G.H. Chase, The Shield Devices of the Greeks in Art and Literature is a careful collection and comparison of the evidence, monumental as well as literary, affording a clearer conception of the principles underlying the choice of shield devices. 72 pages + 16 BWpll, Paperback

Making sense of Greek shield devices mentioned in texts and seen on vases, sculpture and paintings is not easy. This book contains an extensive discussion of the available evidence as well as an extensive catalogue of such evidence, with an illustrated typology of shield imagery seen on Greek, mostly Attic, vase paintings.

Chase's 1902 monograph has not been superseded. Almost every admirer of the art of Greek vase-painting, looking at the scenes of fighting warriors depicted on many of them, has wondered one time or another about the meaning of the various shield devices. Can we base on them a system of heraldic distinctions that can make some of those battle scenes identifiable with historical or mythological events?