The gastraphetes (), also called belly bow or belly shooter, was a hand-held

crossbow A crossbow is a ranged weapon using an Elasticity (physics), elastic launching device consisting of a Bow and arrow, bow-like assembly called a ''prod'', mounted horizontally on a main frame called a ''tiller'', which is hand-held in a similar f ...

used by the

Ancient Greeks Ancient Greece () was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity (), that comprised a loose collection of culturally and linguistically re ...

. It was described in the

1st century File:1st century collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Jesus is crucified by Roman authorities in Judaea (17th century painting). Four different men (Galba, Otho, Vitellius, and Vespasian) claim the title of Emperor within the span of a year; T ...

by the Greek author

Heron of Alexandria Hero of Alexandria (; , , also known as Heron of Alexandria ; probably 1st or 2nd century AD) was a Greek mathematician and engineer who was active in Alexandria in Egypt during the Roman era. He has been described as the greatest experimentali ...

in his work ''Belopoeica'', which draws on an earlier account of the famous Greek engineer

Ctesibius Ctesibius or Ktesibios or Tesibius (; BCE) was a Greek inventor and mathematician in Alexandria, Ptolemaic Egypt. Very little is known of Ctesibius' life, but his inventions were well known in his lifetime. He was likely the first head of th ...

(

fl. ''Floruit'' ( ; usually abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for 'flourished') denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indic ...

285–222 BC). Heron identifies the gastraphetes as the forerunner of the later

catapult A catapult is a ballistics, ballistic device used to launch a projectile at a great distance without the aid of gunpowder or other propellants – particularly various types of ancient and medieval siege engines. A catapult uses the sudden rel ...

, which places its invention some unknown time before c. 420 BC. Unlike later

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

and

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

crossbows, spanning the weapon was not done by pulling up the string but by pushing down a slider mechanism.

Description

A fairly detailed description and drawing of the gastraphetes appears in Heron's ''Belopoeica'' (

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

Βελοποιικά, English translation: ''On arrow-making''), drawn from the account by the 3rd-century BC engineer Ctesibius. The weapon was powered by a

composite bow A composite bow is a traditional bow made from horn, wood, and sinew laminated together, a form of laminated bow. The horn is on the belly, facing the archer, and sinew on the outer side of a wooden core. When the bow is drawn, the sinew (s ...

. It was cocked by resting the stomach in a concavity at the rear of the stock and pressing it down. In this way considerably more energy can be summoned up than by using only one arm of the archer as in the hand-bow. There are no attestations through pictures or archaeological finds, but Heron's description is detailed enough to allow modern reconstructions. According to some authors, the dimensions of the gastraphetes may have involved a prop. A larger version of the gastraphetes were the

oxybeles The oxybeles () was a weapon used by the Ancient Greeks starting in 375 BC. The word is derived from Ancient Greek: οξύς (''oxys'' = sharp, pointed) and βέλος (''belos'' = arrow). The weapon was basically an oversized gastraphetes, a co ...

used in siege warfare. Early

ballista The ballista (Latin, from Ancient Greek, Greek βαλλίστρα ''ballistra'' and that from βάλλω ''ballō'', "throw"), plural ballistae or ballistas, sometimes called bolt thrower, was an Classical antiquity, ancient missile weapon tha ...

later supplanted these, which later developed into smaller versions supplanting the gastraphetes.

Date

According to a long dominant view expressed by E. W. Marsden, the gastraphetes was invented in 399 BC by a team of Greek craftsmen assembled by the tyrant

Dionysius I of Syracuse Dionysius I or Dionysius the Elder ( 432 – 367 BC) was a Greek tyrant of Syracuse, Sicily. He conquered several cities in Sicily and southern Italy, opposed Carthage's influence in Sicily and made Syracuse the most powerful of the Western ...

. However, recent scholarship has pointed out that the historian

Diodorus Siculus Diodorus Siculus or Diodorus of Sicily (; 1st century BC) was an ancient Greece, ancient Greek historian from Sicily. He is known for writing the monumental Universal history (genre), universal history ''Bibliotheca historica'', in forty ...

(fl. 1st century BC) actually did not mention the gastraphetes, but was referring to the invention of the "katapeltikon", a mechanical arrow firing

. Since Heron states in his ''Belopoeica'' that stand-mounted mechanical artillery such as the ''katapeltikon'' was inspired by the earlier hand-held gastraphetes, the invention of handheld crossbows into Greek warfare must have thus occurred some unknown time before 399 BC. The

terminus ante quem A ''terminus post quem'' ('limit after which', sometimes abbreviated TPQ) and ''terminus ante quem'' ('limit before which', abbreviated TAQ) specify the known limits of dating for events or items.. A ''terminus post quem'' is the earliest date t ...

may be more precisely defined as being before 421 BC, since another Greek author, Biton (fl. 2nd century BC), whose reliability has been positively reevaluated by recent scholarship, credits two advanced forms of the gastraphetes to a certain Zopyros. This Zopyros was probably a

Pythagorean Pythagorean, meaning of or pertaining to the ancient Ionian mathematician, philosopher, and music theorist Pythagoras, may refer to: Philosophy * Pythagoreanism, the esoteric and metaphysical beliefs purported to have been held by Pythagoras * Ne ...

engineer from Taranto, Italy. He may have designed his stand-mounted bow-machines on the occasion of the sieges of

Cumae Cumae ( or or ; ) was the first ancient Greek colony of Magna Graecia on the mainland of Italy and was founded by settlers from Euboea in the 8th century BCE. It became a rich Roman city, the remains of which lie near the modern village of ...

and

Miletus Miletus (Ancient Greek: Μίλητος, Mílētos) was an influential ancient Greek city on the western coast of Anatolia, near the mouth of the Maeander River in present day Turkey. Renowned in antiquity for its wealth, maritime power, and ex ...

between 421 BC and 401 BC, thus marking the date by which the archetypical gastraphetes must have already been known.

Other ancient crossbows

Besides the gastraphetes, the

ancient world Ancient history is a time period from the beginning of writing and recorded human history through late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the development of Sumerian cuneiform script. Ancient h ...

knew a variety of mechanical hand-held weapons similar to the later

crossbow. The exact terminology is a subject of continuing scholarly debate. *Greek and Roman authors like

Vegetius Publius (or Flavius) Vegetius Renatus, known as Vegetius (), was a writer of the Later Roman Empire (late 4th century). Nothing is known of his life or station beyond what is contained in his two surviving works: ''Epitoma rei militaris'' (also r ...

(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 powered like the recent

Xanten Xanten (, Low Rhenish: ''Santen'') is a town in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located in the district of Wesel. Xanten is known for the Archaeological Park, one of the largest archaeological open air museums in the ...

find. *The

commander

Arrian Arrian of Nicomedia (; Greek: ''Arrianos''; ; ) was a Greek historian, public servant, military commander, and philosopher of the Roman period. '' The Anabasis of Alexander'' by Arrian is considered the best source on the campaigns of ...

(c. 86 – after 146 AD) records in his ''Tactica''

Roman cavalry Roman cavalry (Latin: ''equites Romani'') refers to the horse-mounted forces of the Roman army throughout the regal, republican, and imperial eras. In the regal era, the Roman cavalry was a group of 300 soldiers called ''celeres'', tasked wi ...

training for firing some mechanical handheld weapon from horseback.

Tact. 43.1; ; *Sculptural reliefs from

Roman Gaul Roman Gaul refers to GaulThe territory of Gaul roughly corresponds to modern-day France, Belgium and Luxembourg, and adjacent parts of the Netherlands, Switzerland and Germany. under provincial rule in the Roman Empire from the 1st century B ...

depict the use of crossbows in hunting scenes. Dating to the 2nd century AD, the specimens are remarkably similar to the later medieval crossbow, including the typical nut lock. From their reflexible shape they were

s.Dictionnaire des antiquites grecques et romaines
Arcuballista, Manuballista

References

Sources

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External links