We may even suggest that Taras used other symbols related to Apollo to decorate the shields of her hoplites. The dolphin was sacred to Apollo and the main temple in TarasвЂ™ citadel was therefore dedicated to him. According to legend, the animal had saved Taras after suffering shipwreck and therefore enabled the founding of the city.

It may have been painted on shields, even if direct evidence is lacking. That cityвЂ™s most used symbol вЂ“ and its civic emblem still today вЂ“ was its eponymous hero riding a dolphin. We have already seen the example of Syracuse with nymph Arethusa, and now we could add Taras to the list.

Indeed, noble leaders or city states that traced their origins back to a mythological past often emphasized the fact by depicting founding heroes or fantastic creatures related to them. One is the mythological world, which offered infinite sources of inspiration to the commander in search of an emblem for his warriors. Two other class of symbols were, especially in the Greek world, object of decoration for shields. The Tanit monogram is similar to the Egyptian Ankh symbol, which when worn as an amulet was also supposed to protect the bearerвЂ™s soul. If so, it was surely intended to be another display of good fortune, but also a religious symbol, which served to bless the warriors who brandished it. There is no evidence for it, but perhaps this emblem was also painted onto shields. It was a triangle surmounted by a crescent and a solar disc, which resembled a stylized woman lifting up her hands. But their most used symbol was the Tanit monogram, which represented the Phoenician goddess of fertility. The Carthaginians also wished to celebrate the wealth of their estates on the plains of Tunisia, or the quality of the horses they traded throughout the Mediterranean by way of their shield devices. Alternatively, another favourite motif of the Syracusans was a womanвЂ™s head surrounded by four dolphins, symbolizing the nymph Arethusa, patron of a fountain that flowed inside the city.

Syracuse, instead, preferred to exhibit her citizensвЂ™ sporting talent with the four horse chariot, a clear allusion to the SyracusansвЂ™ many victories at the Olympic games. And so Acragas, deliberately challenging HimeraвЂ™s rooster, adopted the bold eagle of Zeus as its civic emblem. Naxos, for example, stressed her famous vineyards by depicting DionysusвЂ™ head beside an enormous grape cluster, while Himera, renowned for her therapeutic baths, chose the rooster, symbol of Greek medicine, for her hoplitesвЂ™ shields. The latter was the case with the Greek cities of Sicily, who were proud of their origins and their relatively greater wealth compared with their poorer brethren of the mother country. Sometimes, they represented the city of origin for the warrior in question. In most cases, the motifs painted on the shields were intended to represent their holdersвЂ™ strength and warrior ethos, and possibly served to frighten the enemy. Ancient coins are particularly valuable due to their abundance, which far outnumber the other iconographic sources. The basic source for this particular type of вЂњmilitaryвЂќ art are the coins issued by ancient cities and peoples, and, to a lesser degree, wall paintings and pottery depicting war scenes. In Johnny ShumateвЂ™s beautiful illustration of the Siege of Motya вЂ“ published as the centrefold in issue VII.2 of Ancient Warfare вЂ“ are shown different shield motifs for Carthaginian, Greek and Italic warriors.

Hoplite shield with the letter a