Date (ca. 575–550 BCE): DAD. Mythical scenes identified: γ) Zeus with thunderbolt fighting Typhon. A shieldband is a strip of bronze that runs vertically through the interior of a hoplite shield, covering the central armband. They are often decorated with sequences of stamped reliefs (“metopes”). Many have been excavated at Olympia in contexts that suggest they were used as fill material. These were most likely made in Argos or Corinth and dedicated at the sanctuary. Data for shieldbands from Olympia in MANTO is largely based on the Gdańsk Decorated Armour Database (DAD); two volumes from the Olympische Forschungen series (Kunze, Archaische Schildbander (Berlin, 1950), and Bol, Argivische Schilde (Berlin, 1989); and LIMC. “SB” denotes the DAD catalog, “OF” denotes Kunze’s catalog, and “H” denotes Bol’s additions to Kunze’s catalog.
👤 Zeus (Olympian) Olympian god👤 Typhon son of Ge🏺 the Thunderbolt of Zeus
Commentary
Date (ca. 575–550 BCE): DAD. Mythical scenes identified: γ) Zeus with thunderbolt fighting Typhon. A shieldband is a strip of bronze that runs vertically through the interior of a hoplite shield, covering the central armband. They are often decorated with sequences of stamped reliefs (“metopes”). Many have been excavated at Olympia in contexts that suggest they were used as fill material. These were most likely made in Argos or Corinth and dedicated at the sanctuary. Data for shieldbands from Olympia in MANTO is largely based on the Gdańsk Decorated Armour Database (DAD); two volumes from the Olympische Forschungen series (Kunze, Archaische Schildbander (Berlin, 1950), and Bol, Argivische Schilde (Berlin, 1989); and LIMC. “SB” denotes the DAD catalog, “OF” denotes Kunze’s catalog, and “H” denotes Bol’s additions to Kunze’s catalog.
MANTO aggregates data about ancient artifacts from information made available through publications, collections records, and other repositories. More details about the sources we have used frequently appear in Commentary. If you notice any omissions or inaccuracies, please contact us.
Cite as: '🎨 Fragment of Bronze Shieldband from Olympia (Olympia B977)', MANTO, https://resource.manto.unh.edu/11324544 [last modified: 21 05 2025] Sharing and remixing permitted under terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (CC-BY-NC)