The pages on this site tell the story of how the bow built and destroyed the largest empires the world has ever known - far larger and more powerful in their day than anything we know today.
The next time you take your bow in hand, look upon it with reverence. There was a day in the not too far distant past when it was not used for sport. It was a way to conquer the world.
Archery existed almost before time began. There are remains of bow and arrow parts in Africa that date back to primitive man. The bow and the arrow were probably developed about the same time as the spear as a way of throwing a missile a longer distance.
Egyptian Archer
The archer was a principal weapon of the ancient Egyptians. Their favorite tactic was to use archers on chariots to attack their enemy's flanks and panic the infantry. That is the way they defeated the Hittites. Without the archer, there would be no pyramids, no sphinx, not Egyptian temples. Their civilization would have been overthrown and trampled into the desert.
Archer of India, about 500 BC
The next use of the bow was in India. The picture above of an archer from India using a recurve bow dates from 500 BC.
Lajos Parting illustrating the Partian Shot
In 54 BC an event occurred which foretold The death of the Roman Empire. The Romans were soldier/engineers organized into legions of heavy infantry. They conquered Western Europe and the Mediterranean world. They believed themselves invincible.
Crassus was the Consul of Asia Minor. In a fit of hubris he decided to invade Parthia (Modern Iran). He raised an Army of 40,000 men and met the Parthians in open country near the city of Carrhae.
The Parthians were Horse Archers, well supplied by camel loads of arrows. They did not battle the Legionaries. They stood off at a distance and shot they into oblivion. When the heavy Roman infantry would charge, the Parthians would move away, turning in their saddles to shoot arrows back at their pursuers - hence the name, "The Parthian Shot". Crassus and 20,000 of his men were killed. Another 10,000 were captured. Only 10,000 escaped into Syria.
The lesson was never learned. In the 4th century AD all of Europe became a feast for the horse archers of Asia; first the Avars, then Attila and the Huns, the Goths, the Ostrogoths, the Lombards and the Vandals. For over 400 years, Europe was subjected to rape, pillage, death and destruction. There was no hope. The Dark Ages had descended.
Only one small group of Italians escaped the barbarian horse archers. They went to the lagoon at the northwest corner of the Adriatic Sea and founded the city of Venice in the marshes. Since horse archers could not fight boats, Venice survived lived on for another 1,400 years.
The Battle of Crecy
The next great romantic story about archery was the longbow at about 1070. It enabled the English to unite the British Isles and to survive against the much larger and more powerful French armies.
Mongol Horse Archers
The final and most incredible story of archery was the Mongols under Genghis Khan. Think of Mongolia, a little tiny, sparsely populated country in the freezing climate of Siberia. Their expertness in horse archery and the brilliance and toughness of Genghis Khan enabled them to conquer almost the whole Eurasian continent, everything from the gates of Vienna to the sea
of Japan including all of China and northern India. It was, and still is the largest empire the world has ever known.
So, the next time you take your bow in hand, gaze upon it with wonder and reverence. This is the weapon that once almost conquered the world.
