The "Fred thread": the Argead Macedonian Army

[Paralus]

Asclepiodotus was writing a prescriptive manual, and he states that the Macedonian shield is the best "of the shields of the phalanx," in the same way that Xenophon states that the Boeotian is the best helmet for cavalrymen to employ in "On Horsemanship" - it clearly was not the only kind which had been used before, but the author considered it the best. The Greek of this statement shows that there were many kinds which could, or had, been employed by phalangites in the past. So the shield facing found at Pergamon, a little over 60 cm in diameter, shallow, and rimless, fits perfectly with the Macedonian shield of Asclepiodotus' description, while the other shields found represent some of the other types in use.

Agreed. The quote was simply a reaction to those (as Markle originally) dismissing shields such as those on the wall of the tomb of L&K as phalangite shields - insisting they are hoplite - as they do not match an uneccessarilly restrictive read of that passage of Ascepiodotus. It might appear, given the very close similarity, that these are little different to those on the Paullus monument.