12-28-2007, 11:28 PM
There is evidence in ancient source material that aspides were indeed carved from a single piece - at least the Classical shield. The Vatican shield is of close-grained wood carved from one piece,this is an error due to reading the word'solid', and the fact that my source said 'no evidence of some glue joints' which is evidently a typographical error in the light of what follows. In fact the vatican shield appears to be made of two or more parts - see post below, corrected for the 'typo' in my source)
2-2.5 cm thick at max thickness, down to 1.1 cm where the rim turns out and weighing some 6-7 kg.
A word in Aristophanes'Birds' means 'a maker of lyre bowls and shields on the lathe'. ( probably a horizontally mounted lathe.) A slightly loose spindle would also account for the very slight oval shape of the Sphacteria shield.
Later shields seem to be laminated, like the Roman Scutum e.g. the Olynthus shield
2-2.5 cm thick at max thickness, down to 1.1 cm where the rim turns out and weighing some 6-7 kg.
A word in Aristophanes'Birds' means 'a maker of lyre bowls and shields on the lathe'. ( probably a horizontally mounted lathe.) A slightly loose spindle would also account for the very slight oval shape of the Sphacteria shield.
Later shields seem to be laminated, like the Roman Scutum e.g. the Olynthus shield
"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
