When we talk about a shield We may be referring to two very specific and dissimilar questions, even though they share the word that designates them. On the one hand, a shield is that wooden, metal or leather tool that was once used with a strictly defensive function, that is, to protect the physical integrity of those people who were in combat. It was generally carried on the left arm, since the right was free in order to exert the counterattack. In the case of left-handers, of course, the issue was reversed.
From time immemorial all those people, regardless of their culture and who dedicated their lives to the defense of a Nation, have used the shield as a protection tool against the weapons thrown by the enemy.
For example, in the Byzantine Empire the oval shield was common, then, already in the 10th century, it adopted the same shape of an almond with a very sharp lower part to be able to nail it to the ground when stopping with the troops. Then would come the equilateral triangular shape with some sophistication like fur or fancy inlays.
Meanwhile, in our days, although the shield is not part of the uniform or mandatory weapons that the security forces must carry, in special cases such as intervention in a prison riot or in a demonstration, the police, to defend themselves they keep using them. Moreover, current shields are designed in such a way that they can cover almost the entire body of a policeman and in this way reliably exercise the protective function for which they were created and prevent both bullets and any other forceful element from achieving their purpose. hurt the policeman. Most of these, in their external appearance, are much more sober than that of dozens of years ago where it was common to find shields inlaid with precious stones.
And on the other side, the term shield also refers to the emblem of arms of a country, a city, a family, a corporation and an association that serve as identification in some special context. Generally, when we are in front of the coat of arms of a family or corporation, some images that characterize the family or corporation in question are used in its design.
