Greek bow, arrows and case
I´ve recently finished this set for a German museum, focused on hunting and fishing.
The curator wanted a bow, arrows and case matching Greek equipment. He wanted it according to his knowledge. According to my experience I could agree.
Keep in mind, there are almost no findings of original Greek bows and arrows, we have to rely on pics and drawings.
I ended up with a hornbow(waterbuffalo, maple, sinew), spliced in grip- section and spliced in siyahs: length is 119cm, width of grip and limbs is 3cm, siyahs 1.6cm, thickness of the grip is 2.8cm, the working section of the limbs are about 6mm in thickness.
This makes a 48lbs, 26", smooth shooter. Due to its mighty grip section the bow is very easy to handle, no handshock at all.
Arrows are made of cedar, 26" in length, bronze- tipped, goose- feathers.
The case is made of fat- tanned deer- hide, designed for to give space the braced bow with four extra containers for arrows.
The Scythian bow- design is obvious within Greek bows. The Greek were very impressed by the power of the Scythian bows and tried to further-develop the original.
In my opinion they did it the right way. They kept the reflex/deflex/recurve but enforced it by making the limbs wider, the grip- section not bending at all and shortened the recurves.
This is what we can clearly see in the development of hornbows in general.
As I mentioned above the bow is a very comfortable shooter, it shots a 360grs.- arrow at 162f/s.
The museum wanted me to finish the bow in a somehow crude manner, so I do not hope they will post it as an original or finding.
So, when you will come across it, you know the truth........ATARNOS know more.
Michael
The curator wanted a bow, arrows and case matching Greek equipment. He wanted it according to his knowledge. According to my experience I could agree.
Keep in mind, there are almost no findings of original Greek bows and arrows, we have to rely on pics and drawings.
I ended up with a hornbow(waterbuffalo, maple, sinew), spliced in grip- section and spliced in siyahs: length is 119cm, width of grip and limbs is 3cm, siyahs 1.6cm, thickness of the grip is 2.8cm, the working section of the limbs are about 6mm in thickness.
This makes a 48lbs, 26", smooth shooter. Due to its mighty grip section the bow is very easy to handle, no handshock at all.
Arrows are made of cedar, 26" in length, bronze- tipped, goose- feathers.
The case is made of fat- tanned deer- hide, designed for to give space the braced bow with four extra containers for arrows.
The Scythian bow- design is obvious within Greek bows. The Greek were very impressed by the power of the Scythian bows and tried to further-develop the original.
In my opinion they did it the right way. They kept the reflex/deflex/recurve but enforced it by making the limbs wider, the grip- section not bending at all and shortened the recurves.
This is what we can clearly see in the development of hornbows in general.
As I mentioned above the bow is a very comfortable shooter, it shots a 360grs.- arrow at 162f/s.
The museum wanted me to finish the bow in a somehow crude manner, so I do not hope they will post it as an original or finding.
So, when you will come across it, you know the truth........ATARNOS know more.
Michael
Nice looking gear. Thanks for sharing.
The drawn bow at the tiller- checker, 23"
Michael
Michael
Very cool. I have a friend looking for a "Greek"bow I will have to forward the link to him.
Maybe his "crude manner" -like you say , Michael is beacuse museum , but i see this art stil in more your bows...
I am again negative . But its no personal , Michael. I dont like construction of your bow( grip x limbs part, bandage in limbs..) . But more than other i dont like his look.
I dint like this "art efekt " . I see same stile in many documents , about Homo sapiens etc. This historicians and film makers show our ancestors like stupid - half animal creatures vithout any estetic feelings .
I think that this is very , very big mistake. You can only see in todays tribes in Afrika, Amazonia or Oceania . This people lives still in "neolit" .His beatifull dress, make up, complicated hair, hondreds collors , fantastic wood statues . Every small thing is like artistic product. People like beatifull thinks !
Same was doing vith his knives, boomerangs....bows.
Greeks culture and his art is -thanks god - known. If i dont mistake , especialy in Germany historicians must turn his meaning , because somvhere (Munchen ?)in Germany museum was fue years ago open new "window" about colors in old Greeks live. Endid all this white statues, white architekture or greeks walking in colonade in white dress...
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warior vith Paziriks artefakts ...
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I am again negative . But its no personal , Michael. I dont like construction of your bow( grip x limbs part, bandage in limbs..) . But more than other i dont like his look.
I dint like this "art efekt " . I see same stile in many documents , about Homo sapiens etc. This historicians and film makers show our ancestors like stupid - half animal creatures vithout any estetic feelings .
I think that this is very , very big mistake. You can only see in todays tribes in Afrika, Amazonia or Oceania . This people lives still in "neolit" .His beatifull dress, make up, complicated hair, hondreds collors , fantastic wood statues . Every small thing is like artistic product. People like beatifull thinks !
Same was doing vith his knives, boomerangs....bows.
Greeks culture and his art is -thanks god - known. If i dont mistake , especialy in Germany historicians must turn his meaning , because somvhere (Munchen ?)in Germany museum was fue years ago open new "window" about colors in old Greeks live. Endid all this white statues, white architekture or greeks walking in colonade in white dress...
[external image]
![[external image]](http://img.enter4u.eu/th/archer1m88y.jpg){kind=link}
[external image]
![[external image]](http://img.enter4u.eu/th/800pxNAMABGColoredAlexanderSarcophagus2o2pw.JPG){kind=link}
warior vith Paziriks artefakts ...
[external image]
![[external image]](http://img.enter4u.eu/th/arijanvarvarpg14.jpg){kind=link}
why is the draw length so small?
The bow does seem to follow the profile of classic Greek bows. I used to think the ancient art scenes of Sythians and Greek with their bows were poorly executed caricatures of the real bows.
After seeing the threads here about Sythian bows paterned after real archeological artifacts, it seems as though the ancient scenes of Sythians and Greeks were fairly accurate in proportions and draw lengths. Both Sythians and Greeks used bows that seemed to shoot rather short draw lengths. I attribute this to the excessive reflex at the grip and the very short reflex of the tips. They never seemed to graduate to using the longer leverage of siyahs, or realized the full potential of the horn belly.
Greeks used bows but they did not make it the center of their military art, unlike the Asian archery of the Turks, Mongols and Chinese. Their archery tackle reflects this, at least I think so.
I made a bow once that had an extreem reflex in the handle like a Greek bow. I hated the thing because it was so unstable and squirmed in the bow hand to much. I never made a second one, but it did look very wicked in profile. I think it was hard to master shooting it accurately.
After seeing the threads here about Sythian bows paterned after real archeological artifacts, it seems as though the ancient scenes of Sythians and Greeks were fairly accurate in proportions and draw lengths. Both Sythians and Greeks used bows that seemed to shoot rather short draw lengths. I attribute this to the excessive reflex at the grip and the very short reflex of the tips. They never seemed to graduate to using the longer leverage of siyahs, or realized the full potential of the horn belly.
Greeks used bows but they did not make it the center of their military art, unlike the Asian archery of the Turks, Mongols and Chinese. Their archery tackle reflects this, at least I think so.
I made a bow once that had an extreem reflex in the handle like a Greek bow. I hated the thing because it was so unstable and squirmed in the bow hand to much. I never made a second one, but it did look very wicked in profile. I think it was hard to master shooting it accurately.
Thanks for your comments!
The drawlength is according to the the fact that about 70% of arrow- and quiver- findings and descriptions connected with these bows are in the 26"- range.
For longer draws just use longer bows.
The 28" drawlength is a product of standardization of the modern western cultures. We love standards and rules.
In former times there was no 28" standard, it depends on the bow, on the individual shooting style of an archer or a certain tribe............
As hermitking has indicated, shorter bows perform better with shorter drawlength(mass- movement).
Anyway I would not hesitate to draw this bow to 28", but as it is designed it begins to stack at 26". But that?s quite logical.
I would have preferred to design this bow with a shorter grip- section and a bit more reflex.
Michael
The drawlength is according to the the fact that about 70% of arrow- and quiver- findings and descriptions connected with these bows are in the 26"- range.
For longer draws just use longer bows.
The 28" drawlength is a product of standardization of the modern western cultures. We love standards and rules.
In former times there was no 28" standard, it depends on the bow, on the individual shooting style of an archer or a certain tribe............
As hermitking has indicated, shorter bows perform better with shorter drawlength(mass- movement).
Anyway I would not hesitate to draw this bow to 28", but as it is designed it begins to stack at 26". But that?s quite logical.
I would have preferred to design this bow with a shorter grip- section and a bit more reflex.
Michael