The sphinx shield from Olympia. Analysis of the production techniques of the ancient Near Eastern bronze B 9600

Abstract

Aegean and Near Eastern shields from the first half of the first millennium B. C. have neither been systematically published nor compared to each other in respect to their technological properties. An attempt was made to assess if a shield was for adornment (cult, ceremony, ornament, votive) or for combat and judge them accordingly based on their technical characteristics and wear marks, as recorded in the archaeological literature and contemporary illustrations. However, due to the small amount of preserved finds, it has not yet been possible to draw any significant conclusions. Based on a detailed technological analysis, the large, very corroded fragment B 9600 from the New Museum from Olympia can be definitively interpreted as a bronze shield that was produced in a northern Syrian or Cretan workshop. Independent from the cultic motive of a tree flanked by two sphinxes, which is well-known in the ancient Near East around the first millennium B. C., technical details pertaining to its fabrication, as well as the separately attached shield boss, which is singular for a Near Eastern shield, deliver proof that the weapon was both suitable for combat, as well as being a ostentatious and representative (defensive) weapon.
Erica Hanning