Quote:daryush post=305954 Wrote:In Pavel Kalinikov's case, I'd say that the Hun/Hungarian type bows don't appear commonly until perhaps the 3rd or 4th Centuries AD. Soldiers hired from across the Iranian and Sarmatian borders would probably carry them much earlier though. A Scythian bow would probably be just fine for a 1st Century BC Roman.
Could you describe what would be the essential chracteristics/differences of/between the Scythian bow, the Sarmatian bow and the Hunnic bow?
I might have covered this earlier but I don't think I've put it in a nice neat single post, so here you go:
Scythian bows
Scythian bows are typically "cupid" shape, there is a sharp reflex at the handle, followed by a sharp deflex. The tips are short, and recurved, in a circular shape. Most of the bending occurs near around the reflex/deflex.
These are typically carried in gorytoi with the bowstring up. Draw lengths for Western Scythian bows (during the Greek period) are fairly short.
Here is a picture showing a reconstruction of the Xinjiang bow by Adam Karpowicz.
Hunnish bows
(Really a misnomer as the Huns don't appear until several centuries after this bow!)
Characterised by long, fairly straight, non-contact siyahs (meaning the only place the bow touches the string is at the nocks). The bows are generally quite large and asymmetrical. Siyahs are usually cropped fairly close to the nocks. The siyahs are made by extending the bow core and laminating them stiff.
Drawings of the Miran bows, by Jack Farrell.
In Central Asia, they were carried in Orlat-style gorytoi until possibly the 2nd or 3rd C AD. Afterwards, they were carried unstrung in a soft, narrow, bow case for the unstrung bow. I'm afraid I don't know the details of how they were carried in Rome, but I know of one depiction of a Roman-Parthian horse archer that appears to show the unstrung bow case.
There's no "Sarmatian bow" type, I expect that the Sarmatians picked up the Hunnish bow sometime between the 1st C BC and 2nd C AD like the Parthians and Kushans did.
Hope this helps.