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Essay On The Shield In The Iliad

653 Words3 Pages

The shields belonging to both Achilles and Aeneas represent a much larger picture than just a physical object. The shield ofAchilles is greatly emphasized throughout the Iliad, mostly because it portrays the story ofthe Achaeans and their fight against the Trojans. It was forged by Hephaestus.“ He made it so it was intricately designed, but as strong as can be. The shield is made out offive layers ofmetal with five concentric circles, all with different themes. Depicting normal life in peacetime, it symbolizes the world beyond the battlefield, and implies that war constitutes only one aspect of life. It includes feasts and dances and marketplaces and crops being harvested. Interestingly, although Homer glorifies war and the life ofthe warrior throughout most ofhis epic, his depiction of everyday life as it appears on the shield comes across as equally noble. In other words, the shield depicts war in a negative way. One ofthe many reasons the Achaeans fight is so that they can return home to their families and experience everyday life.) In the reading …show more content…

Achilles will never, for example, celebrate marriage, as the figures on his great shield will; its protection is insufficient inthe face ofbrutal war. Homer’s depiction ofAchilles’ shield is frequently compared to the depiction ofthe shield ofAeneas in Virgil’s Aeneid. The shields are both made by the same god, Hephaestus. The main similarities are in the symbolism ofthe shield. Both shields depict why the hero is fighting. Achilles’ shield takes on a much more broader view on the universe than Aeneas’. The figures on Achilles’ shield show the Achaean way of life, Which was the reason the Trojan War was being fought. Aeneas’ shield shows the story ofRome, which is the reason he was fighting. We can conclude that Virgil based Aeneas’ shield offofAchilles’ shield. One ofthe more obvious examples ofVirgil’s use ofHomeric intertextuality in the

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