Horse-archers appear in the Assyrian army in the ninth century BC. Reliefs of Ashur-nasirpal (883-859 BC) show these riders being deployed as both long-range archers and shock troops to trample the enemy. Immortalized for the ‘parting’ (or Parthian) shot, Parthia’s mounted archers twisted backwards to shoot an arrow at the enemy as their horse trotted away. Similar tropes of impressive mounted archers abound through Scythia – the famed mounted horsemen whom the Greeks believed were at one with their horses. They are attested to have invented some of the earliest saddles, as well as bows that attached to the riders’ hips. They would later be recruited by Alexander the Great.
Heavyweight horse archers appear in Byzantine and Turkish tradition. One also cannot ignore the later twelfth-century use of mounted archers by Genghis Khan, their potential helping him to conquer China and beyond. The practice is not novel to China; it is also found in Korea and Japan with their , still practiced today. but rejected by most. They seem at odds with the quintessential Greek hoplite hero. Athens acquired a band of mounted archers, the , but we are faced with a disappointing lack of evidence as to these riders were, their and use, and why they are seemingly replaced by (foot soldiers who ran alongside cavalry – see Murray Dahm’s article in issue XI.5) after a brief career spanning less than 50 years.
