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

[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...