The Homeric shield is one of three figural painted shields found together in an embankment within a Roman garrison during the excavations of Dura-Europos. Dura-Europos was a border city of various empires throughout antiquity, and in modern archaeology is noteworthy for its large amount of well-preserved artifacts. Having been virtually untouched for centuries, and with favorable soil, an unusual amount of organic material has been preserved at Dura-Europos.[1] This shield and those found alongside it date from the middle of the 3rd century CE, a period in which a large portion of the city was co-opted as a Roman military base. The shields were deliberately discarded unfinished during the Sassanian siege of Dura Europos.[2] It is widely believed to depict two scenes from the Trojan war: the admission of the Trojan horse into Troy, and the subsequent sack of the city. It is one of few examples of Roman painting on wood, and one of very few Roman painted wooden shields to have survived from antiquity.[3] The shield has now deteriorated beyond most detail being discernible to the naked eye. This is due to the unintended adverse effects of a binding agent applied to the shield in the 1930s in the hopes of preserving the pigmentation.[3]
- ^ Baird, Jennifer A. (2018). "The Excavation of Dura-Europos". Dura-Europos. London, UK: Bloomsbury Academic. doi:10.5040/9781474204194.ch-001. ISBN 978-1-4725-2211-5. OCLC 982444423.
- ^ Cumont, Franz (1939). The excavations at Dura-Europos. Preliminary report of the seventh and eighth seasons of work, 1933-1934 and 1934-1935 : conducted by Yale university and the French academy of inscriptions and letters. New Haven: Yale University Press. pp. 330-331.
- ^ a b James, Simon (2004). The Excavations at Dura-Europos conducted by Yale University and the French Academy of Inscriptions and Letters 1928 to 1937. Final Report VII: The Arms and Armour and other Military Equipment. Oxbow Books. pp. 177–178. ISBN 978-1-84217-371-8. JSTOR j.ctt1cfr88p.