Abstract
Abstract There are two main hypotheses about the adoption of the shield by the Hellenistic cavalry. Some scholars think that the Greeks borrowed the shield from Italy via Pyrrhus’ army, others suppose that it was borrowed from the Galatians. However, the hypotheses are theoretical, without proven arguments. According to the iconography, in the Hellenistic epoch the majority of Greek mounted shield-bearers were armed with large round shields of four various kinds, and a few of them carried oblong shields. The round shield was untypical for the Celts and therefore the Greeks borrowed it not from them but from Italy. As the dates of monuments depicting the cavalrymen have not been precisely determined, one can say only that the adoption happened during the third century BC. The Graeco-Macedonian cavalry had been using oblong shields of the Celtic type since the 270s BC. However, as far as we know, this type of shield was not widespread among the Hellenistic cavalry.
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