Macedonian Shield
Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2011 7:08 pm
The importance of the city of Dion, as a religious center in Macedonia, dedicated to the worship of Zeus, is well known and has been so since the 5th century BC up to the Imperial age. (Worship of Jupiter Optimus Maximus)
During the digs that took place in 1997, in the city of Dion, near the temple of Zeus the Highest bronze pieces were uncovered with engraved decorations of stars and circles. After their conservation they were identified as parts of a Macedonian type shield that was based upon hard undercoating made of skin and wood. The decoration is a star with 12 beams that is surrounded by a cord on which there are nine letters which if combined with eight more they display the inscription: ΒΑΣΙΛΕ[ΩΣ ΔΗΜΗΤΡ]ΙΟΥ (of the king Demitrios) Around that central symbol of the shield were a few more stars engraved in their triple elliptic orbits.
A star much like the one in Dion is found as a symbol on the shields we see in coins of unknown origin dated after the death of Alexander the Great as well as on coins of the Demitrios The Polierketes. The Royal inscription around the symbol of the shield is also found on another shield, this time from Vegora (with the name of Antigonos on it) as well as on one more shield made of limestone which was found on Memphis Egypt with the name of Ptolemy on it. Moreover Antigonos Gonatas after his victory against the Gauls in 277 AD he created a currency with the same Macedonian shield and the inscription "ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΑΝΤΙΓΟΝΟΥ" (Of the king Antigonos)
The decoration of the macedonian shield with elliptical orbits of stars has been a stable trend from the Classic Era to the Imperial Age. The obsession with this basic shape that made the shield directly recognisable is difficult to explain just as a decorative need. It is not by chance that many researchers for almost a hundred years consider the macedonian shield to depict stars.
Some researchers believe that this is a sun symbol and others believe the seven orbits with the small stars on the coins of Antigonos Gonatas were symbols for the seven days and nights of the week. Even though no one can claim to side with one side or the other completely we tend to reach the conclusion that the decoration of the Macedonian shields on the sum of the monuments currently known, it is theorized that this is the depiction of a constellation from which the center of the shield is excluded. There we can see monograms god figures and symbols.
The part of the shield that was discovered in Dion (you can see it as the darkened part of the shield in the photo) is refered to the Demitrios the Poliorketes, King of Macedonia (294-287 BC). Demitrios, born in Macedonia but earlier as a child he went along with his father Antigonos the One Eyed in Asia Minor, had as his role models Philip and Alexander and had as his goal to empower Macedonia as well as to reclaim his father’s kingdom. In Dion, where part of his shield was discovered, used to be the host city for the statues of the Macedonian Kings, as well as for the votive statue for the dead Graninkos battle soldiers would never be able to have any other but a very deep meaning for the Sovereign King who had Alexander closest to his heart.
Plutarch observed that Demitrios used to spend his leisure time royally. While the other Kings occupied themselves with flute playing, painting or just like Aerop, build lamps and bronze small tables, Demitrios designed battleships and siege engines. Maybe the design put to that Macedonian shield of Antigonedes was his doing.
My sources: “The Archaeological works at Macedonia and Thrace- 20 years” Published by the Aristotelian University of Thessalonica in 2009. D. Pantermalis- "Dion: History and worship"
During the digs that took place in 1997, in the city of Dion, near the temple of Zeus the Highest bronze pieces were uncovered with engraved decorations of stars and circles. After their conservation they were identified as parts of a Macedonian type shield that was based upon hard undercoating made of skin and wood. The decoration is a star with 12 beams that is surrounded by a cord on which there are nine letters which if combined with eight more they display the inscription: ΒΑΣΙΛΕ[ΩΣ ΔΗΜΗΤΡ]ΙΟΥ (of the king Demitrios) Around that central symbol of the shield were a few more stars engraved in their triple elliptic orbits.
A star much like the one in Dion is found as a symbol on the shields we see in coins of unknown origin dated after the death of Alexander the Great as well as on coins of the Demitrios The Polierketes. The Royal inscription around the symbol of the shield is also found on another shield, this time from Vegora (with the name of Antigonos on it) as well as on one more shield made of limestone which was found on Memphis Egypt with the name of Ptolemy on it. Moreover Antigonos Gonatas after his victory against the Gauls in 277 AD he created a currency with the same Macedonian shield and the inscription "ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΑΝΤΙΓΟΝΟΥ" (Of the king Antigonos)
The decoration of the macedonian shield with elliptical orbits of stars has been a stable trend from the Classic Era to the Imperial Age. The obsession with this basic shape that made the shield directly recognisable is difficult to explain just as a decorative need. It is not by chance that many researchers for almost a hundred years consider the macedonian shield to depict stars.
Some researchers believe that this is a sun symbol and others believe the seven orbits with the small stars on the coins of Antigonos Gonatas were symbols for the seven days and nights of the week. Even though no one can claim to side with one side or the other completely we tend to reach the conclusion that the decoration of the Macedonian shields on the sum of the monuments currently known, it is theorized that this is the depiction of a constellation from which the center of the shield is excluded. There we can see monograms god figures and symbols.
The part of the shield that was discovered in Dion (you can see it as the darkened part of the shield in the photo) is refered to the Demitrios the Poliorketes, King of Macedonia (294-287 BC). Demitrios, born in Macedonia but earlier as a child he went along with his father Antigonos the One Eyed in Asia Minor, had as his role models Philip and Alexander and had as his goal to empower Macedonia as well as to reclaim his father’s kingdom. In Dion, where part of his shield was discovered, used to be the host city for the statues of the Macedonian Kings, as well as for the votive statue for the dead Graninkos battle soldiers would never be able to have any other but a very deep meaning for the Sovereign King who had Alexander closest to his heart.
Plutarch observed that Demitrios used to spend his leisure time royally. While the other Kings occupied themselves with flute playing, painting or just like Aerop, build lamps and bronze small tables, Demitrios designed battleships and siege engines. Maybe the design put to that Macedonian shield of Antigonedes was his doing.
My sources: “The Archaeological works at Macedonia and Thrace- 20 years” Published by the Aristotelian University of Thessalonica in 2009. D. Pantermalis- "Dion: History and worship"