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Gallo-Roman crossbow. The late 4th century Roman author Vegetius provides the only contemporary account of ancient Roman crossbows. In his De Re Militaris, he describes arcubalistarii (crossbowmen) working together with archers and artillerymen. [10] However it is disputed if arcuballistas were even crossbows or just more torsion powered weapons.
The Roman commander Arrian (c. 86 – after 146 AD) records in his Tactica Roman cavalry training for firing some mechanical handheld weapon from horseback. [11] Sculptural reliefs from Roman Gaul depict the use of crossbows in hunting scenes. Dating to the 2nd century AD, the specimens are remarkably similar to the later medieval crossbow ...
21st-century hunting compound crossbow. 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. Crossbows shoot arrow-like projectiles called bolts or quarrels.
Roman ensigns, standards, trumpets etc. Roman military personal equipment was produced in large numbers to established patterns, and used in an established manner. These standard patterns and uses were called the res militaris or disciplina. Its regular practice during the Roman Republic and Roman Empire led to military excellence and victory.
The term "arbalest" is sometimes used interchangeably with "crossbow". Arbalest is a Medieval French word originating from the Roman name arcuballista (from arcus 'bow' + ballista 'missile-throwing engine'), [3] which was then used for crossbows, although originally used for types of artillery.
It has been suggested that most Roman composite bows may have been asymmetric, with lower limbs shorter than the upper. [7] By the 5th century, there were numerous Roman cavalry regiments trained to use the bow as a supplement to their swords and lances, but the sagittarii appear to have used the bow as their primary rather than supplemental ...
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 second source, also from the late 4th century, is an anonymous treatise titled De rebus bellicis, which briefly discusses (so far archaeologically unattested) spiked plumbatae (plumbata tribolata), but which is also the only source that shows an image of what a plumbata looked like.