Shield of Achilles Poster

Artwork by Piers Sanford

The shield of Achilles is the shield that Achilles uses in his fight with Hector, famously described in a passage in Book 19, lines 478-608 of Homer's Iliad. The intricately detailed imagery on the shield has inspired many different interpretations of its significance.

In the poem, Achilles lends Patroclus his armour in order to lead the Achaean army into battle. Ultimately, Patroclus is killed in battle by Hector, and Achilles' armour is stripped from his body and taken by Hector as spoils. The loss of his companion prompts Achilles to return to battle, so his mother Thetis, a nymph, asks the god Hephaestus to provide replacement armour for her son. He obliges, and forges a shield with spectacular decorative imagery.

Poster size A3