Barry Cunlife - The Scythians

bending the bow
9.9 The Scythian bow was made from strips of wood and bone glued together. When strung, an act
requiring skill and strength, it was under much tension, imparting great power to the arrow.
9.9
sinew. Ammianus Marcellinus describes them thus: ‘While the bows of all peoples
are made of flexible branches, Scythian bows resemble the crescent moon with
both ends curved inwards.’ He was, in fact, describing the unstrung bow. To string
it required the two ends to be bent back on themselves. This was done by hooking
one leg over the middle of the bow to force it forward and bracing one end (with
string attached) on the thigh of the other leg so that the loose end of the string could
be hooked over the other end of the tensely retracted bow. The action is captured
with great clarity in one of the scenes on the Kul’-Oba gold beaker. Stringing a bow
required strength and dexterity. Even greater strength was needed to draw the string
against the compressed forces locked into the shaft.
The range of such a bow was considerable. A Greek grave monument found at
Olbia records that Anaxagoras, son of Dimagoras, shot an arrow over a distance of
282 orgyiai. This converts to more than half a kilometre—a staggering achievement by
any standards. Used in open warfare a volley of arrows fired at about ten a minute by
rapidly advancing cavalry would have had a devastating effect upon a densely grouped
enemy. The other tactic, used to great effect, was for the horde to ride away from the
enemy, drawing them in hot pursuit and then to turn their bodies around to the left
side and fire arrows into the advancing enemy. The tactic was made famous by the
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