PHARETRA
PHARETRA (
φαρέτρα, ap. Herod.
(
φαρετρεών), a quiver. A quiver, full of
arrows, was the usual accompaniment of the bow. [
ARCUS] It was consequently part of the attire of
every nation addicted to archery. Virgil applies to it the epithets
Cressa, Lycia (
Georg. 3.345;
Aen. 7.816); Ovid mentions the
pharetratus Geta (
Epist. de Ponto, 1.8, 6);
Herodotus represents it as part of the ordinary armour of the Persians
(7.61). The quiver, like the bow-case (
corytus), was
principally made of hide or leather (
Hdt.
2.141), but also of wood or metal. It was adorned with gold (Anacr.
14.6;
Verg. A. 4.138,
11.858), painting (Ovid,
Epist.
Her. 21.173), and braiding (
πολύρραπτον, Theocr. 25.265). It had a lid (
πῶμα,
Hom. Il. 4.116;
Od.
9.314). Among the Scythians the quiver and bow-case formed one
object (cf.
Antiq. du Bosp. Cimm. i. pl. 33).
[p. 2.382]
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Scythians with bow-case and quiver.
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The form of the Greek quiver is shown in the cut below. It was suspended from
the right shoulder by a belt [
BALTEUS], passing over the breast and behind the back. Its most
common position was on the left hip, in the usual place
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Pharetrae. (Left-hand figure from the Aeginetan Marbles;
right-hand figure from a Greek vase.)
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of the modern sword, and consequently, as Pindar says,
“under the elbow” (
Ol. 2.151, s. 92) or
“under the arm” (
ὑπωλένιον, Theocr. 17.30). It was worn thus by the Scythians
(Schol.
in Pind.
l.c.）
and by the Egyptians, and is so represented in the preceding figure of the
Amazon Dinomache, copied from a Greek vase (Hope,
Costume of the
Ancients, 1.22). The left-hand figure in the same woodcut is
from one of the Aegina marbles. It is the statue of an Asiatic archer,
probably Paris, whose quiver (fractured in the original) is suspended
equally low, but with the opening towards his right elbow, so that it would
be necessary for him in taking the arrows to pass his hand behind his body
instead of before it. To this fashion was opposed the Cretan method of
carrying the quiver, which is exemplified in the woodcut, Vol. I. p. 416,
and is uniformly seen in the ancient statues of Artemis.
[
J.Y] [
A.H.S]
