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Connor Lynch
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 Posted: Tue 17 Aug, 2010 1:38 pm Post subject: Medusa head shield |
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Are there any real examples of this shield existing? The shied that was used by the Spartan hoplites?
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Chad Arnow
myArmoury Team
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| Posted: Tue 17 Aug, 2010 1:45 pm Post subject: |
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I'm not sure about Medusa head shields being used by Hoplites, but in Renaissance Europe, there are examples of round shields bearing a Medusa head. They are much later than what you're looking for, but worth mentioning.
These date from the mid 16th century and belonged to Charles V.
ChadA
http://chadarnow.com/
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Jeremy V. Krause
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| Posted: Tue 17 Aug, 2010 1:47 pm Post subject: |
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can't move. . . joints . . . . getting. . . . stiff. . . . UUUGH. . . . .
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Matthew Stagmer
Industry Professional
Location: Maryland, USA Joined: 23 Jan 2008
Posts: 493
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| Posted: Tue 17 Aug, 2010 2:44 pm Post subject: |
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My brother has been obsessed with recreating one of these shields in steel the traditional way. I hope he does it. he has the skills.
Matthew Stagmer
Maker of custom and production weaponry
Youtube.com/ThatWorks
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David Sutton
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| Posted: Tue 17 Aug, 2010 2:50 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | Are there any real examples of this shield existing? |
I don't know of any complete hoplite shields surviving with medusa head designs on them. But there are some surviving metal applique medusa heads. The designs which hoplites carried on their shields changed over time from geometric patterns; to animals, fabulous beasts and miscellaneous symbols (some often having an almost heraldic significance) finally to letters of the Greek alphabet representing different city states.
'Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better than not to think at all'
'To teach superstitions as truth is a most terrible thing'
Hypatia of Alexandria, c400AD
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Eyal Azerad
Location: Canada Joined: 28 Nov 2003
Posts: 33
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| Posted: Sat 21 Aug, 2010 10:39 pm Post subject: |
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The medusa shields posted by Chad are the nicest examples I have ever seen. They were made by Filippo and Francesco Negroli in 1541 and 1543. I saw the second one Chad listed at the Metropolitan Museum of arts a couple of years ago. Absolutely stunning. The detail is incredible. They each weight slightly over 10 lbs.
Eyal,
Eyal Azerad
Darksword Armory Inc.
www.darksword-armory.com
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Jojo Zerach
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| Posted: Thu 26 Aug, 2010 9:33 pm Post subject: |
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They likely existed. It's unfair to discount something just because an example hasn't survived. Virtually nothing has, relative to what was made.
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Nathan Robinson
myArmoury Admin
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| Posted: Thu 26 Aug, 2010 9:38 pm Post subject: |
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| Jojo Zerach wrote: | | They likely existed. It's unfair to discount something just because an example hasn't survived. Virtually nothing has, relative to what was made. |
Fair or unfair isn't relevant. At the end of the day, it's just good science. We can only determine what we know to have existed. The absence of evidence cannot allow us to assume that something might have existed. That entire argument is just supposition and does nothing to answer the question of, "Did it exist?"
We must discount the possibility of things never existing based on no surviving samples. Often the answer is, "There is no evidence to support it existed." We have to be content with such answers. It's just the way it is.
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This is a standard topic