You’re likely to hear “aegis” used on the news today to talk about an organization or a country giving its support and protection. But in the history of the word, it’s a literal shield. In Greek, “aigis” means “shield of Zeus,” and in classical art and mythology, the word “aegis” was always related to the shields of Zeus and Athena. In Homer’s “Iliad,” it’s specifically attributed to Athena: “And among them went bright-eyed Athene, holding the precious aegis which is ageless and immortal: a hundred tassels of pure gold hang fluttering from it, tight-woven each of them, and each the worth of a hundred oxen.”