#Greek hoplite shield design meanings full#

Nowhere is this historical reality check more vivid than 'Gods in Color,' a traveling exhibit that has stunned museum-goers and scholars around the world with its reconstructions of what newly painted marble might have looked like circa 500 B.C. 'We have a vision of Greece as antiseptic that people moved around in pristine white garments,' says Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones, a lecturer in classics at the University of Edinburgh. In its apparent aesthetic restraint, white marble seemed to embody the 'pure' ideals of classical Greece: democracy, moderation, rational philosophical inquiry.īut new research is challenging this centuries-old assumption. When explorers unearthed ancient Mediterranean statuary, time and moisture had stripped the marble of its original paint, leaving the stone translucent, almost otherworldly. The ideal of Western art, in its highest form, as being austere and color-free has been around since the Renaissance. They persisted during the middle ages as the buckler and the last use of a shield in battle by westerners was the Scottish Highlander targe which was a small round shield.The real palette of ancient Greece defies monochromatic mythology.įrom the stately Acropolis in Athens to a 21st-century reproduction of Michelangelo's David, nothing evokes ancient Greece more than white marble.

#Greek hoplite shield design meanings full#

Whatever the reason, the shield came full circle by the end of the western Roman Empire and round shields became the norm again. It also needs to be considered that finances played a role in ancient battles as much as today and attempts to keep costs down were undertaken so some societies only had a greave on the left leg as that was the leg most likely to be forward. Something else to consider is that a common method of fighting was the spear held over the head and used in a downward stabbing motion, the legs wouldn't be in much danger in mass combat. How that influenced the famous Greek shield we can only speculate.Įlongated or oval shields did become very common during the iron age and the Greeks themselves adopted a type they called the thyreos which they possibly copied from the Romans. The bronze age saw the dominance of geometric art which was squares, lozenges, zigzags and also concentric circles. Smaller flatter round shields do appear in other parts of Europe during the bronze age and it could be something as simple as you can trace the outline of a shield with a simple compass made of a scribe attached to a piece of string. It can't be answered with any certainty as it likely had a cultural reason, the same way the earlier figure of 8 shields used by the Mycenaeans might seem an odd choice. The gladius' short reach, combined with the necessity to get up close and personal to use the shield as a primary weapon, means a larger shield (curved to fit around the body, works better. The gladius is strictly a thrusting weapon, so restriction of arm movements is no longer of significance. The opponent is mauled by the shield, it's top edge and boss in particular used to wear an opponent down until his guard drops and the gladius can be slipped under his ribs. The greater reach of the spear also keeps the opponent at bay, so less defensive coverage is necessary.įor Roman Legionnaires of the classic period, the shield is actually the primary weapon, the gladius (short sword) secondary.

Because of the many different ways in which a spear was used by a hoplite in offence, in and out of formation, a lighter round shield was more suitable by providing less interference with the spear use. For a hoplite, the spear is the primary weapon and the shield only a secondary weapon, being primarily defensive.