Shield of Achilles

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The Shield of Achilles is a famous descriptive passage in book 18 of Homer's Iliad. In the poem, Achilles has lost his armour after lending it to his friend Patroclus. Patroclus has been killed in battle by Hector and his weapons taken as spoils. Achilles' mother Thetis asks the god Hephaestus to provide replacement armour for her son. Homer gives a detailed description of the imagery which decorates the new shield. The first part shows the Earth, sky and sea, the sun, the moon and the constellations. Then there is a picture of "two beautiful cities full of people": in one a wedding and a law case are taking place; the other city is besieged by one feuding army and the shield shows an ambush and a battle. Next the shield shows a field being ploughed for the third time and a king's estate where the harvest is being reaped. The following scene depicts a vineyard with grape pickers. Then comes 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. A picture of a sheep farm is followed by one of a dancing-floor where young men and women are dancing. Finally, the rim of the shield is encircled by the great stream of Ocean.^[1]

The passage is an early example of ecphrasis (a literary description of a work of art) and influenced many later poems, including The Shield of Heracles once attributed to Hesiod.^[2]. Virgil's description of the shield of Aeneas in Book Eight of the Aeneid is clearly modelled on Homer.[1] The poem The Shield of Achilles (1952) by W. H. Auden reimagines Homer's description in 20th century terms.