small bronze shield with the owl of Athens

The ancient aspis or hoplon was the lynchpin of the Classical Greek land-based hoplite phalanx of tighly-packed interlocking ranks of infantry. Each hoplite soldier would hold his massive shield in front of him - 1m or so in diameter, made of wood and covered with bronze - to protect not only himself, but the chap next to him as well. This extraordinary powerful military formation was considered a symbol of cohesion and tactical discipline that defined ancient Greek warfare.

Towards the end of the 6th C BCE, the new hoplite phenomenon resulted in a class of Athenian citizens who were not only a formidable military force, but who realised that they also held considerable political leverage. The resulting upheaval led to the evolution of Athenian Democracy in the last decade of that century. 10 years later, at the Battle of Marathon, it was these hoplites who put the new shield-wall phalanx into practice, to defeat the Persian army.

At Marathon in 490BC, however, you have seen no uniform design on the shields, as there was no standardisation or 'state identity' as yet. Instead, the battlefield was awash with a colourful chaos of shields, variously painted with family crests, mythical beasts, and loud geometric patterns!

Medusa was one of the most popular choices. Her hideous, glaring face with snaky locks was intended to 'freeze' and 'petrify' opponents with terror! Pegasus appeared on shields from Corinth, and the club of Herakles on shields from Thebes. Lower budget options included geometric motifs such as the Greek key meandros.

The Spartan LAMBDA (Λ), the most famous shield emblem in ancient history, is an interesting one. Leonidas - with the 300 - is often represented as carrying the hoplon emblazoned with the (painted) LAMBDA, but the massive wall of uniform LAMBDA shields didn't even exist in 480BCE at the Battle of Thermopylae! It was introduced during the Peloponnesian War (431-404BCE) between Sparta and Athens, when the Spartan government replaced the hitherto 'individual' choice of artwork in favour of a single letter representing the State.

The owl of Athena was used by the Athenians, especially towards the end of the 5thC BCE during the bitter conflict with Sparta.

Hephaistos would be amazed by the craftsmanship and quality of this wonderful collection!

These superb 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, the base is of black marble.

Please note that there may be a variation of some millimetres in the dimensions of the base from time to time, and that accessories such as spears, tridents or javelins may vary in length or height! If you need precise dimensions and weight, email me!

If you need a piece to fit a very specific space, or if you want me to take a photo of a couple of pieces so you can pick the one you want, I will do so with pleasure.

Every piece is deliciously tactile.

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, to photograph and describe these gorgeous pieces, before passing them on to passionate and grateful customers all over the world.

If you already own one of these pieces, cherish it!

Symbol of Athena, who was the goddess of wisdom, intelligence, strategic thought and resourcefulness. She was also the patron deity of Athens, the city to which she gave her name and the gift of the olive.

The specific owl associated with the goddess and her city is the wide-eyed 'glaux', the Little Owl - Athene noctua Athena of the night, which still thrives in Greece today. The relationship between this little bird, Athena, and her city permeates language, culture, coinage, pottery and history.

Homer describes Athena is 'glaukopis' - from 'glaukos' (gleaming, silvery, greyish-blue or pale green) and 'ops' (eye), namely 'bright-eyed' or even 'owl-eyed'. Owls too have exceptional vision, as does Athena, the goddess of intellectual depth and canny strategy, with an ability to see clearly through the darkness of confusion, and to see through deception.

Vigilance is the owl's defining quality. The Little Owl has an amazing ability to stay still with its massive forward-facing eyes fixed on its surroundings. The Athenians loved this symbolic state of military readiness, the guardian always alert and focused and on the lookout.

Athene noctua favours solitude and stillness, spending swathes of time perched in silence observing its environment In Greek philosophy, this trait is synonymous with hēsychia (quietness/stillness) and deep introspection, representing the wisdom that comes from quiet observation rather than loud, empty speech.

Athena was the goddess of strategic, defensive warfare (unlike Ares, who represented the bloody and chaotic aspects of warfare). Her owl perfectly embodies this tactical spirit. Athene noctua is a highly efficient ambush predator. It uses stealth, patience, strategic positioning and perfectly timed strikes. Victory is achieved through planning, timing, and using one's intellect to outwit a larger opponent— exactly how the outnumbered Greeks defeated the Persians at Salamis.

The Little Owl is resilient and adapts remarkably well to human environments, making its home in the stone walls of houses, temples, and agricultural buildings. Following the total destruction of Athens by the Persians in 480 BCE, the owl represented the resilient spirit of the Athenians, thriving amidst the stone and enduring hardship, then to emerge with renewed energy to rebuild their city.

During Classical times, Athene noctua had bred so prolifically around the Akropolis that Athens was practically overrun with them, hence Aristophanes' idiom 'bringing owls to Athens', which is like our phrase of 'carrying coals to Newcastle'!

The famous glaux tetradrachm coins of the second half of the 5th century BCE were minted in silver from the Attic silver mines at Laurium. Helmeted Athena is on the obverse, on the reverse a glaux with three olive leaves and the letters ΑΘΕ, ATHE, short for 'of the Athenians'. Often referred to simply as 'glaukes'/'owls', the coins weighed a reliable solid 17.2 grams of silver, and became the dominant trading currency across the Mediterranean (some were even found in India!) during this Golden Age of Athens under the leadership of Perikles.

The reverse of the Greece-issued 1 euro coin is an exact replica of the glaux tetradrachm. Dozens of academic institutions such as Bryn Mawr have chosen the glaux as their symbol, to denote high intellectual pursuit.

The term glaux also defined a specific style of Athenian pottery. A glaux cup is a type skyphos (a deep wine cup) with a distinctive asymmetric two-handle design: one horizontal, the other vertical, decorated with images of owls framed by olive sprigs, mimicking the look of the famous tetradrachm. They were mass produced in Athens and becoming pretty much standard as ubiquitous domestic drinking cups and as tourist souvenirs (a bit like commemoration mugs!). The design became so trendy that pottery workshops in Corinth, Lucania, Apulia, and Etruria eventually started producing their own copies, some of varying quality!

Examples of the glaux skyphos can be found in many museums across the world, including the British Museum, the Metropolitan Museum, the Akropolis Museum, the Louvre, and the Getty Museum and in Naples, Taranto, Palermo, Milan, and Rome.

In Greece today, the owl is a prestigious symbol within the Hellenic Armed Forces, particularly units dealing with intelligence, strategy and night surveillance - a tribute to Athena' glaukopis and her owl's ability to see clearly through the dark. It is also the emblem for the Greek Ministry of Education, reinforcing this little bird's ancient association with intellectual development.

When the father of modern taxonomy, Carl Linnaeus, formally classified the bird in 1758, he chose to immortalize its ancient roots in science, by naming the species Athene noctua. So every time a biologist or conservationist references the Little Owl, they are invoking the name of the goddess of ancient Athens! How good is that!!!

The Greek key, meandros or meander motif appears throughout ancient Greek art, from the Geometric period onwards. A symbol of eternity and of the flow of things, it is also thought to represent the maze, and the eternal quest for truth.

In its most basic form, it is a linear pattern, composed of a long, continuous line, like the winding course of the river Maeander in Asia Minor. Some say that the twisting pattern mimics the serpent, symbol of guardianship and healing.