![]() A variation was made which combined the shield with a weapon of attack: a sharp iron or bronze spike protruding from the center, in place of the rounded boss. Within the Germanic countries particularly, round or slightly oval shields with metal reinforcements were being employed. There is considerable evidence throughout the continent of Europe to show that predominantly round shields made of leather, wood, or wicker, with metal fittings and a metal boss or umbo, were being used from the time of the Bronze Age. ![]() A good example can be seen depicted in the mosiacs of San Vitale in Ravenna, held by a soldier in Emperor Justinian's retinue (c 532 - 540) with the chrismon (a religious symbol signifying consecration with holy oil) occupying the whole field and richly decorated with gold and precious stones. In the Byzantine world, a large oval shield was extensively used. These ranged from the hexagonal ones of Germanic origin to the gladiatorial type, produced in a wide variety of styles and smothered in decoration. During the imperial period, however, many different types of shields were adopted, for use by the auxiliary military forces and in circus games. About the fifth century B.C., the round shield was almost completely replaced in the Roman army by the scutum, which remained in use until the fall of the western Roman Empire (A.D. Mounted troops, however, were equipped with a smaller round shield, the PARMA, which was soon superseded by a light oval shield of wood or leather. From the beginning of Roman history, two basic types of shields were used by foot soldiers: the great scutum, in either its oval or rectangular form, and the round bronze CLIPEUS. The Samnites, however, used an elongated wooden shield, appropriately known as the 'Samnite shield'. It is known that a round shield, similar to the aspis, was also used extensively by the Etruscans. From the inception of the aspis right up to the Hellenistic age (356 - 146 B.C.), the field of this shield was invariably richly decorated with geometrical motifs, hunting and battle scenes, family crests, mottoes, and amuletic symbols.īefore the rise of Rome's power, the shape of shields in Italy was strongly influenced by the forms prevailing in Magna Grecia, the area in southern Italy colonized by the Greeks. As time passed, the aspis became smaller and circular, and was adopted by almost all the armies, in coexistence with a light wicker shield, introduced by the barbarians, known as a PELTA. Homer gave detailed descriptions of the shields employed by the heroes of the Trojan War and, of them all, the most widely used were either the great oval or the bilobed shields, the aspis, made from layers of hide and reinforced with metal fittings. These were probably made from layers of oxhide, which was sometimes covered with metal plates the edges were reinforced with decorated metal strips, and a wooden reinforcing spine ran down its entire length, broadening out in the middle to form a boss or UMBO. A particularly interesting example can be seen on a Mycenaean damascened dagger (Archaeological Museum, Athens), dated to the 17th century BC, which depicts scenes of a lion hunt and clearly shows two types of shields: rectangular, with an incurving upper edge, and bilobed. Proof that several types of shields existed in Crete and Mycenae in the second millennium BC were found in scenes with which other weapons were decorated. Shields were used by the ancient Egyptians, Sumerians, Assyrians, and Persians in a variety of shapes - rectangular, oval, and round - and materials - leather, leather-covered wood, and wickerwork, often overlaid with decoratively embossed or engraved thin metal plates. The fact that shields were in use as long ago as the Bronze Age is well established by both material evidence and pictorial sources over an extremely wide area, including Europe and the Middle East. Shield: A generic word covering all defensive weapons - of hide, wood, or metal - which are carried either on the arm on in the hand opposite to the one holding the offensive weapon. Shields: history and terminology Shields: Terminology and HistoryĮxtract from Tarassuk and Blair's (eds.) Complete Encyclopaedia of Arms and Weapons
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