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Greek hoplites sometimes attached a curtain or apron to the bottom of their shields, especially in the early fifth century BCE. Who suggested that this might be a response to their experience fighting Persian archers?
The local copies of the most likely books are out at the moment, so I don't want to recall them unless I am sure of the citation.
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Quote:Here is a previous thread but no primary sources are cited.
http://www.romanarmytalk.com/19-greek-mi...tml#340870
Are there any sources mentioning them or are we basing their existence solely on artwork?
I haven't found a single mention in any period literary sources, and as has been pointed out in the other thread, they disappear from the monumental record shortly after the Persian wars. This is interesting, especially considering that hoplites contended with missile troops from earlier times and would continue to face archers and slingers, does this imply that the apron wasn't effective, which doesn't seem likely, or that archers were not as numerous in Greek armies and therefore not as great a threat?
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I found a short notice in P.E. Corbett, "A Vase by the Altamura Painter," British Museum Quarterly 24.3/4 (1961). He says that the "shield-apron" appears in East Greek art circa 550 BCE and is found up to the end of the fifth century; in Attic art it is most popular in the first half of the fifth century BCE, so roughly the period of first two Athenian wars with the King. He does not cite any earlier scholarship on shield-aprons and says that the Greek name is not known.
An earlier article by A.D. Fraser in American Journal of Archaeology 39.1(1935) says that both he and one Poulsen independently decided that aprons attached to shields appeared in the early fifth century and were designed to defend the legs against Persian arrows. So perhaps this idea has been a commonplace amongst scholars who work with images of warriors on Greek painted pottery.
Nullis in verba
I have not checked this forum frequently since 2013, but I hope that these old posts have some value. I now have
a blog on books, swords, and the curious things humans do with them.