Barry Cunlife - The Scythians

bending the bow
Parthians—the Parthian shot—but it may well have been
developed first by the Scythians.
Arrows were short, usually made of birch wood
or reeds and tipped with points made of bronze or
iron, or occasionally of bone. They were fletched with
birds’ feathers. Shafts found in the Pazyryk graves were
painted black and red in elaborate designs representing
feathers or snakes, perhaps magically to enhance their
flight and bite. The metal heads were made in varying
forms, one of the most characteristic being of trilobate
section. Some were provided with long backward-curving
barbs, making them difficult to pull from a shield in
the height of battle and very damaging to tear out of a
wound. Scythians were also known for poisoning their
arrows. Aristotle provides a do-it-yourself account of
the technique:
9.12 Gold plaque from Kul’-Oba depicting Scythian archers in
action.
They say that they make the Scythian poison, which they smear on their arrows, out of
snakes. The Scythians look out for those that have just borne young and taking them put
them to rot for several days. When they consider them to be completely decomposed
they pour human blood into a small vessel and put it in a dung hill and cover
it up. When this has decomposed they mix the part which floats on the
watery liquid blood with the juice of the snake and so make a deadly
poison.
(Aristotle, On Marvellous Things Heard, 141)
Ovid was also familiar with Scythians from the time of
his exile in Tomis. He describes Scythian arrow heads
with barbs smeared with poison ‘which carry a double
death’. The poison, he says is ‘yellow with viper’s gall’.
The topos of Scythian poison was well known throughout
the classical world. It would have greatly enhanced
the fear of conflict with an enemy so effectively equipped.
As has already been mentioned, to carry the bow and a
quiver of arrows conveniently on horseback the Scythians
developed a special case known to the Greeks as a
gorytos, which was slung on the belt on the left-hand
side of the body. It was big enough to contain at least two
thirds of the bow with the quiver section of sufficient size
9.13 Coin showing a mounted archer in action. His gorytos is
slung on his left side. The inscription, ATAIAS, suggests that the
figure may have been the Scythian king Ateas, who was killed in
battle against Phillip of Macedon in 339 bc.
241