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+--- Thread: Aspis shield - did they ever cover them in copper? (/showthread.php?tid=22805)
Aspis shield - did they ever cover them in copper? - Fhyn - 07-09-2013
Been looking thru all my books, as well as digging up stuff on the internet, and even looked thru search function here.
I have read they covered some in leather, some was just the wood painted over with maybe a linen or some such cover over it, and I know they covered them in bronze. But been looking to see if they ever covered them in copper.
Going thru the materials themselves, I would think it is just as good a material as bronze for it, but I am probably missing something.
So do we have any evidence, that some where covered in copper?
Thanks
Aspis shield - did they ever cover them in copper? - caiusbeerquitius - 07-09-2013
Pure copper was rather rare. So I´d say no. See also:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bronze
Copper also is rather soft:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fa/Diagramme_binaire_Cu_Sn_bronze.svg
Aspis shield - did they ever cover them in copper? - Dan Howard - 07-09-2013
Quote:Going thru the materials themselves, I would think it is just as good a material as bronze for it, but I am probably missing something.The difference between copper and bronze is just as dramatic as the difference between iron and steel. Pure copper is useless as a weapon or armour but bronze was as effective as all but the best quench-hardened steels. I'm talking about proper tin-bronze, not the rubbish that pretends to be bronze today.
Aspis shield - did they ever cover them in copper? - caiusbeerquitius - 07-09-2013
Pliny has some interesting things to say about bronze.