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The Shield of Achilles is the shield that Achilles uses in his fight with Hector, famously described in a passage in Book 18, lines 478–608 of Homer's ''Iliad''. In the poem, Achilles has lost his armour after lending it to his companion Patroclus. Patroclus has been killed in battle by Hector and his weapons taken as spoils. Achilles' mother Thetis asks the god Hephaestus to provide replacement armour for her son. The passage describing the shield is an early example of ekphrasis (a literary description of a work of visual art) and influenced many later poems, including the ''Shield of Heracles'' once attributed to Hesiod.〔''The Oxford Companion to Classical Literature'' (1989 ed.) p.519〕 Virgil's description of the shield of Aeneas in Book Eight of the ''Aeneid'' is clearly modelled on Homer. The poem ''The Shield of Achilles'' (1952) by W. H. Auden reimagines Homer's description in 20th century terms. ==Description== Homer gives a detailed description of the imagery which decorates the new shield. Starting from the shield's centre and moving outward, circle layer by circle layer, the shield is laid out as follows: # The Earth, sky and sea, the sun, the moon and the constellations (484–89) # "Two beautiful cities full of people": in one a wedding and a law case are taking place (490–508); the other city is besieged by one feuding army and the shield shows an ambush and a battle (509–40). # A field being ploughed for the third time (541–49). # A king's estate where the harvest is being reaped (550–60). # A vineyard with grape pickers (561–72). # A "herd of straight-horned cattle"; the lead bull has been attacked by a pair of savage lions which the herdsmen and their dogs are trying to beat off (573–86). # A picture of a sheep farm (587–89). # A dancing-floor where young men and women are dancing (590–606). # The great stream of Ocean (607–609).〔Homer, ''The Iliad'' trans. E.V. Rieu (Penguin Classics, 1950) pp.349–53〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Shield of Achilles」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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