How "tricky" was the Parthian Shot?

[Howard Fielding]

I'm trying to figure out what contortions are required to nock the arrow!

[RichT]

Must admit, my first thought was the Assyrian convention of showing the string behind the head to avoid it running across the face and spoiling the picture.

Could be - as the arrow and string are engraved into the surface rather than in relief, they couldn't easily be shown in front. On the other hand, if the bow was actually drawn as depicted, the string would take off the right side of the archer's face on loosing. On the other other hand, showing the draw position realistically would require much deeper relief than is available on a bowl. Who knows? As usual, trying to extract technical details from works of art is a mug's game.

[Erpingham]

A quick google image search for the Parthian shot shows historical images almost invariably show the bow shot normally. 

The exception was



This is clearly following the Assyrian style, as the head is between the string and the bow.

The "trick shot" version shows up as modern reenactments (including Mike Loades).

While accepting your caution about interpreting art, the wide range of artistic representations suggest the "normal" Parthian shot used the bow in conventional fashion.

[RichT]

Sure. In fact your example isn't an exception, since the string clearly passes in front of the body meaning this is a standard draw.

The OP wondered what the evidence for the 'trick' shot was - I suggested it might be an interpretation of the Hephthalite bowl or of modern reenactors doing the same. But we need wonder no more since the Victrix site helpfuilly gives their reference:



which sure enough is the Iranian chap and Mike Loades (but not the Hephthalite bowl).

So we might wonder where the Iranian chap or Mike Loades got the idea (I suggest - the Hephthalite bowl), or we might shrug our shoulders and wander off.

[Duncan Head]

Latham's "Notes on Mamluk Horse-Archers" (BSOAS 1969) lists the different kinds of shot discussed by the Mamluk author Taybugha (in the work translated by Latham as Saracen Archery). They include:

10. To right or left flank rear from the nape of the neck. Here the archer brings the fully drawn bow right up over his head which he tucks in beneath his right forearm with the hand lodged in the nape. Alternatively, he may swivel the bow in his hand before drawing, bringing the string to rest on the outside of his arm. He the brings his left forearm on to the nape and nocks, locks and draws with his right hand.

So I suspect that the inspiration for Mike Loades et al. includes mediaeval Islamic archery manuals.

[RichT]

And in fact (this is relevant also to the recent libraries thread) I have on my shelf (evidently unread!) Mike Loades' The Composite Bow, which says (p. 54) "The jarmaki required the archer to shoot with his draw-hand behind the head. It enabled a very tight, downwards shot, adjacent to the horse... Taybugha also commended the jarmaki shot for the infantry archer shooting down from fortifications... (Latham & Paterson 1970: 137)". The picture used as a reference by Victrix is on this page. Mike says it sounds like a 'challenging contortion' but is reasonably easy in practice.

So you are right, Duncan, this comes from Taybugha.

So to summarise - the Victrix pose was a real historical pose, but it was for a very specific purpose (shooting downwards) and was not a standard way of taking a Parthian shot, which appears to have been normally done in the normal way (rotating at the waist). Question answered?

[Erpingham]

So to summarise - the Victrix pose was a real historical pose, but it was for a very specific purpose (shooting downwards) and was not a standard way of taking a Parthian shot, which appears to have been normally done in the normal way (rotating at the waist). Question answered?

Excellent use of the stored knowledge both electronic and physical there

[Howard Fielding]

So to summarise - the Victrix pose was a real historical pose, but it was for a very specific purpose (shooting downwards) and was not a standard way of taking a Parthian shot, which appears to have been normally done in the normal way (rotating at the waist). Question answered?

Thank you!    (I also have that "Composite Bow" book, but also did not recall that passage.