Editing Scythians (section)

===Archery===
[[File:Scythian Bronze Arrowheads c700-300 BC.jpeg|thumb|right|Scythian bronze arrowheads, c700-300 BC]]
Their typical weapon was the very [[recurve bow|recurved]] or reflex [[Composite bow|composite]] bow that was easy to use for mounted warriors. Scythian bows were the most complex composite bows in both their recurved profiles and their cross-sections, highly engineered and made from wood, horn, sinew, and sturgeon fish glue through laborious craftsmanship, and were capable of delivering military draw weights.{{sfn|Harmatta|1996|p=182}}{{sfn|Loades|2019|p=162-163}}{{sfn|Loades|2019|p=217-219}} Although the shape of Scythian arrows changed with time, they maintained a basic structure. Scythian arrows had shafts made of reed or birch wood, with arrowheads mostly of bronze, and more rarely iron and bone.{{sfn|Harmatta|1996|p=182}}{{sfn|Loades|2019|p=222-223}}{{sfn|Kramberger|2014|p=5-9}} The shape of Scythian bows and the shape of their bronze arrowheads made them the most powerful firing weapon of their time, due to which they were adopted by West Asian armies in the 7nd century BC.{{sfn|Ivantchik|2018}}{{sfn|Dugaw|Lipschits|Stiebel|2020|p=81}}

When not used, Scythian bows and arrows were kept in a combined quiver-bowcase called a [[Gorytos|{{translit|grc|gōrytos}}]]. Scythian {{translit|grc|gōrytoi}} hung from belts at the left hip, with the arrows usually taken using the bow hand and drawn on the bowstring using the right hand, although the Scythians were skilled at ambidextrous archery.{{sfn|Rolle|1989|p=65}}{{sfn|Parzinger|2004|p=75-77}}{{sfn|Loades|2019|p=219-220}} Scythian bows and arrows might have required the use of [[Thumb ring#Archery|thumb rings]] to be drawn, although none have been found yet, possibly because they might have been made of perishable materials.{{sfn|Loades|2019|p=221}}

The Scythians coated their arrows with a potent poison referred to in Greek as {{translit|grc|skythikon}} ({{langx|grc|σκυθικον|translit=skuthikon}}). To prepare this poison, the Scythians mixed decomposing [[adder]]s with putefried human blood and dung.{{sfn|Rolle|1989|p=65}}{{sfn|Mayor|2003|p=71-72}}{{sfn|Loades|2019|p=223-224}} This combined [[snake venom]] and infections such as [[tetanus]] or [[gangrene]] from the dung, which thrived in the blood.{{sfn|Rolle|1989|p=65}} Thus, the {{translit|grc|skythikon}} caused such lasting harm that even minor wounds from arrows coated were likely lethal.{{sfn|Rolle|1989|p=65}} The {{translit|grc|skythikon}} was not used for hunting since the meat would not have been consumable.{{sfn|Mayor|2003|p=73-74}} The rotting stench of the {{translit|grc|skythikon}} also functioned as chemical weapons, aided by the ancient belief that foul miasmas caused disease.{{sfn|Mayor|2003|p=71-72}} Another poison used by the Scythians to coat their arrows was [[Conium maculatum|hemlock]].{{sfn|Rolle|1989|p=65}}