Boeotian/Dipylon Shield

[Chris B]

Another thing. Just my two cents and I will preface this with I am no where near as knowledgeable about Greek history as most the members here, but I have been thinking about the use of the cutouts. I really do not think it would have been effective to use them to "disarm" the enemy as suggested. I have been a serious student of various martial arts disciplines for 23 years and have also served in the government arena. With all the training, it just doesn't seem feasable. If you think about it, I would have to allow the opponent to stab/thrust through the opening and then twist or raise the shield ubruptly, trapping the sword itself. Think about reaction times. I personally would not want to leave it up to the distance from the cut-out to my body (which is small, even extended) to perform such a movement. That would only leave you a fraction of a second to exploit that type of opportunity. Why would you, when the angles of the shield are perfect for deflecting an opponents blow and possibly oppening his defense that way. I personally feel it is probably just an aesthetic quality left from earlier shield designs as it progressed in to the Aspis. Or maybe it was used in thrusting much like the Romans. It would protect the hand and the arm when moving in off the 45 from your opponent. Just enough space to shove the tip of a xiphos through without any exposure. Just my two cents.