Battles & Wars › Ancient world › Bronze weapons: the first metal arms
Shield and helmet
c. 2500 BC (Sumer)· Invention or discovery· Weapons, armor & warships
Mostly agreedGood evidence; some details, dates or numbers uncertain.
Protection for body and head: shields of wood, hide or metal, and helmets of copper, bronze and later steel.
See it on the Battles & Wars map →What happened
Shields of wood and hide are surely ancient but rarely survive. Around 2450 BC the Stele of the Vultures shows Lagash's soldiers in helmets behind large rectangular shields; real copper helmets were found in the royal tombs of Ur. Helmets reduced the value of maces and pushed smiths toward axes and blades. Greek hoplites carried a round, bronze-faced shield; Romans a curved rectangular one. Firearms made armor fade by the 1700s, but steel helmets returned in World War I.
Why it matters
Protection shaped tactics: shields let soldiers form walls and close-order formations, from Sumer to the phalanx and the Roman legion. Every new weapon spurred new protection.
How we know
Copper helmets from Ur's Royal Cemetery, the Stele of the Vultures, Egyptian and Assyrian art, surviving Greek bronze helmets and shield fittings, and Roman finds such as the Dura-Europos shield.
Still debated
When shields were first used in war is unknown, because wood and leather decay; early pictures may also be idealized.
Connections (2)
▸Stele of the Vultures shows soldiers with early Shield and helmetWell documented
The connection
The stele's soldiers wear close-fitting helmets and carry tall rectangular shields held edge to edge, forming a wall. It is among the earliest clear pictures of protective gear in war, matching copper helmets found in Ur's royal tombs from about the same period.
When and how
Girsu, in the city-state of Lagash, southern Iraq, about 2450 BC.
How we know
The carving survives in the Louvre; real Sumerian copper helmets from Ur confirm what it shows.
Debates and open questions
What the shields were made of, perhaps wood or wicker covered with hide, is not known.
▸Shield and helmet equipped the hoplites of the Phalanx (hoplite and Macedonian)Well documented
The connection
The hoplite's round shield, about 90 cm (3 feet) across, hung on the forearm and was gripped near the rim; each shield partly covered the man to the left. Bronze helmets such as the Corinthian type covered head and face. This gear made the phalanx's dense shield wall possible.
When and how
Greek city-states from about 700 BC, at battles such as Marathon (490 BC) and Plataea (479 BC).
How we know
Surviving helmets and shield fittings from Olympia and elsewhere, vase paintings, and Thucydides' description of lines drifting right as men sought their neighbor's shield.
Debates and open questions
Whether the shield shaped the formation or the formation shaped the shield, and how much armor hoplites wore, is debated.