The Shield of Achilles is described in Book 18 of Homer's Iliad. After Patroclus is killed while wearing Achilles' armor, Hector takes the armor as spoils. Achilles' mother, Thetis, asks Hephaestus to forge a replacement set, including a magnificent shield.
Homer's description presents the shield as a miniature universe. Its imagery includes the earth, sea, sky, sun, moon, constellations, two cities, legal disputes, battles, farming, harvests, a vineyard, herds, a sheepfold, dancers, and the surrounding Ocean stream. The passage runs from approximately lines 478 to 608 in Book 18.
The scene is famous as one of literature's earliest major examples of ekphrasis: a vivid verbal description of a visual artwork. It also creates a striking contrast with the violence of the Trojan War by placing ordinary civic life, work, celebration, and justice alongside scenes of battle. A common mix-up is confusing the shield's appearance in Book 18 with its use in Achilles' later fight against Hector in Book 22.