Gastraphetes
ancient Greek crossbow
The gastraphetes (Koine Greek: γαστραφέτης, lit. 'belly-releaser'), also called belly bow or belly shooter, was a hand-held crossbow used by the Ancient Greeks. It was described in the 1st century by the Greek author Heron of Alexandria in his work Belopoeica, which draws on an earlier account of the famous Greek engineer Ctesibius (fl. 285–222 BC). Heron identifies the gastraphetes as the forerunner of the later catapult, which places its invention some unknown time before c. 420 BC.
Unlike later Roman and medieval 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 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. It was cocked by resting the belly 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.
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