page_title: Shield of Achilles
section_title: Description
hierarchical_section_title: Shield of Achilles / Description
caption_attribution_description: English: This is an illustration of the 'Shield of Achilles', it was originally published in the September 22, 1832' issue of 'The Penny Magazine of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge'.
context_page_description: The shield of Achilles is the shield that Achilles uses in his fight with Hector, famously described in a passage in Book 18, lines 478–608 of Homer's Iliad. The intricately detailed imagery on the shield has inspired many different interpretations of its significance, with no definitive answer.
  In the poem, Achilles lends Patroclus his armor in order to lead the Achaean army into battle. Ultimately, Patroclus is killed in battle by Hector, and Achilles' armor is stripped from his body and taken by Hector as spoils. The loss of his best friend, prompts Achilles to return to battle, so his mother Thetis, a nymph, asks the god Hephaestus to provide replacement armor for her son. He obliges, and forges a shield with spectacular decorative imagery.
  Homer's description of the shield is the first known example of ekphrasis in ancient Greek poetry; ekphrasis is a rhetorical figure in which a detailed description is given of a work of art. Besides providing narrative exposition, it can add deeper meaning to an artwork by reflecting on the process of its creation, in turn allowing the audience to envision artwork that they can't see.
context_section_description: Homer gives a detailed description of the imagery which decorates the new shield.  Starting from the shield's centre and moving outward, circle layer by circle layer, the shield is laid out as follows:
  The Earth, sky and sea, the sun, the moon and the constellations (484–89)
  "Two beautiful cities full of people": in one a wedding and a law case are taking place (490–508); the other city is besieged by one feuding army and the shield shows an ambush and a battle (509–40).
  A field being ploughed for the third time (541–49).
  A king's estate where the harvest is being reaped (550–60).
  A vineyard with grape pickers (561–72).
  A "herd of straight-horned cattle"; the lead bull has been attacked by a pair of savage lions which the herdsmen and their dogs are trying to beat off (573–86).
  A picture of a sheep farm (587–89).
  A dancing-floor where young men and women are dancing (590–606).
  The great stream of Ocean (607–609).
caption: The shield of Achilles, from an 1832 illustration.
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