12-19-2015, 11:41 PM
What Dan wrote is certainly true. There's an interesting question that no one, to the best of my knowledge, has tried to answer, namely where ancient artists got their information from. It seems quite likely that they have their information based on what they heard or what others reenacted in front of them, or perhaps a few actually had some first-hand experience in combat, or based their depictions on what they had seen in games or contests.
As regards Greek archers -- I make it a point in my book that most archers depicted in Greek art tend to have their arrows level with the ground; i.e. they don't shoot up in the air and over their compatriots, but they take careful aim, often kneeling in the process, pick a specific target, and then loose their arrow. In that sense, archers were more comparable to snipers.
This is something you already see in the Iliad, for example when Teucer hides behind his half-brother Ajax's shield to shoot at the enemy. One exception is the Locrian contingent in the Iliad -- these are said to be remarkable because they *all* fought as archers and could also fight as slingers. They perhaps did loose their arrows in volleys. But elsewhere, archers are specialists that try to hit specific targets. As such, they would probably hang back and could indeed hang up their cloak, kneel, take aim, and then shoot.
In Greek art of the Archaic period, kneeling archers are often shown mixed in with other troops. It seems likely that functioned like snipers as per the what we see in the Iliad. By the Classical period at least, archers seem to be formed into separate units, just like javelineers, peltasts, and so forth. Most likely, when part of a larger group, archers loosed their arrows in volleys. It's possible that such units came about under the influence of Greek encounters with the Persians.
As regards Greek archers -- I make it a point in my book that most archers depicted in Greek art tend to have their arrows level with the ground; i.e. they don't shoot up in the air and over their compatriots, but they take careful aim, often kneeling in the process, pick a specific target, and then loose their arrow. In that sense, archers were more comparable to snipers.
This is something you already see in the Iliad, for example when Teucer hides behind his half-brother Ajax's shield to shoot at the enemy. One exception is the Locrian contingent in the Iliad -- these are said to be remarkable because they *all* fought as archers and could also fight as slingers. They perhaps did loose their arrows in volleys. But elsewhere, archers are specialists that try to hit specific targets. As such, they would probably hang back and could indeed hang up their cloak, kneel, take aim, and then shoot.
In Greek art of the Archaic period, kneeling archers are often shown mixed in with other troops. It seems likely that functioned like snipers as per the what we see in the Iliad. By the Classical period at least, archers seem to be formed into separate units, just like javelineers, peltasts, and so forth. Most likely, when part of a larger group, archers loosed their arrows in volleys. It's possible that such units came about under the influence of Greek encounters with the Persians.
