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Connor Lynch





Joined: 27 Jul 2010

Posts: 50

PostPosted: Tue 17 Aug, 2010 1:38 pm    Post subject: Medusa head shield         Reply with quote

Are there any real examples of this shield existing? The shied that was used by the Spartan hoplites?
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Chad Arnow
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PostPosted: Tue 17 Aug, 2010 1:45 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

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.




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Jeremy V. Krause




Location: Buffalo, NY.
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PostPosted: Tue 17 Aug, 2010 1:47 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

can't move. . . joints . . . . getting. . . . stiff. . . . UUUGH. . . . .
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Matthew Stagmer
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Location: Maryland, USA
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PostPosted: Tue 17 Aug, 2010 2:44 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

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
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David Sutton




Location: Bolton, UK
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PostPosted: Tue 17 Aug, 2010 2:50 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

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.






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'To teach superstitions as truth is a most terrible thing'

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Eyal Azerad




Location: Canada
Joined: 28 Nov 2003

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PostPosted: Sat 21 Aug, 2010 10:39 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

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
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Jojo Zerach





Joined: 26 Dec 2009

Posts: 288

PostPosted: Thu 26 Aug, 2010 9:33 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

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
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PostPosted: Thu 26 Aug, 2010 9:38 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

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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