02-25-2013, 02:17 PM
Hello , everyone . I have some information for you . Firstly , Persian bows have longer range than Cretan bows . However , Roman bows have longer range than Persian bows . This is one passenger of Procopius describe one battle :
"...After Azarethes also had uttered these words of exhortation, he stationed the phalanx opposite his opponents, assigning the Persians the right wing and the Saracens the left. Straightway both sides began the fight, and the battle was exceedingly fierce. For the arrows, shot from either side in very great numbers, caused great loss of life in both armies, while some placed themselves in the interval between the armies and made a display of valorous deeds against each other, and especially among the Persians they were falling by the arrows in great numbers. For while their missiles were incomparably more frequent, since the Persians are almost all bowmen and they learn to make their shots much more rapidly than any other men, still the bows which sent the arrows were weak and not very[33-38] tightly strung, so that their missiles, hitting a corselet, perhaps, or helmet or shield of a Roman warrior, were broken off and had no power to hurt the man who was hit. The Roman bowmen are always slower indeed, but inasmuch as their bows are extremely stiff and very tightly strung, and one might add that they are handled by stronger men, they easily slay much greater numbers of those they hit than do the Persians, for no armour proves an obstacle to the force of their arrows. Now already two-thirds of the day had passed, and the battle was still even..."
Vegetius gave 600 Roman feet ( 178 m ) for almost common archer . However he wrote :" ...Archers are sure shooting a millitary target and slinger sometimes hit a target... "
Roman bows is strongest bows in ancient time ( stronger than Scythian , Persian and Hun bow ) however even Mongol bows ,English longbow and Turkish bow stronger than Roman bows very much .
