Scythian Bow

The Scythian bow is a short, strongly recurved composite bow associated with the nomadic Scythian peoples of the Eurasian steppe, built up from horn, wood and sinew glued in layers rather than carved from a single piece, which let it store far more energy for its size than a simple wooden bow. Its compact form, often under seventy-five centimeters long, made it especially well suited to being drawn and fired from horseback, and it is credited as the first composite bow shaped specifically for mounted archery, becoming the dominant composite bow design across Europe and Asia for centuries until around the first century AD. The bow's short length let a rider twist in the saddle to shoot backward at a pursuing enemy while retreating, a maneuver later known by the Parthian name as the Parthian shot, a tactic that made Scythian and related steppe cavalry archers especially feared opponents for the settled civilizations they raided and fought.