Your videos about roman archery are one of the most interesting topics I came across. when one thinks about romans, their archery is probably not the first... or second... or third thing that comes to mind. you sir, are a true little gem in the vast youtube platform.
Awesome stuff, i love seeing how early Islamic arab armies from the 6th to 9th century perfered more byzantine styles of archery rather than their more eastern counterparts. One small detail though, khatra isn't an active movement per say (not correct khatra at least) khatra is more a natural process that happens from a difference of pressure being exherted on the grip as the bow is drawn, In the case of forward khatra, the pad of the thumb and the pinky doing pressure on the bow with the index being relaxed would result in a bow follow through with a forward khatra. Also the taybugha-arab archery dichotomy is hilarious also when keeping in mind the author of arab archery (Abu Muhammad Jamal al-Din 'Abd Allah Ibn Maymun al-Murrakishi is his name, what a tongue twister) might have been a berber from north Africa judging by his name and not an arab, maybe someday we can collaberate on the ties between early islamic arab archery and byzantine archery.
I appreciate this comment the most out of all the ones I received solely for the fact that you were willing to take the time to type out that entire name. Your offer for a collab doesn't sound too bad, just whenever I find time. As for any similarities between the Romans and the Muslim traditions, ADH Bivar put forth in his thesis that he thinks the Furusiyya literature may have had some origins in 6th century Roman military archery. I somewhat disagree, given medieval Islamic manuals attribute more to the Persians than anything, though it's also possible they could be holding out information; nothing is perfect after all. Though I've noticed that Bivar and other scholars from the 80's had a real knack for misinterpreting the manuals and I think people in general ascribe far too much credit to the Steppe peoples when it comes to Roman archery's earliest influences. If anything, both Roman and Arab military archery has more influences from Persia than anything that's evident from Steppe nomads.
@@Bucellarius Well whenever you have the time I wouldn’t mind it at all, if anything we can share resources and knowledge till then. For the connection of arab and byzantine archery i would agree but i would add this caveat. Initially arabs would have practiced their own method of archery which would have seemingly been a Mediterranean draw on primitive style longbows with a few compositites sprinkled here and there. Later on as the arabs converted to islam and conquested into the east and west, they would have had a stronger tie to they byzantines due to prior good relations between the byzantines and muslims as well as the tie of abrahamic faiths, this was especially true for archery, so this is why you see arab bows and arab archery being closer to byzantine rather than persian archery this being mentioned in several manuscripts, however byzantine archery was inspired by sassanid archery so in a way arab archery would still be inspired by sassanid archery in a round about way. Biggest similarities of arab and byzantine archery are the use of various thumb and finger draws, while sassanids overwhelmingly preferred a thumb draw (though definitely not exclusively). As well as the big strong medium eared composite bows that would shoot heavier arrows, as supposed to the more compact long eared lighter sassanid bows that shot lighter arrows (not that it’s inherently worse or anything, just served a different purpose). Over the integration of the persians into the islamic empire this would soon change however. If you are interested i can add you on discord and we can chat and have a deeper dive into the topic. There is also a really informative discord server on all things traditional archery and we have a general lack of people interested in western archery on it. So you would be a very welcome addition
Your videos about roman archery are one of the most interesting topics I came across. when one thinks about romans, their archery is probably not the first... or second... or third thing that comes to mind. you sir, are a true little gem in the vast youtube platform.
Awesome stuff, i love seeing how early Islamic arab armies from the 6th to 9th century perfered more byzantine styles of archery rather than their more eastern counterparts. One small detail though, khatra isn't an active movement per say (not correct khatra at least) khatra is more a natural process that happens from a difference of pressure being exherted on the grip as the bow is drawn, In the case of forward khatra, the pad of the thumb and the pinky doing pressure on the bow with the index being relaxed would result in a bow follow through with a forward khatra. Also the taybugha-arab archery dichotomy is hilarious also when keeping in mind the author of arab archery (Abu Muhammad Jamal al-Din 'Abd Allah Ibn Maymun al-Murrakishi is his name, what a tongue twister) might have been a berber from north Africa judging by his name and not an arab, maybe someday we can collaberate on the ties between early islamic arab archery and byzantine archery.
I appreciate this comment the most out of all the ones I received solely for the fact that you were willing to take the time to type out that entire name. Your offer for a collab doesn't sound too bad, just whenever I find time.
As for any similarities between the Romans and the Muslim traditions, ADH Bivar put forth in his thesis that he thinks the Furusiyya literature may have had some origins in 6th century Roman military archery. I somewhat disagree, given medieval Islamic manuals attribute more to the Persians than anything, though it's also possible they could be holding out information; nothing is perfect after all. Though I've noticed that Bivar and other scholars from the 80's had a real knack for misinterpreting the manuals and I think people in general ascribe far too much credit to the Steppe peoples when it comes to Roman archery's earliest influences. If anything, both Roman and Arab military archery has more influences from Persia than anything that's evident from Steppe nomads.
@@Bucellarius Well whenever you have the time I wouldn’t mind it at all, if anything we can share resources and knowledge till then.
For the connection of arab and byzantine archery i would agree but i would add this caveat. Initially arabs would have practiced their own method of archery which would have seemingly been a Mediterranean draw on primitive style longbows with a few compositites sprinkled here and there. Later on as the arabs converted to islam and conquested into the east and west, they would have had a stronger tie to they byzantines due to prior good relations between the byzantines and muslims as well as the tie of abrahamic faiths, this was especially true for archery, so this is why you see arab bows and arab archery being closer to byzantine rather than persian archery this being mentioned in several manuscripts, however byzantine archery was inspired by sassanid archery so in a way arab archery would still be inspired by sassanid archery in a round about way.
Biggest similarities of arab and byzantine archery are the use of various thumb and finger draws, while sassanids overwhelmingly preferred a thumb draw (though definitely not exclusively). As well as the big strong medium eared composite bows that would shoot heavier arrows, as supposed to the more compact long eared lighter sassanid bows that shot lighter arrows (not that it’s inherently worse or anything, just served a different purpose). Over the integration of the persians into the islamic empire this would soon change however.
If you are interested i can add you on discord and we can chat and have a deeper dive into the topic. There is also a really informative discord server on all things traditional archery and we have a general lack of people interested in western archery on it. So you would be a very welcome addition
Interesting points and topic
it's a bowhand anchor
If you are not trained in Japanese archery, it is not wise interpret tenouchi. You also are clueless about the effort required with the bow arm/hand.