21 Comments

Another brilliant and captivating essay. It makes sense to me that they would use the right hand for several reasons, including many you already laid out. I’m reminded that, when the Romans said goodbye to one another, they’d often say, “Eo dextro pede,” which means “go forth on your right foot [first].” And when Roman soldiers took their first step when marching in formation, it was always on their right foot for good luck. A person’s power (virtue) was also believed to be contained in the right hand. So I wonder if they were thinking that in using the skin from the right hand they were sort of giving their quivers a “kevlar” sort of coating.

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I’m so embarrassed. The Latin should be “Eas dextro pede.” Inexcusable. 😂

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Hey, it sounded good to me :-) That's really interesting about the Romans' preference for beginning with the right foot, and I have to agree there is some connection. I like the analogy of the skin being like kevlar :-) There had to have been some sense that there was immense power in it.

I've been thinking a lot about what I'm going to call the "pledge" of the right hand and how it relates to oath-taking and deal-making since ancient times, including in mythology. Dumezil tackles some of this in his book Mitra-Varuna when he talks about figures like the Norse god Tyr, who pledged his hand in a (false) oath and ended up sacrificing it to the wolf Fenrir, or of Scaevola who similarly sacrifices his hand in a fire on behalf of the Romans. The Scythians supposedly settled certain disputes with duels, and the loser lost his right hand. It got me thinking about how we still raise our right hands when we swear an oath in court and clasp each other's hands when sealing a deal... is it the remnant of some kind similar of "pledge"? Anyway, this is what happens when I have too much time to think, haha ;-)

Thanks as always for your interesting and insightful comments and for introducing me to a new Latin phrase!

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Jan 1Liked by J. M. Elliott

Great writeup! Thanks for the mention. 😀

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Thanks for reading, James!

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A fascinating, chilling and frighteningly compelling read! *shivers*

Bravo!

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Thanks, Rebecca! Like I always say, who needs horror when we can just read history :-D

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Great article. Herodotus' description of the quiver being decorated with a right hand is very interesting. Just a thought: What if it may have served a practical purpose? Perhaps what Herodotus saw was an archer's glove or tab, constructed partially from human skin, to give it a little extra mojo.

I believe that examples of both gloves and tabs have been found in some digs in central Asia, though I'm not sure any were found among the Royal Scythians the Greek historian would have encountered.

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Thank you, D.S.! That's a really interesting thought! I'm not aware of any gloves or tabs found in Scythian excavations or artwork either, but it would make sense that they used something. I learned traditional archery while I was researching my historical trilogy, and as soon as you mentioned this, I pictured my own deerskin gloves (yikes! ;-) Definitely something to think about!

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Such an interesting read! I love the depth to which you explore the meaning behind it all, including the excerpts that back up these theories. I'm so glad your wrote about this! I'll have to share this with some work buddies who were talking about the human skin aspect.

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I'm so glad you found it interesting, Winston! It's a fascinating subject for me, but I left out a lot of detail because I delved into some of it in a previous post. Still, I'm continually amazed at how sophisticated this philosophy can be. Thanks so much for sharing the article with me!

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Makes me glad to be sinestra, Jacquie! And love it when kernels of truth emerge from ancient storytelling often caricatured as simply fantastical. 💪🏻

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Well, that should prove handy! (I hate myself a little for that, but I can't resist ;-) My favorite facts (and "facts") about the past tend to be the truly bizarre ones, which is probably why I'm better off writing historical fiction than following through on my childhood dream of being an archaeologist.

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😂 No apologies for puns in these parts. Yes, I suspect my love for Ancient History is partly due to Indiana/Tomb Raider - all imagination and no actual danger! One of my favourite Tom Waits lines is: it ain’t no sin to take off your skin and dance around in your bones.

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Very interesting - and yes, a bit horrible too! Modern archaeology and forensics are shedding so much light on what we know, or thought we knew.

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Thanks, Emma. I'm continually amazed at the latest advances in techniques and the level of detail scientists are able to pull from otherwise ordinary samples. It's always great when a historical account or theory can be confirmed, but it's also fun to be surprised by a result no one saw coming. I guess this wasn't a huge surprise, but it's still shocking in its own way...

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Excellent post! Insight I have not read before.

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Thanks so much! I'm glad you found it informative!

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Fascinating! And creepy, of course, to our sanitized sensibilities.

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Thanks, Lausanne! There is sometimes a fine line between fascinating and creepy ;-)

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