At the time of itsĬurrency, there was another quiver in general use, which I shall call the 'open quiver' to contrast it with the Quiver usually hung from a belt around the waist with its upper end pointing forward. Its unique features is a small door, hinged at its base, on the outside face of the quiver at its top. Persian quiver shown in the reliefs at Persepolis or for that matter the quiver portion of the gorytus, but one of Obviously it is no more closed, for instance, than the Archaemenid

I have coined the name 'closed quiver' for the subject of this article, which differed in this primary respectįrom the preceding quivers: the arrows were stored with points uppermost in a container that could usually beĬompletely closed off from the elements. Their nocks accessible to the archer's hand. Implicit concept of arrow storage: that arrows should be stored with their points in the base of the quiver and However, both the gorytus and the shoulder quivers of the ancient world followed an It may beĪrgued that the Sassanian quivers are related to the last gorytus design from Soghdia, but they are probably an The first half of the dynasty show any form of bow case when the left side of the king is visible. Show the kings hunting using long tapering quivers worn on the right side and hanging from the belt. The kings of Iran of the Sassanian dynasty (224-642) were famous archers. The gorytus, which can be seen when looking at the stucco architectural decoration in the shape of a gorytusįrom Nysa (2), the old Parthian capital, and later engravings on bone belt plaques from Central Asia (3). Longer bows and longer arrows diminished the utility of Initially led to both longer arrows and longer bows (1). ThisĬombined bow case and quiver sufficed while the arrows were short, but a gradual trend towards longer draws

Waterproofed felt or leather, as depicted in paintings on Greek vases and the reliefs at Persepolis. Even that portion of the bow exposed outside the case could be covered by a piece of OneĮxcavated example appears to have had a small flap on the quiver side to close the top of the quiver areaĬompletely.

This protected the arrows and theīow in a single case, with the arrows on one side of a partition and the bows on the other. Overcome the particular problem posed by archery equipment. When the Scythians burst onto the world stage in the eighth century BC, theyĪlready had their characteristic quiver and bow case combination, the gorytus, developed to Technology, they had to develop solutions to the special problems of maintaining and carrying

Subject to the extremes of a severe climate and the limitations of their The horse riding nomads of the Eurasian steppe lived in a harsh environment made moreĭifficult by their sometimes hostile relationships with their more sophisticated neighbours to the I recommend examination of sources in the notes to anyone who wishes more exact information. Of the original illustrations on which I based my drawings. I have not attempted to reproduce the colours and patterns in detail The future might bring similar exciting discoveries for the later quivers discussed below. Since its publication, I have learned that Chinese archaeologists in Xinjiang have excavated intact gorytoi and other early archery equipment, which supports the accuracy of contemporary representations. The original version of this article was published in the Journal of the Society ofĪrcher-Antiquaries, Volume 41, 1998. Text and Illustrations © Bede Dwyer, 1997.

A few arrows short of a quiver meaning