Ancient Greek pottery showing Achilles and Penthesileia by Exekias, c. 540 BC; British Museum, London. Credit: Marie-Lan Nguyen/Public domainAs 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. The designs, or blazons, on these shields would go on to strike fear in the hearts of their enemies.
Often called an “Argive” shield, it not only protected its owner in battle but showed his allegiance to a particular city-state or leader. 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.
Arguably the most famous such decoration is that of the Spartans, also called the Lacedaemons, with a capital lambda (Λ). 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.
Greece’s great contribution to the use of the shield in battle was the double grip it employed. Known ever after as the Argive grip, it involved one handle for the hand placed at the edge of the shield, with a leather fastening for the forearm at the center of the shield.
A “hoplitodromos” on pottery dating back to 550 BC. Credit: MatthiasKabel/Wikimedia Commons/CC BY 2.5At a hefty sixteen pounds, this allowed the shield bearer to have more mobility and to better support the strategies of the phalanx. The shield would rested on the warrior’s shoulders and stretch all the way down to the knees.
A bronze badge, part of a shield strap, signed by the creator Aristodamos the Argive. J. Paul Getty Museum. Public Domain
At 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).” I
The intricately-made strap depicts two myths that were favored in that region of Greece. The upper panel represents the recovery of Helen of Troy by her husband Menelaos, king of Argos. Athena, the protectress of the Greeks, stands watching to the right.
The lower scene shows the Centaur Nessos abducting Deianeira, the wife of the hero Herakles. The names of the figures are inscribed beside them.
The ancient Greeks sometimes considered shields to be valuable religious dedications, and shield straps are often found in the excavations of sanctuaries. Many such examples come from the Sanctuary of Zeus at Olympia, where worshippers left elaborate bronze shields as gifts to the gods.
The city of Argos in southern Greece was the major production site of this art form. 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.
A Boeotian shield is pictured on each side of a coin minted in Ancient Greece. Credit: http://www.cngcoins.com/ CC BY-SA 2.5Shield blazons appear first on pottery dating back to the late eighth century.
Not all shields featured blazons, however — there are plenty of vase-paintings that leave the shield surface blank or painted a single color. Other shields featured abstract patterns, such as spirals or a number of flat circles, according to historians.
The most striking to our eye today are of course, the shields that were bedecked with animals, monsters, or even human figures by artists of these ancient times. 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 and featuring finely-carved details.
The blazons showing the faces of Gorgons or other figures from mythology were clearly meant to instill fear into the enemy. The Gorgon, a mythical creature with snakes instead of hair, of which Medusa is the best known example — was one such creature that once was portrayed on Ancient Greek shields.
However, Ancient Greek soldiers also employed symbols that represented themselves or the qualities they would like themselves to be known by, including a lion, which would symbolize strength and courage.
The snake, another common blazon, was a representation of wisdom and immortality since snakes sloughed off their skins at regular intervals, and they were thought to renew themselves continually.
The Greek historian Herodotus wrote the following about Sophanes, the son of Eutychides, the bravest of the Athenian fighters at Plataea in 480 BC:
“Two different stories are told about him: one, that from the belt of his breastplate he carried an iron anchor slung from a bronze chain, which he would throw whenever he drew near his enemies so that when they broke out of their position in the ranks to assault him, they would be unable to budge him; then, when his opponents were in flight, his tactic was to pick up the anchor and chase them with it.
“That is one of the stories; according to the other …, he did not actually wear an anchor attached to his breastplate, but instead had an anchor as an emblem on his shield, which never ceased moving and was always in swift motion.”
The Greek military commander Alcibiades (ca. 452-404 BC) had a golden shield which according to Plutarch’s history of the time sported an image of a thunderbolt-wielding Eros.
You might notice this wasn’t Zeus throwing his famed thunderbolt – but the god of erotic love since he was the son of Aphrodite. Alcibiades’ shield emblem therefore was a rare and not so subtle reference to his sexual prowess, according to historians.
Even as far back as the fifth century BC, some Greek observers criticized the individual designs on shields. As historian Hans van Wees stated, some blazons were criticized for “betraying boastfulness and aggression, in contrast to the ‘modest’ undecorated shield of the wise man, and the simple white-painted shields of the common soldier.”
Fifth and fourth century BC saw rise of nation-state symbols as blazons
The lambda Λ, mark on the shields of Spartan warriors do not appear to have been used prior to the Peloponnesian War, in 431-404 BC, when they were referenced by the Attic playwright Eupolis.
Historians believe that it wasn’t until the end of the fifth and the early fourth century BC that the hoplites from some Greek city-states started to sport “national” emblems on their own shields, showing their allegiance to one particular area.
Thebans, of course, decorated their own shields with the club of Heracles. Soldiers from Sikyon were known to paint sigmas on their shields and the Mantineans displayed the trident.
Athens oddly stands out as one are in which soldiers did not use any kind of state symbol on their shields. Any symbols found, for example on Attic pottery, appear to be those that appealed to the soldier for personal reasons.
Surely many other warriors from other city states also chose shield blazons that represented their own personal expression.