Aegis

{{otheruses}}
'''"Ægis"''' has entered modern English to mean a shield, protection, or sponsorship, originally from the name of the mythological protective shield of [[Zeus]]. The name has been extended to many other entities, and the concept of a protective shield is found in other mythologies, while its form varies across sources.

The concept of doing something "under someone's ''ægis''" means doing something under protection of a powerful, knowledgeable, or benevolent source. The word ''ægis'' is identified with protection by a strong force with its roots in [[Classical mythology]], specifically Greek myth adopted by the Romans; there are parallels in [[Norse mythology]], and in [[Egyptian mythology]] as well, where the Greek word ''aegis'' is applied by extension.

==In Greek mythology==
[[Image:IMG 2105.JPG|thumb|Closeup of a plaster cast of a Roman sculpture of Athena wearing the Aegis, Classics Department, Jesus College, Cambridge University.]]

The '''ægis ''' ([[Greek language|Greek]] Αιγίς), already attested in the [[Iliad]], is the [[shield]] or [[buckler]] of [[Zeus]], which according to [[Homer]] was fashioned for him by [[Hephaestus]], furnished with golden tassels and bearing the ''[[Gorgoneion]]'' ([[Medusa]]'s head) in the central boss. The [[Attica|Attic]] vase-painters retained an archaic tradition that the tassels had originally been [[Serpent (symbolism)|serpents]] in their representations of the ægis.

When the Olympian shakes the ægis, [[Mount Ida]] is wrapped in clouds, the thunder rolls and men are struck down with fear. "Ægis-bearing Zeus", as he is in the ''Iliad'', sometimes lends it to [[Athena]] and also to [[Apollo (god)|Apollo]], although rarely. In the ''Iliad'' Zeus sends Apollo to revive the wounded [[Hector of Troy]] and, holding the ægis, Apollo charges the Achaeans, pushing them back to their ships drawn up on the shore. According to [[Edith Hamilton]]'s ''Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes'' <ref> Part I, section I (Warner Books' United States Paperback Edition)</ref>, the Aegis is [[Zeus]]' [[breastplate]], and was "awful to behold."

==Locating the aegis==
Later Greeks always detected that there was something alien and uncanny about the aegis. It was supposed by [[Euripides]] (''Ion'', 995) that the [[Gorgon]] was the original possessor of this goatskin,<ref>Noted by Graves 1960, 9.a; [[Karl Kerenyi]], ''The Gods of the Greeks'' 1951, p 50.</ref> yet the usual understanding{{weasel-inline}} is that the ''Gorgoneion'' was ''added'' to the aegis, a votive gift from a grateful [[Perseus]].{{Fact|date=December 2007}}

There is also the origin myth that represents the ægis as a fire-breathing chthonic monster like the [[Chimera (creature)|Chimera]], which was slain and flayed by [[Athena]], who afterwards wore its skin as a [[cuirass]] ([[Diodorus Siculus]] iii. 70).

Still others say it was the skin of the monstrous giant [[Pallas (Giant)|Pallas]] whom Athena overcame and whose name she attached to her own ([[John Tzetzes]], ''On Lycophron'', 355).

In a late rendering by [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], (''Poetical Astronomy'' ii. 13) Zeus is said to have used the skin of the [[goat]] [[Amalthea (mythology)|Amalthea]] (''aigis'' "goat-skin") which suckled him in [[Crete]], as a shield when he went forth to do battle against the [[titan (mythology)|titan]]s.

[[Herodotus]] (''Histories'' iv.189) thought he had identified the source of the ægis in [[Libya]], which was always a distant territory of ancient magic for the Greeks:
:''Athene's garments and ægis were borrowed by the Greeks from the Libyan women, who are dressed in exactly the same way, except that their leather garments are fringed with thongs, not serpents.''
[[Robert Graves]] in ''The Greek Myths'' (1955; 1960) asserts that the ægis in its Libyan sense had been a shamanic pouch containing various ritual objects, bearing the device of a monstrous serpent-haired visage with tusk-like teeth and a protruding tongue which was meant to frighten away the uninitiated. In this context, Graves identifies the aegis as clearly belonging first to Athena.

Another version{{Fact|date=February 2007}} describes it to have been really the goat's skin used as a belt to support the shield. When so used it would generally be fastened on the right shoulder, and would partially envelop the chest as it passed obliquely round in front and behind to be attached to the shield under the left arm. Hence, by [[metonymy]], it would be employed to denote at times the shield which it supported, and at other times a [[cuirass]], the purpose of which it in part served. In accordance with this double meaning, the ægis appears in works of art sometimes as an animal's skin thrown over the shoulders and arms, and sometimes as a cuirass, with a border of snakes corresponding to the tassels of Homer, usually with the Gorgon's head, the ''gorgoneion'', in the centre. It is often represented on the statues of [[Roman Empire|Roman]] emperors, heroes, and warriors, and on cameos and vases.

The current modern interpretation is that the [[Hittites|Hittite]] sacral hieratic hunting bag (''kursas''), a rough and shaggy goatskin that has been firmly established in literary texts and iconography by H.G. Güterbock,<ref>Güterbock, ''Perspectives on Hittite Civilization: Selected Writings'' (Chicago 1997).</ref> is the most likely source of the aegis.<ref>Calvert Watkins "A Distant Anatolian Echo in Pindar: The Origin of the Aegis Again", ''Harvard Studies in Classical Philology'' '''100''' (2000), pp. 1-14. [http://www.jstor.org/view/00730688/sp040001/04x0003c/0 on JSTOR]</ref>.

===Etymology===
[[Greek language|Greek]] Αιγις has 3 meanings:-
# "violent windstorm", from the verb 'αïσσω ([[stem (linguistics)|stem]] 'αïγ-) = "I rush or move violently".
# The gods' shield as described above.
# "goatskin coat", from treating the word as "something grammatically feminine pertaining to [[goat]] (Greek αιξ ([[stem (linguistics)|stem]] αιγ-))".

The original meaning may have been #1, and Ζευς 'Αιγιοχος = "Zeus who holds the aegis" may have originally meant "Sky/Heaven, who holds the storm". The transition to the meaning "shield" may have come by [[folk-etymology]] among a people familiar with draping an animal skin over the left arm as a shield.

==In Egyptian mythology==
The ægis also appears in [[Egyptian Mythology|Egyptian mythology]]. The goddess [[Bast (goddess)|Bast]] was sometimes depicted holding a ceremonial [[sistrum]] in one hand and an ægis in the other -- the ægis usually resembling a collar or [[gorget]] embellished with a lion's head.

==In Norse mythology==
In [[Norse Mythology]], the dwarf [[Fafnir]] (best known in the form of a dragon slain by Sigurðr) bears on his forehead the Ægis-helm (ON ægishjálmr), or Ægir's helmet (However, some versions would say that Alberich was the one holding a helm, which are named as Tornkape, and has the power to make the user invisible, also the fat of fafnir makes the skin of siegfreud hard as an armor, except on one point). It may be an actual helmet or a magical sign with a rather poetic name. Ægir is an unrelated Old Norse word meaning "terror" and the name of a destructive giant associated with the sea. "Ægis" is the [[genitive]] (possessive) form of ''ægir'' and has no relation to the Greek word ''aigis''.

==Notes==

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[[Category:Mythological objects]]
[[Category:Motif of harmful sensation]]
[[Category:Ornaments]]
[[Category:Shields]]
[[Category:Mythological weapons]]

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