KORYVANTES in BIGA / Turkey - World Traditional Archery Competition, August 15-17 2014

The Traditional Archery team of the Association of Historical Studies KORYVANTES after accepting the kind invitation of the Turkish Traditional Archery Federation, participated in the 5th International Traditional Archery Games ETRAC , which were helded in Biga of Turkey, between 15 to 17 August 2014. 

The ETRAC competition (Eurasian Traditional Archery Competitions), garnered the global attention of the Traditional and Horseback Archery community, with the participation of over 400 archers from Turkey, China, Poland, Romania, Greece, Korea, Germany, England, Spain, Azerbaijan, Singapore Slovakia, Turkmenistan, Hungary, USA, Malaysia, Kazakhstan, Brazil, recognised as one of the elite archery events worldwide.




It was a great honor for the Greek History, the choice of the Turkish organizers to honour the famous Battle of Granicus river -  the first conflict and victory of Alexander III of Macedon (Alexander the Great) wich was given in 334 BC against the Achaemenid Empire. Especially this year and honoring the Battle, the competition moved to the real historical battlefield of Granicus River, near the river, in the same grounds which Alexander the Great and the Macedonian Phalanx fought. 

The Traditional Archery team of the Association "KORYVANTES" participated in the Games with 17 archers from Athens, Lamia, Thessaloniki, Patras, Florina symbolically restoring the presence of Greek hoplite-archers on a (very) historical place for Hellenism . Archers of our team like  Kostas Papantoniou, Dimoshakis Spyros Chasalevris Taxiarchis, Yiannis Papadopoulos, Spyros Bakas obtained high scores in increased difficulty / long distance targets. In the team's mission  also attended the Academy of Olympic Archery "Pelopos" with one archer and four wrestlers from the "Evzones" Sport Club and the Martial Arts Academy "Panagiotis Stamelos".

As part of the celebrations for the anniversary of the Battle of the Granicus River, and after the kind  invitation of the Turkish authorities, our Association helded public demonstrations in the hundreds of spectators and athletes , gathering exceptional praises for the high quality result:

• Demonstration of restored orders and movements of archers of the Hellenistic period, based on the surviving texts of Asclepiodotus 

• Demonstration of "Pagkration" wrestling , with the participation of the Pankration World Champion for year 2013 Mrs Stamelou Olga and Mr Athanasios Barkas multi-Champion and member of the Greek National Team of Tae-Kwon-Do. 

• Demonstration of restored orders and movements of Sarissa pikeman of the Hellenistic period, while also presenting the comparative advantages against a hoplite of the Classical Period

The KORYVANTES team had also the special honor to accept the kind invitation of  the Turkish Organisers and the Biga Kaimakam (local governor) that a group of restored hoplite and archers would symbolically cross the Granicus riverbed, in the very special spot that - under the Turkish archaeologists - the Army of Alexander the Great crossed the river. Commemorating this historic Battle of Greek History, 5 hoplites & 2 archers of our Association, symbolically crossed the Granicus River -while applaused by the spectators- connecting thus the historical memory of  23 centuries in the same grounds that the Alexander's Phallanxes glorified.

The Association has KORYVANTES would like to thank: 

• The Kaimakam (governor) of the province of Biga, Mr. Fatih Genel for the excellent hospitality and the direct support to every need of our mission 

• Mr. Sami Genel, President of the Turkish Federation of Traditional Archery for the trust and support of the international work of the Association 

• Mr. Metin Ates, good friend of KORYVANTES Association and Vice President for Europe of the World Federation of Traditional Archery (WTAF Europe), for the kind invitation and full promotion of the Association's work in the Federation. 

• Mr. Eren Kalinbacak, Member of the Association KORYVANTES and team leader of the Traditional Archery team of Samsun, on the multilevel technical and moral support of the mission 

• The Traditional Archery instructor of  KORYVANTES Association Mr. Papantoniou Kostas for the perfect supervising throughout the last years.

• The"Evzones" Sport Club and the Martial Arts Academy "Panagiotis Stamelos" for the excellent technical supervising of "Pankration' demonstration.

• The "Academy of Historical European Martial Arts" and instructor George Georgas ( MFFG Trainer and Certified Coach of Greek Fencing Fencing Federation) for the technical supervision of the closed battle demonstrations

• The Martial Arts master Nikos Zarmakoupis for the valuable logistical help in our mission 

Association of Historical Studies "KORYVANTES"

Commemorative photo of "KORYVANTES" mission team from the Game-field.

The Archer of our team, Mr Giannis Papadopoulos shooting on midle range targets.

The archer of our team, Mrs Erasmia Smyroglou, participating in the contest

Demonstration of restored orders and movements of archers of the Hellenistic period, based on the surviving texts of Asclepiodotus

Demonstration of restored orders and movements of archers of the Hellenistic period, based on the surviving texts of Asclepiodotus

The Traditional Archery instructor of  KORYVANTES Association Mr. Papantoniou Kostas shooting on midle range shots

Mr. Sami Genel, President of the Turkish Federation of Traditional Archery trying a sarissa pike of our Association

Commemorative photo with the president of the World Traditional Archery Federation , Mr Won

The Archer of our team, Mr Taxiarchis Chasalevris shooting on midle range targets.

The Kaimakam (governor) of the province of Biga, Mr. Fatih Genel tryin the use of a sarissa pike of our Association.

Demonstration of restored orders and movements of archers of the Hellenistic period, based on the surviving texts of Asclepiodotus

Members of KORYVANTES team, with reconstructed armour of Hellenistic, Late Mycenaean and Classical period

Demonstration of restored orders and movements of archers of the Hellenistic period, based on the surviving texts of Asclepiodotus

Demonstration of "Pankration"wrestling with the participation of Mr Athanasios Barkas multi-Champion and member of the Greek National Team of Tae-Kwon-Do

Commemorative photo of "KORYVANTES" mission team from the Game-field.

Demonstration of "Pankration"wrestling with the participation of the Pankration World Champion for year 2013 Mrs Stamelou Olga