02-28-2007, 03:16 PM
I saw that bronzesmith in Monastiraki at work in 1997. Is he the big happy guy that whistles all the time? He spins his metal from small plate size pieces up to stuff nealry a metre wide. Isn't he amazing to watch.
Lysias' was not the only shield factory. See The Date of Apollodorus' Speech against Timotheus and Its Implications for Athenian History and Legal Procedure Edward M. Harris, The American Journal of Philology, Vol. 109, No. 1 (Spring, 1988), pp. 44-52 . Here we learn that when Pasion reached the age of majority, the lease of a bank and shield factory, which had lasted for eight years, was terminated.
I must agree that a lage block turned on a lathe until it resembles a bowl is the most likely method. We know this from Aristophanes, 'Birds' line 491. Here the Greek word for "shield maker", torneutoluraspidopêgos is used. It roughly translates as "one who puts together lyres and shields by turning". If a purpose built lathe was not in use a large potters wheel could be used to do this. (The Greeks introduced the large fast turning potter's wheel as early as 900 BC).The same lathe ( potters wheel ) used to form the aspis could also have been used to spin the sheet onto the shield face. This could be done before the back was hollowed out.
The bronze facincigs at the Olympia Museum and the Agora Museum are a bit squashed but don't look that deep. What may have helped keep them on was how the bronze seems to be turned under where the lip starts. But some shields seem to have had only rims. There seems to be an enormous variety in depth, diameter and profile even in the same period.
From memory the gentleman in Monastiraki makes hollow copper and bronze vessels from his pre cut disks. He sometimes uses forms as well as his turning tools. If he had a horizontal lathe ( potters wheel ) it wouldn't be hard to spin the bronze onto the wooden shield face and enclosed 'form' rather than doing it in the opposite direction to have an empty vessel. Just a thought.
Lysias' was not the only shield factory. See The Date of Apollodorus' Speech against Timotheus and Its Implications for Athenian History and Legal Procedure Edward M. Harris, The American Journal of Philology, Vol. 109, No. 1 (Spring, 1988), pp. 44-52 . Here we learn that when Pasion reached the age of majority, the lease of a bank and shield factory, which had lasted for eight years, was terminated.
I must agree that a lage block turned on a lathe until it resembles a bowl is the most likely method. We know this from Aristophanes, 'Birds' line 491. Here the Greek word for "shield maker", torneutoluraspidopêgos is used. It roughly translates as "one who puts together lyres and shields by turning". If a purpose built lathe was not in use a large potters wheel could be used to do this. (The Greeks introduced the large fast turning potter's wheel as early as 900 BC).The same lathe ( potters wheel ) used to form the aspis could also have been used to spin the sheet onto the shield face. This could be done before the back was hollowed out.
The bronze facincigs at the Olympia Museum and the Agora Museum are a bit squashed but don't look that deep. What may have helped keep them on was how the bronze seems to be turned under where the lip starts. But some shields seem to have had only rims. There seems to be an enormous variety in depth, diameter and profile even in the same period.
From memory the gentleman in Monastiraki makes hollow copper and bronze vessels from his pre cut disks. He sometimes uses forms as well as his turning tools. If he had a horizontal lathe ( potters wheel ) it wouldn't be hard to spin the bronze onto the wooden shield face and enclosed 'form' rather than doing it in the opposite direction to have an empty vessel. Just a thought.
Peter Raftos
