832 



REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1897. 



Fig. 23. 



MONGOLIAN ARROW RE- 

 LEASE. 



Proe. E. S. Morse. 



Fig. 25. 



(Fig. 24) SCYTHIAN AND PARTHIAN BOW. 

 (Fig. 25) GREEK BOW. 



I's Du-tionary of (Jreek .iiiil Roman Antiquities title Arcus. 



Whether these arrowheads were of stone or metal can not be known 



from the representations; bnt the earliest mentioned by historians are 



of metal. 

 The bow is represented on the most ancient monuments. In classic 

 art it is an attribute of Apollo, Cupid, Diana, Her- 

 cules, and the Centaurs. The form represented was 

 thatof the Greek 

 bow — two arcs 

 united by a 

 straight piece 

 in the middle. 

 Grecian mythol- 

 ogy attributes 

 the invention of 

 the bow to Scy- 

 thes, the son of 

 Hercules, or to 

 Perse, the son of 

 Perseus, but 



Herodotus supposes this to be a tradition of the skill in archery of the 



Scythians and Persians, 

 Smith, in his Dictionary of Greek and Koman Antiquities, under the 



title "Demosii," says: 



Another class of public slaves lormed the city guard of Athens, 

 * * * they were generally called 

 bowmen * * ^ or, from the native 

 country of the majority, Scythians. 



And again, under the title "Ar- 

 cus:" "The form of the Scythian 

 and Parthian bow differed from 

 that of the Greeks," and he figures 

 the two (figs. 24, 25). 



He continues, saying that Homer 

 has described the Greek bow ' as 

 made of two i)ieces of horn, and 

 the bowstring of thongs of leather 

 twisted, but Pandarus's bow was 

 strung with sinew. The bowstring 

 was fastened at one end of the 

 bow, and at the other there 

 hung a hook or ring of metal 

 into which the string was caught 

 when the bow was to be used: 

 when not in use, the bow was 

 unstrung and ])ut in a case of leather, ornamented^ as shown in fig. 26. 



Fig. 26. 



GREEK KOW CASE AND QUIVER. 



Itriilli's Dii-tiotiary of (ireelt ami Uoiimi 

 AiitifHiities. 



Fig. 27. 



GREEK URO.N'ZE 

 " T H R E E- 

 TONU U E D " 

 ARROW- 

 POINT. 



Pursepolis. 



1 Iliad, Hook IV, 105-126. 



- Odyssey, Book XXI, 54. 



