Bows and Archers in Greek Archaic Poetry: Linguistic, Textual and Mythological Comparisons

My Phd project currently in progress concerns bows and archers in Greek archaic poetry, in a comparative perspective, both on a mythological and linguistic level. We shall first focus on Greek linguistic items concerning bows and archers in order to appreciate the role of word-inheritance and word-loaning in Greek weaponry vocabulary. On the narrative and mythological points of view, Indian and Hittite cultures constitute the main comparison pillars of this project. I shall secondly focus on the Hittite heritage which, according to its syncretic nature, carries cultural elements of the oriental world, as can be seen in many of its rituals. An important goal of this communication is to show, through a textual and comparative approach, that Greek archaic texts hold cultural elements of the oriental world concerning the bow, especially the link between bows and masculinity.