homer/not homer simpson

[Earniel]

I asked my sister the archaeologist if she knew anything about bronze-age greek shields. Her speciality is more Egyptian/Mesopotamian but she could help me a little further:

To her knowledge, no shield like the one described for Achilles (several layers of different metal) has ever been found. A thick layer of gold could in theory be enough to stop a spear, but considering they could then have used bronze instead just as easily, there'd be no reason to use gold specifically.

Such heavy shields would have been extremely unpractical as well. Normally a shield was only covered with metal on the outside, while the inside was often wood, or woven reed that was even more light and manoeuvrable.

The descriptions of the weaponry in the Illiad may therefore most likely be considered geared at describing Achilles' known unbeatability instead of actuality.

Gold was also a rare metal, most average storytellers (the origins of the Illiad story before Homer) likely knew nothing of its unpractical nature for warfare. It was the metal of kings and heroes, it would therefore makes sense that Achilles carried it. And it was more often than not considered inbued with magical properties.

With this in mind, I think we can conclude the gold layer is not a reference to a new metalurgic improvement/discovery, but most likely a literairy inclusion to beaf up Achilles' repuation.