BUCKLER, a piece of defensive armour used by the ancients. It was worn on the left arm, and composed of wickers woven together, or wood of the lightest sort, but most commonly of hides, fortified with plates of brass or metal. The figure was sometimes round, sometimes oval, and sometimes almost square. Most of the bucklers were curiously adorned with all sorts of figures of birds and beasts, as eagles, lions; nor of these only, but of the gods, of the celestial bodies, and all the works of nature; which custom was derived from the heroic times, and from them communicated to the Grecians, Romans, and Barbarians.