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Classics and Religious Studies

Faculty Publications, Classics and Religious Studies Department

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TITLE:

The Place of Archery in Greek Warfare

AUTHOR(S):
Thomas Nelson Winter, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

DOCUMENT TYPE: Article

Originally published in The Longbow 7:3 (February 1990), pp. 12-16.

ABSTRACT:
Despite the ancient Greek equivalent of an Agincourt, the Greek military mind firmly retained the heavy infantry, rather than the archers, as the main force. Recognized uses of the archer in Greek warfare were to fend off heights of city walls, to perform commando raids, and to provide covering fire for commando-style operations. This essay, written after a fresh reading of the principle Greek historians, puts together all passages where one can see the ancient Greek archer at work and in his military setting.