06-03-2009, 08:36 PM
Well, most of what you observe simply confirms what is known already. To sound a note of conservatism, I have some doubts about the whole shield surface being repoussed. Could it be that the rim is repoussed, and the face, with so little of the original material, be merely corroded? How certain is this observation?
The Etruscan examples are certainly smooth-faced......
Secondly, the votive example you described with an off-centre porpax does not appear so to my eye; and measurement with dividers shows the porpax to be pretty much plumb centre.....
I share your suspicion that, over time, shields got lighter, and that later examples in particular ( such as the Olynthus example, which is reported to have been made od 'plywood' strips, like Roman scuta) were relatively light. This would be consistent with the general lightening of Hoplite equipment over the centuries.....
The Etruscan examples are certainly smooth-faced......
Secondly, the votive example you described with an off-centre porpax does not appear so to my eye; and measurement with dividers shows the porpax to be pretty much plumb centre.....
I share your suspicion that, over time, shields got lighter, and that later examples in particular ( such as the Olynthus example, which is reported to have been made od 'plywood' strips, like Roman scuta) were relatively light. This would be consistent with the general lightening of Hoplite equipment over the centuries.....
"dulce et decorum est pro patria mori " - Horace
(It is a sweet and proper thing to die for ones country)
"No son-of-a-bitch ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country" - George C Scott as General George S. Patton
Paul McDonnell-Staff
(It is a sweet and proper thing to die for ones country)
"No son-of-a-bitch ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country" - George C Scott as General George S. Patton
Paul McDonnell-Staff
