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Modern day archers and recreational hunters have come to appreciate the ease of using a compound bow when competing or hunting. Although many in the archery community started out and honed their skills with different types and models of traditional bows, they eventually transitioned into using compound bows.

The strongest appeal of a compound bow to an archer or a hunter is that it has a system of pulleys that allow them to draw the string with ease. To achieve precision, a compound bow shooter needs only to stand in the right position, raise the bow, draw the string and then let the pulley system work. The pulleys a.k.a. cams are the components that plausibly make a compound bow superior to a traditional or recurve bow.

Archery is Recognized as a Form of Martial Art

image of modern-day archerMany entered the world of archery and bowhunting because they were inspired by the epic heroes popularized by video games. Actually, archery is a type of martial art recognized as one the oldest arts still in practice today.

As a martial art, it is distinguished as the armed type similar to swordsmanship, spearmandship and the likes. It stands in contrast to unarmed martial arts that focus on using the hands and feet to grapple, wrestle and eventually immobilize an opponent.

Citing Examples of Famous Ancient Archers From Around the World

Archery was so popular during ancient times that many literary works and folklore from around the world romanticized archers and bowhunters as characters with heroic abilities. The following are some examples of fictional characters idealized in the past by early archery enthusiasts, which made archery popular worldwide.

Odysseus, whose role in the Greek poem The Iliad by Homer, is that of a war hero who returned home after 20 years. Unrecognized by his people, he competed in an archery contest in which the archer must have the same superior skills in archery as that of Odysseus. The winner’s prize is the betrothal to Odysseus’ beautiful wife. The war hero of course won the competition because no one else was able to equal his archery skills.
Hou Yi is known in Chinese mythology as the god of archery, who belonged to a highly respected group of deities belonging to the celestial hierarchy recorded 2000 years ago. Hou Yi’s most important feat was that of shooting down 9 of the 10 suns that have been burning and turning the planet into a wasteland. Still, the archery god allowed one of the suns to continue burning to give the Earth light and warmth.

Arjuna is the main character of the Hindu epic poem Mahabharata. The goddess Gandiva gifted Arjuna with a magical golden bow that never ran out of arrows. However, the arrow was so powerful, Arjuna had deemed it best to return the bow to the gods. In India, an award known as Arjuna is bestowed annually to outstanding Olympic athletes who demonstrated exceptional self-discipline and leadership qualities.