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Greek and Roman authors like Vegetius (fl. 4th century AD) note repeatedly the use of arrow firing weapons such as arcuballista and manuballista respectively cheiroballistra. While most scholars agree that one or more of these terms refer to handheld mechanical weapons, there is disagreement about whether these were flexion bows or torsion ...
Bullet bow, English bullet bow, pellet crossbow [1] (European) Cheiroballistra, hirovallistra hand ballista (Roman, Greek) Crossbow (European, Chinese) Gastraphetes, gastrafetis (Greek) Pistol crossbow; Repeating crossbow, chu ko nu, zhuge (Chinese) Skåne lockbow (European) Stone bow (European)
The earliest crossbow-like weapons in Europe probably emerged around the late 5th century BC when the gastraphetes, an ancient Greek crossbow, appeared. The device was described by the Greco-Roman author Heron of Alexandria of Roman Egypt in his Belopoeica ("On Catapult-making"), which draws on an earlier account of Greek engineer Ctesibius ...
A very large and powerful crossbow. Could be mounted on carts. Similar weapons mounted on elephants were used by the Khmer Empire. [3] Onager: 353 BC Rome: The Onager was a Roman torsion powered siege engine. It is commonly depicted as a catapult with a bowl, bucket, or sling at the end of its throwing arm. Trebuchet: 4th Century BC China
The cheiroballistra (Greek: χειροβαλλίστρα) or manuballista , which translates in all its forms to "hand ballista", was an imperial-era Roman siege engine. Designed by Hero of Alexandria and mostly composed of metal (the spring mechanism and the skeins), it shot bolts that were smaller than those in other forms of ballistae and ...
The early ballistae in Ancient Greece were developed from two weapons called oxybeles and gastraphetes. The gastraphetes ('belly-bow') was a handheld crossbow. It had a composite prod and was spanned by bracing the front end of the weapon against the ground while placing the end of a slider mechanism against the stomach.
A crossbow is a ranged weapon using an elastic launching device consisting of a bow-like assembly called a prod, mounted horizontally on a main frame called a tiller, which is hand-held in a similar fashion to the stock of a long gun.
Reproductions of ancient Greek artillery, including catapults such as the polybolos (to the left in the foreground) and a large, early crossbow known as the gastraphetes (mounted on the wall in the background) Many attempts were made in modern times to reproduce the ancient artillery pieces, following their ancient descriptions, and to test them.