[Question] Cretan bows: How do they look like?

Sinsigel · Post by **Sinsigel** » Sat Sep 09, 2006 7:16 am

From the article in http://wildfiregames.com/0ad/page.php?p=9989 ,

I've read that Cretan composite bows were "not recurved,

rather featuring sharply curving tips to the arms,

appearing almost U-shaped".

As I read this sentence, I became curious about not only the

cretan bows' shape, but about "how" is the shape known to us.

Are there any historical accounts or excavated materials that could be

used to confirm the Cretan bows' shape?

P.S.: I'm sorry for writing this thread on the atarn forum,

since Crete doesn't belong to any part of Asia.(-_- ;)

johnny.winter · Post by **johnny.winter** » Sat Sep 09, 2006 6:02 pm

Sinsigel wrote:Crete doesn't belong to any part of Asia.(-_-

Nor does North America but still: Native American composites have been discussed here. In my opinion the focus of this community is mainly on composite designs which have been used in Asia a lot.
I think you?re very welcome to post your questions about crete bows, at least I am interested (but can?t help).

MJuingong · Post by **MJuingong** » Sat Sep 09, 2006 6:53 pm

10 feet? Is that author kidding? At 10 feet, most males and quite a few females could hit someone with javelins, knives, stones, and maybe rolling pins. Why devise, build, and train to use, bows if they're going to be discharged at only 10 feet?

jack farrell · Post by **jack farrell** » Mon Sep 11, 2006 3:03 am

Sinsigel; There are numerous coins and decorated metal objects of Crete which display archers, if somewhat crudely. The types of Cretian bows has been discussed much in the past.

Without having the text at hand, I remember that the Minoans of Crete made and used wood bows. The Micineans, also used composites. These were angular composites, starting approximately 1800 BC, simple arcing composites and arcing composites with recurves.

Crete was the source of wild goat, Agrimi, whose horns were widely traded as composite bowmaking raw material, and the source of modern domesticated goats. -j-

redhawk · Post by **redhawk** » Mon Sep 11, 2006 6:33 am

As Jack has posted, the Cretans made angular composites, simply arcing composites, composites with recurves.

Together with Erhard Godehardt I?m just preparing a greater research project focused on Greek bows including Cretan angular and this u-shaped bows.

This u-shaped bows were told to be the bows of the Goddesses and Gods. but not shootable. Anyway we want to check out this design for its efficiency.
There has been a lot of bows with somehow strange designs in Greek and Cretan history, after having met the Scythians, most Greek bowyers had tried to refine the Scythian bow design.
The best Greek bows were told to cast an arrow within the 600m range.
There are no excavations of Greek or Cretan bows, so we?studied a lots of pics on coins, broken pottery and reliefs.
There is one book of a German archaeologist R. Toelle-Kastenbein "Bow and Arrow in the Antique Greek". But she is not a bowyer, almost nothing is to be found on the construction of bows. The book is no more available.

I guess in the spring of 2007 we will have first results.

Michael

[Question] Cretan bows: How do they look like?

[Question] Cretan bows: How do they look like?

Re: [Question] Cretan bows: How do they look like?

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