Historically accurate?

[Dolphin Boy]

Morning all.

Just been viewing the photo albums, and I saw the "Stuck in the past?" album.
Just a quick question - the first photo, the gentlemen in the chain mail and the helmets.
They're all using short "mongol" style recurves. Do these bows match the costumes
historically?

I'm not trying to be picky, I'm jusy wondering if there's a whole in my archery history.

:-)

[English Bowman]

The costumes there are Roman auxillaries from the time of the Roman conquest of Gaul. This photo was taken during the filming of the BBC Timewatch programme on Julius Ceaser. The Romans weren't keen on archery but used auxillaries from conquered lands all over the empire, so yes, these bows could have been used by archers dressed in this fashion.

Hope that clears it up.

Daniel

[Jerry Tee]

They were more than likely what was known as Eastern Archers. From the eastern part of the empire.According to a friend of mine who was a member of the Ermin Street Guard it was policy to use troops far away from their home land so they did not have any sympathys with those the Romans were fighting in that dust up.