Archery in Archaic Greece

354 Pages·2013·34.59 MB·English

by  Todd Davis

Archery in Archaic Greece

Todd Alexander Davis

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
under the Executive Committee
of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

2013
© 2013
Todd Alexander Davis
All rights reserved
ABSTRACT

Archery in Archaic Greece

Todd Alexander Davis

Despite a renewed interest in scholarship about Archaic warfare, hoplites,
Homeric society, and several other related areas, archery in Archaic Greece has managed
to escape comprehensive study for half a century. Scholarship on the subject stands in
urgent need of update and revision. Certain erroneous beliefs about archery have become
canonical and are dangerous impediments to academic progress in those areas of study
that require an accurate and nuanced understanding of archers or archery.
I conclude that, contrary to popular opinion, there was no point in Greek history
when the bow was not used. Rather, it was used in a variety of ways to support,
supplement, and complement heavily armed infantrymen. Although archery could be
effective, especially against horses and light-armed men, the bow was not as effective
against heavily armed infantrymen for the simple reason that arrows would not often
have been able to penetrate Greek armor. This factor did not, however, mean that the
bow was impotent or “the mute weapon of a worthless man.” My study of wounds, their
treatment, infection, and the potential use of arrow toxins adds a fruitful and previously
unexplored perspective on the risks involved with facing an archer and on some of the
psychological considerations of doing so. In a form of warfare wherein armies were so
heavily dependent upon morale and so easily compromised by fear, an arrow was a
weapon of terror. Moreover, dying six days after a battle of tetanus did not accord with
the hoplites’ ideal of a ‘beautiful death’ – one of the prospects that fortified a warrior as
he girded himself for what was surely a horrifying ordeal.
I also argue that the identity of archers changed over time. Early on, warriors
might use a variety of weapons and the bow might have been used by just about anyone.
Later, with the advent of the hoplite phalanx, archers became light-armed specialists.
While convention holds that these archers were Scythian or Cretan mercenaries, I prove
that there is no compelling reason to believe that this was so. The archers were Greek
and likely derived from the lower classes of citizens. Moreover, despite its ideological
demotion among the elite, the bow did not carry an actively negative association until the
Persian Wars in the early 5th century B.C.E. This demotion represented an effort on the
part of the elite to justify and maintain their position of prominence socially and
politically at the expense of lower classes whose martial efforts among the light-armed
were often considered unworthy of acknowledgement.
In sum, the treatment of archery in the Archaic period is considerably more
nuanced than many scholars have allowed.
Table of Contents

Introduction 1-28
Chapter 1. Did archery exist in Archaic Greece? 29-66
a. Material Evidence 29-41
b. Documentary Evidence 41-66
Chapter 2. How was the bow used? 67 – 120
a. Art Historical Evidence 67-71
b. Bow Types 71-77
c. Arrowheads and Arrowheads Typology 77-83
d. Model: Security-Mobility-Firepower 83-86
e. Advantages of the Bow (Range, Rate of Fire, etc.) 87-93
f. Positioning & Assault Groups 93-98
g. Tactics 98-123
1. Close Range Sniping 98-100
2. Massed Volleys 100-102
3. Pursuit 103
4. Counter Cavalry 103-105
5. Stealth Action 105-106
6. Siege 107-110
7. Counter Light-Armed 111-112
8. Harassment 112-113
i
9. Naval 113-117
10. Mounted Archers 117-122
h. Some Notes on Non-Martial Archery 122-123
Chapter 3. Was archery effective? 124 – 166
a. The Arrow as a Weapon 124-125
b. Arrows Against Armor 125-137
c. Arrow Wounds 137-144
d. Treatment of Arrow Wounds 144-150
e. Poison & Infection 150-161
f. An ‘Ugly’ Death 161-163
g. A Weapon of Terror 164-166
Chapter 4. Who were the archers? 167-235
a. Dispelling Entrenched Notions 167-168
b. Scythian Archers? 168-173
c. Historiography of the Scythian Archer Figure 173-190
d. Who were the Scythians? 190-195
e. Greek Sources on Scythians 196-200
f. Black Sea Interactions 200-204
g. Secondary Contact – Greeks in the East 205-208
h. Why Scythians? 208-210
i. Cretan Archers 210-213
j. The Identity of Greek Archers 213-218
a. Therapontes 218-220
ii
b. Emergence of Class Based Archery 220-222
c. Allied Specialists 223
d. Metics 223-227
e. Slaves 227-229
f. Thetes 229-235
Chapter 5. How did Greeks feel about archery? 236-270
a. The Homeric Perspective 237-246
b. Non-Homeric Archaic Attitudes 247-249
c. Material Evidence 249-257
d. Significance of Ethnic Dress in the Archaic Period 257-261
e. The Polarization of Ethnicity 261-270
f. Conclusion 270
Conclusion 271-278
a. Conclusions 271-275
b. Points Unable to be Resolved 275-276
c. Further Lines of Enquiry 276-278
d. A Final Note 278
Bibliography 279-312
Appendix. The Bow and How It Works 313-344
a. Shooting the Bow 313-323
b. Bow Type & Design Advantages 323-330
c. Glossary of Relevant Archery Terms 331-340
iii
List of Images

1. Detail from the top of the rim on an Attic Black Figure Dinos Page 5
of unknown provenance, Circle of the Antimenes Painter,
520-510 B.C.E., Malibu, J. Paul Getty Museum 92.AE.88.
2. Attic Middle Geometric Skyphos from Eleusis, 770 B.C.E, Page 31
Eleusus 741.
3. Late Geometric Amphora from Paros, 750 B.C.E, Paros. Page 32
4. Proto-Corinthian Aryballos from Lechaion, 690 -680 B.C.E., Page 33
Corinth CP 2096.
5. Dagger from Mycenae, 16th c. B.C.E., NAMA 19. Page 33
6. Middle Protogeometric Hydria, from Lefkandi, Imported, Page 37
1000 B.C.E., Eretria S5112.
7. Diagram of a composite recurve bow. From Karasulas, A. Page 54
Mounted Archers of the Steppe 600 BC-AD 1300. (Osprey
Publishing, 2004), 20.
8. Diagram of a composite reflex bow. Illustration by Meredith Fluke. Page 54
9. Attic Red Figure Kylix from Vulci attributed to the Ambrosius Painter. Page 59
Vatican 16578.
10. Gold Olpe, 350-325 B.C.E., from Kul Oba, KO.ii. Page 59
11. Reconstruction of painted wooden beam from Tatarli in Phrygia. Page 71
Drawing by I. Dinkel.
12. Geometric Bows Page 72
iv
13. Abbreviated Arrowhead Typology Page 78
14. Comparison of a reinforced Scythian arrowhead and a Medieval Page 82
English armor piercing arrowhead.
15. Proto-Corinthian Aryballos, 675-650 B.C.E., Paris Louvre CA 1831 Page 94
16. Detail from the Northwest Relief at Ashurbanipal’s palace at Page 96
Ninevah, 668-630 B.C.E.
17. Terracotta sculptural group from Cyprus, 6th c. B.C.E. Page 97
Cesnola Collection, MET 74.51.1644.
18. Detail of the ‘Amathus Bowl.’ A Phoenician engraved silver bowl Page 108
from Amathus, Cyprus, 8th-7th c. B.C.E., British Museum.
19. Relief pithos. Tenian-Boeotian group. 650-625 B.C.E. Page 120
Boston, MFA 95.506.
20. Attic Black Figure Dinos, Painter of Acropolis 606, 570-560 B.C.E. Page 212
National Archaeological Museum in Athens.
21. Detail of Figure 20. Page 122
22. Modified instructional illustration of Archaic armor Page 127
on display at the Museum in Olympia.
23. Protocorinthian Aryballos, from Perachora, 675-650 B.C.E., Page 130
Athens National Archaeological Museum
24. Attic Red Figure Amphora, Alkimachos Painter, 460 B.C.E. Page 132
Museo Arqueológico Nacional.
25. Attic Red Figure Kylix, Sosias Painter, 475 B.C.E. Page 163

v
26-27. Details of archers from ‘François Krater.’ Attic Black Figure Page 169
Volute Krater from Chiusi. Signed by Kleitias (painter) &
Ergotimos (potter). 575 B.C.E. Florence, Museo
Archeologico Etrusco 4209.
28. Detail of archer from ‘François Krater.’ Attic Black Figure Page 170
Volute Krater from Chiusi. Signed by Kleitias (painter) &
Ergotimos (potter). 575 B.C.E. Florence, Museo
Archeologico Etrusco 4209.
29. Attic Red Figure Plate from Vulci, Signed by Epiktetos. Page 171
525-500 B.C.E. British Museum E135.
30. Attic Black Figure Neck Amphora, 525-500 B.C.E., Page 252
Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York) 41.162.171.
31. Attic Black Figure, Neck Amphora, 525-500 B.C.E., Page 253
Vulci, Group of the Bologna 16. Munich Antikensammlungen 1492.
32. Attic Red Figure Krater by Euphronios. 520-505 B.C.E. Page 254
Arezzo, Museo Civico 1465.
33. Attic Black Figure Neck Amphora by the Antimenes Painter, Page 255
525-510 B.C.E., Brussles Musées Royaux R291
34. Attic Black Figure Olpe, from Vulci, 550-500 B.C.E., Altenburg, Page 255
Staatliches Lindenau- Museum 203.
35. Attic Black Figure Amphora 525-500 B.C.E., Metropolitan Museum Page 256
of Art (New York) 98.8.9.
36. Attic Red Figure Oinochoe by the Chicago Painter, 450 B.C.E., Page 263
vi