Question about aspis/hoplon shield

[PMBardunias]

The thesis that Stephanos is trying to remeber (I am guessing) was that put forward ages ago that the rope served as a stiffener or torsion tool to assist the aspis to maintain its integrity- similar to ropes used in some wooden hulls the original idea ran- it is on rat somewhere. It was a hoopy idea that holds some water....
regards
richard

That would be my hoopy idea I've written about this in my 2007 AW article on the aspis and touch on some of this in my recent article in the Marathon special issue. For more details look here: http://hollow-lakedaimon.blogspot.com/20...hield.html

I do not believe that the perimeter cord was for carying the shield because there are a number of images that show both an obvious carrying strap alongside a seperate perimeter cord.

[attachment=1673]antilabeandcarryingcord.jpg[/attachment]

The idea that the cord was a truss derives mainly from its placement- it is exactly where the aspis needs support. As mentioned, the function would be the same as the upozwmata of greek ships. This was a cord that ran around the gunnels of greek ship hulls, or more often directly from bow to stern, and was tightened just before the ship left port. It was tightened by twisting it, which is more obvious from the latin term for it, tormetum. This would explain why we see it slack in so many images. The shield could not be stored with the straps under tension, and artists drew from shields in their studios.

In later shields we see a metal hoop running around the inside perimeter in the same place as this cord, they often are shown overlapping. This hoop is almost surely for structural support.


[attachment=1674]205176BerlinAntikensammlungF228822.jpg[/attachment]

Even if this was the original function, it may have been decorative by the classical period. Some purely decorative features of the aspis appear to be hold overs from an earlier shield made of wicker: the bronze rim is often decorated in a woven pattern called guilloche for example. A rope truss might have been needed in the early shield. If not a functioning truss in the later aspis, it may have been earlier.

I do not believe we can say with any certainty that the grip was seperate from this cord in most cases. In fact what we can say is that the grip arises from the same fasteners as the cord and is often shown as the same material or what could be a woven sleeve over the same cord. There are reasons why you would want the two linked, and holding the grip under tention would serve to keep the arm snuggly in the porpax so that it does not rotate around the forearm.

[attachment=1676]202631BostonMAMuseumofFineArts97.368antilabe.jpg[/attachment]

It could also be that this was not a single chord, but a series of short ropes stenching between each fastener. One thing that might suggest this is that the "tassles" that are almost always seen hanging from the fasteners may in fact be the slack ends of these shorter ropes that hang down after the rope is tied off.

Also, a feature that is never commented on is that many depictions of aspided clearly show a second grip opposite the main one. Turning the shield into a basket or stretcher is one possible function.

[attachment=1675]secondgrip.jpg[/attachment]