Quick Quizz

I think a quick "lol" is in order.
Also, this invites us to create the Great Tale of the Janissary who did all things backwards :lol:

lol thats funny!

I bet there's a story behind it about Ali Pasha, the brave janissary whose bow became unstrung in the thick of battle; but he went on shooting it inside-out and killed thousands of the enemy. The spear point heading for his butt didn't help. :lol:

Ever heard of "Artistic Licence"! You ignorant lot! The painter is giving a message here:
When you point an arrow at your enemy, you are actually drawing the bow towards yourself! :P :P

I sincerely hope that, this painting was not photographed in Turkey...

His thumb position looks wrong... :lol:

The bow strung like that looks like a kid's compound :roll:

I am seriously worried about where his yataghans end up. :shock: I can see the handles but there seems to be 50 cm of blade missing or internalised.

This keeps up, we need to give the guy a name and use as a mascot or, indeed, continue to tell the great and heroic tale of this most awkward Janissar ;)

Robno -
The trouble is, the way the Internet works, next year Atarnites' assessment of this janissary's bravery will be in Wikipedia and in a couple of years' time, he'll be a Turkish national hero.

What is this picture anyway? It's 19th or early 20th Century, well-executed but unfinished. Perhaps people told the artist what a fool he was and he gave up in dispair. :wink:

If you think this is funny watch the movie 1001 arabian nights,the actor is actualy drawing a composite that is strung backwards.

Maybe a mystery hidden in the picture... The bow is only one clue to follow.
Something like ?The Da Vinci Code? :idea:

For those with knowledge of these bows it is indeed funny and an obvious mistake. However the quality of the painting shows the artist for what he is, a very good artist. Artists are not necessarily archers and may also have very limited experience in this field, maybe only ever seeing an unstrung composite. This is true of paintings throughout history, some are quite accurate, others are not. They give historians an idea but not always absolute fact.

Interestingly the arrow is on the true side of the bow :) It seems he was fixed it...

...and below is 30 years old Turkish book cover about Okmeydani (famous archery place) and history of Turkish Archery published by "High Council of Immovable Monuments and Antiquities " !! ... Their aim is protecting the heritages and they are committe of the Turkish state.

By the way do not spend your time to find what wrong is. It is very complicated... For that "we" try to revitalize Turkish archery today and unfortunately this is not our professions. I think this is the main problem of revitalizing the traditional archery... I'm IT expert, our one of bowmaker is a cardiovascular surgeon, another is agricultural engineer etc...

Actually, I'm stealing my job time to write this message at now... :)