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Symbols
The shield of Achilles is forged by Hephaestus in Book 18. The shield is supernaturally strong, but it also contains a supernatural level of detail. Using many metals, Hephaestus creates a picture of the entire world, starting from the cosmos and working down to the everyday details of human experience. The shield is a symbol of the inextricable link between warfare and all other parts of life. Because the rest of the world is contained in the shield, warfare can be thought of as the key to every other part of life.
The Shield of Achilles Quotes in The Iliad
The The Iliad quotes below all refer to the symbol of The Shield of Achilles. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Book 18
Quotes
And first Hephaestus makes a great and massive shield…
There he made the earth and there the sky and the sea
and the inexhaustible blazing sun and the moon rounding full
and there the constellations…And he forged on the shield two noble cities filled
with mortal men. With weddings and wedding feasts in one…
But circling the other city camped a divided army
gleaming in battle-gear.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
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The Shield of Achilles Symbol Timeline in The Iliad
The timeline below shows where the symbol The Shield of Achilles appears in The Iliad. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Book 18
Hephaestus sets to work. He forges the famous shield of Achilles that contains on it a picture of the entire world. It includes the sea, the...
(full context)
Book 22
...at Hector and misses, but Athena passes the weapon back to Achilles. Hector’s spear hits Achilles’ shield but cannot pierce it. Hector turns to Deiphobus but cannot find him. He soon realizes...
(full context)
