Concerning Tactics

[sdi]

Homer usually calls Apollon ἑκάεργος "sniper," but Artemis ἰοχέαιρα "arrow-pourer," which suggests that Apollon specializes in accuracy while Artemis specializes in speed. This is a point worth contemplation.

Comments

[k_a_nitz]

Arrow-pourer suggests volume to me - the machine-gun approach.

[sdi]

Exactly, I agree.

[randomactsofkarmasc]

Another possible interpretation... you don't see a sniper: you cannot look directly at the Sun.

A pourer in modern times is a little spout you attach to a bottle of spirits, so you can more easily control what is pouring. I have no idea if they had something similar in ancient Greece, but pouring (in general) seems to be more controlled than dumping. And the Moon reflects *some* of the Sun's light, but only some, so you can look directly at the Moon.

[sdi]

Regarding "pour," my dictionary gives "(of liquids) to pour, (of solid objects) to send thick and fast as in a shower."

At least from what I've read, traditionally bowmen would specialize either in marksmanship or speed. Putting a single arrow where you want it to go is preferable for a single target (whether in hunting or in war), while putting as many arrows as you can into the air as fast as you can is preferable for massed formations (e.g. in war). This is the reverse of the usual associations (Apollo associated with war, Artemis with hunting) and so I think it is interesting; perhaps especially since the archaic characterizations of those two (e.g. in the Iliad, in the Homeric Hymns) is so different from their classical and Hellenistic characterizations...