Just a thought...

[shank_lander]

In Greek Mythology there is that wonderful group: the Amazon women, the race of Warrior Women that all of Greece fears and therefore vilifies. The Greeks also maintain that in order for this beautiful group of women to operate a bow and arrow effectively they must chop off one, or both, of their breasts - because, in the eyes of those Thinking Men

Comments

Amazons and breasts

[anonymous]

The reason the Bronze Age Greeks concluded that Amazons must have to remove a breast in order to use a bow was that Bronze Age bows were shortbows, and the technique for wielding them involved aiming the weapon directly at the opponent at short range (with no arc), and drawing the bowstring to the sternum (breastbone). For a female archer this would involve having to draw the bowstring to a point directly between her breasts, which as you can imagine would be awkward. Only in later centuries with the development of larger bows with longer strings did it become commonplace to draw the bowstring toward the shoulder, as we do today.

It's worth noting, however, that the Amazons were most likely Scythian and/or Sarmatian horsewomen, not of Greek cultural descent. Horse clans used shortbows in a horizontal orientation, so that they could be fired while mounted (and moving), so the drawstring was pulled more to the belly than to the breastbone, making breasts irrelevant to the process.