Mounted archery

Mounted archery is the practice of shooting a bow while riding a horse. It lets a rider attack or defend while moving, often without stopping to aim or shoot.

Horse archery: A modern sport that recreates mounted archery through timed courses and target shooting. Its courses make the demands of shooting accurately from a moving horse measurable.
Scythians: Ancient Iranian-speaking nomadic peoples known for their equestrian culture and warfare. Greek accounts and archaeological finds associate them with mounted archery on the steppe.
Parthian shot: A shot fired backward by a mounted archer while riding away from an opponent. It turned apparent retreat into an opportunity to keep attacking pursuers.
Heavy cavalry: Cavalry equipped and organized for forceful close combat, often with armor and lances. Heavy cavalry sought decisive contact, while mounted archers usually relied on distance and movement.
Pax Mongolica: A period of relative stability and intensified exchange across much of Mongol-ruled Eurasia. Mongol conquests, enabled partly by mobile mounted forces, created conditions for wider Eurasian connections.
Composite bow: A bow made from layers of materials such as wood, horn, and sinew. Its compact size and power suited archers who needed to shoot from horseback.
Parthian Empire: An Iranian empire that ruled much of the Near East from the third century BCE to the third century CE. Parthian cavalry made the feigned retreat and backward shot famous.
Feigned retreat: A military tactic in which a force pretends to flee to draw an opponent into pursuit. Mounted archers could use withdrawal to stretch enemy formations and expose them to attack.
Mounted infantry: Infantry transported by horses but generally fighting on foot. Mounted infantry used horses for movement, not as platforms for shooting in combat.
Silk Road: A network of trade routes linking East Asia with Central Asia, the Middle East, and Europe. Empires built by mobile horse forces governed and protected sections of these routes.

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