Date (ca. 550-525 BCE): DAD. Mythical scenes identified: β) Zeus births Athena from his head with the aid of Hephaistos and Eileithyia; γ) Heracles kills Geryon. 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.
Source subtype
Weaponry
Period
Late Archaic (ca. 560-479 BCE)
Place of creation
🌍 Corinth (Argolid) 🌍 Argos (city)
Place of recovery
🌍 Olympia (Elis)
UNESCO status
In a collection or on the market prior to ratification
Collection
Αρχαιολογικό Μουσείο Ολυμπίας / Archaeological Museum, Olympia
👤 Athena Olympian goddess👤 Eileithyia goddess(es) of childbirth, daughter(s) of Zeus and Hera👤 Hephaistos Olympian god🏺 the Head of Zeus from which Athena is born👤 Geryon son of Chrysaor👤 Heracles greatest Greek hero
Commentary
Date (ca. 550-525 BCE): DAD. Mythical scenes identified: β) Zeus births Athena from his head with the aid of Hephaistos and Eileithyia; γ) Heracles kills Geryon. 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: '🎨 Fragments of Bronze Shieldband from Olympia (Olympia B973)', MANTO, https://resource.manto.unh.edu/11324586 [last modified: 21 05 2025] Sharing and remixing permitted under terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (CC-BY-NC)