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Short description

The Getai had adept archers and skirmishers who feared no enemy.

Description

The Getai were famed for their archery skills in the ancient world, as the bow was one of their most important and powerful weapons. The Geto-Dacian archers, either on foot or horseback, used composite bows to shoot waves of arrows from a distance, thinning the enemy lines before a charge. As if the power of the composite bow wasn't enough, the arrow tips were dipped in viper venom thus making them even a more deadly opponent. However, the archers should not be used without serious consideration in melee combat as they lack armour and carry only a knife or short sword for hand-to-hand combat.

The Getai were master archers with the composite bow, another indicator of the influence of the neighbouring Scythians and Sarmatians upon the Getai. By the third century BC, the composite bow was spreading around the mouth of the Danube brought here by the Scythian tribes. As a secondary weapon, these men carry only a knife or a short "sica" for close fighting, a situation they try and avoid. Ovidius called these men "Pharetrati", as they always carried a scabbard with bows, and says they had no fear of the Romans.

"There is no one among the Sarmatians and the Getai who doesn't wear a scabbard with a bow and arrows dipped in viper venom" - Ovidius

"The majority of these nations [Getai and Sarmatians] are not afraid of the weapons of the soldiers of the Roman army. They have full confidence in their bows and in their quivers of arrows and in their horses who know how to handle long distances and to endure a long time without food and water." - Ovidius

"The Getai, neighbours of the Scythians, use the same weapons as these do, they are all horsemen and archers" - Thucydides