The Shield of Achilles:
The Shield of Achilles, as described by Homer in his Iliad, is the legendary shield used by the Greek hero Achilles during his fight against Hector of Troy. The shield was forged by the Godsmith Hephaestus after Achilles lost his shield and armor when his friend Patroclus was killed by Hector while wearing Achilles' armor, which was taken as a spoil of war. The shield is described in great detail in Book XVIII of the Iliad, lines 478 to 608. Although only a small detail in the extensive narrative of the Iliad, the description of the shield shows many of the characteristics of human society of the time, such as their peace, their war, their culture, and their justice. |
Greek Justice as seen on the Shield of Achilles:
Homer describes the justice in Greece through a tribunal scene (on the image above, the tribunal appears on the right-hand side of the second semicircle starting from the bottom, on which we can see a man standing at a tribunal making his case) in Book XVIII, lines 494-508:
"There in the forum swarm a numerous train;
The subject of debate, a townsman slain:
One pleads the fine discharged, which one denied,
And bade the public and the laws decide:
The witness is produced on either hand:
For this, or that, the partial people stand:
The appointed heralds still the noisy bands,
And form a ring, with sceptres in their hands:
On seats of stone, within the sacred place,
The reverend elders nodded o’er the case;
Alternate, each the attesting sceptre took,
And rising solemn, each his sentence spoke
Two golden talents lay amidst, in sight,
The prize of him who best adjudged the right."
This description of the Greek democratic system represents the early days of the Court of Athens, when each of the people would place an item of value on a pedestal before the jury as a kind of token or wager, which would both be collected by the victor of the case.
From the second and third verse above, we can assume the trial is about a murder, with one of the two on trial pleading innocent and the other trying to prosecute him. We can also see that the court is presided by a number of judges, which shows there was already a type of democracy in place, even when Homer wrote this play in the VIIIth century BCE.
The shield describes in its entirety the different steps of a trial in Ancient Greece: both sides would present their cases, in this case with the help of witnesses, to a panel of judges, who would then vote which side they thought was in the right.
Homer's view of justice through the shield is a much more democratic one, encouraging courts where each may present their opinion in a just way, instead of the vengeance that dominated at the time.
Homer describes the justice in Greece through a tribunal scene (on the image above, the tribunal appears on the right-hand side of the second semicircle starting from the bottom, on which we can see a man standing at a tribunal making his case) in Book XVIII, lines 494-508:
"There in the forum swarm a numerous train;
The subject of debate, a townsman slain:
One pleads the fine discharged, which one denied,
And bade the public and the laws decide:
The witness is produced on either hand:
For this, or that, the partial people stand:
The appointed heralds still the noisy bands,
And form a ring, with sceptres in their hands:
On seats of stone, within the sacred place,
The reverend elders nodded o’er the case;
Alternate, each the attesting sceptre took,
And rising solemn, each his sentence spoke
Two golden talents lay amidst, in sight,
The prize of him who best adjudged the right."
This description of the Greek democratic system represents the early days of the Court of Athens, when each of the people would place an item of value on a pedestal before the jury as a kind of token or wager, which would both be collected by the victor of the case.
From the second and third verse above, we can assume the trial is about a murder, with one of the two on trial pleading innocent and the other trying to prosecute him. We can also see that the court is presided by a number of judges, which shows there was already a type of democracy in place, even when Homer wrote this play in the VIIIth century BCE.
The shield describes in its entirety the different steps of a trial in Ancient Greece: both sides would present their cases, in this case with the help of witnesses, to a panel of judges, who would then vote which side they thought was in the right.
Homer's view of justice through the shield is a much more democratic one, encouraging courts where each may present their opinion in a just way, instead of the vengeance that dominated at the time.