05-31-2010, 04:28 PM
Apparently, shield factories in the 5th century B.C. were family owned, at least in Athens. Famously, one such factory owner donated shields to the rebels at Piraeus in 403 B.C., who were resisting Spartan occupaton (consisting of a few troops and backing of non-democratic puppet governments) after losing the Peloponnesian War. The rebels also manufactured some shields of their own, though, lacking time and material, they did not finish these wooden affairs with a bronze sheath.
It\'s only by appreciating accurate accounts of real combat past and present that we can begin to approach the Greek hoplite\'s hard-won awareness of war\'s potential merits and ultimate limitations.
- Fred Eugene Ray (aka "Old Husker")
- Fred Eugene Ray (aka "Old Husker")
