free UK shipping on orders over £60 until Sunday 13th
small bronze shield with olive wreath and Greek meander design
£125.00
This shield is decorated with a central wreath of olive, circled by a band of the geometric meander pattern 'meandros' (or greek key design). The olive was associated with the goddess Athena and represented achievement and the meandros symbolised infinity and unity, also thought to represent the labyrinth or maze, and the eternal quest for truth. Based on the ancient Greek shield, the aspis or hoplon would originally have been made from wood covered in bronze. Measuring approximately 1m in diameter it would not only have protected the bearer, but formed part of the phalanx, the formidable military formation!
Diameter of the shield: 13cm Height including its marble base: 14.5cm
quantity
about the symbolism of the olive
The olive was the trademark of Athena, goddess of wisdom, intelligence, strategic thought, and female crafts.
Athena defeated her uncle Poseidon in a contest which had been set up to establish which of them would become the protector deity of a hitherto unnamed city in Attica. Poseidon had offered the city a roaring saltwater spring, whereas Athena knelt on the Akropolis and planted a single olive tree, offering the citizens the gifts of oil, food, and light. Thereafter the city was named Athens. You can see an olive tree there today, next to the Erechtheion, the temple dedicated to the thwarted uncle and his shrewd niece.
The olive tree became a symbol of resilience. Herodotus wrote that it was assumed that when the Persians had sacked Athens and set fire to the Akropolis in 480 BCE, the sacred olive had been destroyed. Yet, the very next morning, a green shoot almost a meter long, had miraculously appeared! It became a powerful symbol of rebirth, renewal, and transformation, a reflection of the indomitable spirit of Athens and her citizens. Cuttings (moriai) from this tree, were then planted across Attica, so that every ancient Athenian olive-grove shared the DNA of the goddess’s original gift!
The olive appears on the famous Athenian owl tetradrachm coin, and is a recurrent motif in ancient Greek art, whenever Athena is depicted. Nike, the goddess of Victory, and a deity closely associated with Athena, is often depicted with an olive wreath, which she would place on the head of a victorious athlete.
The ultimate prize for champions at the ancient Olympic Games, held in honour of Zeus, was not gold, but a simple wreath woven from the wild olive (kotinos) —a tree said to have been ripped from the earth and planted at Olympia by Zeus' son, Herakles himself. The hero even fashioned his signature weapon, a mighty, unbreakable club, from raw wild olive wood.
about the bronzes in this collection
The bronze pieces are cast in Greece using the traditional lost wax method. As nothing is mass-produced, there will inevitably be slight variations in texture, patina, and colour. No two pieces are ever the same. If mounted on a marble base, it will be a black or very dark grey base. There may be a variation of some millimetres in the dimensions of the base from time to time.
It's All Greek is so grateful and so proud to have been working closely with the Semitekolo family foundry since 1999. It has been a privilege and a joy to handle, live with, and photograph these gorgeous pieces and to pass them on to customers all over the world.