Cydonia Spicula

Earlier in the morning, I was pondering a physics question: how much force does an arrow lose when shot in retreat compared to an arrow shot while standing still? The Parthians were famous for performing this technique on horseback, hence the term “Parthian shot”.

And so later, while I was reading Ecl. 10 for the first time, I found to my surprise that Vergil referred to the Parthians. In Ecl. 10.59–60, Vergil has Gallus contemplate living the life of a hunter.

… libet Partho torquere Cydonia cornu
spicula
(LCL 63, p. 92)

For these lines, the commentary I was using noted that the reeds of Crete made effective arrows, so it wasn’t long until I discovered that Cydonia was an ancient city of Crete (thanks, Wikipedia). But try as I might, the UB library website didn’t yield any promising material on furthering my knowledge on what Cydonian arrows were.

So in desperation, I turned to the wider web, and Reddit contained some relevant claims. This post came to the conclusion that the association between Cretans and archers was developed as a market brand in ancient Greece (the same Reddit account made an earlier post that probably developed that argument). Apparently, the Greeks often hired Cretan mercenaries, who were often archers. As the Greeks demanded more archers, the Cretans would comply by sending more archers. Thus, the market solidified the association between Cretans and archers.

That was enough for me to feel impressed by Vergil’s talent. The association between Cretans and archery was ancient and Greek. The association between Parthians and archery was Roman and particularly relevant to Vergil’s time. Vergil had merged both the Roman and the Greek into this passage.

(As for the relevance of the Parthians in Vergil’s time, note that Crassus is disastrously defeated by the Parthians at Carrhae in 53 BCE. Julius Caesar had been intending to launch a campaign against the Parthians, but was assassinated before he made that move. Marc Antony fulfilled Caesar’s intent in 41 BCE, but the Parthians are too strong: by 40 BCE, they had taken Syria. Antony’s counterattack in 36 BCE also ends in failure.)

But what about the arrows? That first post I referenced makes the claim that Cretan archers “sometimes used arrows with very large bronze tips”. Unfortunately, no further sources are given. Once more, the UB library website yielded nothing promising. So I’ll give up my quest for now on what exactly Cretan arrows are, but they might be an interesting addition to my physics question: How do Cretan arrows affect the force of impact in a regular shot versus a Parthian shot? Maybe Gallus knew.