Reserved An Original Greek Set of Four Arrowheads From Alexander The Great's 334BC Battle Of the Granicus River Against the Might of the Persian Empire. Resulting in His Conquest of Asia Minor. Acquired on A grand Tour in 1820

An original small group of four varied types of original ancient Greek arrow heads, socket type, in delightful condition showing good and beautiful natural aged ancient patina. We show and are selling them as a set as examples of the slightly varied types used at the battle.

They were all small heads at that time, as the arrow haft and flight was long and naturally did the major part of the action, but that was the organic part of the complete arrow, that simply rot away within a century in the ground, just leaving the remarkable bronze age head remaining.

Acquired originally in the 1820's while on a Grand Tour of Northern France and the Ottoman Empire. From part three of our ancient arrow heads, spears, lead sling bullets, antiquities and rings from an 1820 Grand Tour Collection. Discovered around 180 years ago in the region of The Battle of the Granicus River during what was known at the time as 'The Grand Tour'. And then acquired by us from the same family of Hamiltons, from their ancestral home's "cabinet of curiosities".

Fought in May 334 BC it was the first of three major battles fought between Alexander the Great and the Persian Empire. Fought in Northwestern Asia Minor, near the site of Troy, it was here that Alexander defeated the forces of the Persian satraps of Asia Minor, including a large force of Greek mercenaries led by Memnon of Rhodes.

The battle took place on the road from Abydos to Dascylium (near modern-day Ergili, Turkey), at the crossing of the Granicus River. Where the ancient Greeks best perceived the need for archers was
when an expeditionary force came to them: if an ancient city knew a siege was facing them, what preparations would they make As Mitylene prepares to secede from the Athenian Empire (428) we see the city taking three preparations to undergo a siege: one was to buy
grain, second was to raise the height of the walls, and the third was to bring in archers from Thrace.
In a siege, the defenders always have the height advantage. They are throwing or shooting from the city walls, the offense is shooting from the ground. Mathematically, the height advantage goes with the square root of two. If, for instance, you are shooting from twice as high, your arrow goes 1.414 times as far. If you are on a battlement
50 feet high, and your opponent is shooting from five feet high, your arrow goes seven times farther than his. (This is purely mechanical, ignoring aerodynamics.)
The bow, among the Greeks, was the principal weapon for the city besieged. The bow being so effective in this situation explains why the first advance in ancient siege machinery was the movable tower. This
is the invention of Dionysius of Syracuse. You build it out of range, as high as the city walls, or even higher, armour the front with hides, move it up and give your archers a fair chance to clear the city walls.
Here, for once, is a situation where archers are fi ghting archers as the main event in ancient Greece. Though siege-towers were constructed out of range, their could always be over-achievers: Philip II, king of Macedon (359-336) and father of Alexander the Great, was inspecting
siege-works when he got his most famous wound an arrow from the city walls knocked his eye out.
Archers on city walls turned many a tide, as victorious besiegers routed a city’s land forces, and, in the excitement of pursuit, got too close to the city walls!

From around 33mm to 35mm long, generic photos

Code: 23854