The Shield of Achilles

In Book XVIII Thetis comes to Hephaestus and asks him to make armour for Achilles, who has lost his own to Patroclus. The god sets to work with his bellows and hammers, and the shield is described in one of the most famous passages in ancient literature.

The shield has five layers and a rim of tin, and its surface is divided into scenes. It is not a decorative object but a cosmological one: the whole human world is forged onto a weapon.

The scenes include the earth, sea, and sky; two cities, one at peace and one at war; fields being ploughed and harvested; a vineyard with young people dancing; a herd of cattle attacked by lions; and a dance floor. Around the rim flows the river Ocean.

The shield is a vision of everything that war destroys and preserves. Achilles will carry it into battle and die young, and the poem’s description of the world he is defending is also an elegy for the life he will not have. The object has no narrative function beyond this symbolism, which is why it has fascinated readers for centuries.