Mykale, a naval battle?

[MeinPanzer]

Actually the size and shape of them is comletely different to the Persian Spara. The Sassainid ones are much smaller and have a pointed end. I cannot find a Achaemenid representation that has the same decoration?
This is a photo I took at Persepolis. Notice the lack of handle or any rawhide patterns (although it is possible this was painted on). The construction is much more simular to earlier Assyrian shields.
Persians did not wear chitons and we are told by Herodotus that they wore Egyptian style cuirasses, which again would have been Assyrian in style. We know that scaled skthian armour was worn though.

I would be interested if you could show me the handles depicted on Greek vases, and also the correct tiara.
Herodotus' mention that when the sheilds were knocked down suggests to me that they were propped up at this point in the battle.

Stephen, do you know of depictions of spara in Achaemenid Persian art other than this Persepolis relief? I ask because I cannot find any which come from Persian art. I only know of three other depictions from Greek vases.

Also, the clothing most Persians are shown wearing on Greek vases fits in quite well with Persian depictions of costume. The tiara, for instance, looks quite similar to examples shown on coins of the satraps of western Anatolia, on a silver statue of a high-ranking Persian (perhaps an officer), several representations of individuals from the Oxus hoard, and depictions from Achaemenid engraved gems. The long-sleeved tunics and slimmer trousers fit in quite well with these and other representations as well (e.g. the king's bow bearer from the audience chamber at Persepolis). All in all, the depiction of Persian costume, though oftentimes distorted or mixed up with the costume of other peoples, are usually quite similar to depictions of costume in Achaemenid art.

Ive had a look through Sekunda's Marathon book and I cant see a depiction of a handle on the Persian Spara. Just so you know, I am not saying it didn't exist.. I am just curious why it is not shown.
Ive finally found some colour photos of the Pazyryk shields.
These are 5th or 4th century BC in date and come from tombs that were rich in Iranian goods. It is interesting that the first shields decoration is Mesopotamian in Style.
Note that these to not have handles, but rawhide straps.

Yes, these are made the same way. No one is quite sure how they were used, but that is the common thought. The Dura ones are not much bigger...

Your right, it does look like his other arm is going behind the shield. I had not noticed that before to be honest.
Im starting to think that the decoration we see on the surviving shields may have been painted onto the relief. The Persepolis Spara has a curios band running across the top and bottom. This may be a horizontal stick like the ones on the other bigger Pazyryk shields (I am frustrated I cannot find photos of these!). These other shields also had a curved upper edge. I will concede that there is definitely evidence of this method being in use for 1000 years, I was hasty in saying you could not use the Dura ones as evidence.
I stand by my statement regarding Greek depictions though!

The Pazyryk burials, and by extension the shields found within them, are in general now considered later, probably later 4th or even 3rd c. BC, based on new assessments of Pazyryk chronology, and they can hardly be said to be "rich in Iranian goods" - a handful items show Achaemenid influence, and the only item that can actually be identified as an Achaemenid import is the famous pile carpet. Dozens of sparae have by now been found in the Pazyryk region, ranging quite a bit in size and from square to rectangular to rectagular with a rounded top edge in shape. It is known from a 5th-3rd c. BC depiction from Mongolia and a 3rd c. AD Gandharan relief that these were normally held in the hand by cavalrymen, though we can speculate that they may have been employed by being strapped to the arm as well. Two other depictions, one, ambiguous in date but probably dating to the last centuries BC, from the Caucasus, and the other a Palmyran relief, show infantrymen carrying small shields of this type in their hands, so it seems likely that they were carried. However, these are all much smaller than the Achaemenid sparae, and we still must rely on the one depiction of an individual carrying one, from the "Oxford Brygos cup" battle scene already posted in this thread.