I got all the replacement shields for my Sassanid infantry painted today, so now I've got the tricky task of deciding which way up to mount them on the figures - point up or point down?
Simon James's book on the military finds from Dura Europos, from where I got the information on the shields in the first place, reckons (in the absence of evidence pointing either way) that they must have been used point up, so that the 'flat' end of the large 'pavise-type' shields could have simply been sat on the ground and would be more stable that way.
Having grown up in the west, with images in my mind of Norman milites with kite shields, and high medieval knights with heater shields, I would instinctively put them point down... And this has the advantage, for the big pavises, that you have a point to poke into the ground, so they'd be more stable and less inclined to 'give' when the 'shield-wall' was charged by the enemy.
Only one piece of wood thought to have been a hand grip survived in the ground, and it was detached from the shield it was found near and there is absolutely no clue as to where it might have fastened, which might have given a hint as to which way up the shield was used.
So I might just have to go with what looks 'coolest'... Currently thinking that 'point up' looks nicest - and most exotic. My missus agrees with me, but the kids prefer point down. I am really, really, pleased with the shields, whichever way I end up mounting them - I think they look great.