"Neo Babylonian Shield Decoration?" Topic

What sort of material/finish/decoration might be on the front of a Neo-Babylonian shield?

I greatly appreciate any advice.

Thanks,

Brian

Never seen anything but a plain, edged shield. Cross-hatch patterns if they're wicker.

Allen

Thanks Allen.

I based mine off of Assyrian designs – its easy to find examples of those.

Steve

Here are a few examples of nicely-painted Assyrian minis with shields:
link picture picture picture

Cheers,
Scott

Just as in Scott's image links (apart from the one with wicker patterns), I've never seen any Assyrian *designs*, either: plain shields with edging.

Allen

As Allen suggests, plain solid colour shields are the most likely. Bronze edging would feature on high ranking soldiers.
Ive never seen anything to suggest any pictures were painted on shields in the Near East, except in Anatolia. Simple geometric designs and/or coloured bands could be used if you want them to stand out a bit more.
Interestingly wicker shields (all shields were made from woven reeds, but some were covered in leather or some kind of fabric) were often painted in solid coulours, red being the most common. White could be easily obtained and blue could be made from plants growing around the Caspian sea.

I do wonder, though, what we might know if the Assyrian reliefs we have had not been scoured clean of paint over the millenia. What decorations might we have seen?

Allen

Its an interesting point. Some reliefs have fragments of paint on them showing mainly reds, blues blacks and browns.
Given that the Assyrian sculptors usualy carved every detail of decoration (sutch as embroidered clothing) It is likely that they would engraved on the shields.

"Given that the Assyrian sculptors usualy carved every detail of decoration (sutch as embroidered clothing) It is likely that they would engraved on the shields."

That's an interesting point, too. I hadn't drawn that analogy.

Allen

Very good point from Steve.