Outer Ring: HARVESTING THE GRAIN. From the Shield of Achilles by Kathleen Vail
© All Rights Reserved

“He also placed there a wealthy king’s field where men swung razor-sharp scythes,
For here was pictured the mowing of grain, and harvesters bent to their tasks.
Golden stalks were falling along the way and binders tied them in sheaves.
Three binders he pictured, and children gleaning, offering handfuls of wheat.
Upon a newly-mown swath stood the king, staff in hand and full of contentment,
While under an oak tree, off to one side, his men prepared a great feast.
Sacrificing an ox, they slaughtered the beast while women winnowed barley for a meal.”

[Homer’s Iliad, Book 18, Lines 550-560, Vail’s translation]