That the aspis’s great weight required this curve to allow a man to carry the This odd profile has inspired the suggestion Spread outward under pressure, and the wide, perpendicular rim acts to keep theĪspis will fail where the side-wall and the face join. Have to come up parallel to their shields to effectively strike with their Untenable because fencers lead with their weapon hand, while hoplites would Hoplites could gain coverage by standing perpendicular to shields in a Vulnerable to incoming strikes and reduces the distance a strike must penetrate The body as one gripped by the hand, which leaves a greater portion of the body The shield cannot be held as far away from Range through which a shield can be moved to block. Proportion of the shield’s mass that is to the right of the elbow and must be It makes holding the shield up on the bent forearm easier by reducing the The central placement of the porpax in the aspis is an advantage because Only half the shield to cover a man’s front. Of the shield to be brought up in front of its bearer, while the aspis allows That have a double-grip system, the grip for forearm and hand usually flank the Gripped by the hand, and tension from this grip acted to hold the arm in the
A second grip near the rim of the shield was Snuggly that the shield would not rotate around the forearm. Leather sleeve or was itself tapered to accept the forearm up to just below theĮlbow, and fit like the cuff of a modern artificial limb, holding the limb so The left arm was slipped through a bronzeĬuff, or porpax, placed either at the shield’s center or just to the right of Single combat to the point that men were forced to fight in close order. Uncommon system of grips that some suggest limited the shield’s utility in Groupīehavior is my field, and, with the context that I can provide for theirĪrguments, I shall make an attempt at syncretism. TheirĪrguments suffer from an insufficient understanding of the physics and I believe they are both in some measureĬorrect, and often equally wrong, because this debate has forced historians to Was either a figurative description or uncoordinated shield-bashing. Hoplites as closer to skirmishers, fighting in an opened order, and often Van Wees, Krentz, and Goldsworthy, describe Hoplites as lumbering masses of men that charged directly into each other andĬontested the battlefield by attempting to physically push their foes. Orthodox position, championed by Hanson, Luginbill, and Schwartz, portrays It was discovered in 1830 near Bomarzo in Lazio, central Italy.Century, a schism developed over hoplite combat that has devolved into a bellum sacrum, with an orthodoxy assailed Such shields did not tend to survive the passage of time very well, and only one aspis has survived into modernity with sufficient preservation to allow us to determine the details of its construction: this shield is called the "Bomarzo" or "Vatican" shield, and it is currently located in the Vatican, within the Museo Gregoriano Etrusco. That the shield was convex made it possible for warriors to use it as a flotation device for crossing rivers, and its large round shape allowed it to be used for hauling the bodies of the dead from the battlefield. They were designed for a mass of hoplites to push forward into the opposing army, a move called othismos, and it was their most essential equipment. The shield rested on a man's shoulders, stretching down to the knees. This allowed hoplites more mobility with the shield, as well as the ability to capitalize on their offensive capabilities and better support the phalanx. Known as an Argive grip, it placed the handle at the edge of the shield and was supported by a leather or bronze fastening for the forearm at the center, known as the porpax. The revolutionary part of the shield was, in fact, the grip. This large shield was made possible partly by its shape, which allowed it to be supported comfortably on the shoulder. The aspis measured at least 0.9 metres (2 ft 11 in) in diameter and weighed about 7.3 kilograms (16 lb), and it was about 25–38 millimetres (0.98–1.50 in) thick. In some periods, the convention was to decorate the shield in others, it was usually left plain. Some had a thin sheet of bronze on the outer face, often just around the rim. An aspis was deeply dished and made primarily of wood.
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