Reproduction of the "Shield frieze" fresco
Source Emile Gilliéron Swiss
Not on view
Excavated 1910 in the Inner Forecourt of the Tiryns palace.
The original restoration was done by E. Gillieron, pere from over two hundred fragments for the German Archaeological Society. Evans used it as the basis for his grand restoration of the shield frescoes in the Domestic Quarter at Knossos (executed by E. Gillieron, fils) where only very small fragments of large-scale shields were preserved. The distinctive figure-of-eight shield motif is an important visual link between Homer's Age of Heroes and Late Bronze Age Greece. It has been suggested that the green pigment of the original fresco was made from powdered malachite imported from Egypt.
The original is in the National Archaeological Museum, Athens.
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