Some shields had a thin sheet of bronze on the outer face. The shield was an important aspect of greek warfare, and as such, every greek warrior, called a hoplite, traditionally carried one. The aspis was round shield, made of wood and often covered in leather. The books at hand tell the gruesome story of the dalkon shield, from its dominance of the iud market in the early 1970s to its official recall in 1984 for the havoc it had caused. The books homepage helps you explore earths biggest bookstore without ever leaving the comfort of your couch. The hoplon was of a rounded shape fitted to the left arm of the hoplite. In antiquity it was also known as the argive shield because the first greeks who adopted it were the dorian argives.
Some shields had a thin sheet of bronze on the outer face, often just around the rim. This is the entry for hoplite in phil sabins book lost battles, published originally in 2007. Armour helmets, shields, shields, living history shields. Pavise a large european shield typically of a rectangular shape and convex. Twentyfirst century israel finds itself transferred to 1941 days before nazi germany plans to attack the soviet union. Hi, i spent few hours to search the ancient greek literature for a quote that will connect the term hoplon with the shield. A type of aspis used by greek hoplites hoplon meaning. Probably the most famous aspis decoration is that of sparta. Synthetic shield, rotella, 24 diameter purpleheart armoury. This shield was round and large, measuring about 91 centimeters 36 inches in diameter. Greek shields, spartan shields and trojan shields by medieval.
The diameter of the shield is approximately 97 cm 38 and the vault approx. Find great deals on ebay for hoplon and greek shield. All too often, i see people refer to the hoplite shield as a hoplon. About the author patrick is a state trooper serving with the kansas highway patrol. The word for an individual soldiers equipment of weapons and armor is panoply made from a combination of materials including iron and bronze, it could be very expensive as much as the equivalent of a. For this reason, enemy hoplites would attempt to strike either above the shield, at a hoplites neck, or go below the shield to the hoplites upper thigh and groin area. They were designed to be gripped by two straps, compared with the roman scutums center handle and boss, and were also designed to have a significant portion of the shield sticked out. Men of bronze is a wargame that allows you to play out classical greek hoplite battles on the tabletop. There is a three foot diameter shield strapped to your left arm this is the approximate size of a greek hoplon. Gamepedia and fandom have joined forces and our combined teams would like to encourage all diablo fans to unite and work together as well.
These hoplon shields seem to have been derived from a type of shortlived circular shield. Sep 11, 20 founded in 2006, historum is a history forum dedicated to history discussions and historical events. When placed in the inventory of any given character, the iron rune negates all critical attacks that they could otherwise have sustained, making it a very useful for units who possess terrible luck in the sacred stones, the iron rune is substituted by the. The only historical truth on the subject of the term hoplon.
Our community welcomes everyone from around the world to discuss world history, historical periods, and themes in history military history, archaeology, arts and culture, and history in books and movies. The hoplon shield inspired the name for hoplite soldiers. Jan 16, 2020 another name for this type of shield is a hoplon. The greek hoplon shield is great in a phalanx but mediocre out of it. The greek hoplite shield karwansaray publishers blog.
An aspis is actually any shield at all, and is a generic term. This site deals mainly with reconstructing the hoplite of the persian war era, 490480 bc, which is the most popular with reenactors. Synthetic shield 24 curved shield a fine product made in the usa. For reasons of simplicity, flow, word count, or because the editor just doesnt know any better, these assertions become fact for most people just by being printed. Kite shield this was a large elongated shield that was rounded at the top and came to a point at the bottom. How the spartan arsenal helped make them some of the. Take measurements of your arm with the elbow bent at a 90degree angle. The spartans wielded the dory with one hand, which allowed them to hold a shield, known as a hoplon or aspis, in the other.
It was circular article called hoplon often also called aspis made of wood, measuring roughly one meter in diameter. The author does a very nice study on how greek and roman soldiers used to fight, their techniques and weapons, the part played by competition between them vs military discipline and, above this the ghost part of the fight what they. The formation of a shield wall scildweall or bordweall in old english, skjaldborg in old norse is a military tactic that was common in many cultures in the preearly modern warfare age. Examples of shields go as far back in history as we have the ability to look. Printed dictionaries and other books with definitions for hoplon. Be aware of outdated information such as the glued linen linothorax and shield construction. On the rear side there is a leather handle and a rope attached to the bracket. Book viii aeneas marvels at his mothers gift, the scenes on vulcans shield. As stated at the beginning, pop history frequently makes assertions and dresses them as facts. This is the entry for hoplite in phil sabins book lost battles. But hoplon is the general term to denote equipment.
By the seventh century bc, shield walls in ancient greece are welldocumented. Greek history september 3, 2019 in ancient greece, the great rival of athens was sparta. There were many slight variations of this tactic among these cultures, but in general, a shield wall was a wall of shields formed by soldiers standing in formation shoulder to shoulder, holding their. Hoplite soldiers utilized the phalanx formation in order to be effective in war with fewer soldiers. May 25, 2014 the shield is a riveting story of conflicting emotions and ideologies in the tradition of harry turtledove and s. It was from this word that hoplite a greek soldier is derived.
The phalangite shield was round, about 2 feet in diameter. Spartan facts and terminology hoplite a heavily armored greek infantryman whose main weapons were the round hoplon shield perhaps where the name came from and the long 69 foot thrusting spear. The shield had an strap in the middle of the shield and an handle at the right edge. Ever since i was a kid, i have had a great passion for. The shield is what made a greek warrior a hoplite, because he could not stand in the phalanx without it.
It is made of bent plywood that is covered with canvas and painted by hand. An armband, known as a porpax, allowed the shield to be slid up the warriors forearm, while a handle, known as an antilabe, could be gripped thus giving him better control of the shield. The hoplon shield was the principle shield of the hoplite heavy infantry warrior. The basic elements of the ancient greek spartan body armor consisted of a shield hoplon, from which comes the name hoplite for the greek infantryman, helmet and a cuirass or breastplate. Living history shields for your reenactment celtic and roman shields, viking shields. Ancient greek hoplite athenian shield, bearing the owl, the emblem of athens. The strongest shields of ancient warfare history forum. The shield usually had some emblem painted onto it. Phalanx the ancient worlds ultimate weapon of war for centuries developed by the greeks and perfected by the spartans. Oct 11, 2017 the typical hoplite shield was called hoplon and it was introduced at the end of the eighth century bc. The term hoplon more correctly refers to the entire equipment of the greek warrior. Oct 12, 2011 the greek hoplon shield is great in a phalanx but mediocre out of it. Crucial to the hoplite shield design was the concave, bowl shape of the.
The hoplon consisted of a thick layer of wood at its center, with bronze on the external side, and leather on the internal side. The value of this 6letter word is 11 points, but its not an accepted word in the official scrabble players dictionary. How to make a spartan shield gone outdoors your adventure. Please head to the community portal to discuss whether this wiki should merge with fandoms diablo community. The myth of the hoplites hoplon the classical quarterly.
The hoplite was the driving force behind the phalanx formations of ancient greece in which rows of hoplites would form seemingly impenetrable shield walls consisting of shields and spears. Lazenby and david whitehead wrote an article entitled the myth of the hoplites hoplon, published in classical quarterly 46. Ancient greeks wrote their books on rolls of papyrus, but, as papyrus was expensive, they also wrote less important things on bits of pottery. An overview of the steps involved in making an aspis shield from the greek tradition. It was a shallow bowl, originally of wood edged with bronze. This shield we sell is the exact copy of this spartan shield. But perhaps the most wellknown shield from classical history is the greek aspis or hoplon if your lips are feeling frisky. Opportunities abound for changing history and the population including terrorists, tourists, diplomats, and. Here youll find current best sellers in books, new releases in books, deals in books, kindle ebooks, audible audiobooks, and so much more. Hoplon is used relatively consistently to refer to the shield used by archaic and classical era hoplites, but you are right.
They called these pieces of pottery ostraka singular ostrakon. An essential piece of kit, the hoplon or argive shield gave its name to the troops who carried it. The ancient greek hoplites used a round, bowlshaped wooden shield that was reinforced with bronze and called an aspis. Aspis is the proper name for the shield, hoplon being an incorrect modern word taken from the greek hopla meaning equipment in general as in panoply, for instance. The soldiers in these shield wall formations were called hoplites, so named for their shields hopla.
This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the hoplite article. Hoplon shields were three feet in diameter, sometimes covered in bronze. The shield is held by putting your arm through a forearm loop and hand grip, with the upper rim resting on your shoulder. The hoplon also called aspis was the greek shield used by the greeks throughout its history up until alexander the great. The spartan shield was circular and roughly 3 feet wide, but the greeks were a lot smaller than most presentday people. It was a basketlike constraction later covered with leather. The individual infantryman took his name, hoplites, from the hoplon or shield. The spartans used the aspis to create the greek phalanx formation. It was a deeply dished wooden shield with a flat or angled rim, a band for the arm porpax at center, and a handgrip.
The warriors of greece spartan facts and terminology. May 22, 2015 all too often, i see people refer to the hoplite shield as a hoplon. The typical greek word for shield was not hoplon, and the hoplite is therefore. The greek shield of ancient greece was called a hoplon or aspis. A hoplon shield was a deeply dished shield made of wood. The romans used a large rectangular shield about 34 feet high and about 2 feet across, and were slightly curved to help protect from the side. I knew that once i present the quotation from the ancient greek text and the translation in english from the tufts usa university, even a greek would understand that the shield of the hoplite is called hoplon. From the late 5th century bc, athenian hoplites commonly used the little. This was made of wood or stiff leather, faced with bronze, and was held with the left arm placed through a central band porpax and gripped via a strap antilabe attached to the shield rim. The hoplite carried a large circular shield hoplon or aspis some 80 cm 30 in. The greek shield of ancient greece was called a hoplon. The greeks did use shields strapped the the forearm, but this was to protect their neighbors.
In some periods, the convention was to decorate the aspis. The hoplite argive shield was used in southern greece until the 3rd century bc, when it began gradually to be replaced either by the celticitalian scutum, thyreos in greek or by the macedonian pelte, a mediumsized brazen shield used by the northern greeks. See more ideas about greek warrior, greek shield and greek history. The shield consisted of several layers of wood covered in a layer of bronze with a layer of leather in between, to absorb shock.
Greek shield simple english wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. A hoplons size, commonly with a minimum diameter of three feet, provided protection from the hoplites neck all the way down to his knees. I would postulate that a possible candidate is the boeotian shield often illustrated on 6thcentury blackfigure vases. Various greek shield patterns for perseus greek history, ancient history, ancient. The hoplon was also the longestlasting and most famous and influential of all of the ancient greek shields. This is not a forum for general discussion of the articles subject put new text under old text. Greek history september 3, 2019 by 500bce the population of the greek homelands stood at about 2,000,000 and the greek appetite for food had altered and. Lendon, soldiers and ghosts, a history of battle in classical antiquity. Originally the term hoplon was believed to refer to the hoplites shield, research has found the term aspis instead refers to the large round shield. Primarily armed with long spears doru and shields hoplon or aspis, hoplite soldiers use the phalanx formation in order to be effective in war with fewer soldiers.
Hoplon protection is an accessory item exclusive to fire emblem. The painting on this clay images seem to suggest that the dipylon shield was made of wicker. The shield, aspis in greek, was carried by greek infantry hoplites of various periods and is often referred to as a hoplon. The hoplon the hoplite battle experience sites at penn state. Click on a title to look inside that book if available. Players are strategoi generals leading phalanxes of bronzeclad warriors in pursuit of fame, glory, and the honor of their citystates. Traditionally greek shields were wooden shields, although at medieval armour, we also offer a number of greek steel shields, which allows any ancient warrior enthusiast to choose between a variety of materials and designs. The individual infantryman took his name, hoplites, from the hoplon or. The shield is a riveting story of conflicting emotions and ideologies in the tradition of harry turtledove and s.
Sometimes a layer of bronze was added for added nosebreaking strength. As far as shields, there was significant difference between the shields of a phalangitevand a roman legionary. A notable thing about the pavise is a central ridge that. Hoplon was vital in the famous greek phalanx formation which created a massive shield wall to make frontal attacks difficult for the enemy. Their shields were strapped to their left arms and gripped by the left hand by a cord that ran around the rim of the shield. A hoplon shield was a deeplydished shield made of wood. Calling the greek shield a hoplon is quite common and we have used that term within this article. Opportunities abound for changing history and the population including terrorists, tourists. Sokrates liked swords, a shield is called a hoplon, peltasts formed tight ranks, and slingers hung out with spearmen. There are statues in the dodoni museum that show warriors holding this shield using a porpax. If the shield is centered on you, the rightmost edge is getting in the way of your weapon hand. The responsibilities of popular history exploring the ruins.
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