08-02-2008, 05:08 AM
During the excavations at Pergamon at the end of the 19th century, the remains of a bronze shield were found in Arsenal III on the acropolis of the famous Hellenistic city. This find is, for some peculiar reason, often forgotten, but its most active proponent, Peter Connolly, has reproduced it in many sources, including Greece and Rome at War. This information is from Akos von Szalay and Erich Boehringer, Altertümer von Pergamon X: Die Hellenistischen Arsenale (Berlin and Leipzig: Verlag con Walter de Gruyter & Co., 1937).
The details of this find are incredibly valuable. The shield is 65-67 cm in diameter, with its bronze covering being 0.4 mm thick. The shield is rimless with its cover being dagged so that it has triangular teeth which were then bent back to secure the cover to its backing. The most interesting detail of this find is that traces of many layers of papyri were found on the inside of the shield, presumably between its wooden backing and the bronze cover. This suggests that, like with cartonnage in Egypt, old papyri made into papier mache was used as padding in shields.
Has anybody followed this design with papyri when reconstructing Hellenistic shields? If not, it would be an interesting touch for Hellenistic reenactors to try out in the future to test its shock absorbing capabilities.
The details of this find are incredibly valuable. The shield is 65-67 cm in diameter, with its bronze covering being 0.4 mm thick. The shield is rimless with its cover being dagged so that it has triangular teeth which were then bent back to secure the cover to its backing. The most interesting detail of this find is that traces of many layers of papyri were found on the inside of the shield, presumably between its wooden backing and the bronze cover. This suggests that, like with cartonnage in Egypt, old papyri made into papier mache was used as padding in shields.
Has anybody followed this design with papyri when reconstructing Hellenistic shields? If not, it would be an interesting touch for Hellenistic reenactors to try out in the future to test its shock absorbing capabilities.
Ruben
He had with him the selfsame rifle you see with him now, all mounted in german silver and the name that he\'d give it set with silver wire under the checkpiece in latin: Et In Arcadia Ego. Common enough for a man to name his gun. His is the first and only ever I seen with an inscription from the classics. - Cormac McCarthy, Blood Meridian
He had with him the selfsame rifle you see with him now, all mounted in german silver and the name that he\'d give it set with silver wire under the checkpiece in latin: Et In Arcadia Ego. Common enough for a man to name his gun. His is the first and only ever I seen with an inscription from the classics. - Cormac McCarthy, Blood Meridian
