Greek Shield build - Thak Ironworks
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 10 ส.ค. 2018
- An overview of the steps involved in making an aspis shield from the Greek tradition.
In Robb's words:
Ever since I was a kid, I have had a great passion for armour and weapons of the medieval and ancient world. During my career as a blacksmith and armourer, I have made weapons and armour from all periods and places in history, as well as from the realms of fantasy. Most of this work is utilized by the film industry; whether I am renting out existing pieces from my extensive armoury, or creating specific props or costumes for TV shows, movies or commercials. For many years, I have wanted to build a historically accurate Aspis, the shield of the Greek hoplite. It is an interesting example of late bronze age technology, a dichotomy, balancing form and function. The following video chronicles its construction...
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Really cool work! Greetings from Greece
Thank you
This was a great experiment and you deserve congratulations. The end result certainly looks the part. The overall shape is PERFECT. I have some objections but please see them as constructive critisism, its evident that you have the skills to make an even better aspis.
1) The way they probably made the bowl shaped wooden core was by glueing thick oak planks and turning them on a lathe accordingly shaped. The shield should be extremely durable, there are many depictions of warriors sitting on them. There are refferences of shield factories in ancient Athens (and presumably in other poleis) so they were mass produced on a grand scale (for the abilities of the time).
2) The raw hide was covering both the interior and exterior of the aspis. The bronze facing was optional and depended on the financial ability of the owner or the state. The bronze dressing the rim should curl back some more. There are many examples of bronze facings in the museum of Olympia and in the Vatican there is one of the few aspides that retain some of its wooden core. Sometimes the interior was also heavily painted.
3) The arm grip (lavi/porpax) was placed OVER the interior leather layer and nailed through the wood. The nails were bent on the other side and covered by the exterior leather facing (or bronze). The same for the opposite hand grip (antilavi). There was also an adjustable cord secured with hollowed head nails, running the interior circumference. We think that this was used to be able to carry the shield on your back pretty much like a back pack, during a march.
Your scorpion ''episimon'' (badge) would make you a spartan hoplite belonging to the mora (regiment) of Geronthrai.
I agree with joe's assessment.
One question to joe however: on what ancient sources do you base your claim about the scorpion being the episema of the mora of Geronthrai? First of all, I have never heard of a "mora of Geronthrai". Secondly, sources on ancient Spartan episemai are notoriously scant (even the claim that the lambda was a Spartan episema is very dubious, as it occurs only in a fragment of the Athenian comic poet Eupolis preserved in a Byzantine-era lexicon by Photios). Also, correct me if I am wrong, but wasn't Geronthrai one of the peroikoi-townships of Lakonia? IF the scorpion was associated with it, wouldn't the warriors bearing it be perioikoi rather than full Spartiatai?
If you have sources on this, please let me know. I study ancient history, so I would welcome any help :-)
@@Alopex1 there is nothing concrete, but based on a find of small miniature shields, there is an effort each episimon to a laconian administrative area. You can read more here stefanosskarmintzos.wordpress.com/2011/12/16/spartan-shield-devices-episimon/
@@joek600 You guys are hard core historians......thank you both for you insights.....If I ever take on another more historically accurate version...i will start an open dialogue with guys like you who have provided well thought out critiques
Interesting information, I enjoyed reading this thread, thanks. Nice shield also.
Do you have some other origin stories about the drawing on the shields ? i know that argives got the Apollo sun symbol of the 3 limbs, the anchor who was use by corinthien, like the hibou bird by athéniens, the club by thebans, the alpha by lacédémonians. Do you know some others ?
This guy looks like he came straight from Classic Greece himself. Probably made shields there too
"Guys, this is a total experiment, no idea what I'm doing!" *consults 2800 year old notes*
For real, that Lloyd cut tho..
It's a lost episode of Quantum Leap.
@@Brunnen_Gee lmao
@@alfonzo9152 😆
Good job! I appreciate the hours you put in. I wonder about the metallic paint you used. That would be difficult for the ancients to manufacture. I think that the rivets for the handles were usually covered by the main facing material. These were not easy things to make. What type of paint did you use? If its function is to seal the rawhide, then it should be on the edging rawhide as well. One wouldn't want one's shield going soggy in the rain.
Robb is out on a trip right now, and he would be better at answering those questions. That being said, it was certainly a surprise seeing a comment from a TH-camr such as yourself on our humble channel.
Thanks...I enjoy the narrative style of your videos....entertaining and informative. I made this shield 2 years ago and have since had several anachronisms pointed out as to my process. I think overall it was a good experiment as to possible techniques and process...but I certainly don't claim that every aspect is historically accurate. So in answer to your questions......I used metallic paint on the scorpion for theatrical impact , realizing there is not a historical equivalent. The red paint was just an acrylic rust paint from my local hardware store. It has not proven to have been successful in sealing the rawhide, as it becomes baggy during the humid months and tightening up in the dry months to the point cracking has occurred. I have not had the opportunity to experiment further on this as I am always rushing into new projects. If you were interested in creating a video in the future, I would be thrilled if you referenced my shield...warts and all.....I would also love to do a collab of some sort as I am struggling to build my channel and covet your massive viewership. Also please check out more videos on my channel....I would certainly value any feedback. My approach is that I am a blacksmith/ armour who is primarily interested in functional sculpture and that i am experimenting with processes in constructing stuff from metal from historical to fantastical. THAK
Praise from Caesar.
I liked because
1) I'm from Greece
2) you did awesome job!
I know this video is a year old. However it is the first of your channel I've seen. I must say I am impressed. I respect the visible signs of hard work upon your face. I too fabricate with wood and metal. I never leave my workshop the same "Shade" I entered. I've made shields for myself and my four sons, also chainmail and a Gladius. My wife always asks, "Why?" I always reply with, "To see if I could."
One of the best answers I have heard to the question "Why?". Some people really don't appreciate the satisfaction of pushing your own boundaries further than you had previously thought possible.
This really shows how badass the Greeks were. Even with modern technology you struggled. And the fact that 2,500 years ago they were mass producing these. Hard working men to say the least. Great job also.
Well, most importantly: Experienced men. This is guy is great and obviously has loads of skills and experience in armor crafting, but he is over 2000 years removed from the creators of these shields. Having to reconstruct all those little lessons a shield builder of the time would have instilled in his apprentices takes time and effort and may just be impossible, given the lack of information. He did a fantastic job though
@@BoarhideGaming thank you
@@ThakIronworks Hey man, you're most welcome. Keep up the good work
@@BoarhideGaming like crafting anything in general, it is natural to have a person or a group do one process, then pass it on to others. a shield is complex enough to have an assembly line of people. No sense in having the blacksmith stop and tack in strips of wood. I am sure they learned to be efficient. That shield looks great at the end.
@@BoarhideGaming Yeah man, there's so many things from ancient times we've lost the art of and have no idea how they did some things and what purposes some things served as technology advanced and things become obsolete... That being said I F***ing love the Hoplon shields... Was so mad that using a shield AC: Odyssey wasn't a thing lmao
I found myself trying to guess which band tshirt you would wear next.
All I know is that he has good tastes.
@@xPumaFangx Indeed he does
@@arnjhon Lol yeah the misfits t-shirt
@@garrettyoung5838 personally I'm for the Maiden one ;)
But you could probably tell from my pic
Iron Maiden Fear of the Dark!
Solute from China. Any craftmanship deserve great respect.
Three likes from me (if I could): One for your super cool reading room at the start, one for your t-shirts, and one for your awesome work.
And I was happy with my plywood viking shield. This blows me out of the water.
All the clearly well worn metal t-shirts are pretty epic.
Good job Robb. I am Greek, I study this era of the Greek Hoplites and I do congratulate you!
I can't stand it in popular fiction how most people think historical shields are actually full, plate metal, lol. Some exmaples did exist but they are few and far between. No soldier wants to march half way across a nation with a 5kg+ shield (on top of all the other weapons and gear they have to carry) that they can barely lift when under extreme stress!
Fantastic work here, keep up the good work xD
when i was younger i thought all shields were made of steel...such a dummy me.
@@yoteprto510 Nah, as kids we don't and that's perfectly acceptable. But many continue to think like kids well into adulthood, lol
Well done, you ve got golden hands !!
2 weeks work plus materials, even today, a big investment, interesting watching a craftsman's thinking process, we know they mass produced shields and other weapons, and didn't have steel nails so maybe other methods were used to form the bowl, rather than nailing, maybe a concave bowl in the ground and a round stone on top, just a thought, great work.
finally some quality work, this looks really cool, and the scorpion is badass too,
I really enjoyed that, I've not long finished a Viking shield for myself that took considerably longer than anticipated, but that's what happens when you do something right. Cheers
Judging from your t-shirts and the fact that we're both craftsmen (I make fine furniture), I think we'd get along famously.
I love history. I love tool. You Sir get 2 thumbs up.
This dude actually made a pretty authentic shield. Very impressive.
I was thinking Captain Archer from Star Trek
Thank you for the share . Great job !
Awesome result, wow!!
Thx for sharing. Very nice work. Nice to see someone who is dedicated and not afraid of hard work.
Awesome job Rob!
Amazing shield, great work! And amazing video as well!
Thanks Robb , really enjoyed watching the process .👏👌🖖
Excellent work.
Very authentic looking pieces.
beautiful shield, great work.
Great job - very impressive work.
I am almost lost for words on how much I enjoy watching your videos.so talented. thank you for sharing.
Congratulations, you' re making history . Excellent work !!
What an underrated channel.
Not just the work you're doing, but the work you've clearly finished in the background is all top tier stuff mate. Great work.
Awesome. Love your shop too.
Awesome shop,awesome ideas.
this is amazing.
I played with the thought to build a hoplon myself.
Great work
What great craftsmanship.
Sir, that room is AWESOME!
I feel like time was different in ancient times. As if they would spend a lifetime mastering just one skill. What you do I feel they had 20-30 skilled laborers all master craftsmen. We kinda just become all encompassing craftsman these days.
I ❤ your channel!
Way way way to good, love your stuff
That's an impressive build, turned out really nice.
Awesome work Thak, loved watching this build.
Really Perfect Job
Great video and great taste in music
i dig your setting, the shelves and door are quite nice to look at, i hope i'll have a cozy room like that of my own one day. thanks for the informative video!
Amazing. Very good.
Fantastic work sir.
very beautiful! good work !
Another great build. The time you put into your projects clearly shows in the end result. Keep on makin stuff!
Semper Fidelis, Great Work, Oorah Carry On!!!!
The ancients had their equipment already to go including forms and had a team of workers producing them. So good job being a one man production team for a shield.
Amazing work. Praise on you.
Great job. Looks really authentic. Good video production too. To the point and informative.
Very nice job. Looks great. Enjoyed watching. Thanks.
You sir are an artist !
And I love your t-shirts ;)
Amazing well done 👍
Dude, this is BADASS. Its great that you made this and brought us along for the journey! keep up the great work Spartacus! 82 hours and it 100% paid off!
You're an awesome person!
Great taste in music and cool shield to
you have the greatest workspace EVER.
Excellent result! I liked the contrast of colors and the scorpion insignia. Congratulations!
Bravo, outstanding!!!
Great work congratulations !
Leather bound books, frank frazetta, tool t shirt and metal working?? So excited to find this chanel.
Excellent work!
Backplate video hopefully out tomorrow or saturdat
And can we not mention the castle you're in... The background really sets the mood
Awesome!
That is a beautiful beautiful room at the start of the video ❤!
Nice work, man!
Very impressive shield - good Job
NICE JOB!
Your very professional; great work
excellent result
Great shield! Nice work !
The editing is so good. Great work
What a beautiful creation. Amazing how good it turned out. :o
That Kicked ASS!
Awesome job!
One great attempt my dear gentlemen! Kudos‼️👍🏻
It feels good to watch a master craftsman at work. Excellent point about the inside edge fitting over the shoulder too. It's especially nice when wearing the linothorax, since that has an extra layer on the shoulder that pads it and allows your arm to almost entirely relax on the march. Pretty convenient for me since I'm not quite to the period appropriate strength yet.
Now that is epic. I wish that you do a bit more uploads here on youtube, just interested as a young blacksmith..
Magnificent work man! Greetings from Italy
Hey there! Awesome project! Don't want to repeat what was previously said by other viewers; they were prety much accurate on their coments, just wanted to leave a note on the porpose of this shield.
There is an other very usefull feature of this Aspis: the dimentions.
Don't know if you already knew this or it was simply an empirical question of making sense and ergonomy, but since the Aspis was intended to be used in a formation, the brass lavi had to be centered with the dome, and the antilavi placed 45º.
This means that your body is covered by only half shield. The other half was intended to cover the soldier standind to your left.
The standard soldier in Ancient Greece had a spear or lace as main weapon, and so, while you're using your right hand to manuver the spear, your right flank is exposed. This is where the formation comes in and the soldier standind next to you is important.
Its a reciprocal situation. By holding his shield, he's protecting his left flank and main body, and protecting your right flank, and you're doing the same to the guy to your left.
The formations keeps the shield wall, and the 1rst, 2nd and 3rd rawers of the formation keep tabs on each others.
Later, the Romans came with the same system, with the scuttum, and made possible the well known formations (such us the testudo) where the shield does not protect only one man, but several, depending on the order and comand.
Very informative.
this is awesome
Great work, 80 hours to make one shield ...Wow ... Just goes to show you how big and fast the War Machine must have been to make thousands of Shields, Swords, Armour and helmets in a matter of months to go to war. And they say Henry Ford invented the production line, I think it was in existence long before that as history shows... very nice work. Cheers.
good work. working shield.
That is beauty build! Good job : D
This channel deserves more subscribers
Nice! I understand why smiths back then were so valued! I'm also really curious to know how they originally made their shields, there must be some trick or lost knowledge that would've replace rivets amd bolts! Truly awesome!
How have I missed this
You are the man! Was not expecting to find such a great video on this topic but you nailed it. Plus, I love your workshop.
Glad you enjoyed! Working on more great videos, hope you stick around.
Great work! It was very interesting to watch the process. I'm an archaeologist (graduate student) and I've also worked many times in Greece, especially in ancient Olympia. I remember countless hours of reading and digitizing inventory registers of findings. Many of them of shields or part of shields like armbands. I also worked many hours in the bronze magazine of the museum in Olympia (the largest bronze magazine in the world) cataloging all the artifacts including dozens of bronze shields, chestplates and helmets. It's an amazing sight. As a previous speaker already mentioned: the museum of Olympia is the perfect place for these kind of things. I just came back from working there last week.
Awesome! Great vid!
Was great very much enjoyed it and the shield looks great ! HooRaw
Congrats. This is a really amazing achievement mate. 👍
Loved your video thanks :)
A real Greek odyssey man - beautiful !
Actually awesome in its definition
“Come Back With Your Shield, Or On it”
Well done.