Mrs F has raised an interesting theory that maybe we are seeing the remnants of Mithraism in the Spanish tradition of bullfighting.

It has been argued that when the Romans conquered Spain they brought with them the Cult of Mithras and the central iconic act of killing the sacred bull later developed into modern Spanish bullfighting.

Other scholars argue that when the Emperor Claudius put a temporary ban on gladiator games he decided to introduce bullfights to Spain because they were similar to their human-animal games held in amphitheaters.

It is worth pointing out that many of the oldest bullrings in Spain are actually located on or adjacent to the sites of temples to Mithras.

The bull was also worshipped in many cultures but in Crete (Minoan culture) it was never killed. In ancient Egypt, the sacred Apis bull however was sacrificed. The Ptolemaic pharaohs during the 3rd century BC forced the Egyptians to make their religion both accessible and understandable to other cultures. Perhaps the Cult of Mithras had assimilated the Egyptian cult of the Apis Bull.

Technomist has asked whether the proverb ascribed to the Chinese philosopher Confucius, to the effect that 'the gods can't help those who don't seize opportunities' was used to a similar effect in the Greek world.

I have come across the proverb ‘The gods help them that help themselves’ by Aesop, who was a Greek slave and fable author dating from c.620-560BC. Confucius is a little later and dates from c.551-479BC!

The Mithraic myth describes how Mithras took a bull into a cave and cut its throat he bringing about the creation of life on earth; the first plants and animals sprang up from the bull's blood and semen. Usksider has asked me if the bull was just a symbol of strength in Mithraism, but I believe it was more than that.

In Mithraism the bull is a symbol of Spring, death and resurrection. It is also worth noting that during the Spring equinox the constellation of the bull (Taurus) can be seen. Mithras is often depicted cleansing himself in the blood of the bull as it was believed that washing in the bull’s blood brought eternal life and salvation. It was also believed that life could be created from eating the flesh and drinking the blood of the sacrificed bull.

A rite called the ‘taurobolium’ was used to baptise initiates into the cult of Mithras. The initiate was placed in a trench under a patterned roof whereupon the bull would be led on top of the roof where its throat would be cut. As the bull’s blood fell upon the initiate it was believed that it would purify him and lead him to be symbolically reborn into eternal life. The baptised initiates were then worshipped by their fellow cult members as semi-divine beings.

Mithras was believed to continually give up his own life in the form of bull sacrifices in order to bring about peace.

Ballista generally means ‘projectile shooter’ and it was invented in ancient Greece c.800BC. In ancient Greek texts, the ballista is usually referred to as a palintone, which threw stones; although it was a complicated, expensive design it was very efficient. The engineers at Rhodes were known to modify their palintones to throw arrows as well as stones.

The Greek ballistae are thought to have been primarily a siege weapon. All components that were not made of wood were transported and assembled with local wood, if necessary.

Usksider has asked me whether the ancient Greeks used a shipboard ballista. However, although they used the ballista in siege warfare it wasn’t until the late 4th century BC that ballistae were introduced onto ships. The first people to do this were the Macedonians and Alexander the Great would eventually transform the ballista into a compelling war machine!

In naval warfare ballistae would be used to catapult an incendiary substance (although we are not sure what it was made up of!) A fire on board a ship would create chaos allowing the enemy to use grappling hooks to board the ship and take control of it.

Caesar’s Gallic War tells us that in the conquest of Britain 55BC, the Romans used archers and ballistae on board their boats to fire at the British.

The authors of classical antiquity often speak of the Scythians as being the foremost archers of their day. The Scythian bow was introduced into Greece at an early date, possibly the 7th century BC when the first Greek colonies had been established on the north coast of the Black Sea. Archaeologists have found remains of these bows in this area.

In the 5th century BC the city guard of Athens was mostly recruited from Scythian slaves. Thucydides (an historian of the 5th century BC) says that during the Peloponnesian War (432-404BC) the Athenian army had 200 mounted archers and the 1600 foot archers included 1200 Scythians.

Ancient Greece relied more on their hoplites (a bit like a cavalry, armed with sword, lance etc.) than on their archers. Yet although the bow was neglected for military purposes, sea captains of the 7th century BC, whose entire fortune was perhaps tied up in his ship and cargo and who could expect to meet pirates etc., still needed archers to defend their ships. Archers were also used to defend Greek citizens of the new colonies as Athens expanded its empire.

Identifying the different types of bow used in ancient times isn’t easy. While no intact example of the Scythian bow has been found, scattered fragments suggest that it was composite. That means it was made up of several pieces of wood, glued together with sinew.

The whole weapon was quite short - to judge from contemporary pictures it must have been 30-40 inches (75-100cms). The Scythian bow is sometimes also referred to as Cupid’s bow. Below is a picture of a replica Scythian bow:

However the term ‘Scythian bow’ is very misleading since many different areas (i.e. Persia, Greece) used this weapon over such a long period. Even in antiquity it was already referred to as ‘Scythian arcus’.

I have often mentioned the Scythians in my comments on King Kevin’s blog. At one time the mere mention of their name was enough to evoke terror across most of Europe and parts of Asia. Scholars argue about where they originated but during the 5th and 4th they occupied the plains of southern Ukraine which are still dotted with their burial mounds.

What makes the Scythians so fascinating is that a fifth of the female burials have been found to be accompanied by bows, arrows, and armour. The existence of such women was rather disturbing for the patriarchal society of ancient Greece, and Greek storytellers (presumably male) spun tales of how these wild women burnt off their right breasts, in order to pull back a bowstring.

Personally I think this is rubbish, all they needed was a chest guard which is what women (and some men!) use nowadays in archery. There is a word, still in the medical lexicon today, which indicates an absence of breasts: amazia. The Ancient Greeks therefore called the warrior women Amazons. The Amazons worshipped Artemis, goddess of hunting because of her associations with war and the bow.

The Amazon features on the right in the picture below:

On the 4th November 1922, Howard Carter uncovered archery equipment in the tomb of Tutankhamun. There were numerous self bows and 27 composite bows and some of the bows were actually gilded.

There was also a bowcase so the Pharaoh could store away his precious bows and protect them from damage caused by insects which could be a problem in ancient times. In the Odyssey, Odysseus turned his bow ‘on every side, making trail of it here and there in case grubs had eaten the pieces of horn’.

The bowcase shows Tutankhamun hunting and a chest also found in the tomb portrays him hunting with the composite bow. I don’t know if any of these will be on display in the O2 exhibition in London!

The British Museum have 4 Egyptian bows, which date from between 2,300-1,400BC. Three of them are made of acacia wood and they vary in length. The Egyptians used reed arrows which were fletched with three feathers and tipped with flint, hardwood and later with copper and bronze.

By the third century, Mithraism was officially sanctioned by the Roman Emperors and according to the fourth century Historia Augusta, the emperor Commodus participated in its mysteries.

Women however were excluded from Mithraism and some scholars argue that the eventual rise in popularity of Christianity was because it offered women a role, albeit usually a subordinate one.

As Tylluan pointed out the early Church had quite a few problems with Mithras. Roman Mithras was perhaps the greatest rival to early Christianity for many reasons. As well as being a popular Pagan religion practiced by the Roman army, Mithraism had many similarities to Christianity.

As Christianity gained strength and became the formal religion of the Roman Empire, the 'Cult of Mithras' was one of the first Pagan cults to come under attack in the fifth century. Temples of Mithras, like most other Pagan temples, were destroyed and Churches built on them. It is quite fortunate that some remains e.g. the temples at Hadrian's Wall, survive.

Mithraism was the last state Pagan religion in Europe however Mithras still influences our lives today even if we do not realize it. The Christian Church could not eradicate Mithraism completely and in particular could not prevent people celebrating his birthday. The Church therefore took over the festival and we know it as Christmas - December 25th!!

Here is a picture of the remains of the Temple of Mithras in London:

Mithraic shrines are more easily identified in all areas of the Roman Empire than shrines of other cults because of their distinctive design. In Britain, in the 1950s a temple was excavated along the banks of the Walbrook in the City of London and also three temples to Mithras have been found on Hadrian's Wall at Housesteads, Carrawburgh and Rudchester.

Here is a picture of one of the temples excavated on Hadrian's Wall:

Members of Mithras were largely soldiers which may be due to the cults emphasis on truth, honour and courage. Mithraic groups were highly secretive, meeting in underground shrines called the mithraeum, with a complex hierarchy of 7 grades from ‘raven’ to ‘father’ through which the initiates (all male) had to pass.

These grades may have given a sense of purpose and fulfillment and each man had to wear a costume and headmask to symbolize his grade. Initiation into each grade involved severe tests and training. At Carrawburgh an 'ordeal pit' was found as well as a bench very close to a large fire which may have been used in the ordeals of heat, cold and fasting.

The geographical spread of Mithraism is best explained by the travels of its members who set up new centres in the places where they were sent by their military or commercial occupation. The benefits of initiation into Mithraism may have been the close feeling of community provided by membership of the all-male group. This may have been attractive to soldiers and merchants who were far from home and might have felt they lacked sufficient social support.

Usksider has asked me about the origins of Mithras/Mithraic Mysteries. However the exact origins remain much debated. I will therefore do 3 posts to introduce the basics that are known about Mithras.

The Mysteries of Mithras (or Mithraism as it is sometimes called today), first entered Europe when Alexander the Great conquered Asia Minor. When the Romans conquered the Kingdom of Pergamum, and stationed two legions of soldiers on the Euphrates, Mithraism grew to be a popular cult in the West. In particular it developed and spread within the Roman Empire during the reign of Nero.

Mithras is the Roman name for the Indo-Persian god Mitra/Mithra. Mitra is part of the Hindu pantheon, and Mithra is one of several minor deities in the Zoroastrian pantheon. However in both Hinduism and Zoroastrianism Mitra/Mithra lacked his own cult.

Mithra is the god of the light between heaven and earth; he is also associated with the light of the sun. Mitra is mentioned in the Hindu book Vedas, while Mithra is the subject of hymns in the Zoroastrian Avesta, a text compiled during the Sassanian period (224-640 AD) to preserve a much older oral tradition.

However the members of the Roman cult of Mithras (which is known as the ‘mystery’ cult) did not write anything down, and everything was done through initiation rites. This means our information about the sect derives mostly from Christian authors who had their own agenda and therefore must be treated with a certain amount of caution.

Ancient Egyptian archers were the most feared units of the Egyptian army. In early times archers stood behind the protective shields of the infantry because they lacked body armour and helmets which made them vulnerable. However, I believe that by placing them so far back this would have affected the distance of their arrow flight and would not have allowed them to shoot so far into the enemy’s lines.

An archer in ancient Egypt was first taught the basics on a self bow, made from a single piece of wood. Then, after undergoing exercises designed to develop their muscles and being taught how to stand, they would learn to shoot using the composite bow, made from several pieces of wood and horn glued together. On the left forearm archers wore a leather guard to protect against the kick of the string, this would help prevent bruising.

The Nubian mercenaries do not appear to have used quivers to carry their arrows. Quivers would have been carried on the back or hanging from the right hand side of the waist. In the tomb of Mesehti, a governor at Asyut during the Middle Kingdom (2040-1640BC) a model shows 40 Nubian archers in distinctive attire and armaments and as you can see below they are carrying their arrows in their right hand. They are probably the oldest military miniatures in the world.

In my post 'The military skills of Tuthmosis III' I mentioned that the pharaoh had killed 120 elephants with his bow and arrow. Technomist asked me whether Tuthmosis killed all the elephants and this is a very interesting question.

Personally I am surprised he killed even one. During Tuthmosis III reign Egyptian warfare was undergoing a transformation but it seems strange that this pharaoh had encountered elephants but had not decided to use them in battle.

Much later, in the ancient Greek and Roman world elephants could (and often did) almost solely determine the course of battle.

When Antiochas had won an elephant-victory over the terrified Gauls, he said, 'Shame my men, whose salvation came through these sixteen beasts. If the novelty of their appearance had not struck the enemy with panic, where should we have been?' Had Antiochas not possessed his sixteen elephants, he might well have lost the battle.

Elephants were not only terrifying in battle because of their size but also because as the Roman writer Arrian mentions their tusks were armed with sharp iron, and the Roman poet Silius Italicus refers to spears fastened to the tusks.

Elephants equipped like this could be used effectively to rout enemy cavalry. Polyaenus, another Roman writer, records that “Caesar had one large elephant, which was equipped with armour and carried archers and slingers in its tower.'

It could be Tuthmosis III chose not to use these animals because although tremendously potential, they were also unpredictable in battle. Therefore if they got out of hand and broke the line in a phalanx their mahouts had to kill them.

Tuthmosis III’s son Amenhotep II (1450-1397BC) also took up his father’s activity of being driven around in a chariot and shooting arrows at copper targets. Here is a picture of Amenhotep II at Karnak Temple, Egypt enjoying his target practice:

In some reliefs we can see that both Tuthmosis and Amenhotep used the self bow along with the composite – suggesting that the self bow (made from a single piece of wood) had not been wiped out by the introduction of the more advanced powerful composite type (made from several pieces and glued together using sinew). Amenhotep II was found buried with a composite bow.

Amenhotep II claimed to have learned archery in his youth from the god Min who taught him to draw his bow to his ear. (How far you draw your bow is important and I’ll deal with it in later blogs).

The Stela of Amenhotep II (this is a large block of stone with information about the king written on it) tells us how the pharaoh drew three hundred bows in order to examine the workmanship. This is similar to the story of Odysseus in Homer’s Odyssey when he chose a perfect bow that only he was able to draw.

Here is a picture of the head of Amenhotep II made from black granite:

Usksider mentioned that I might like to blog some of the campaigns of my favourite pharaoh Tuthmosis III.

What is so remarkable for me about this particular pharaoh is that he was never defeated in any battle!

In year 24 of his reign, (which is how the ancient Egyptians calculated time) the famous battle of Megiddo took place. The Annals of Tuthmosis III describes how the treasures of Megiddo were moved to Egypt after the defeat of the city and we are told that in year 25 of his reign the pharaoh built a botanical garden in Karnak temple to commemorate this campaign. Another of his famous battles was the Battle of Kadesh in year 29-32 of his reign.

Here is a picture of the Annals of Tuthmosis III at Karnak:

Tuthmosis was remarkable in many ways. He was the first pharaoh to use sea-power to carry out his attacks and also to cross the Euphrates. His dedicated troops even carried boats across land in order to carry out these military campaigns.

To stop rebellions he had a rather different approach to simply attacking and killing the male population and taking the women and children as slaves. Instead Tuthmosis took male members of certain families hostage and taught them Egyptian culture and language in order to increase their loyalty to him. This meant that the rulers of the city states of Syria and Palestine became servants to Egypt.

Tuthmosis III was the first Egyptian pharaoh to take his army as far as he did, thus spreading Egyptian culture.

Also for the first time in Egyptian history, bows are listed among captured items. In the Annals of Tuthmosis we are told that in year 35, bows were taken as booty and these are believed to have come from Syria. In Northern Syria during one of his campaigns, he organised an elephant hunt in which he killed 120 elephants using the bow and arrow!

Tuthmosis III was definitely an archer pharaoh!

In my earlier post 'The poor defeating the rich' Tylluan and Usksider have raised an interesting question. The wealthy men of society became hoplite soldiers fighting from horseback with either sword or lance. They believed that hand-to-hand fighting was the only method of warfare that was moral and dignified.

It would seem to be true that as Tylluan and Usksider pointed out, the wealthy hoplites disapproved of the poor classes for wounding and killing them with a bow and arrow, a weapon that did not allow the hoplites to fight the enemy hand-to-hand.

A passage in Herodotus mentions that the Spartan Kallikrates was shot in the side by an arrow at the battle of Plataea and died complaining that he had not struck a blow or done a deed to match his eagerness.

The added detail that Kallikrates was ‘sitting in his rank’ at the time suggests the Spartans sat on the ground to avoid the arrow-storm, presumably crouching under their shields. This may account for the reason why the Greeks always had an ambivalent attiude towards the bow, even though it was such an effective weapon.

I had previously mentioned to Tylluan that one of my favourite pharaohs was Tuthmosis III because of his military ability and attitude to archery. Here is a picture of a statue of him:

Tuthmosis III was a New Kingdom pharaoh and ruled from 1504-1450BC. Tuthmosis was his Greek name meaning 'Born of the God Thoth'; his Egyptian name would have been Djehutymes. In some of the ancient reliefs Tuthmosis III is depicted enjoying one of his favourite activities - this was to be driven fast in a chariot and shooting arrows at targets! He would make the Egyptian army watch him shoot his arrows into a thick plate of copper set up on a pole.

It was recorded that Tuthmosis managed to shoot his arrow into the copper with such force that it came out the other side. He had the plate (with the arrow still in it) set up in a temple dedicated to the god Amun. This is similar to the Greeks: Herakles bow was dedicated in the Temple of Apollo Alaios at Krimissa.

However modern scholars believe the penetrating power of these Pharaonic arrows was exaggerated. An arrow might be expected to pierce a metal plate 0.002-0.003m thick but not much more. As the ruler of Egypt and an intermediary between the Gods and mortals, the pharaoh reported his activities on a greater than human scale. It may have been a bit of royal propaganda!

Kevin mentioned he would like to see a picture of Hathor. Here is a picture - Hathor is the cow goddess of Egypt and the picture is taken from the temple wall at Memphis, Egypt. She was worshipped as a cow deity from 2,700BC and was the goddess of love, beauty, music and dance.

The milk that flowed from her udders was seen as a way to heaven and she was also held responsible for the annually inundation of the Nile.
The Greeks associated Hathor with their own Aphrodite.

In my last post I mentioned that when the Hyksos conquered ancient Egypt, the Egyptians were forced to adapt their methods of fighting.

Not only did the Hyksos introduce the composite bow into Egypt, they also introduced the horse. Eventually this would lead to the invention of the horse drawn chariot (Egyptian wrrt or mrkbt) which was the most crucial adaptation to Egyptian warfare.

Each chariot had a driver and a soldier who was armed with a spear, shield and composite bow. On the chariot was a quiver full of arrows for fast reloading, together with axes and javelins.

In some ancient reliefs we see that the driver of the chariot also served as an archer and therefore had to be protected by a shield. The reigns of the chariot are shown strapped around the waist of the driver-come-archer. This picture gives a good idea:

The chariot gave battlefield mobility and allowed them to chase after the retreating enemy - the killing ability was enhanced by the archer. In 1209BC, (New Kingdom) Merneptah, son of Ramesses II used his archers, both on foot and mounted on chariots, to defeat the Libyans killing approximately 9,400 Libyans in the battle.

Below is a picture of restored chariot found in Tutankhamun's tomb:

In ancient Greece the chariot was unsuitable for battle because of the mountainous terrain. Alexander the Great only used the chariot to arrive on the battlefield, he never actually fought from it!