Shields
Used not only to block strikes and missiles but also swung outwardly (or in quick upward motions) to strike an opponent. Also used to rush an opponent (known as shield bashing). Some shields had spikes, sharp edges, or other offensive designs.
- Aspis, hoplon (Mediterranean)
- Buckler (European)
- Ceremonial shields, hide, leather, wickerwork (worldwide, tribal)
- Heater shield, heraldic shield (European)
- Hoplon shield (European)
- Hungarian shield (European)
- Ishlangu (African)
- Kite shield (European)
- Scuta, oval scutum, tower or rectangular scutum (Mediterranean)
- Targe (European)
Read more about this topic: List Of Premodern Combat Weapons
Famous quotes containing the word shields:
“A man who publishes his letters becomes a nudist—nothing shields him from the world’s gaze except his bare skin. A writer, writing away, can always fix himself up to make himself more presentable, but a man who has written a letter is stuck with it for all time.”
—E.B. (Elwyn Brooks)
“If one doubts whether Grecian valor and patriotism are not a fiction of the poets, he may go to Athens and see still upon the walls of the temple of Minerva the circular marks made by the shields taken from the enemy in the Persian war, which were suspended there. We have not far to seek for living and unquestionable evidence. The very dust takes shape and confirms some story which we had read.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Your cloak hides the sinner,
your cloak shields the lover,
colour of wine,
cyclamen,
red rhododendron.”
—Hilda Doolittle (1886–1961)