The figure-of-eight shield is a type of military equipment seen in the iconography of the Creto-Mycenaean world. It appears from large-scale depictions, such as the Knossos fresco, that it was made of oxhide stretched over a figure-of-eight framework. The large shields covered almost the whole of the warrior’s body. Their depiction in scenes of ritual practice and/or religious symbolism, mainly in seal-carving but also as isolated emblematic objects, may give them a symbolic significance, indicating the aniconic (non-representational) presence of the goddess. The figure-of-eight shield survives into historical times as a decorative element, especially in pottery, where figures carrying such shields are identified as legendary heroes of the past.