Shield of Achilles

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 cousin 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 has garnished attention from historians in the 21st century, as it provides one of the first known uses of ekphrasis in ancient Greek poetry. Ekphrastic poems provide detailed commentaries about the creation of art. The intended goal is to add deeper meaning to artwork by reflecting on the process of its creation, in turn, allowing the audience to envision artwork that they can't see. The ability of Homer to produce such a vivid image of a mythological object is a true statement to his skill and creativity as a storyteller. Ekphrastic texts are of high importance for historians, due to their reflection of historical thought during ancient time periods.

The passage in which Homer describes the creation of the shield has actually influenced many later poems, including the Shield of Heracles once attributed to Hesiod.Virgil's description of the shield of Aeneas in Book Eight of the Aeneid is clearly modeled on Homer. The poem The Shield of Achilles (1952) by W. H. Auden reimagines Homer's description in 20th century terms. Of other significance, this passage is recognized as the first example of cosmological mapping in the history of Greece.

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