Throughout the Iliad the warriors' dream of peace is projected over and over again in elaborate similes developed against a background of violence and death. Homer is able to balance the celebration of war's tragic, heroic values with scenes of battle and those creative values of civilized life that war destroys. The shield of Achilles symbolically represents the two poles of human condition, war and peace, with their corresponding aspects of human nature, the destructive and creative, which are implicit in every situation and statement of the poem and are put before us in something approaching abstract form; its emblem is an image of human life as a whole.
Forged by Hephaestus, this shield includes all manner of imagery to dazzle and overawe Achilles' opponents. Made out of bronze, tin, and priceless gold and silver, this glittering, triple-ply "world of gorgeous immortal work" is blazoned with "well-wrought emblems across its surface." Starting out describing the earth, the sea, and the sky, Homer goes into detail and uses imagery to talk about such specifics as the "blazing sun," the "moon rounding full," and "the constellations, all that crown the heavens." .
He then starts going into detail about the two mortal cities. The first city opens with a description of a wedding and a wedding feast. Sharing details such as the glowing torches, the choirs singing, the young men dancing with flutes and harps, and the women who rushed to the doors, were moved with wonder. Then it goes into a mass of people streaming into the marketplace where a quarrel had broken out and two men struggled over the blood-price for a kinsman just murdered. Their quarreling is settled when they call for a judge, and put before the city elders a prize of two bars of solid gold for the judge who'd speak the straightest verdict.
In this first city, the wedding celebration and merriment that come along with it represent the harmony and happiness of the city and the people's lives. Furthermore, the quarrel between the two men was settled by the process of law, which represents justice and order, and the crowd which decided which elder got the prize, and which judgment would be passed, represents democracy. This equals construction. In this world of ordinary people, they form the backdrop to the grim, implacable rage of Achilles, and suggests optimism for their world; a world removed from that of the hero.
The second city, on the other hand, is full of destruction, with the people at war, being besieged by a hostile army and fighting for its existence. This presents disorder, but struggle for life and glory. However as Homer is describing the city preparing to fight, and the men marching out to war, he uses good imagery, such as "Ares and Pallas led them,/both burnished gold, gold the attire they donned, and great,/magnificent in their armor - gods for all the world,/looming up in their brilliance..." Through this heroic imagery, the good part of this city still is able to shine through the darkness, even if it's just a little bit. The description of this city ends with "So they clashed and fought like living, breathing men/grappling each other's corpses, dragging off the dead."
After the description of these cities, Homer goes on to talk about some of the other scenes portrayed on the shield. Some good, some bad, most are good, once again emphasizing the peaceful life. Through the scenes of the farmers plowing, and then reapers harvesting on a king's estate, and then the peaceful and merry vineyard, moving on to the violently murdered bull, which really is the only negative thing. It continues with a nice meadow, and then finishes with describing a dance, which is the archetypal symbol for the joy of life itself.
The more abundant peaceful scenes balance out the evil scenes portrayed on this shield. War has the lesser place on the shield as most of its surface is covered with images of a peaceful life. This imbalance shows the total background of the carnage of war, and it provides a frame that gives the rage of Achilles and death of Hector a true perspective. This also is a representation of the future glories of Rome. This shield also gives off a significant signal to the warriors on both sides, as seen in Book 19. - - - When Achilles re-enters the war fully armed, and his return means all is lost for the Trojans, and all is regained for the Achaeans. In this moment of glory, a light reflects from Achilles' shield. This light is compared in a beautiful simile to the beacon light of salvation that shines from a lonely lighthouse on the Hellespont. The Hellespont is a notoriously dangerous place for Greek sailors, and the Greeks think of themselves as a nation of sailors. Through this simile, then, everything that the shield represents will be, as it were, a focal point for the very concept of Greek civilization.
Although these two cities can be described as the city at war and the city at peace, there are sensitive moments associated with conflict as well as moments of contention associated with marriage scene. Anything else would be oversimplifying life artificially. The depiction is of the entire larger vision of the intricate life of the culture and the world. This shows that there's really something at stake here to be fighting about. It also shows there's no center to the shield. Although we assume Helen is at the center of the war, the war probably wouldn't end if the Trojans turned her over to Menelaus now. Thee tapestry is too intricately woven, so as the central blame is Helen, most of the individuals involved are in the war for widely different motives.
This war involves a human side, including the admission of fear and scenes of domestic life, not in a sentimentalized version. This more complete and responsible depiction shows that there's not one single center to the war, just as there's not one single god for the Greeks.
Running along the outermost rim of the shield is the Ocean River, the river that is at once the barrier between the quick and the dead, and also the frontier of the known and imagined worlds. One of the last descriptions on the shield, this river could perhaps be a symbol for total inclusiveness and eternity, and for the stability of the larger perspective.
