What was the spartan shield made of?

Answer 1

The Spartans used the typical Greek shield of the period, called a Hoplon (from which the word "Hoplite" comes - that is, the infantryman was named after the shield he typically used).

The Hoplon was actually made primarily of a wood frame, with a leather straps for the forearm in the center, and a small metal (or rope) handle near the rim. The shield as a whole is a circular, convex shallow dish shape, between 32 and 40 inches in diameter, about 5 inches deep.

Earlier Hoplons (or, Aspis, as the Greeks referred to them) had their face heavily covered in leather, with a thin bronze rim at the edges. Later, "Classical" period Hoplons did away with the leather cover, and used solely a thin bronze sheathing of the entire shield face.

Answer 2

The shield was made of multiple layers of metal (bronze, copper, or sometimes tin), wood and tough linen, cloth or leather and could weigh as much as 15 to 20 pounds.

.......................................

The greek shields were the most important weapon of the Greek warriors as without it they cannot even stand on the battle ground because at that time the main weapons of battle were swords, spears etc... The early shields were made up of leather with the thin bronze covering on the rim but later the front side of the shield was made wholly with bronze.

Answer 3

The Roman Shields or Scutum were made mainly of strips of wood, which would have a large central part made out of metal called a boss: this served as added protection for the hand and also as a weapon: it could be shoved into someones face or torso to cause disablement.

Answer 4

I'm pretty sure like most of Greeces weapons it was made of bronze

Ancient Greek armor was made from many different materials. For example, breast plates would have been made from linen and leather to form lightweight, almost Kevlar type protection. Large shields would have been made from leather covered wicker. Some armor was even made from bone. The bone was strung in an overlapping manner and sometimes used as helmets.

Can you imagine fighting an actual battle wearing hundreds of pounds of bronze?

Truly, many Classicists have written their theses on this subject.

Answer 5

metal =] metal =]