戰爭，是無情的，沒有贏家，通常都是兩敗俱傷。《伊里亞特》第十一卷開始是希臘大軍風光大勝的場面，結束在大逆轉，希臘人的慘敗；史詩常用類似的手筆，敘述大起大落的戰況，增添說故事的幅度與張力。
主題: the
Gorgon shield of Agamemnon
《伊里亞特》第十一卷1-66行，可分四部分: 第一，宙斯又派遣爭端女神 (Strife, Eris)，挑起希臘人戰爭的慾望；第二，仔仔細細敘述Agamemnon的華美盔甲；第三，希臘人走出堡壘，準備開戰; 第四，特洛伊人也整隊備戰。
宙斯默默答應Thetis 的要求，要替Achilles討回面子，但是顯然天神好厲害，用的方法很巧妙，他先讓Agamemnon沾沾自喜，覺得自己不可一世，然後讓他重重跌一跤。另外派紛爭女神也極富象徵意義，看似是紛爭女神挑起戰火，其實是人類內心高傲，不認輸的心，要爭、要奪引起的紛爭，也是戰爭的徵兆 (πολέμοιο τέρας, a portent of war, Iliad 11.4)。
Winged Eris, Athenian black-figure kylix
C6th B.C. ,Antikensammlung, Berlin
出場的就是躁進、狂妄、很有派頭的Agamemnon，武器與戰袍象徵一個武士的地位與權勢，一般兵種的戰袍，可能只值九頭牛，貴族黃金打造的約值一百頭牛，而Agamemnon的這一身行頭，應該遠遠超過，他代表的是還自當時最富裕，產黃金的邁錫尼:
Ἀτρεΐδης δ᾽ ἐβόησεν ἰδὲ ζώννυσθαι ἄνωγεν
Ἀργείους: ἐν δ᾽ αὐτὸς ἐδύσετο νώροπα χαλκόν.
κνημῖδας μὲν πρῶτα περὶ κνήμῃσιν ἔθηκε
καλὰς ἀργυρέοισιν ἐπισφυρίοις ἀραρυίας:
δεύτερον αὖ θώρηκα περὶ στήθεσσιν ἔδυνε,
τόν ποτέ οἱ Κινύρης δῶκε ξεινήϊον εἶναι.
πεύθετο γὰρ Κύπρον δὲ μέγα κλέος οὕνεκ᾽ Ἀχαιοὶ
ἐς Τροίην νήεσσιν ἀναπλεύσεσθαι ἔμελλον:
τοὔνεκά οἱ τὸν δῶκε χαριζόμενος βασιλῆϊ.
τοῦ δ᾽ ἤτοι δέκα οἶμοι ἔσαν μέλανος κυάνοιο,
δώδεκα δὲ χρυσοῖο καὶ εἴκοσι κασσιτέροιο:
κυάνεοι δὲ δράκοντες ὀρωρέχατο προτὶ δειρὴν
τρεῖς ἑκάτερθ᾽ ἴρισσιν ἐοικότες, ἅς τε Κρονίων
ἐν νέφεϊ στήριξε, τέρας μερόπων ἀνθρώπων.
ἀμφὶ δ᾽ ἄρ᾽ ὤμοισιν βάλετο ξίφος: ἐν δέ οἱ ἧλοι
χρύσειοι πάμφαινον, ἀτὰρ περὶ κουλεὸν ἦεν
ἀργύρεον χρυσέοισιν ἀορτήρεσσιν ἀρηρός.
ἂν δ᾽ ἕλετ᾽ ἀμφιβρότην πολυδαίδαλον ἀσπίδα θοῦριν
καλήν, ἣν πέρι μὲν κύκλοι δέκα χάλκεοι ἦσαν,
ἐν δέ οἱ ὀμφαλοὶ ἦσαν ἐείκοσι κασσιτέροιο
λευκοί, ἐν δὲ μέσοισιν ἔην μέλανος κυάνοιο.
τῇ δ᾽ ἐπὶ μὲν Γοργὼ βλοσυρῶπις ἐστεφάνωτο
δεινὸν δερκομένη, περὶ δὲ Δεῖμός τε Φόβος τε.
τῆς δ᾽ ἐξ ἀργύρεος τελαμὼν ἦν: αὐτὰρ ἐπ᾽ αὐτοῦ
κυάνεος ἐλέλικτο δράκων, κεφαλαὶ δέ οἱ ἦσαν
τρεῖς ἀμφιστρεφέες ἑνὸς αὐχένος ἐκπεφυυῖαι. (Iliad 11.15-40)
The son of Atreus shouted to his Argives
to get their armour on. He pulled on his shining
bronze.
First on his legs he set his shin
guards—beautifully made,
fitted with silver ankle clasps. Then he put
a breast plate round his chest, something he’d
received
as a gift of hospitality from Cinyras,
who’d learned in Cyprus the great news that
Achaeans
were intending to set sail in their ships for
Troy.
So to please the king, Cinyras gave the
breastplate
to Agamemnon. On it were ten metal strips,
each dark blue, twelve of gold, and twenty made of
tin.
On each side, three enameled snakes coiled to the
neck,
like rainbows which the son of Cronos sets in
clouds,
prophetic omens for mortal men. On his shoulder,
he slung his sword studded with shining gold.
The scabbard was silver, fitted with golden
straps.
Then he picked up his richly decorated shield,
which covered his whole body, a beautiful work,
with ten bronze circles, twenty bosses of white
tin,
and in the centre a boss of blue enamel.
On that shield, as crowning symbol, stood the
Gorgon,
a ferocious face with a horrifying stare.
Terror and Panic were placed on either side.
On the shield’s silver strap writhed an enamel
snake,
its three heads intertwined, all growing from one
neck.
下面是這段文字提到的行頭
閃亮的銅甲 (16)
精美的脛甲 [綁在小腿，通常是金屬製] (17)
銀製環扣 (18)
Cibyras贈送的胸甲 [a guest-gift] (19-21)
胸甲的細節:
十條碧藍色的琺瑯飾帶
(24)
胸甲的細節:
十二條黃金飾帶
(25)
胸甲的細節:
二十條錫製飾帶
(25)
胸甲的細節:兩側各有三條琺瑯蛇蜿蜒至甲頸，有如彩虹
(26-28)
雙刃劍，金釘，銀製的劍鞘，鑲金的過肩帶(29-31)
精心打造的盾牌，可遮護全身
(32)
盾牌的細節:
十層的青銅圈
(33)
盾牌的細節:
面上浮雕二十個閃光的錫鍛半球(34)
盾牌的細節:
最中央鑲著碧藍色的琺瑯，上面會有Gorgon的頭，側邊畫的是Terror與 Rout兩位神 (35-37)
盾牌上繫銀製佩帶(baldric)，三頭長蛇蜿蜒在佩帶上 (38-40)
Winged goddess with a
Gorgon's head, orientalizing plate, c. 600 BC, from Kameiros, Rhodes
