170–71; Davis 2013). In 479 BCE, ATHENS’ archers helped HOPLITES repel Persian cavalry at ERYTHRAE in Boeotia, and PAUSANIAS requested their aid (too late) at PLATAEA (9.22.1, 60.3). Unfortunately, Herodotus does not number them; THUCYDIDES claims that Athens possessed 1,600 archers in 431, compared with 29,000 active hoplites and reservists (2.13.6–8).
Ancient archers used a great variety of bows. The simple bow, carved from a single piece of wood, was easiest to draw and least powerful; taller ones increased the string’s tension and the arrow’s velocity on release. Composite bows were constructed from two pieces of wood, reinforced with sinew, horn, and bone, which increased the tension on the string and released arrows with much greater force. The shape of the bow also affected its strength—re‐curved tips, common in tall Elamite and Persian bows, added tension to the string, as did the double curve of the shorter but more powerful “B‐shaped” Scythian bow (Zutterman 2003). The most common Greek bow, from the Bronze Age into the classical period, was the simple type, sometimes carved with a double arc, but Cretans preferred composite bows (Snodgrass 1999, 24, 40, 99). Greeks also gained familiarity with Scythian bows, often shown in images of Heracles, in the later archaic period. Persian and Scythian bows are most common in images of Achaemenid soldiers, although the empire’s subjects used other types as well (Hdt. 7.61.1, 64.1, 65, 69.1–2, 77).
Archers’ greatest advantages were the number and range of their missiles. The fifth‐century horseman Gadalyama, preparing for a royal muster in Babylonia, brought 120 arrows (Lutz 1928), and the Scythian gorytos quiver held between 200 and 300 (Snodgrass 1999, 82). Arrows released from composite bows at high angles might travel 300 meters or more, but the effective range was usually 150 or less. Individual shots were rarely accurate at more than 60 meters, and the power to penetrate armor declined with greater range (McLeod 1965; Krentz 2010, 26–27).
Archery played an important role in SIEGE WARFARE, as shown by the numerous arrowheads found in the remains of PAPHOS (cf. Hdt. 8.52.1 for Persian use of flaming arrows at Athens). Small numbers of archers also shot from the decks of TRIREMES in NAVAL WARFARE. In pitched battles on land, repeated barrages of arrows could inflict both physical wounds and psychological distress, alluded to in the Trachinian’s warning that Persian arrow volleys would blot out the sun at THERMOPYLAE (7.226.1). Nevertheless, they were unlikely to kill large numbers of well‐protected troops at significant distances. Archers could not use shields on their left arms, and were vulnerable to enemy weapons if not protected; in archaic‐age battle, some Greek archers sought protection between the ranks of shield‐bearing hoplites, and Herodotus depicts Persian archers at Plataea shooting from behind a barricade of tall wicker shields (gerra) fixed in the ground (9.61.3).
The Persians enjoyed a significant advantage in archery during the invasions of Greece, although the brevity of Herodotus’ battle accounts leaves its role obscure at important occasions such as MARATHON. Archers contributed to Persian victory at Thermopylae (7.218.2, 225.3), and horse archers separated the Greeks from their water supply during the Plataea campaign (9.49.2–3). Nevertheless, in the final battle at Plataea, archers were unable to stop the Spartans from tearing down their barricade and engaging at a fatally close range (9.62.1), and their failure played a major role in the Persian defeat.
SEE ALSO: Immortals; Orientalism; Persian Wars; Scythians; Warfare; Weapons and Armor
REFERENCES
1 Davis, Todd. 2013. “Archery in Archaic Greece.” Diss. Columbia University.
2 Krentz, Peter. 2010. The Battle of Marathon. New Haven: Yale University Press.
3 Lutz, H. F. 1928. “An Agreement between a Babylonian Feudal Lord and His Retainer in the Reign of Darius II.” University of California Publications in Semitic Philology 9: 269–77.
4 McLeod, W. E. 1965. “The Range of the Ancient Bow.” Phoenix 19: 1–14.
5 Snodgrass, A. M. 1999. Arms and Armor of the Greeks. Revised edition. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
6 van Wees, Hans. 2004. Greek Warfare: Myths and Realities. London: Duckworth.
7 Zutterman, Christophe. 2003. “The Bow in the Ancient Near East, a Reevaluation of Archery from the Late 2nd Millennium to the End of the Achaemenid Empire.” IA 38: 119–65.
FURTHER READING
1 Lissarrague, François. 1990. L’autre guerrier: archers, peltastes, cavaliers dans l’imagerie attique. Paris: de Boccard.
2 Tuplin, Christopher. 2014. “The Changing Pattern of Achaemenid Imperial Coinage.” In Explaining Monetary and Financial Innovation, edited by Peter Bernholz and Roland Vaubel, 127–68. Cham, Switzerland: Springer.
ARCHESTRATIDES (Ἀρχεστρατίδης, ὁ)
CHRISTOPHER BARON
University of Notre Dame
Patronymic, Samian, father of ATHENAGORAS (9.90.1). Athenagoras was part of a secret embassy sent by the Samians to the Greek fleet in 479 BCE. Nothing more is known of Archestratides, though the family was presumably part of the ARISTOCRACY at SAMOS (Shipley 1987, 109).
SEE ALSO: Theomestor
REFERENCE
1 Shipley, Graham. 1987. A History of Samos, 800–188 B.C. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
ARCHIAS (Ἀρχίης, ὁ)
CHRISTOPHER BARON
University of Notre Dame
1) Spartan who died fighting at SAMOS, on behalf of Samian EXILES against their tyrant POLYCRATES, in 525 BCE (3.55.1). Herodotus praises Archias and his fellow soldier LYCOPES for their COURAGE; had it been matched by the rest of the Spartans that day, he says, they would have captured the city. Archias was honored with a public burial by the Samians (3.55.2)—presumably after the city’s tyrant Polycrates had died a few years later. Archias’ son was named Samius, perhaps posthumously (see below).
2) Grandson of (1), son of SAMIUS. Herodotus says he met the younger Archias when he visited PITANE in SPARTA, who told him that his father had been named Samius due to the exploits of the elder Archias. Herodotus reports that the younger Archias honored Samian guest‐friends above all others because the Samians had given his grandfather a public burial (3.55.2; cf. Plut. Mor. 860c/DHM 22). This is one of the rare instances in the Histories when Herodotus mentions a personal informant by name (Asheri in ALC, 450). Archias may have been PROXENOS for Samos at Sparta c. 440 BCE and may be the father of the Spartan admiral named Samius active around 400 (Xen. Hell. 3.1.1; Diod. Sic. 14.19.4, “Samus”).
SEE ALSO: Burial Customs; Guest‐Friendship; Source Citations
FURTHER READING
1 Cartledge, Paul. 1982. “Sparta and Samos: A Special Relationship?” CQ 32.2: 243–65.
2 Carty, Aideen. 2015. Polycrates, Tyrant of Samos: New Light on Archaic Greece, 181–83. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner.
3 Irwin, Elizabeth. 2009. “Herodotus and Samos: Personal
