Greek half-kneeling archers

[Alanus]

Holy Mackerel, Martin!

You posted another inaccurate method of stringing a bow. Once again, the Greek artist was totally unfamiliar with archery in the world as we know it.

   
Here's the first method you posted. The archer is stringing his bow by using his knee-cap, an excellent way to poke out his eye because the bow will certainly slip from his knee. Also, no real leverage can be attained. Thirdly, even if he were successful he would destroy the tendons of his knee-cap within a week. And finally, this archer will lose his balance and topple to the ground.

   
Your second illustration, evidently depicting a Scythian (Amazon), shows a method completely devoid of any leverage at all. In other words, it would be physically impossible to string a bow using this stance.

   
Here is the real Scythian method for stringing a bow. The archer places one end of the bow under his knee with the other end on his other leg's thigh. This method produces the leverage needed to string a bow. This is historically and physically correct.

   
This is the most common method, and apparently goes back to Odysseus who needed heavy leverage to string his bow. Here, the archer tucks the lower bow-end against the bottom-front of his ankle. He steps "through" between the bow and string, places the strength of the bow against the back side of his thigh, and slides the string up the bow-shaft until it snaps into the notch. (Note the artist gets it wrong, as the archer holds the string outside and places it over the bow-end.) This method (when done correctly) can be used with heavy war-bows (50 lb draw or more), it's safe, and works best with composite bows. Greek bows were composite ones. In this method, like the real Scythian version, the end of the bow is not shoved into the dirt.

I'm not trying to insult you. But RAT members who are considering archery should know how to string a bow properly. Bows were not "tools" like grub-hoes shoved into the soil. It took longer to build a bow than a fine sword. Archers always took care of their bows, keeping them in a bow-case as protection. There is a difference between the real world of archery and artistic conception. Stringing a bow in the real world is much safer and easier when using mechanics of leverage and principles of physics.