The Shield of Achilles

 

  The Shield of Achilles

More than just a piece of military defensive armour, the shield of Achilles is a work of art that can be interpreted in a number of different ways. The shield can be seen as representing all aspects of life in ancient Greece. Peace, justice and revelry are depicted in one city, while war is being waged in another region. The heavens are displayed in all their grandeur and beneath them images of nature show the abundance of life on earth. The shield is fashioned in a series of contrasts with war being shown next to peace and work being shown next to play. Keeping in mind that the shield is to be carried by Achilles, it is fair to assume that the contrasts that Homer depicts on the shield are representative of the contrasts and conflicts that abide in the hero himself. The shield is a parable for the events that have happened and are about to happen in the Iliad.

The events that led to the creation of the shield are narrated by the bard. After the death of his beloved comrade Patroclus, Achilles decided to re-enter the battlefield and to direct his wrath away from Agamemnon and towards the Trojan Hector instead. Patroclus had donned the armour of Achilles in an attempt to fool the Trojans and when he was killed, Hector stripped the armour from his body. Achilles promised his mother Thetis that he would not resume fighting until such time as he was suitably armed. Thetis approached the god Hephaestus and asked him to prepare a new suit of armour for her son.

That day they did battle around the Scaean Gates and that same day he laid waste the city, but after the brave son of Menoetius had caused great harm, Apollo killed him in front of the foremost fighters and endowed the victory on Hector. For that reason I have now come to your knees to see if you might be willing to give to my son, who is on the brink of death, a shield, a helmet, good greaves fitted with leg-guards on the ankles and a corselet. His own armour was lost when his trusted comrade was killed by the Trojans and my son is stretched out in grief on the ground.

Hephaestus agreed to her request and fired up his forge to fashion the new set of armour for the hero:

I will provide him with a set of beautiful armour that shall be the marvel of all men who behold it in times to come. Thus he spoke and then he left her and went back to his bellows and turned them towards the fire and made them work.

Homer provides us with an in-depth description of the shield that Hephaestus created:

The first thing he made was a strong shield, big and sturdy and fashioned on all sides with well-wrought decoration and around the rim he placed a bright and shining flashing in three parts with a broad strap made of silver. The shield itself was made of five layers and on them he created many curious embellishments, all finely crafted.

On the shield the god depicted the earth, the heavens, the sea, the sun and a full moon and all the constellations that could be seen in the sky. He then laid out the images of two cities on earth. The one showed a calm portrait of peace on earth with people partying, attending the market and engaged in civic activities, and in the picture of the second city he demonstrated the havoc caused by people and armies warring with each other and the impact of Strife, Tumult and deadly Fate on the population.

Then on the shield Hephaestus fashioned rich and wide farmlands and a king’s domain where peasants were engaged in gathering in a rich harvest. The bounty of that harvest was beautifully displayed and in the midst of the workers he showed a boy making sweet clear sounds on a lyre and singing a beautiful song with his fine delicate voice while being accompanied by dancing and the stomping of feet as they all followed along behind him, dancing and exulting merrily. Pastoral scenes of cattle and sheep were displayed, along with a hunting scene that featured a lion and hunting dogs. Finally, on the outside rim of the strongly fashioned shield he set the great might of the river Oceanus. When he had finished the shield, he set his hands to the task of creating the rest of the armour.

When the famous god with the two crooked feet had created all this armour, he took it and laid it in front of the mother of Achilles. And like a falcon she flew down from snowy Olympus, bearing in her hands the armour from Hephaestus.

She laid the armour at the feet of Achilles and all its embellishments flashed brightly. All the Myrmidons trembled when they saw it and they could not look at it fully, for they were so struck with awe. But not Achilles, for the more he looked at it, the more furious he became and his eyes flashed brightly, for he was gladdened to hold the beautiful gift which the god had sent to him. After he had been delighted in his heart to gaze upon the lovely gift, he spoke to his mother with winged words. “Mother of mine, the god has given me armour suitable for an immortal which no living man could have created.”

            The shield of Achilles is significant because it functions as a picture of the universe and the range of human experiences within that universe. It portrays the calm of peace and the brutality of war, both of which are expanded upon in the broad texture of the epic. It shows how man and nature are intertwined and how mortals are engaged with immortals. It can be seen as a parable for the hero Achilles as he negotiates that turning point in his life that was occasioned by the death of Patroclus and his subsequent actions leading to the demise of Hector and the Trojan empire. The shield depicts all aspects of existence and the world and the universe in total. City and rural life, war and peace, the earth and what lies within it, below it and above it are all portrayed. The shield of Achilles shows the links between war and peace, deterrence and defense and the catalyst for action that leads from one situation to the other. It is also remarkable insofar as it deftly uses the literary device of ekphrasis to detail in words what has been depicted in an art form.

            It has been noted by scholars that the shield of Achilles serves as a symbol of fate, the cyclical nature of life itself and the inevitable cycle of events that defines mortal existence. As a gift from the gods, the shield also represents the concept of peace on earth as a coveted prize that is granted by a divine power, as well as a reminder to mankind that there exists indeed the potential for both harmony and justice in the world, if mortals are willing to embrace peace and eschew war. It serves as a glittering example of how Homer has positioned the Iliad as an anti-war poem.