Shields are a broad piece of armor made of rigid material and strapped to the arm or carried in the hand for protection against hurled or thrusted weapons. During the late Predynastic Period to the Middle Kingdom, long and rectangular shields made of cowhide stretched over a wooden frame offered the real body protection to the Egyptian soldiers. The length of the shield varied from one to one and a half meters and tapered towards the top to a curved or pointed edge.

In the 20th century BC, when Egyptians had not yet come into conflict with Asiatics, man-high shields behind which the whole body could be hidden, gave good protection against showers of arrows. Big shields were heavier, limiting the time they could be carried, the speed with which the soldiers could advance and their field of vision. During the New Kingdom bronze was sometimes used. Metal plate shields were heavier than leather shields with wooden frames, and did not necessarily afford better protection. The shields was usually held by a handle or a leather strip fastened to the center of the frame. They were sometimes carried by a strap slung over the shoulder allowing the soldier to use both hands. Shields made of turtle shells were also used in predynastic times; later these evolved into rectangular shields made from wood covered with leather. The curve at the top of the rectangular foot soldier's shield shows the influence of predynastic shell shields.