10-29-2009, 09:49 PM
Stephanos--no literary mention?
I believe that this is how all aspides were made before 450 BC, my friend. They were all made with strips of wood laid side by side, probably over a central "rib" (I call it a keel) that held the porpax, set into a rim of oak or ash, covered in rawhide. Such a shield meets all the evidence. A rich man might have had a bronze face, but over the same wood core made of strips of willow, according to scholarship*.
I suspect 90% of aspides were faced in rawhide. And Stephanos, shields weren't heavy. They were light. 8 kilos is too heavy. I fight with these all the time--look at how men use them in the art--they use them aggressively. This is not a Roman scutum, and all the evidence tends towards the assumption that they were lighter and that a spear could pierce one!
![[Image: 4056066995_de71494900_o.jpg]](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2794/4056066995_de71494900_o.jpg)
Modern repros are all too heavy. We all use plywood instead of willow and 24 gauge bronze where we ought to use 30 gauge bronze. My Boeotian, with porpax and antelabe on, is about 9 pounds, and is still heavier than it needs to be--but nice to fight with. And it could stop any spear thrust--I'd like to see someone penetrate it, actually--I suspect 3mm of hide may be better than bronze, in the short run!
* Seiterle 1982, Cahn 1989, Blyth 1982. Arstophanes (fr. 65) and Euripides (Cyclops 7, Heraklidai 376, Suppliants 695, Trojan Women 1193) all mention willow as the wood shields are made from. Both the Basel shield and the Vatican shield are apparently made from strips of willow, the Vatican strips were 2 cm wide, or almost exactly the width of the strips I used on this shield. The Bassel strips are even narrower--about .14 meters.
So--there's my evidence. Show me your evidence for the "heavy" aspis....
I believe that this is how all aspides were made before 450 BC, my friend. They were all made with strips of wood laid side by side, probably over a central "rib" (I call it a keel) that held the porpax, set into a rim of oak or ash, covered in rawhide. Such a shield meets all the evidence. A rich man might have had a bronze face, but over the same wood core made of strips of willow, according to scholarship*.
I suspect 90% of aspides were faced in rawhide. And Stephanos, shields weren't heavy. They were light. 8 kilos is too heavy. I fight with these all the time--look at how men use them in the art--they use them aggressively. This is not a Roman scutum, and all the evidence tends towards the assumption that they were lighter and that a spear could pierce one!
Modern repros are all too heavy. We all use plywood instead of willow and 24 gauge bronze where we ought to use 30 gauge bronze. My Boeotian, with porpax and antelabe on, is about 9 pounds, and is still heavier than it needs to be--but nice to fight with. And it could stop any spear thrust--I'd like to see someone penetrate it, actually--I suspect 3mm of hide may be better than bronze, in the short run!
* Seiterle 1982, Cahn 1989, Blyth 1982. Arstophanes (fr. 65) and Euripides (Cyclops 7, Heraklidai 376, Suppliants 695, Trojan Women 1193) all mention willow as the wood shields are made from. Both the Basel shield and the Vatican shield are apparently made from strips of willow, the Vatican strips were 2 cm wide, or almost exactly the width of the strips I used on this shield. The Bassel strips are even narrower--about .14 meters.
So--there's my evidence. Show me your evidence for the "heavy" aspis....
Qui plus fait, miex vault.
