought to renew themselves continually. However, Ancient Greek soldiers also employed symbols that represented themselves or qualities they admired, including a lion, which would symbolize strength and courage. The Gorgon, a mythical creature with snakes instead of hair, of which Medusa is the best known example, was one such creature once portrayed on Ancient Greek shields. The blazons showing the faces of Gorgons or other figures from mythology were clearly meant to instill fear into the enemy. While most of these designs appear to have been painted, there are examples of bronze blazons from the Panhellenic sanctuary at Olympia, for example, that were cut from sheets of bronze featuring finely-carved details. The most striking to our eye today are, of course, the shields bedecked with animals, monsters, or even human figures by artists of these ancient times. Other shields featured abstract patterns, such as spirals or a number of flat circles, according to historians. Not all shields featured blazons, however, as there are plenty of vase-paintings that leave the shield surface blank or painted a single color. Shield blazons appear first on pottery dating back to the late eighth century. A Boeotian shield is pictured on each side of a coin minted in Ancient Greece. Because the maker of this shield strap, Aristodamos, names himself as an inhabitant of Argos, this work can be taken as important evidence for the style of Argive art in the early Archaic period. The city of Argos in southern Greece was the major production site of this art form. Many such examples come from the Sanctuary of Zeus at Olympia, where worshippers left elaborate bronze shields as gifts to the gods. The ancient Greeks sometimes considered shields to be valuable religious dedications, and shield straps are often found in the excavations of sanctuaries. The names of the figures are inscribed beside them. The lower scene depicts the Centaur Nessos abducting Deianeira, the wife of the hero Herakles. Athena, the protectress of the Greeks, stands looking to the right. The upper panel represents the recovery of Helen of Troy by her husband Menelaos, king of Argos. The intricately-made strap depicts two myths that were favored in that region of Greece. Public DomainĪt the top edge of the lower square, the signature of the bronzeworker is written in retrograde, from right to left: “Aristodamos the Argive made (this).” A bronze badge, part of a shield strap, signed by the creator Aristodamos the Argive. Measuring 16.2 x 8 x 1.5 cm (6 3/8 × 3 1/8 × 9/16 in.), this piece is one one of the earliest known signatures of a Greek artist. 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.
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