Achaemenid Round Targets

When we think of shields in the ancient Aegean, we usually think of the round Argive shield with its rim and armband, and the crescent-shaped Thracian pelte with its straps. These are the shields which appear in Athenian and Roman art and are mentioned by classical writers like Aristotle. Cognoscenti also know the domed rimless shields used in Thessaly, Illyria, and Macedonia. These had an armband and fist-handle like an Argive shield, but were somewhat smaller. Some Cretans also used a bronze-faced shield which may have been like the Illyrian shields, or may have been like a small aspis with a rim. A helpful post by Max Tucker on the International Hoplite Discussion social media group reminded me of a fourth type.

Art from the Achaemenid empire often shows small to medium-sized round shields gripped by two short straps in the center. Two are carved on the Altıkulaç or Çan Sarcophagus from Western Turkey. The helpful Facebook poster showed another on the sculptures from the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus. Some of the delicate stone has chipped away, and the paint was removed by conservators who had been taught that marble sculptures should be left bare. However, it shows how the handles are fastened! One of the best photos is on the venerable mlahanas.de website.

The handles of the Amazon’s shield seem to be rope, although they could have twisted cords tied about them instead. They seem to be about as thick as the wielder’s middle finger so around 14 mm. There are exactly two handles with no guige or baldric to hang the shield from the shoulder or extra grip to wear the shield on the arm. They form semicircles rather then being pulled straight between the fist and the shield. And there are two narrower cross-straps at the end of one handle. Unfortunately I don’t know any ancient paintings or sculptures of the fronts of these shields. The shield on tablet PT 4 455 from Persepolis (applied c. 486 BCE) seems deeper, and the shield painted on the Kinch Tomb around 300-250 BCE is larger and has no visible attachment points.

Normally, I would not place much credence in a Greek sculpture of Amazons. Artists in Athens tend to mix up different barbarian and mythical cultures, so Scythians, Lydians, Persians, and Amazons wear much the same clothing. However, this sculpture was commissioned by Artemesia II and Mausolus of Caria, and the shield looks like the shield on the Altıkulaç sarcophagus which is not carved in an Athenian style. The shield is not a standard prop from an artist’s sketchbook like many of the figures are in standard poses. After weighing the evidence, I take this sculpture seriously.

This style of shield shows up across Eurasia for thousands of years, so it must have been good in a wide variety of situations. Later Indians called it a dhàl, Persians called it a separ, Turks called it a kalkan, and the English called it a round target. The handles can be leather straps, braided leather, or rope (sometimes wrapped with rich fabrics such as velvet). If they are long and flexible, this lets the wielder wear the shield on his arm or grip it in the fist. If they are short and stiff, it still gives good control and avoids a protruding handle or large boss which pokes into the wearer’s belly or catches on brush and furniture.

Later shields often have their handles nailed in place and peened over a washer or clenched into the shield-board (or tied to rings which are peened in place). But iron was expensive, and some shields have their handles lashed in place instead. Roland Warzecha discusses a shield with this feature in Marburg, Germany, and Tomáš Vlasatý suggests that Slavic shields usually had no iron boss and often no iron nails during the Viking Age. One advantage of using a temporary fastening is that when the handle breaks or starts to fray, you can easily remove it and replace it without damaging the shield. Here is one way of fastening the shield-handles which would look very much like the sculpture on the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus. I may try this on the third shield I make this year!

I think that Greeks would have called men with these shields peltasts or peltοphoroi “pelte-bearers.” Nick Sekunda noticed that Greeks often use the -phoros suffix in their names for Achaemenid troops, the Greek cognate of Old Persian -bara. They are not exactly the same as a Thracian peltast, although some Thracians carried long lances to fight at close quarters instead of light javelins to toss at the run. The Hellenistic peltasts seem to be yet another type of troop, perhaps the lighter-armed part of the Macedonian phalanx.

One thing I love about world history and the history of arms and armour is seeing practical solutions reoccur. Round targets were popular from the Balkans to India for hundreds of years because they were easy to carry and good for duels and skirmishes with people throwing things, brandishing giant two-handed weapons. and foining with long spears and staves. Keeping your left hand empty and your right side ahead has some advantages in single combat, but is not the best tactic when you have to beat aside rocks and hurlbats, or parry two-handed hammers.

Finding and organizing images is something that people with very limited resources can do which helps living-history projects. You don’t need to be an expert in ancient languages, have access to an archaeology library, be skilled in a craft, or have dozens of partners and expensive equipment to test out a theory. All you have to do is source the image to an original object in a museum or archaeological report, and organize your results in a way other people can use. Some of my notes on Achaemenid shields are under Reenacting the Archaic and the Long Sixth Century.

The Internet is shrinking and social media was never for me, but help me take a few parting shots as I retreat! I always appreciate it if you tell a friend, comment, or support this site on Patreon, Paypal, or elsewhere.

(written earlier, scheduled 18 August 2026)

1. Jesse Obert is working on a giant database of evidence for warriors and warfare on Archaic and Classical Crete, but I can’t find it with a quick DuckDuckGo unless it is the World Historical Gazeteer https://whgazetteer.org/datasets/39/places (a tracker-heavy site which appears blank to me). The term omphalos shield for ornate Cretan shields with a boss in the middle goes back to Emil Kunze.
2. I won’t name the service because why should I give an ephemeral commercial site free publicity?
3. Nicholas V. Sekunda, “Achaemenid Military Terminology,” Archäologische Mitteilungen aus Iran 21 pp. 69-77