Old Archery Pictures - -)->

Teucer
Teucer was known in Greek Mythology as a great archer who fought in the Trojan war on the side of Greeks. He loosed his arrows from the cover of the giant shield of his half-brother Ajax.

Skaði
Skaoi (anglicized Skade or Skadi) is a Norse goddess associated with bowhunting. She is written about in the Poetic Edda, which was taken from the Icelandic medieval manuscript known as the Codex Regius which contained several poems. This codex is one of the most important sources for Norse and even ancient Germanic folklore and mythology. Skaoi is usually depicted with a spear, or with a bow and arrows.

Hou Yi
Hou Yi (后羿), also known as Shen Yi or simply as Yi, is a great archer from ancient Chinese mythology. He is known as the patron god of archery. Much like Heracles, Hou Yi is well known for the slayings of many a monster.

One of his initial archery stunts was in the early days of the Earth. This is so far back in the day that there were in fact ten (10) suns. They all took turns coming up each day and doing sun things. Then one day they had the grandiose idea of all coming out at once. This of coarse scorched the Earth and made for a really hot day. He was tasked by the mythical King Yao to deal with the suns. He did this using his divine archery skills, shooting down the suns one by one. There was eventually only one sun left and it was allowed to remain and conduct its sun business.

Amazons
The Amazons were a tribe of fierce warrior women from Ancient Greek Mythology. They were well known for their archery and overall military prowess. Herodotus and other Greek historians link the Amazons to the Scythians. As the story goes, the Amazons fought along the side of the losing Trojans, and upon defeat were taken aboard Greek ships. The Amazons killed the crews and had no experience in sailing so they were randomly tossed about the sea for a while. They finally landed in Scythian lands and eventually intermingled with them. The Scythians may have been the inspiration for the Amazons because Scythian women were known to engage in combat and even become military leaders in that society.

Chiron The Centaur
Chiron was born to the Titan Cronus and the Oceanid Philyra. He has a different lineage than other Centaurs who came from Ixion and Nephele. Chiron was however raised by the god Apollo who taught him many skills one of them being archery.

Chiron was known for his calm and nurturing demeanor. He had mentored and taught many young up and coming Greeks including Achilles.

In Greek pottery art, Chiron is typically depicted as having his front legs as human ones, unlike other Centaurs who are depicted as having their entire lower bodies like that of a horse.

Heracles
Heracles was one of the greatest, if not the greatest of the mythological Greek heroes. He is the defender of mankind from chaos, monsters, and the gods themselves. He is the son of the king of the gods Zeus and the mortal Alcmene. Many clans and dynasties in Greece would claim dependence from Heracles. In later Roman mythology and in the west he is called Hercules. His symbols are the lion hide and the club.

The name Heracles is ironic because it means “glory/pride of Hera”. Hera is the goddess wife of Zeus who loathed Heracles and did much to make his life miserable and even destroy him outright. His original name given to him by his parents was Alcides. It was later changed in an unsuccessful attempt to pacify Hera. Hera in fact did attempt to nurture the boy, but apparently, he suckled so hard that is caused Hera much pain, and she pushed the child away, leaking milk all over the heavens. That’s where the Milky Way galaxy comes from apparently.

The feats of Heracles are many. He was more known for his prowess in melee combat and his archery is often overlooked. But not here! Heracles was apparently a great shot. Also, because of his immense, divine strength, he was able to draw some ridiculously heavy bows. Some of his notable feats in archery are:

Heracles slew the Stymphalian Birds with his bow and arrow. This was one of the infamous “labors of Heracles” given to him to complete by his archenemy Eurystheus. The Symphalian Birds were enormous man-eating birds who were causing much trouble in the forests of northern Arcadia. Heracles shook a magic rattle given to him by Athena which scared the birds into flight allowing him to shoot them down.
The great hero slew the Hydra. Although he did this with melee weapons and with the help of his nephew Iolaus, what he did after the fight relates to his archery. Apparently he dipped his arrowheads into the blood of the monster which was extremely poisonous. His bow and poisoned arrows would go on to cause much damage in the future.
Another one of his “labors” was to obtain the cattle of the monster Geryon. This monster had three heads and six arms, as well as a bad temper. It was easily slain by Heracles however, with the aid of his bow and a poisoned arrow. He then herded the cattle back to Eurystheus as proof.

Hayk
Hayk is the founder of the Armenian nation. His tale is recorded in the History of Armenia attributed to the Armenian historian Moses of Chorene (or Movses Khorenatsi, c. 410 – c. 490). A great army, led by a tyrannical King Bel is sent to destroy Hayk and a small settlement he establishes near Mount Ararat. Hayk gathers what forces he can and basically prepares to die in combat. That is until he hits the enemy leader with a super long shot. King Bel is struck dead and his army goes into complete disarray thus saving Hayk and his followers.

Drona
Another epic character from the Mahabharata. He was a master of advanced military arts, including the divine weapons or Astras. Drona was also a master archer.

Cupid
Most people can easily recognize the image of Cupid. The cute little cherub with the bow and arrow. The arrowhead is sometimes depicted in the shape of a heart. When Cupid’s arrow strikes the heart of it’s intended target, they may fall madly in love with the first person they see. Cupid also had other types of arrows. If you were struck by these ones you will revile the first person you see. So what you do is shoot one person with one type of arrow and another person with another kind of arrow and then just sit back and enjoy the carnage. The gods loved to meddle and mess around in human affairs. It was almost like a sport or a great game for some of them.

Cupid is the Roman interpretation of the earlier Greek deity Eros. Eros was at first depicted as a slender, winged boy, but later in the later Roman times, he was slightly transformed to the younger and chubbier bow and arrow wielder. He is is the god of desire, eroticism, attraction, and affection. He is often portrayed as the son of the love goddess Venus and the god of war Mars. His symbols are the bow, arrow, and torch. He is sometimes depicted blindfolded, as in “love is blind”.

Bhishma
Bhishma is another prominent figure in the Mahabharata. He is the son of the Kuru King Shantanu and the river goddess Ganga. He was one of the best archers and warriors of his time and he was trained by Lord Vishnuś sixth avatar Parshuram.

Arjuna and Bhishma fight in the Kurukshetra War which is the main conflict the Mahabharata centers on. Bhisma is brought down by Arjuna who had pierced his back with innumerable arrows. The arrows were so many that as Bhishma collapsed on his back he lay suspended on a bed of arrows that stuck out of his backside. Epic times.

Artemis
The Ancient Greek goddess of the hunt. Also recognized as the goddess of the wilderness, wild animals, the moon, and chastity. The goddess Diana is her equivalent in the Roman pantheon. Her symbols are deer, hunting knives, cypress trees, and of course the bow, arrows, and quivers. She is daughter to Zeus and Leto, as well as being twin sister to Apollo. She is nearly always depicted with a bow, arrows, and a quiver.

Arash
Arash the archer is a famous figure from Persian mythology. During a lengthy war with the Turanians, Arash is given a specially constructed bow to use. The landing place of the arrow shot from his bow marks the future boundary between the warring states. There are statues in modern-day Iran commemorating the myth and legend of Arash the Archer.

Apollo
Apollo, the Ancient Greek god of archery, the sun, poetry, music, and the arts, oracles, healing, and protection. He is a real heavyweight in terms of mythological feats. He is the son of Zeus and twin brother to Artemis, goddess of hunting. The invention of archery is credited to Apollo and his sister Artemis. His arrows can deliver or relieve the population from plagues. Disease being delivered by divine, invisible projectiles is also common in Norse and Germanic lore. With his archery prowess, he slays the serpent Python.

Agilaz
Agilaz or Egil is an archer from the Old Norse saga, the Thidreks, which was derived from an even older Germanic legend. The premise of the story is similar to other myths. A lone archer (Agilaz has his wife with him), defends a keep from a numerically superior and evil foe. The scene/myth is also believed to be depicted on an 8th-century chest of Anglo-Saxon origin.

Arjuna
Arjuna was in the Indian epic Mahabharata. The Mahabharata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India, the other being the Rāmāyaṇa. The Mahabharata is truly epic in scope. Considered to be the longest poem ever written, at about 1.8 million words in total. The Mahābhārata is roughly ten times the length of the Iliad and the Odyssey combined. The epic likely reached its full compilation in the 4th century B.C. Arjuna was a very skilled archer, able to “hit the eye of a bird” in a tree. In art, he is very often depicted with a bow and arrow.

Since archery has been with us for so long and has spread throughout the globe, archers are well represented in history and mythology. Archery is such a primordial and ancient practice, it is no surprise that it appears so frequently in the human story (real or fictitious). It is amazing to behold the diversity of cultures that all share this simple common element; the archer. Today I start to explores some well known famous archers in history and mythology. Here we go!

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Guess who that is?

Old Archery Pictures - -)->

Hunting with bow and arrow the old school way...