…Bronze Age Aegean.
(Part 1)
"In the Minoan and Early Mycenaean period (until the 14th century BC) the main types of shield (called σάκος in Mycenean Greek) used by the early spearmen of the Aegean was the ‘tower' shield and the figure-of-eight shield, both invented in Minoan Crete as it is demonstrated archaeologically,
These full-body shields protected the warrior from chin to ankles. They were made primarily of a dense grid of willow branches which was adapted into a strong wooden frame. The reported structure was covered by a series of successive layers of bovine skin and as it is demonstrated in the Theran frescoes, of goatskin. The shield was used hanging from the left shoulder of the warrior, with a diagonally hung bandolier, a leather strap (τελαμών in Classical Greek), and had at least a central handle on its interior. Those two types of full-body shield were used simultaneously in the 16th century B.C. and were rather not related to any particular units of the Aegean armies. It seems that their random use within the same battle line, was due to the personal preferences of the warriors and their socioeconomic status (because the figure-of-eight shields were technically superior compared to the tower shields and therefore more expensive)…"
See here
link
Part 2
"Most scholars believe that also the Dipylon shield of the Geometric period (10th-8th centuries BC) came from the evolution of the full-body figure-of-eight shield. The Dipylon shield, which was named after the Athenian Dipylon gate where the first pottery with images of the former, was discovered, had much in common with the figure-of-eight shield. It had a large size, covering the warrior from the chin to the knees. It was made of wicker branches and leather, without excluding its further enhancing with more wooden parts. It was curved to a degree that "encapsulated" the body of the warrior, like the figure-of-eight shield. In the middle of its surface, it had two semicircular notches which facilitated the handling of the spear and the sword. But many other scholars believe that the Dipylon and the Boeotian shield came from the main Hittite type of shield which had roughly the same shape…"
See here
link
Amicalement
Armand
finishes his 40mm Norse Gods project.
