Mykale, a naval battle?

[Giannis K. Hoplite]

All of the reproductions of the Persian depicted on the gateway in Darius' palace at Persepolis always show him holding a handle on the wicker 'shield' in front of him. While at Persepolis I noticed that this doesn't actually exist... there is no handle at all. Interestingly their spears are very long, 9-10 feet in length.

The only positive Persian depiction of a shield we have is the 'violin/dipylon/waisted' shield at Persepolis. I don't use Greek depictions as evidence as the 'Persians' do not actually wear Iranian clothing or use Iranian Weapons!

Spara from a much later date have been found almost intact in Dura Europos. They had a central handle. The shields are shown on Secunda's Osprey "The battle of Marathon". The spara could certainly be sticked to the ground,allowing their bearers to actually shout with bows. This is shown in a greek vase,and i don't believe the artist just imagined this idea. Far more though are shown carried with a handle.

I think your idea that the spara only were meant to form a palisade comes from the fact the Herodotus says that the Persians started building a wooden palisade,and the fact that then he also speaks of a palisade of spara that falls at some pont. However,herodotus says "stone and wood palisade" and he also says that it had gates. Generally he makes it pretty clear that the spara palisade is not the same as the one around the persian camp,which protected also their ships.
Khaire
Giannis