Shield Strap Fragment

Once sewn to the leather strap on the inside of a shield, this small bronze relief bears one of the earliest known signatures of a Greek artist, Aristodamos of Argos. At the top edge of the lower square, the signature of the bronzeworker is written retrograde (from right to left): "Aristodamos the Argive made [this]." In fact, the strap depicts two myths that were favored in that region of Greece. The upper panel represents the recovery of Helen of Troy by her husband Menelaos, king of Argos. Athena, protectress of the Greeks, stands watching to the right. The lower scene shows the Centaur Nessos abducting Deianeira, the wife of the hero Herakles. The names of the figures are inscribed beside them.

The ancient Greeks considered shields to be valuable religious dedications, and shield straps are often found in the excavations of sanctuaries. Many such examples come from the Sanctuary of Zeus at Olympia, where worshippers left elaborate bronze shields as gifts to the gods. The city of Argos in southern Greece was the major production site of this art form. Because the maker of this shield strap, Aristodamos, names himself as an inhabitant of Argos, this work can be taken as important evidence for the style of Argive art in the early Archaic period.