The poem takes its cue from the extended description of the shield of Achilles in
Iliad xviii, from which it borrows directly, with a single word altered: The
Iliad gives just enough detail for its hearers to marvel at
Hephaestus' workmanship. The
Shield of Heracles makes heavier use of description: :They were bringing the brides through the streets from their homes, to the loud music of the wedding-hymn and the light of blazing torches. Youths accompanied by flute and lyre were whirling in the dance, and the women had come to the doors of their houses to enjoy the show. (
Iliad). :The men were making merry with festivities and dances; some were bringing home a bride to her husband on a well-wheeled car, while the bridalsong swelled high, and the glow of blazing torches held by handmaidens rolled in waves afar. And these maidens went before, delighting in the festival; and after them came frolicsome choirs, the youths singing soft-mouthed to the sound of shrill pipes, while the echo was shivered around them, and the girls led on the lovely dance to the sound of lyres. (
Shield of Heracles). The round shield's "whole orb shimmered with enamel and white ivory and electrum, and it glowed with shining gold; and there were zones of cyanus drawn upon it."
Cyanus denotes a blue low-fired glass-paste or smalt. At the center was a mask of Fear (
Phobos) with the staring eyes and teeth of a
gorgon. Though Achilles' shield has nothing about it that might mar its function, the shield of Heracles is a
tour de force of high relief: the vineyard has "shivering leaves and stakes of silver" and the snake heads "would clash their teeth when Amphitryon's son was fighting" and in the ocean vignette the "fishes of bronze were trembling." As for "the horseman
Perseus: his feet did not touch the shield and yet were not far from it—very marvellous to remark, since he was not supported anywhere; for so did the famous
Lame One fashion him of gold with his hands." The extravagant description seems to have encouraged
rhapsodes to contribute their interpolations, which have been identified and teased apart by modern scholarship. Some similes may strike the careful listener as infelicitous, such as the contrast of glowering with fierce action in "fiercely he stared, like a lion who has come upon a body and full eagerly rips the hide with his strong claws..." ==Reception==