Gorgonward Hand Made Bronze Faced Greek Hoplon Shield | 32 Inch Aspis with Meander Border | Porpax Arm Band and Antilabe Grip | Spartan Display Gift | RK-1497

The Gorgonward is a Greek aspis, the round bowl shaped shield that the hoplite carried, faced in bronze over a wood core and finished with a black lambda on the front for Lacedaemon. The rim is engraved with a running meander border and riveted through, and the inside carries a hand painted Gorgoneion, the face of Medusa, staring out at anyone standing behind the man who holds it. Inside the bowl are the two fittings that made the phalanx possible, a bronze porpax band at the centre for the forearm and an antilabe grip at the rim for the hand.

The detail most people miss is that the aspis is not flat. It is a shallow bowl, and that curve is why a hoplite could rest the upper rim on his shoulder and let his collarbone carry a shield that weighs the better part of sixteen pounds. The leather shoulder pad at the top of ours is there for exactly that. Every Gorgonward is cut, faced, engraved, painted and fitted in our Memphis, Tennessee shop.

Specifications

The porpax and the antilabe, and why they changed warfare

Earlier Greek shields were held on a single central grip, like a Viking round shield or a Roman scutum. The aspis replaced that with two fittings. A bronze band at the centre takes your forearm just below the elbow, and a leather loop at the rim takes your hand. Your arm is now a lever across the back of the shield rather than a single pivot at the middle.

Three things follow from that. The shield can be much heavier, because the load spreads along your forearm and up onto your shoulder instead of hanging off your fist. It cannot be twisted out of your grip, because two contact points cannot be rotated the way one can. And crucially, the whole shield sits to the left of your body, so roughly half of it covers the man standing on your left. A line of hoplites in close order is a wall in which every man is partly protected by his neighbour, and that mutual dependence is what a phalanx actually is.

It also has a famous weakness. The right hand side of the line has no one to its right, so a phalanx in motion drifts rightward as every man edges toward the cover of his neighbour. Thucydides describes this happening on the battlefield and blames it on precisely that instinct. The shield shape dictated the tactics, and the tactics dictated the drift.

The bronze, the wood and the Gorgon

Originals were a poplar or willow core with a thin bronze sheet stretched over the face, and the reason for that sandwich is straightforward. Bronze skins the shield so a spear point has to punch through metal before it reaches timber, and the wood behind it absorbs what gets through. A solid bronze shield of this size would be unliftable and a bare wooden one would split.

Ours follows the same construction with a laminated hardwood core and a bronze finished sheet facing, spun to the dish and polished so the surface carries the swirl you can see in the photograph. The meander is engraved into the rim rather than printed on, so it catches light from an angle and does not wear off. The lambda is hand painted, which is why the edges have a slight hand cut quality rather than the perfect line of a decal.

The Gorgoneion inside is a shield device with a job. Greek shields carried the Medusa head as an apotropaic mark, something intended to turn away harm and unnerve whoever looked at it. Putting it on the inside where only the bearer sees it is our own choice, and it turns the back of the shield into the more interesting face if you wall mount it that way.

Engraving, runes and your own design

Use the rune converter on this page to turn a name, a date or a short phrase into Elder Futhark and we will cut it into the steel or the leather. If you would rather have a Viking pattern than a rune line, choose your own design in the engraving option above the add to cart button and tell us where it goes. Where a piece already carries an engraved design, your chosen engraving replaces it rather than sitting alongside it. On the Gorgonward the rim border is engraved already, so a rune line there takes the place of a section of the meander, and the leather antilabe grip or the shoulder pad is the alternative if you want the meander untouched. Full detail is on the engraving page.

Hanging and display

Because the aspis is dished, it stands off a wall naturally and looks best hung face out with a small gap behind it so the bowl reads. Two heavy hooks bearing on the rim, or a pair of French cleats fixed into studs, will carry it. Do not hang fifteen pounds of bronze and hardwood on plasterboard anchors.

Hung from the inside instead, the Gorgoneion faces the room and the porpax and antilabe become part of the display, which is how a lot of collectors prefer it. On a stand, lean it back a few degrees so the weight rests on the lower rim. The loose leather strap and the two rivets visible in the second photograph are there to show how the fittings are made and are not supplied as spare parts.

Care

Bronze finish darkens with handling, which is normal and in most rooms desirable. If you want it bright, a soft cloth and a metal polish will bring it back, and you should keep polish out of the engraved meander because it dries white in the recesses and then has to be picked out. Dust the painted lambda and Gorgoneion dry rather than wet. Feed the leather grip and shoulder pad twice a year with a neutral cream so they do not dry out and crack where they are riveted. Keep it out of a damp basement, because a wood cored shield will move with humidity. Our notes on protecting metal surfaces are on the steel care page and the principles apply here too.

Forged in Memphis

This shield is made in Memphis, Tennessee. The core is cut and dished here, the facing is spun and fitted on our bench, the meander is engraved by hand, the devices are painted by hand and every rivet is set here. It is not drop shipped from an importer catalogue with a new label on the carton. The lifetime warranty against defects in forging, grind, heat treat and fittings is ours to honour directly, with no end date and no receipt needed.

A note on handmade variation

This shield is hand made, not machine made or bulk produced, so what arrives will not be a pixel for pixel copy of the photograph. The swirl in the spun facing, the depth and spacing of the engraved meander, the exact weight of the painted lambda and the tone of the leather fittings vary from one shield to the next, because each one is worked by hand from natural materials. The dimensions, the material and the build are the same every time. The character is not.

Frequently asked questions

Is the face solid bronze

No, and no original was either. It is a bronze finished sheet facing over a laminated hardwood core, which is the historical construction. A solid bronze shield this size would be far too heavy to carry.

Can I actually hold it on my arm

Yes. The porpax takes your forearm and the antilabe takes your hand, and the shoulder pad lets the upper rim rest on your collarbone. It is heavy at fourteen to sixteen pounds, and that is authentic rather than a fault.

Is it suitable for full contact reenactment

No. It is built for display, photography, film and light drill. Combat societies set their own construction standards for shields and this one is not certified to any of them.

Why is the Gorgon on the inside

That is our choice rather than a rule. Greek shields carried the Gorgon as a mark to turn away harm, usually on the face, and putting it inside gives you a second display side and a surprise for anyone who lifts it.

Will the bronze finish tarnish

It will mellow and darken, which most owners prefer against the black lambda. A soft cloth and metal polish restores the brightness whenever you want it back.

How does something this size ship

Flat, in an oversized carton, with free shipping within the United States. Processing is one to two weeks because each shield is dished, faced and fitted to order.

What is in the box

• One Gorgonward Greek hoplon shield, approximately 32 inches across
• Bronze finished facing over a dished laminated hardwood core
• Bronze porpax forearm band and leather antilabe grip fitted inside
• Leather shoulder pad at the upper rim
• Lifetime warranty against defects in forging, grind, heat treat and fittings
• Forged and finished in Memphis, Tennessee

Explore the range

See more in round shields, Roman and Greek helmets and shield bosses, or read the guides before you choose a diameter.