Building a cavalryman vs. building a charioteer

[DanHoward]

Originally Posted by Michael Thayne

I think at least one other archer is mentioned in the Iliad but the IIRC the Iliad gives the impression of the Greeks only having a few archers in their army, not using massed archery tactics.

Paris, Odysseus, Teukros, Pandaros, and Helenos were archers. A couple of passages in Book 15 suggest that many low ranking troops also used bows [15.313-4, 15.709]. The Lokrian contingent is described as consisting entirely of archers and slingers [13.712-8] and Akamas refers to the Argives as "arrow fighters" [14.479]. In Book 13, Homer refers to a "swarm of missiles" [13.555] and in Book 16, he says that "many sharp spears were driven home about Kebriones and many feathered arrows sprung from bowstrings" [16.772-773]. Some of the main characters were injured by arrows: Menelaos [4.127-147], Diomedes [11.375-8], Agamemnon [16.26], and Eurypylos [11.582]. Achilles was eventually killed by an arrow (though not part of the Iliad). Homer’s depiction of the Trojan War gives the impression that both bows and javelins were used extensively. Javelins were becoming more prevalent than they were during earlier times but archery had not yet declined much.