Roman shields

Defensive shield wall used by Roman Legions

thumb|upright|Mid-3rd century Scutum from Dura-Europos|Scutum found at [[Dura-Europos]] The scutum (; :scuta) was a type of shield used among Italic peoples in antiquity, most notably by the army of ancient Rome starting about the fourth century BC.

thumb|Clipeus of Iupiter-Ammon, conserved at the National Archaeological Museum of Tarragona|Museu Nacional Arqueològic de Tarragona thumb|A Victorian depiction of a hoplite with a clipeus In the military of classical antiquity, a clipeus (; Ancient Greek: ἀσπίς) was a large shield worn by the Greek hoplites and Romans as a piece of defensive armor, which they carried upon the arm, to protect them from the blows of their enemies. It was round in shape and in the middle was a bolt of iron, or of some other metal, with a sharp point. The clipeus was more-or-less identical to the earlier aspis.

round shield used by the Roman army