The Parthian Shot

Issue 6, January 2014

This has been an action-packed and exciting year for members of the BHAA, with the rst ever UK hosted international horseback archery event, against a team from Sweden. It was a huge success and will be the rst of many, were sure. Congratulations to all those involved, not only in the competition, but in all the preparation beforehand. You can read all about it in Claire Sawyers report. As well as participating in and organising many events and activities this year, Claire has taken on the role of reporter in chief and we hope that her stories will encourage you to take part in, or attend, some of this years events. If you feel that youre a long way from whats going on, dont worry, weve got that covered. This year one of the most popular activities was the postal challenge, set up by Dan and Claire, with competitors from all over the world taking part. Oceans are no barrier to sporting competition these days - so if youd like to participate in forthcoming ones, read all about it in Claires report and then contact one of the editorial team for further details. Also in this issue, youll nd a feature on Egyptian chariot archery. Chariot archery in the ancient world preceded horseback archery by several hundred years, but a lot of the items used in both sport and war will be familiar to acionados of modern horseback archery and its history - for example, composite bows, bow cases, and a range of arrows of different types, materials and blades to suit the circumstances. There will be more on the equipment in the next issue when I take a look in detail at the incredible range of well-preserved archery items from the tomb of Tutankhamun. On the practical side, valuable insights were gained at a training and information day for potential referees, a good investment for the future since all sporting activities can only take place with the help and support of many non-participants. And the word is spreading daily - Claire also reports in this issue on joint activities at the Forces Equine Games and with the Centaurs Club. Finally, remember this is your magazine what else would you like to see in it? We are setting up an Ask the Experts Panel for any questions you might have on a range of topics related to horseback archery. Perhaps you have a specialist skill yourself? Let us know about it and share it with other members.

Newsletter of the British Horseback Archery Association

Adam Snowball succesfully completing the Jarmaki shot in the Mamluk event BHAA International 1st - 2nd June 2013

Northern Flights: GB vs. Sweden match is resounding success

Claire Sawyer reports on the rst BHAA international event
For some time the BHAA had been keen to host an international competition but we always came up against the problem of having too few trained horses to cater for a large number of competitors. Then we hit upon the idea of having a series of small international matches - a visiting team of four against a Great Britain four. The idea continued to grow and the four Brits became eight - the rst team to be the best four people we could eld and a development team where the priority would be given to bringing on competitors who had not yet had the chance to compete internationally being mentored by team-mates with greater experience. In this way we hoped to enable people to meet foreign horse archers, to learn new techniques and make new friends, and ultimately to gain the experience and condence to travel with their horseback archery and compete abroad in the future. Well, the weekend eventually arrived on 1st - 2nd June after more

than a year of planning, being postponed from August 2012 and only three of the 2012 squad being available in 2013. However, to cut a long story short it was a GREAT SUCCESS! The Swedes were collected from Heathrow and by the time I arrived late on Friday they had trialled the horses, the track had been set up and the BBQ and beers were in full ow. The Qabaq competition was the rst event on Saturday and we had many near misses and concluded at the end of everyones three runs that a 30cm diameter cymbal 8.5m up is just a bit too tricky; we were level pegging at nul points all round. The afternoon saw the Hungarian event with each rider having six runs. Emil was having a tough time being a leftie with Niagara running the reversed course slightly downhill at great speed. However, his coaching was great and several of the Brits made signicant improvements to their technique in this event that we often neglect in preference to riding the Korean course. Once wed cracked open the beers once again the scores were totted up to reveal that GB-A were leading Sweden by only 0.1 points - the equivalent of 1/10th of a second! Then off to the local pub to share some traditional British dishes with the Swedes.

The Parthian Shot Editorial Team

Miriam Bibby miriam.bibby@gmail.com Claire Sawyer brynandbuffy@gmail.com Dan Sawyer dansawyer66@gmail.com

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Sunday was again a pleasantly sunny day and we started off with the Korean event shooting two single, two double then two ve-shot runs on the 150m track. The 150m 5-shot course was a really satisfying one to run - long enough that you could settle into your stride better and very pleasant to be cantering along parallel to the edge of a wood where a couple of red kites and a buzzard were soaring overhead (and making a fair bit of noise!). Several of the archers on both sides started to nd their form at this point and the points tally began to climb more quickly with Sweden taking a comfortable lead. Gurbir recorded a personal best, nailing the double shot and both Chris and Sissela picked up bonuses for hitting all ve targets on the serial shot. In the afternoon we experimented a little with the Mamluk event - I had wanted to add in something new and a bit different, something that would test us a little more; and Anders contributed his knowledge from competing at Biga for setting it up. We used the 150m course and put in a close ground shot where bonus points could be gained from shooting Jarmaki style, a double shot, then an offside shot, and nally a 15m side shot. The Mamluk turned out to be almost everyones favourite event and Adam and Zana both shot very well indeed, gaining more points on this three run event than in the rest of the competition combined. Once Sunday was underway there was no doubt as to the victorious team and we offer the Swedish team (Emil, Anders, Kalle and Sissela) our congratulations - we couldnt have wished for better opponents and a more friendly, good-natured match. Congratulations also to Chris Harding who had the highest combined personal score riding Oscar. Thanks to Michele Freedman for umpiring, to Karl and Zana for providing their venue and lovely horses (on whom they were complimented several times over - I think Anders would have quite liked to smuggle Smokie home!) and to all the grooms who helped score or prepare the horses. We are very much looking forward to our next international match, there are subtle improvements to be made but overall I am delighted by how well it went. We hadnt even got through dinner at the pub on the Sunday night before the rst offer to be our next years opponents had come in!

Newsletter of the British Horseback Archery Association

Clockwise from the top: 1. GB vs. Sweden: voted a great success by all! 2. Gurbir in action in the challenging Qabaq event. 3. Dan Sawyer of Team GB-A.

BHAA International 2013 Results

Team SWEDEN Emil Eriksson, Anders O Jnsson Kalle Mllerberg & Sissela grdh Orsmark GREAT BRITAIN A Dan Sawyer, Chris Harding Jon Savage, Claire Sawyer GREAT BRITAIN B Zana Greenwood, Gurbir Singh Bhangoo, Oisin Curtis & Adam Snowball 0 13.95 0 90.68 Qabaq 0

Hungarian Korean 90.58 196.89

Mamluk 139.96

Overall 424.89

142.90

86.20

319.78

67.39

81.13

162.47

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Its been an exciting year for the BHAA. As well as the rst British hosted international competition, a number of other inaugural events got off to a ying start. Claire Sawyer reports on the unforgettable summer of 2013.
We selected three students: Holly (aged 10) an Army dependent, Lizzie a WPC and Scott an Army veteran who suffered bilateral above the knee amputations following a bomb blast in Afghanistan (Scott was at FEG representing HorseBack UK, a fantastic charity who provide rehab for both physically & mentally wounded service personnel through western riding and outdoor pursuits, who were one of the chosen charities for FEG). Dan and Neil spent 45mins teaching our three students ground archery then they moved on to archery from horseback at a walk, then on to trot. They all did incredibly well at picking up the new techniques so quickly, nocking on the move and shooting pretty accurately, but I have to credit Scott in particular with being a natural.

Newsletter of the British Horseback Archery Association

Karl and Scott had been chatting during the 45mins of mounted archery and once we were nished Karl got a couple of the horses to lie down to demonstrate their skills. Then came something quite unforgettable: at Karls invitation Scott Meenagh, then afterwards Paul Burns (a HorseBack UK volunteer and bilateral amputee from Northern Ireland in the 70s), each got onto Todo who was laid down and then stood-up with them on his back. I shall not try to describe it just take a look at the photos for yourself! Very sadly Paul Burns passed away unexpectedly just four weeks later. He was an inspiration to many. Dan had helped him select and buy a horsebow in the intervening time, but unfortunately the horseback archery tuition was not to be... RIP Paul.

Forces Equine Games

The early May bank holiday saw horseback archery brought to a multi-discipline equestrian event at Forces Equine Games (FEG) at Wellington Equestrian near Reading. Forces Equine is a non-prot organisation set up in 2008 to support the Forces equestrian community (mainly targeting Army, Navy, Air Force, Police, dependents & retired, reservists, civil service, members of the re, ambulance and prison services; but civilians are welcomed too). This, their rst big event, included showjumping, dressage, in-hand showing, tentpegging and horseback archery; and dog showing and agility too. Many thanks to the organisers Debi Heath-French and Jenny Naylor for thinking outside the box and inviting us to participate. Karl and Zana brought over three of their horses, Niagara, Jupiter and Todo who were hired by all eight competitors; and they behaved impeccably in our arena on the edge of the showground despite showjumping happening on one side and dog-agility on the other. We ran a Korean competition and had lots of spectators, particularly tentpeggers who had been competing the previous day. Thanks to our class sponsor Tally Ho Farm for their support! Half of the competitors were participating in their rst horseback archery competition and did well not to be fazed by the presence of the crowds. The results of the competition were: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 9. Dan Sawyer (Jupiter) Claire Sawyer (Niagara) Chris Harding (Todo) Neil Payne (Jupiter) Jon Savage (Jupiter) Anine Cockwell (Niagara) Gurbir Singh Bhangoo (Todo) Adam Snowball (Niagara)

Anti-clockwise from top left: 1. The demo teaching session in the afternoon was the highlight of the days events for the three participants. 2. Teaching ground archery skills to the three participants Holly, Lizzie and Scott in the demo sessions. 3. The smile says it all: Scott on Todo. 4. An unforgettable moment for Scott as Todo stands up under him to lift him from the ground; with Paul Burns looking on.

In the afternoon we had organised a teaching demonstration. While the competition was fun, for me personally this was the highlight of the day.

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Centaurs Challenge 2013
On Saturday 15th June eight of us gathered together at the Centre of Horseback Combat near Hemel Hempstead to participate in the inaugural competition run by the Centaurs Mounted Martial Sports Club. We started the day with eight runs of horseback archery shooting Korean style at a single, then double, then triple targets. Everyone did well: Damian shot accurately despite his mare Akina moving at quite a pace (even covering the 90m in less than 7.5 seconds once!), Jenna and Peters tentpegging horses were fantastic maintaining a steady canter with no rein contact and never showed any concern for the bow and arrows, and Himmat recorded a score in his rst ever horseback archery competition. Damian came away with the honours for the horseback archery event, followed by Claire in 2nd place and Gerald in 3rd. Rain had brought the horseback archery event to a swift conclusion and the deluge continued over lunchtime with claps of thunder threatening to upset plans further. Luckily the sun eventually returned and we enjoyed a gorgeous afternoon of pegging infront of Gaddesden Manor, albeit made more difficult by continuation of the mornings strong and blustery wind. Five of us competed in the tentpegging with two runs at each of: individual lance, individual sword, two rings and peg with lance, then two rings and peg again with sword. The competition ran quickly and smoothly thanks to David and Adam setting up and scoring so efficiently; but there was still a little time to enjoy the red kites soaring overhead and the swallows skimming low over the grass past the horses legs. Jenna and Peer put on an impressive show of speed and accuracy, Peter and Claire were both successful in reaching down far enough to carry a peg with a sword from their 16h+ mounts, and you would never have believed that Gerald and Oscars partnership in tentpegging was not a regular one. The use of the timing gates was interesting, in particular where all 5 riders scored a single carry in the sword pegging runs and placings were therefore set entirely on their speed (measured to 0.01s). Jenna and Gerald nished far above the rest of the eld with Jenna stealing the victory, Peter was 3rd. By general agreement the day was labelled a great success. The atmosphere throughout was relaxed and friendly; everyone appreciated that individuals had strengths and weaknesses in different events and we were genuinely willing each other on with the odd bit of coaching/advice being offered here and there. The very worthy winner with a solid performance in both horseback archery and tentpegging was Gerald on Oscar, an Irish Sports Horse, provided by the Centre of Horseback Combat.

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Jenna came 2nd on the strength of her pegging expertise and Damian nished 3rd with almost identical scores in both disciplines. Thanks to everyone who supported this event, to Karl and Zana for the venue and horses, to Dan for the exceptional photos and to David for helping run the competition despite having come along to watch. See below for the Final results.

Centaurs Challenge 2013 Results

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Gerald Nott (Oscar) Jenna Copley (Peer) Damian Stenton (Akina) Claire Sawyer (Niagara & Jupiter) Peter Turland (Paddy) Gurbir Singh Bhangoo (Todo) Adam Snowball (Smokie) Himmat Singh Sembi (Jupiter & Niagara) 21.22 0 36.0 23.64 0 20.41 16 4

Horseback Archery Tent-pegging 71.42 73.3 35.92 26.48 38.78 x x x

Overall 92.64 73.3 71.92 50.12 38.78 -

Rosettes and riders: the Centaurs who took part in the inaugural competition. (Photos on this page and next by Dan Sawyer)

The Parthian Shot

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Newsletter of the British Horseback Archery Association

Ask the Experts

Welcome to our new Ask the Experts page. If you have a question about any aspect of horseback archery, just contact one of the editorial team and we will nd an expert to answer you. This issues question is from Laurence Haskins, who asks: - Could you recommend books about Horseback archery? Possibly the best known book of recent years is Horseback Archery by the Hungarian archery master, Kassai Lajos. Kassai is probably the best-known name in the eld internationally and has done so much to promote and develop the sport. Having said that, Im not sure that the denitive horseback archery text has been written yet; and so other than Kassais book, Ive concentrated on the history and culture of the various steppe warrior and tribal groupings that used it. Horseback archery was developed to such a high degree by these warriors that it denes their culture and their very nature. Erik Hildingers book Warriors of the Steppe is still a decent overview and he devotes a reasonable amount of space to the art and craft of bowmaking as well as horseback archery skills. Theres also a good bibliography if you want to do some follow-on reading. One book that is on my own to-read list is Hyun Jin Kims recent publication, The Huns, Rome and the Birth of Europe (Cambridge University Press). Ill quote from a review in BBC History: [It]...gets my vote for the freshness of its world view. The book rightly insists that what we call the continent of Europe is only a peninsula at the western end of Eurasia, and goes on to argue that what was really important between c400 and 1400 was neither the Chinese nor western European states that generally get airtime, but the populations and cultures of the Great Eurasian Steppe that owed between the two. Im not saying I buy all of it, but theres a huge element of truth here. - Peter Heather, BBC History, October 2013. Kims book has come in for greater criticism from other quarters and the Amazon reviews are decidedly negative. However, might this simply be because hes approaching the truth? After all, western history has feared and demonised the Huns rather than respecting them as military masters whose techniques and weaponry were admired and adopted into some western armies. Hildinger also makes their military skill clear in his chapter on the Huns. Leading on from this, I would recommend Robert Graves novel Count Belisarius for its real insights into how Huns, and Hunnish weapons and techniques, were used by imperial armies at a time when the Roman world was becoming the post-Roman world. Graves is best known for his books about the Emperor Claudius (I, Claudius and Claudius the God) of course, but in my opinion, Count Belisarius is a far greater novel. Its a fantastic read; it takes you right into the Byzantine world at every level and leaves a strong impression of those owing cultures that inuenced it, along with the making and breaking of alliances, and acts of treachery and loyalty. Many original texts relating to archery, whether on horseback or the ground, have become available in modern translations with commentaries. There is for instance, a 20th century volume about a 16th century Arabic manuscript on archery. Some of these modern commentaries can be hard to track down themselves, though. If you have access to an online source such as JSTOR it can aid in the search for periodicals and journals which might have relevant articles in them.

Top: Damian Stenton on Akina in the horseback archery event. Mid: Jenna Copley participating in lance rings and peg on Peer. Bottom: Overall Centaurs winner Gerald Nott on the Centre of Horseback Combats Oscar. (Photos by Dan Sawyer)

And on the subject of journals, I would recommend a look at Primitive Archer magazine. This north American publication includes not only articles on manufacturing and using archery equipment, but also regular illustrated features on the history of archery. Ive found many interesting features on horseback archery, chariotry archery and ground archery in its pages. All the back issues are available as downloads or on DVD now I believe. It also includes very interesting features on native American archers and archery. The history of the north American adoption of the horse and the subsequent separate development of horseback archery is of course, a fascinating historical phenomenon in itself.

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Not one among them could draw his bow Royal Chariot Archery in Ancient Egypt
by Miriam Bibby
The archetypal image of the horseback archer is of a warrior: a skilled horseman (or woman) who is a superbly complete entity consisting of archer, horse, bow, arrows and bow-case, working with devastating effect in unison with other mounted archers. In the middle of the second millennium BCE, the horse and chariot, along with specialised weaponry, revolutionised warfare in the ancient world in a similar way to the later horsemen of the Steppes: and there are parallels with regard to equipment and techniques. In the rst part of a series on ancient Egyptian chariot archery, Miriam Bibby, former Egyptology tutor and course developer for the University of Manchester, and founder and rst editor of the UKs only popular Egyptology magazine, Ancient Egypt, outlines the historical background to this revolutionary development. He was one who knew horses; there was not his like in this numerous army. Not one among them could draw his bow; he could not be approached in running... He drew three hundred strong bows, comparing the workmanship of the men who had crafted them, so as to tell the unskilled from the skilled...he found erected for him four targets of Asiatic copper, of one palm in thickness, with a distance of twenty cubits between one post and the next. Then his majesty appeared on the chariot like Mont in his might. He drew his bow while holding four arrows together in his st. Thus he rode northward shooting at them, like Mont in his panoply, each arrow coming out at the back of the target while he attacked the next post. It was a deed never yet done, never yet heard reported: shooting an arrow at a target of copper, so that it came out of it and dropped to the ground... - The Great Sphinx Stela of Amenhotep II at Giza, trs. Miriam Lichtheim. (Ancient Egyptian Literature Volume II: The New Kingdom. Berkeley, 1976.) This is an encomium for the 18 year old Egyptian prince Amenhotep. He would hardly expect anything less. He was a royal heir and therefore a semi-divine being, whose father Tuthmosis, or Thutmose, III, ruled over a vast empire centred on ancient Thebes in Egypt. Amenhotep could have his pick of horses from the royal stables to train and develop for himself, a fact which he notes in the text along with other references to his indulgent and admiring father. Fawning descriptions of royalty are not rare, of course, and were a standard of Egyptian literature as soon as writing came into use. However, its not hard to see the reality behind this heroic description: a young man selects his bow from a choice of items produced by the greatest craftsmen on earth, eagerly makes his way to the stables to have his pair of ne, fast horses harnessed up to the ancient worlds equivalent of a sports car, takes his arrows in his st - and then sets off to have some FUN.

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Be a scribe, exhorted teachers in ancient Egypt, telling their students that they would grow fat, sleek and wealthy as a result, instead of impoverished and mosquito-bitten like the poor reed gatherers who went into the swamps to get the raw material to make arrow shafts: The reed-cutter travels to the Delta to get arrows; when he has done more than his arms can do, mosquitos have slain him, gnats have slaughtered him, he is quite worn out. (Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Literature Volume I: The Old and Middle Kingdoms. Berkeley, 1975.) Theres nothing new about parents wanting their children to get a good job in the civil service. In fact, as Wolfgang Decker, author of Sport and Games in Ancient Egypt writes: No Egyptian skill is as well attested as target archery. From representations, texts, and original equipment, we can form quite a vivid picture of the royal exhibition sport of the eighteenth dynasty. One of the best-known sources for Egyptian archery is the tomb of Tutankhamun, which, managing to escape the worst predations of ancient and modern tomb-robbers, survived virtually intact until its discovery in the 1920s. Amongst the wealth of funerary and daily life items stacked often haphazardly inside, there was a large and undoubtedly cherished collection of archery equipment, including self- and composite bows, and specialised arrows and arrow heads. Also in the tomb were four magnicent goldsheeted and decorated chariots, some of which showed signs of use - they were not simply funerary items. Its clear that the words describing Amenhotep a few generations earlier contained a great deal of truth. Princes of ancient Egypt were expected to show skill with the bow, and after the arrival of the horse and chariot in Egypt, they were expected to show it whilst driving at speed.

Protected by the vulture and cobra goddesses of Egypt, the young king Tutankhamun drives into battle shooting a composite bow. His enemies, in this example Nubians, fall into disarray before him. This standard of kingly iconography depicts an ideal, not reality.

Archery in Egypt: an ancient tradition

Chariotry and archery are perhaps not the rst thing that comes to mind when we think of ancient Egypt. Pyramids, mummies and golden masks, yes. These are the signature artefacts of this ancient, long-lived culture. However, from earliest times, the Egyptians were archers, using hardened wood and int arrowheads, and the tradition of the self-bow lasted into the time of Amenhotep II and beyond. The reason we know so much about ancient Egyptian society is partly because of the wonderful preserving qualities of Egypts hot, dry climate, and partly because of the desire of its people to record and be remembered.

The Hyksos and the horse, chariot and composite bow

The arrival and use of the horse and chariot in ancient Egypt is an interesting topic in itself. The sketchy conjecture of the past regarding the introduction of this piece of innovative technology is being replaced by a clearer image with each new generation of Egyptian archaeologists.

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The arrival of the chariot in Egypt has been traditionally associated with the Egyptian word meaning something like rulers, or princes, of a foreign land. Through a chain of various interpretations and misinterpretations - its tempting to say a sequence of unfortunate events the Hyksos kings, who ruled for several centuries in Egypts Delta, became saddled for a while with the image of warlike invaders galloping into Egypt either on horseback or in chariots. Archaeology does not bear this out. The horse and chariot is particularly associated with a Hyksos dynasty, the Greater Hyksos dynasty, but this was well after the rst attributed use of the term in ancient Egypt. People described as Hyksos have as much association, or more, with the useful donkey as with the elite horse. Equid burials in the Delta are mostly donkey burials, although there has been a ne discovery of the skeletal remains of a mare in recent years, which might indicate the presence of an ancient stud farm. However, there is less doubt about the fact that in the 16th century BCE the rulers of Thebes were stuck between two technologically successful and developing states, or proto-states: the Delta Hyksos to the north and Nubia to the south. The world was changing; the horse, chariot and composite bow increased the potential for warfare in an ancient form of the arms race. Living up to the nature of his warlike god Mont, or Montu, the Theban prince Ahmose led a successful campaign that swept the Hyksos from the Delta - and his descendents never forgot it. Years later they were still alluding to the war against the hated Hyksos as though they themselves had participated in it. It was during this time that the rst references to the horse and chariot make an appearance in Egyptian (Theban) texts. Its clear that King Ahmose already had a chariot but reference is also made to the capture of a chariot in the inscription of the senior naval officer Ahmose, son of Ibana. For the purposes of this article, it is sufficient to say that by the 16th century BCE the horse-drawn chariot was not just a desirable elite acquisition but a royal necessity. It was used in warfare and hunting and increasingly on state occasions. And it was as part of a chariot package-deal, as Professor Stuart Piggott, expert in wheeled transport in antiquity, described it, that it began to make its appearance in various forms all over the ancient world. Skill with the bow travelled in partnership with skill in choosing and training horses, as is clear from the rest of the Sphinx stela of Amenhotep II. He boasts that he loves horses, that he knows their natures and is skilled in training them because he understands their ways. This is a valuable piece of information about horse training in ancient Egypt since there is so little remaining on this topic. Egypt has not yet yielded anything - yet - on horse training of the nature of Kikkuli the Mitannians famous text.

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The chariot package-deal

The Egyptian chariot package-deal has been well documented by specialists, including Egyptologist and ancient weaponry scholar Ian Shaw, and also in the wonderful work of Littauer and Crouwel, who produced the volume on Tutankhamuns chariots in the Griffith Institutes series of monographs on items from the tomb. Littauer and Crouwel have also produced invaluable standard works on ridden animals and wheeled vehicles in the ancient world. In Egypt, the chariot was a light vehicle with a relatively wide wheel base with axle set at the back of the platforms frame. The traction was provided by a pair of horses, exclusively stallions if the imagery is to be believed, which were yoked either side of a yoke pole.

This is borne out by an interesting fragmentary image from ancient Egypt, set in a chariotry manufacturing workshop. We see a chariot, with its yoke pole and attached yoke; and also a container with the etches and butts of arrows showing clearly at the top. We see workshop tools and a stack of arrows waiting to be checked for straightness by a man who is squatting, apparently frowning with concentration as he half squints down the shaft of a nished arrow. The glimpse that we get of the style of his hair, or wig, suggests that he might be Asiatic in origin rather than Egyptian, although that can be a bit misleading; its a fact that in ancient Egypt from earliest times foreigners simply integrated and became Egyptian themselves. The Egyptians adopted foreign gods into the pantheon and adapted innovations such as the chariot in a uniquely Egyptian way, to give them that familiar Egyptian look that we recognise immediately when we walk into a museum.

Egypt and the Nine Bows

Ancient Egyptian imagery is permeated by bows, arrows and archery scenes. The traditional enemies of Egypt were known as the Nine Bows. There are numerous images from the Old Kingdom onwards, of hunters with bows, and theres evidence that the bow was used in warfare by the Egyptians at this point too, but it was in the New Kingdom, with the arrival of the chariot package-deal that the king with his bow in his chariot became a standard of Egyptian iconography. The stone mace had been the symbol of the highest authority of the earliest kings, appearing in images of the king smiting the enemy. Now, the king could reveal himself in art (unrealistically) alone in his chariot, reins wrapped casually round his waist, shooting arrows from a bow, or cutting the throat of his enemy with a khepesh sword. Animals and enemies fall in their hundreds in front of his giant gure which is sometimes guarded and guided by the protective wings of Mont or another deity as he drives. William McLeod, author of two extremely detailed books on the archery equipment from the tomb of Tutankhamun, reminds us that one of his regularly occurring epithets was: The good god, strong of bow, possessed of might, vigorous in drawing it.

The horse, the chariot and archery equipment became part of a warfare package that is visible on monuments all over Egypt. The harness, derived ultimately from bovid draught, had been through many developments since horses had come to be associated with the chariot; but there were still major inefficiencies in it from the horses perspective. Bow and weapon cases were attached to the chariot frame, proving that the innovative technology of the composite bow was indelibly associated with the chariot - part of the package deal.

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This isnt simply hyperbole. We know that princes had archery tutors, as well as other teachers. The one allocated to Amenhotep II was the nomarch (a high ranking official overseeing a region, or nome) Min of This. Its possible that Amenhotep II, in aiming to perform the mighty feat of shooting through copper targets, was striving to match and best his father, the warrior king Thutmose III, who was a ne archer himself but had never achieved that feat. Before he reached this standard, the evidence suggests that Amenhotep would have perfected target archery on the ground as far as he could, before progressing to the skills needed for chariot archery. Its interesting that skill in archery should be so obviously stressed in Tutankhamuns case though, because in his reign Egypt was restored to a traditional belief system after the Amarna period, when King Akhenaten ruled at Akhetaten.

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The reality?
The Egyptologist Cyril Aldred commented that ancient Egyptian kings liked to show themselves as vainglorious Homeric champions and this is a description that is worthy of discussion. Homers Iliad, describing a form of chariot warfare along with its associated ritual and sporting activities, was written long after the zenith of the chariot age. Shooting with a bow from a chariot had epitomised a warrior king in the days of Amenhotep II. By the time the Iliad was written, although the events it describes are several centuries earlier, the archer is clearly viewed as inferior to the swordsman who participates in hand to hand combat and also to the skilled javelin or spear thrower. However, the chariot still has immense ritual and symbolic signicance - and it is the transport of the gods and goddesses who pull the strings of mortals for their pleasure. The copper targets, the driving with reins around the waist, the immense skill with the bow, the ability to select a well-made bow from inferior examples; how much of this reects the reality of New Kingdom Egyptian kings? Decker sees a symbolic aspect in the shooting of four arrows at targets, a reference to the kings authority over the four compass points, which had probably formed part of kingly ritual long before the arrival of the horse and chariot. Prior to the arrival of the chariot packagedeal, kings periodically showed their ability to rule by participating in running and other gruelling activities, although quite how much of this reects reality in the case of aged monarchs is hard to assess. It would not, in any case have taken place in full public view. However, actual examples of copper ingots are known - Cyprus was a source of copper for the ancient world - and the shape of these ingots, rather like a sack with prominent corners, does reect the shape of the targets used in images of Amenhotep II and other kings. This has led to a very interesting proposal by Walter Burket, outlined in Decker, that the description of Amenhotep II provided the source for the famous archery competition in the Odyssey. Similarities between the descriptions of the two heroes Amenhotep and Odysseus are cited; of both it was said: There was none among them who could draw his bow. Additionally, parallels are drawn between the shape of the copper targets and the double axes through which Odysseus is said to have shot to win the archery competition. This wouldnt be the only occasion on which one famous story was the source for another.

The Iliad is said to have provided the source for the famous Irish tale of the Tain bo Cualgne, the Cattle Raid of Cooley. The educated elite in all times and places, whether literate or not, has always enjoyed heroic tales; and if they include deeds described as never was the like done before then the hero of the story achieves lasting fame. With regard to the king driving alone in his chariot and shooting the bow with the reins around his waist, its worth saying that the usual complement of a chariot crew was a charioteer and a warrior.

This colourful image from an early publication on ancient Egypt shows Ramesses II setting out to hunt in his chariot with a large cat, probably a tamed cheetah, running alongside. We do know that some of the many sons of Ramesses II accompanied him into battle in Nubia, mounted on chariots. Ramesses had so many sons that an enormous tomb (KV5), the largest ever found in the Valley of the Kings, was built for them. Although this vast tomb, with scores of burial and storage chambers, was ransacked in antiquity and later ooded and lled with debris, a tiny yoke nial carved from stone, intended for the end of the yoke of a chariot, was amongst the items discovered. Its not hard to imagine the parts of a chariot being carried in as funerary equipment and perhaps brushed accidentally against the wall, knocking the nial to the ground; or perhaps it was lost when tomb robbers dragged it from its store. Another king, Amenhotep III, was probably just into his teens when he had an image created on a stela boasting of his success in a Nubian campaign. Alone in his chariot, he expertly handles whip, reins and bow, with bound and captive Nubians placed on the backs of his team of horses. Its even been suggested that Tutankhamun died in a chariot accident, since his skull showed signs of a depression possibly caused by a blow.

Archery and chariotry skills were part of the training of the rulers of Egypts New Kingdom During that time, there is a reasonably large amount of information to indicate the use of the horse and chariot as a vehicle for royal ritual display, travelling up and down the central road at Amarna daily to the various temples to the Aten, Akhenatens god. The whole of the royal family, Akhenaten, his queen Nefertiti, and their daughters are shown driving or being driven in their chariots. The king is shown with Nefertiti alone, or with the queen and one of their daughters. The whole process appears to have been rich in symbolism and also something that was clearly pleasurable to the royal family; but as far as Im aware the Aketaten royals did not participate in target archery, or any other traditional Egyptian sport.

The Parthian Shot

Newsletter of the British Horseback Archery Association

Egyptian view of time, which was an eternal now in which the living king ruled the living as Horus, and his predecessor ruled the dead as Osiris. Perhaps its still going on in spirit, with the deceased rulers racking up the points on a ghostly scoreboard. With that, we return to Tutankhamun, laid to rest in his relatively small tomb with a range of items which seem spectacular to us, but are probably modest compared with those that accompanied Thutmose III, Amenhotep II and Ramesses II - but very few of their funerary items have survived. And its items from the tomb of Tutankhamun which will provide the background to the next article in this series when I examine the archery equipment that accompanied the young king after death. This included over 30 composite bows, against 14 self-bows; and there were several hundred arrows, plus a bow-case, a large, well-made bow-shaped box for bow storage, pairs of bracers, quivers and strings, all in a remarkable state of preservation.

Tutankhamun and his courtiers engaged in a hunt from a casket from his tomb.

Competitive royals
Decker comes up with another interesting proposal in the form of a table in which he sets out the chariot archery achievements of three Egyptian monarchs: Thutmose III, Amenhotep II and Tutankhamun. Using examples from inscriptions, he tabulates their results on the basis of four parameters: rstly, the thickness of the target, measured in ngers; secondly, the

extent of the protrusion of the arrow, or whether the target was transxed; thirdly, any special characteristics - was it a rst attempt? Performed repeatedly?; and fourthly, were there any spectators (witnesses) to the attempt? I nd this approach very interesting and appealing; the idea of an ongoing royal archery competition carried out down the generations is totally in keeping with the

BHAA Championships
(3-4th August 2013)
The BHAA national championships proved as exciting as the inaugural international! Competition was erce with each competitor having the opportunity to use his or her individual skills to best advantage over a range of events. Claire Sawyer participated and reports here on the days activity.
First event of the championships was the Mamluk event run over a 150m course. The targets were 1. close ground shot with bonus for a Jarmaki shot (which about half of competitors attempted), 2. forward shot, 3. backwards shot, 4. offside shot, 5. 15m perpendicular shot; and we each had three runs. Well Adam has got the Jarmaki shot off to a tee and left everyone eating his dust both in terms of point scoring and with his speedy runs on Smokie, a little Andalucian x New Forest gelding. Congrats Adam!

Second event, held on the Saturday afternoon, was the Hungarian event; using the old style Kassai course set up with three targets and three zones. The weather was sub-optimal for this event with torrential rain (and even some hail) during group 1 (of 3) despite clear blue skies as we all went out to the track without jackets, and we had to then take a pause to allow everyone to dry out (indeed I think it may have taken several days for Julies treeless saddle to dry out...) Well the tactics in this event were varied we saw some running the course steadily and getting off three or four arrows every run, some running the course very fast and shooting just the middle target, and yours truly running the course very fast and loosing three arrows (which was great fun but it turns out not the best way of accumulating points in this event!). Mike Ashington, who came 3rd in this event, shot his 70lb longbow. Nice one Mike. Sunday morning saw us tackle the Korean event with two runs at single then two runs at double, for each of the three groups, then after a pause to alter the track and move timing gates and targets, two runs at a 150m 5-shot course.

I was off to a quick start with even Dan unable to catch my single shot result. Newest member of the BHAA Michael shot accurately and consistently and won the double shot. The serial shot, of course, is the crux of the Korean event with 60% of the total points up for grabs. And in these two runs this event was both lost and won. Dan and Damian put in some accurate and consistent shooting. To his credit Damians warmblood mare Akina ran beautifully through this whole event. Dan happened to be the one to take the last run of the competition and there was a roar of applause when he hit all ve targets and in doing so won the event! Many thanks to Michele our wonderful ref who again gave up a weekend of her time. Thanks to Karl and Zana and the grooms of the Centre of Horseback Combat for immaculately turned out and very well behaved horses. And thanks of course all the competitors who all helped to run the competition while they werent in actually in the saddle. (All Results are on the next page)

The Parthian Shot

Mamluk 1. Adam (Smokie) 44 2. Mike (Oscar) 29.75 3. Zana (Niagara) 28.52 Hungarian 1. Dan (Todo) 55.22 2. Jon (Oscar) 33.86 3. Mike (Oscar) 20.21 Single shot 1. Claire (Niagara) 16.3 2. Dan (Todo) 15.5 3. Mike (Oscar) 11.68 Double shot 1. Michael (Jupiter) 11.55 2. Himmat (Oscar) 8.77 3. Mike (Oscar) 8.06 Five shot 1. Dan (Todo) 36.17 2. Damian (Akina) 28.91 3. Mike (Oscar) 22.44 Korean event Combined Totals 1. Dan (Todo) 57.5 2. Damian (Akina) 46.92 3. Mike (Oscar) 42.18

Newsletter of the British Horseback Archery Association

Overall results for the 2013 BHAA Champs

Final standings
(including three runs of 150m Mamluk, six runs of Hungarian and six runs of 1-2-5 (150m) Korean. ) 1. Dan Sawyer 137.87 2. Mike Ashington 92.14 3. Damian Stenton 89.95 4. Jon Savage 74.08 5. Claire Sawyer 66.56 6. Michael Ruby 53.59 7. Gurbir Singh Bhangoo 47.08 8. Frances Harding 45.08 9. Adam Snowball 44.0 10. Himmat Singh Sembi 41.06 11. Zana Greenwood Cousins 28.52* 12. Oisin Curtis 23.14 13. Andrew Hall 20.10 14. Julie Ward 4.89 * (Mamluk only due to pre-existing shoulder injury)

Top. Gurbir competing in the rain. Mid-Left: The event winners with Michele the referee. Mid-Right Frances and Zana sheltering from the torrential rain. Bottom: The competitors in the BHAA championships 2013.

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The Parthian Shot

Postal International
Perhaps you feel you live a little far away from some of the BHAA action thats going on in the UK. In fact, perhaps you dont live in the UK at all but would like to participate in some BHAA competitions? Claire and Dan Sawyer have come up with a cunning plan to enable you to do just that. Welcome to the world of the Postal International Competition!
Another new idea that Dan and I came up with for 2013 was a postal competition to allow us to have fun competition against our friends from abroad. It is a system that is used frequently in target archery and now that we have a unied set of rules / scoring system (that we developed during the winter with Darran Wardle from MA3, and now share with Australia, South Africa, Holland and Sweden, as well as America) it was possible to extend this idea to horseback archery. We later found out that the Kassai school has been running competitions in this manner for years! I nominated July as the month that people should test on the Korean 1-2-3 90m course either in their clubs or individually if they were more isolated. It was advertised on Facebook and we were delighted to have 64 participants from six countries. The FB post containing the results had been viewed by over 1000 people within two days of being posted! There is no prize just the honour and of course the enjoyment of participating and being a part of the worldwide horseback archery community. Im so pleased with the reception the postal competition received and peoples enthusiasm to use this as a focus for their training that I plan to arrange more. Twelve of us from the BHAA met up at the Centre of Horseback Combat on 28th July and on the morning of our training day ran the 90m Korean course. Congratulations to everyone who took part!

Newsletter of the British Horseback Archery Association

July Postal Interational Results

1. Darran Wardle (Rogue Mounted Archers / US) 64.23 2. Trey Schlichting (A Company / US) 63.37 3. Mike Sabo (A Company / US) 48.92 4. Katie Stearns (Flying Duchess/US) 48.2 5. Dan Sawyer (BHAA / UK) 46.97 6. Serena Caballero (A Company / US) 45.92 7. Kalle Mollerberg (Sveriges Beridna Bagskyttar / Sweden) 45.1 [aged 14] 8. Diana Troyk (Desert Warriors of the SW / US) 42.64 9. Anders O Jonsson (Sveriges Beridna Bagskyttar / Sweden) 42.5 10. Roberta Beene (Rogue Mounted Archers / US) 41.04 11. Park Boem-nam (WHAF / Korea) 40.2 12. Beesh Frischman (Rogue Mounted Archers / US) 38.34 13. Cody Jones (Flying Duchess/US) 33.8 14. Shelly Ryan (A Company / US) 30.47 15. Maia Denzler (Cascade Mounted Archers / US) 29.99 [aged 13] 16. Jon Savage (BHAA / UK) 29.63 17. Connor Keithcart (Cascade Mounted Archers / US) 29.0 [aged 17] 18. Allen Minton (US) 27.65 19. Chris Harding (BHAA / UK) 26.13 20. Matt Slade (Aspiring Centaurs / Australia) 26.07 21. Ian McLaughlin (Flying Duchess/US) 25.7 22. Mike Ashington *LONGBOW* (BHAA / UK) 24.68 23. Eric Nash (A Company / US) 24.0 [aged 14] 24. Lu Ann Groves (A Company / US) 23.58 25. Katrina Kruse (AHAA / Australia) 23.25 26. Mike Ashington *HORSEBOW* (BHAA / UK) 21.56 27. Adam Snowball (BHAA / UK) 21.0 28. Robert van Leeuwen (HOH/NL) 20.1 29. Janneke Rotman (HOH/NL) 19.3 30. Alissa Osborne (Flying Duchess/US) 18.7 31. Lena Voyles (Desert Warriors of the SW / US) 17.49 32. BJ Smith (Desert Warriors of the SW / US) 17.42 33. James Romano (Rogue Mounted Archers / US) 16.84 34. Claire Hagen (HOH/NL) 14 35. Summer Lisignoli (Cascade Mounted Archers / US) 13.71 36. Frances Harding (BHAA / UK) 13.22 37. Anine Cockwell (BHAA / UK) 12.52 38. Sam Edgar (Flying Duchess/US) 11.5 39. Ivar Doornenbal (HOH/NL) 11.1 40. Claire Sawyer (BHAA / UK) 11.05 41. Kaylee Nash (A Company / US) 11.04 [aged 15] 42. Gurbir Singh Bhangoo (BHAA / UK) 10.58 43. Andrew Hall (BHAA / UK) 9.05 44. Himmat Singh Sembi (BHAA / UK) 7.95 45. Joan Broadfoot (Rogue Mounted Archers / US) 7.89 46. Dorit Uebachs (HOH/NL) 7.3 47. Fran Eisenman (Flying Duchess/US) 6.1 48. Eva Thomsson (Sveriges Beridna Bagskyttar / Sweden) 5.3 49. Todd Mathis (A Company / US) 4.95 50. Hunter Weinshienk (US) 4.46 51. Christina Verhagen (HOH/NL) 3.8 52. Carlijne van Eijck (HOH/NL) 3.5 53. Justine Isernhinke (MA3 / South Africa) 3.35 54. Andrea Zenger (Flying Duchess/US) 3.2 55. Joey Ogburn (Desert Warriors of the SW / US) 2.77 56. Morgaine Wood (AHAA / Australia) 2.57 57. Frida Mollerberg (Sveriges Beridna Bagskyttar / Sweden) 2.5 [aged 11] 58. Alexis Osborne (Flying Duchess/US) 2.2 59. De Anne Ienna (A Company / US) 2.0 60. Glen Percy (AHAA / Australia) 1.39 61. Risto Palenova (Sveriges Beridna Bagskyttar / Sweden) 1.3 62= Susan Duurhout (HOH/NL) 0 62= Joaline Brouwer (HOH/NL) 0 62= Jarouschka Buid (HOH/NL) 0

Photo from the Refereeing Course Summer 2013

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