Tod of Tods Stuff shoots a Roman Arcuballista

[@demonskulleust7138]

I'm so happy you're uploading more videos, Tod. Keep 'em coming

[@Vinnay94]

Indeed

[@WeArMature]

This is incredible! I'm so glad people like you are out there that can recreate these lost bows and demonstrate how they were used.

[@MarekDohojda]

How can you only have 3,126 subscribers? The stuff you are making are work of arts, and I would love to own most of what you make. You are also very knowledgeable, and informative.

[@warrax111]

Because youtube don't giving his videos as recommended ones very often.

[@user_name_redacted]

They might be like me and have the videos always showing up but not realising they'd not subscribed 😬 I love the content, and the workshop aspect is very inspiring. I look forward to making my own bows

[@RealityDysfunction]

283,000 now.

[@heibk-2019]

@@RealityDysfunction and well deserved

[@Blueswailer]

@@heibk-2019 And a 100k subs more in just 10 months. Happy to see a bigger audience reach/see Tod's fantastic crafts.

[@Taketimeout3]

Tod. All your efforts are appreciated. I am sure thousands feel exactly as I do. Thank you for all your dedication.

[@AFCAWorldBodybuildingArchive]

For some reason this has become my favourite weapon of yours. It's simplicity is unbeatable. Gotta love it :)

[@memikell]

I am continually amazed at Tod's skill and craftsmanship, to be sure. Added to that is his dedication to historical accuracy.

[@justsomeguy3931]

I like how you point out what we know about these and how certain we are about it and what we don't know. Also that you did your best to stay true to history and err on the side of caution. Pretty sweet!

[@MarvelDcImage]

From what I remember the Romans and Greeks (sort of) (and Chinese?) had cross bows but then the knowledge was forgotten and the re-birth of the crossbow in the middle ages was an independent re-invention of what used to exist but this time they made it better and used it better.

[@BelloBudo007]

I wondered about it being used by the Romans on horseback until I saw your demo. They may well have had some kind of leather devise [similar perhaps to a flag holder] to help prevent slip when on the horse. All in all a very interesting video. Thanks for making the crossbow and of course the video.

[@Athos42]

Very interesting video, Tod. I enjoy experimental archeology!

[@KeefsCattys]

Many thanks for uploading. A fascinating look at this weapon.

[@Evan-rj9xy]

I can't say that I'd ever heard of a roman crossbow before now. Cool stuff! :D

[@Bugsy-gc6ii]

New to your channel and completely enchanted with all the wonderful bows you have built ! Please keep the videos coming ( I built my first crossbow in the garage when I was six or seven and never managed to make a decent trigger system but now I know how and I’ve retired from working I’, going to give it another go ) Many thanks.

[@TheOhgodineedaname]

It's nice to see some shots or frames with both you and the target, allows us to see the distance and accuracy a tad better. Another thing I'd like to ask is whether or not early Frankish (10th century) crossbows were made with horn and sinew? The depictions show some prods with a recurve.

[@TheOhgodineedaname]

Here it is: gallica.bnf.fr/iiif/ark:/12148/btv1b10506542j/f5/1965,374,1422,1699/1422,1699/0/native.jpg Looks a bit like those Frankish Psalters in my amateur opinion, I saw it in a book once that had it dated to the 9th or 10th century. The trigger looks odd and I see now evidence of cord holding the stock, the limbs show something of a recurve and I was hoping you could tell me whether these are wood or horn and sinew.

[@TheOhgodineedaname]

Sorry I put the answer under my own question: Here it is: gallica.bnf.fr/iiif/ark:/12148/btv1b10506542j/f5/1965,374,1422,1699/1422,1699/0/native.jpg Looks a bit like those Frankish Psalters in my amateur opinion, I saw it in a book once that had it dated to the 9th or 10th century. The trigger looks odd and I see now evidence of cord holding the stock, the limbs show something of a recurve and I was hoping you could tell me whether these are wood or horn and sinew.

[@TheOhgodineedaname]

Yeah the website it is from mentions it as being an 11th century manuscript, the book I read says its 10th century. The round shields and clothing remind me of earlier carolingian artwork but I have no idea if those were still used/worn in the 11th century. Was there a functional difference between 11th century composite and wooden crossbows? Anna Comnena makes crossbows sound rather powerful, as in being able to nail shields to the wielders arm, does this suggest composite crossbows with spanning devices (or lying on your back) or is it simply a literary device?

[@TheOhgodineedaname]

What would have been the powerstroke of these early crusader crossbows. 220lbs would be a lot if it approached that of a bow wouldn't it?

[@Vinnay94]

Yes, thanks for the upload.

[@jacobnisley6581]

Good stuff! Did you try shooting it one handed with your arm extended as you described? I love watching your stuff. I've always been an archery guy and shoot and hunt with modern compound bows and longbows but was never interested in crossbows. Your videos have given me and interest and a basic understanding of them that I never had before. Thank you!

[@stocktonjoans]

"you'd expect Yew to be used" the English language folks

[@chevtothemax]

English can be confusing yes, but it can be understood through thorough thought though.

[@TumbleTrashOfficial]

my brain

[@neilwilson5785]

But Edward Woodward would pine for a plane explanation of poplar culture, and yew would want to know why laurel may sycamore direct solution to this problem.

[@SpectreOZ]

Always interesting and a pleasure to watch... thanks Todd :)

[@mariorossetti7747]

Bellissima ricostruzione

[@tods_workshop]

Grazia

[@よしみ-x5j]

No, it's not where it had started. We can cast aside China as separate region. But also sticking to mediterrein area, earlier and influencive was greek gastraphetes. Also, I've sometimes found mentions about other folks that had used crossbow before Romans, like Gauls. As I remember, there was some writing historical sources about it, but maybe it's not correct. Or maybe we are lacking good material sources.

[@vrisbrianm4720]

I think what Tod meant was that the arcuballista was likely the direct predecessor of the early medieval crossbow, not that it was the first crossbow type weapon ever. Anything before the Roman period is just too sketchy to establish a connection.

[@HistoricalWeapons]

I made a video about Chinese crossbows. First trigger excavated at 600 bc. Excavated

[@matthewdaniel6045]

Tod cutler, action hero.

[@unagidon333]

Awesome!Wwish there was more content like this on KZbin! I wold classify this under educational and hopefully it's not demonetized.

[@janroodbol5055]

Really love your channel I'm a crossbow maker myself. Saw this kind of crossbow in a movie thought it wouldn't really be practical =). Maybe with a stand, some thing like a roman ballista stand it would shoot a little les awkward.

[@MrStephen777]

That it very interesting, I had no idea the Romans used crossbows. I knew about the larger torsion versions. I will look forward to seeing the 150lb version. I will also send this link the the Metratron. This crossbow was to little to late to save the Roman empire.

[@mrwtfwhy]

the greeks had a larger crossbow called a gastraphetes even earlier, not to mention the wild and whacky variety of ancient chinese crossbows

[@MrStephen777]

@@mrwtfwhy Great information. I will look these up/

[@cal2127]

arent there earlier gallic hunting crossbows? and also the gastrophetes?

[@scottirving4183]

If you started making a horn/sinew composite prod you could have a finished video next year. It would be nice to use water buffalo horn instead of pieces of Greek goat horn however less authentic. What would the Roman wood core be?

[@2bingtim]

I've seen & heard whalebone was used.

[@scottirving4183]

Baleen is ideal for tension and compression however buying whale parts is forbidden in most countries. Few baleen bows exist in collections although the material lasts a very long time.

[@2bingtim]

Maple was often used as composite bow cores as it is nicely straight grained & takes the organic glues very well.

[@atomicb8222]

The question is, why do we not see more of these used in the roman era?

[@user_name_redacted]

I don't know if he mentioned it, but I presume it would be a later Roman device, whereas most roman movies seem to depict the early empire/late republic era or the height of the empire

[@atomicb8222]

@@user_name_redacted fair point, but what i really mean is why didnt the actual Romans use them more.. They seem way less training intensive than a long bow...

[@user_name_redacted]

@@atomicb8222 Romans could have used blackpowder firearms for all we know, but the likelyhood of them being preserved for 2000 years would be low. I know the idea of romans with muskets is silly, but I think if such a thing existed, theres only a small chance we would ever find out about it from archeologicsl finds. I would wager the arcuballista was more common than we've been lead to believe, just not many have survived.

[@atomicb8222]

@@user_name_redacted You would probably see them portrayed in Roman period art.

[@2bingtim]

They were quite late in the Empire & rarely depicted rather than a common Roman weapon. The Legions mostly deployed torsion light balistas of far greater power & range.

[@ZemplinTemplar]

Thank you, wonderful video ! :-) It's interesting that arcuballistas were only shot from the hip. Design-wise, I can see why, as the type of stock they used wouldn't be comfortable while aiming at eye-height. Was the lack of precision aiming deliberate, with arcuballistas only used for massed fire against enemy infantry or shooting at enemies from horseback for only short distances ?

[@macnutz4206]

I suspect it was not used by mounted troops unless there is a way to hold the arrow in place. It is not a stable platform. I've done a fair bit of pistol shooting from horseback. It is all about firing in the instant that all four of the horses feet are on the ground when you have a stable position for just an instant. I think it would be impossible to keep the arrow in shooting position while on the back of a running horse. A short composite bow would be more effective on horseback, I believe.

[@Tork789]

Do you plan to test your awesome crossbows against armour? I'd like to see what your 1000+ lbs windlass crossbow can do.

[@Vinnay94]

Armour was created to stop these bolts/quarrels, not the other way around. Though Skallagrim tested his 350lb Medieval Crossbow on 2 helmets. The first one was more stronger so the bolts only managed to dent the helmet, the 2nd one was more lighter so the bolts managed to punch deeper dents so a 1000+ lbs probably could pierce through a helmet.

[@2bingtim]

Also, helmets being nicely rounded, I'd think not many hits would strike it at enough angle to not bounce off.

[@warrax111]

+2bingtim that's correct, you need to hit round material at perfect angle, to get penetration. Also, under steel cover of helmet, often laid also another protection, some were wearing even chainmail under the helmet. That was imposible to penetrate by bolt. Just one point, 350 lb medieval crossbow was not ment to pierce metal. They were used for hunting, or unarmored targets. That video don't proof anything. For armor piercing you need at least double poundage, and also very heavy bolt, which they don't use very often for armor piercing tests.

[@almusquotch9872]

Would an Arcubalista really out range Scythian or Parthian bows?

[@barryblack1038]

Could you do a string building video?

[@zerrowolf6747]

Tod, do you think that medieval crow-bows are based of this or did they develop in isolation? Also how would something like this relate to Chinese crossbows, were they are different times?

[@zerrowolf6747]

Thanks Tod, always wondered if the east and west cross pollinated each others degins at all.

[@limgueklow3130]

Both trigger mechanisms were slightly different.

[@augustpolca612]

Super late to your content. its draw length coupled with the recurve bow makes it seem like it would be pretty damn impressive.

[@akitsumasanosuke9451]

Roman engineerinering at its finest.

[@sentimentalmariner590]

Any plans to make these commercially available?

[@kieranfitz]

Is the camera on a boat? It moves like it is.

[@PaulSmyth]

Looking at the stone relief, the bow is mounted in reverse. I don't think this is an accident. I think this worked more like a recurve bow but in reverse.

[@PaulSmyth]

It may be the reason there are so few examples of this because they tried it and though it was less effective than what they already had.

[@PaulSmyth]

Ah, yes that makes sense.

[@ColetteNoir]

I love your work, interesting interpretation. How or why do you think they fired from the hip?

[@ColetteNoir]

Thank you for the answer!

[@Vinnay94]

That's some decent draw length there, that style of spanning seems more safer in a battle situation than the typical foot in the stirrup and bending down as you can see ahead of you, though I can imagine would be much heavier to span heavier draw weights like 100Ib, though they probably had shields to hide behind, and crossbowmen would be placed in rows, so when the front row released there quarrels, the row behind them would move to the front row whilst the back row spanned there bows. Still, if you were a lone crossbowmen and came across an enemy or enemies, would be nice to be able to watch in front of you whilst spanning. Of course later on, you could span a crossbow with a goat's foot lever whilst upright without using the stirrup. I like the design of the rear end, it makes the whole bow look like a leg from a wooden bed.

[@MrSoundSeeker]

Great video.

[@alexdetrojan4534]

Tod, getting this 'crossbow' up to 100-150lbs drawweight, do you feel it would be practical for hunting larger game? I know you do this with regards to its military applications, but to my eye it looks like a simple, fine hunting weapon. Also I noted it doesn't have a groove for the bolt.

[@robbieatvic]

That's fantastic, in fact this a great 1st time build for a crossbow. Build this well and then move on up🤔

[@fukitall80]

Awesome bow! Would you say this bow or the roman arcu ballista is more accurate?

[@demos113]

Very nice. :-)

[@DerrillGuilbert]

Plus if you have almost any kind of armor, it'll be much easier to span against your torso.

[@thomasrobson6370]

Did you glue, sow, or glue & sow the linen on to the fiberglass bow?

[@TumbleTrashOfficial]

why slow mo on you putting bolt in or drawing the string back?

[@bozo5632]

This reminds me (IIRC) of a Chinese crossbow with a long bow stave and a long draw length. (Very long, like a longbow on a stick.) Long draw length seems good. Longer bows seems easier. So why didn't medieval European crossbows use longer bows? Or did they sometimes?

[@Instr]

@@tods_workshop Probably logistics, long powerstroke crossbows in Chinese practice were often paired with big arrows. Moreover, they also required more space to load (footdrawn from a laying down position) and fire (bigger prods to permit long powerstrokes meant that you had more difficulty clustering crossbowmen). The Chinese switched to short powerstroke crossbows in the Ming Dynasty, but by then they had arquebuses and three-barreled guns, which doubled as clubs, for heavier firepower. The short powerstroke crossbows were used more as sidearms.

[@verycreativ233]

For mutiple reasons. First is logistics we fought more amongst each other than the chinese did there was a constant strain on resources soneeded to be simple and use the least amount of material possible (unless of course you're a rich nobleman able to clad yourself in plate armor) whhile still being able to effectively kill. Second reason is that the fall of the roman empire meant alot of technological knowledge wen't down with it only to be rediscovered later. And third are materials European crossbows started to be made out of metal (relatively) fast but metalurgy at the time wasn't good enough to make a safe long stroke steelbow that wouldn't snap and hit you in the face with it's limbs.

[@ColetteNoir]

40cm draw length? Mean it would be more efficient perhaps. Nice job!

[@sentimentalmariner590]

I know your interest lay primarily with the west but have you done any reading on the qin crossbow used by ancient china? I would like to know your opinion of it as a weapon and perhaps if reconstruction would be possible?

[@HistoricalWeapons]

I'm working on that

[@sentimentalmariner590]

@@HistoricalWeapons Cool I'll check it out.

[@Krshwunk]

Keep doing this in the name of the legacy of humanity!!! (sadly, I might not even be even joking ...don't worry, I'm considered crazy ... but, to be sure, assume that I am right).

[@greyareaRK1]

I didn't know the Romans had arcuballista (s, ae, i, ii?) until just now.

[@WHickox83]

Why do you have to shoot it from the hip?

[@KimmoKM]

How does it differ from gastrophetes?

[@KimmoKM]

Looks like I missed it, thanks!

[@sayanorasonic]

tod todeschini when was this invented?

[@javanbybee4822]

@@sayanorasonic Nice one, smart one

[@daviddavids2884]

you have said, wood flighted bolts rotate, suitably, in flight. so far, i have not seen it. link??? cheers

[@jasperlim8319]

4:51 ?

[@daviddavids2884]

@@jasperlim8319 nope. there's just one-half a rotation; that occurred LATE in the flight. watch in slomo. cheers

[@cyberiankorninger1025]

Does someone have an explanation why medieval crossbows had so short draw lengths? Something like this with a longer draw length would be fine too and could be potentially loaded without additional tools. There's probably good reasons for it so I would appreciate feedback why they didn't make more bow like crossbows.

[@JanoTuotanto]

The explanation is very simple : Why not? If the bow is going to have some kind of spanning aide anyway, why bother with long drawing bow. A small bow with really heavy draw weight makes more compact power unit and the whole weapon will be handier to use. e.g. goat foot lever gives compound bow like power curve with simple cheap straight short bow. So it makes sense to have one instead of expensive hand spanned long drawing contact recurve bow of equal F/D curve And if the prod is so powerful that it needs some kind of winding mechanism it makes absolutely no sense to have long draw length. Use higher leverage transmission for the winch instead. The metallurgy excuse is not valid as composite prods of the period were equally short drawing.

[@Instr]

Ergonomics. Ming Dynasty Chinese crossbows moved to short draw lengths because they went from being a primary weapon, like the Macedonian Sarissa, to a secondary weapon, like the Roman Pilum. Short draw crossbows are compact (good for formations) and let you put bolts into people at range.

[@vitoandolini1234]

Y'know this speaks volumes about how advanced the Romans were with this crossbow

[@2bingtim]

Romans more often adopted technologies others had created.

[@briananuvattanachai6646]

How thick was the steel sear plate?

[@Vinnay94]

What material is that rope target made and were they actually used?

[@2bingtim]

It's straw twisted into rope, coiled & stiched together. Probably quite an ancient thing.

[@zelenisok]

Would have outranged anything that would have faced the Romans? Slings actually have a huge range..

[@zelenisok]

You say that at 5:05, that at 100-120lb it would have outranged anything that would have faced the Romans. But would it? How much range does a 120lb crossbow have? Slings can hurl projectiles more than 300m.. The world record for slinging a rock is 437m..

[@2adamast]

I wasn't aware until now that romans also relied on slings, thanks to bring it up.

[@zelenisok]

It's a sort of historical classism that skirmishers (who were mostly slingers, but also javeliners and self-bowmen) are often considered less important or even forgotten, even though in pre-gun-powder battles they were of equal importance to infantry, cavalry, and archers. I say classism bc this is not a modern thing, the historical authors would often not talk much or at all about them. The skirmishers came from the lower layers of society (hence the cheap and easy-to-use weapons and gear), and thus not considered that important. There are some exceptions of course, like the Balearic slingmen, the Agrianian javeliners and the Velites, but they're just mentioned as being exceptional warriors, and still not given much importance in descriptions of warfare. Which is weird, bc when some sources do talk about eg specifically slings, they consistently talk about them being better than bows, ie having greater range and damage effect.

[@reybladen3068]

Is it just me or todd seems older three years ago?

[@westcountrycaveman315]

at its max poundage i cant see it being drawn like that. but that the only thing i can find wrong with it. i love experimental archaeology.thank you.

[@westcountrycaveman315]

tod todeschini after watching that one you do have a point. would work on a horse.

[@mtodd4723]

Cool I never knew the late Romans used crossbows . Not to be rude but does utube pay you any thing most of the channels I watch get little to nothing . I watch the commercial about 31 seconds if I can to help them out . I am looking for work but I am Rural Jobs are not plentiful . Great video , Thank you .

[@Bushcraft-xz6xd]

So bow draw weight rose in an arms race against armour? You loose reloading speed for greater power? Also bolt weight seems high and release speed therefore lower? I thought speed was the key in penetrating armour and also projectile material? Would not a self spanning crossbow with a much lighter weight bolt and much harder tip say of Flint penetrate metal armour just as well but with many times better reloads possible?

[@Bushcraft-xz6xd]

tod todeschini I guess you can't beat hundreds of years of conflicts to weed out what works and what doesn't!

[@cool06alt]

Bow draw weight rose once you design crossbow with such (very short) draw length. Like 6 inches is incredibly short. Bows are drawn as long as 25 inches for reference. Meanwhile asiatic crossbows were basically short composite bows being attached to wooden stock. And they are incredibly efficient despite the friction it has with the crossbow stock (only 8% losses when compared to bows with similiar draw weight). I doubt medieval european crossbow can reach 20% efficiency from like 1250 lbs draw weight. Steel is not very flexible body when you bend it.

[@alexshield7532]

the handle looks counterintuitive...

[@briananuvattanachai6646]

What did you use as the wedges?

[@briananuvattanachai6646]

The prod on my crossbow is rather oddly shaped it's a semicircle so what can I do to wedge it into place?

[@tatayoyo337]

outrange slings too ?

[@Luciferofom]

Would it have outranged slingers?

[@2bingtim]

Probably not. Even with a 120lb prod it wouldn't outrange composite or well made self bows of 80 to 150lb draw. The significantly shorter draw gives a smaller power stroke for the 120lb prod to accellarate the much shorter bolt, which has more drag than a longer arrow. What it does do is provide an easier to master missile weapon that can be held much longer at full draw.

[@bgurtek]

Didn't the Chinese make early crossbows a few centuries before Christ?

[@withastickangrywhiteman2822]

If you call 12-8 centuries as "a few centuries" BC...then yes

[@bgurtek]

@@withastickangrywhiteman2822 When did the Chinese start making crossbows?

[@withastickangrywhiteman2822]

@@bgurtek Look here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossbow#cite_note-FOOTNOTELoades2018-4 In terms of archaeological evidence, crossbow locks made of cast bronze have been found in China dating to around 650 BC.[4] They have also been found in Tombs 3 and 12 at Qufu, Shandong,

[@withastickangrywhiteman2822]

@@bgurtek However, Those were just mass- product military crossbows, The ancient of these times in their books said they learned all of these from forebears 800 years ago.. that means..650+800=1450 years BC.

[@bgurtek]

@@withastickangrywhiteman2822 WOW!!!!!

[@alexrocharamos2908]

Parabéns boa crossbow bom video

[@bashkillszombies]

I'm glad he dropped 'todsstuff' it was such a stupid name. He makes far more than 'stuff' it's underselling his work.

[@Luciferofom]

Literally more efficient than medieval crossbows. Why didn't they go back to something like this?

[@frankheilingbrunner7852]

The efficiency of a bow or crossbow is a complicated thing. See kzbin.info/www/bejne/ipWlZWpmodRppK8

[@justsomeguy3931]

They should have called it the archeoballista lol

[@davidm8135]

Could you make a Chinese crossbow?

[@davidm8135]

Awesome! Looking forward to it. Also are you a Christian?

[@davidm8135]

In my original comment by could I meant would. I didn't doubt your skill.

[@Instr]

@@tods_workshop @Tod: what we probably want is a repro of of a heavy Chinese crossbow. You know, the footdrawn ones that could hit 360-400 lbs and probably get you into .22 LR level energies. There's been no reproductions in the West to date, and we'd love to see whether it could penetrate a Scutum reconstruction.

[@davidkermes393]

How about a gastraphetes?

[@frankheilingbrunner7852]

Tod does a gastraphetes here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/oYGbk6R_nMloqNE

[@grantlandsmith]

No groove?

[@grantlandsmith]

What lunatic would shoot from the hip when he could raise it to his eye for a rough bead?

[@grantlandsmith]

I see. Seems like a very long time for the realisation to set in. They say that people were smarter then - the weak/poor had fewer surviving children; and we've been on the downhill since the industrial revolution. No proto Da Vincis? Maybe they just frowned on innovation. A rising rear sight like early rifles might be helpful for the somewhat longer ranges. All moot, of course. Thanks for responding.

[@2bingtim]

@@grantlandsmith There were many "Da Vincis" throughout ancient times. Archamides being the best well known. Much of the ancient world technology & science was lost when the great library of Alexandria burnt down.

[@Cahirable]

I don't know that it would have outranged bows at 100-120lbs. The Romans and their enemies would have been using bows that drew anywhere between 50 and maybe 80lbs which, when taking power stroke into account, would equal a crossbow of maybe 90-95lbs all the way up to 150lbs or so.

[@Cahirable]

I see that there's a lot more to it that I thought! I look forward to seeing your results when you make your 120lb version.

[@Vinnay94]

What if you compared a 350lb Medieval Crossbow to a Longbow that matched the power. I know it can get complicated due to different draw lengths and other factors but would the Quarrel and Arrow go the same distance or not? I thought maybe Crossbow Bolts being shorter would carry more energy than an Arrow since arrows wobble in flight called Archer's Paradox.

[@blackdeath4eternity]

+tod todeschini you mention that you do not see why regular arrows would be used, the reason is in the discussion above but would require the weapon to be bigger. :P , draw length & limb length of a regular bow but with the ability to draw a much higher poundage draw weight = a much more powerful & long ranged weapon + the added weight & stability of a longer arrow rather than a bolt, weather or not any were built as such i have no idea as i have not tried researching the subject.

[@blackdeath4eternity]

***** the flex of a arrow can in theory give it additional speed (as it acts as another spring) although i have not really looked into weather or not it actually works as such.

[@blackdeath4eternity]

***** well that proves that it was just something i heard & not something i looked into for that one point. (In other words i agree that sounds as much more likely)

[@cool06alt]

Looks more powerful than average medieval crossbow....all because of the prods and (much) longer draw length. Because medieval crossbow is goddamn inefficient from mechanical body perspective.

[@Notjustcar]

the chinese invented the first crossbows

[@Notjustcar]

The earliest evidence of crossbows comes from ancient China in the form of crossbow triggers dating back to the 600 BC en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossbow#History

[@Notjustcar]

The earliest handheld crossbow stocks with bronze trigger, dating from the 6th century BC, were found in Tomb 3 and 12 at Qufu, Shandong, previously the capital of Lu, ancient China.

[@Notjustcar]

tod todeschini keep in mind the Chinese did not just use crossbows, they massed produced them so when war approached they can hire mass armies of peasants to rain arrows against enemies. I doubt the Greeks relied on massed belly bows during this time

[@Notjustcar]

Also there is a lack of evidence of the existence of belly bows

[@limgueklow3130]

I dont think crossbows are 'invented' anywhere first, as it is just a bow with a tiller. Anything that can act as a trigger mechanism would realise a crossbow. As for range, it doesnt really mean anything to say 'someone had the best crossbows with the greatest range'. More range means more energy. More energy means more time for windlass, or more exhausting for sheer muscle work. There's no 'technology' that can add more range to that which you give energy for. So if a crossbow really has that range it only means the one who're using it is a strong guy and not a peasant trying to hunt, or shooting from ramparts.

[@mortenjacobsen5673]

the spin of an arrow would be t weak

[@stephencresswell4760]

These look so simple and uncomplicated to use. I can imagine them being put in the hands of untrained soldiers or rear rank troops. Maybe given a bit of training and left to get on with it. Can’t see them being used over long range or small targets. Maybe a weapon of last resort or to be deployed in great numbers?

[@2bingtim]

Or possibly origionally a hunting weapon.

[@bipolatelly9806]

I love what you do Tod....but history IS bunkum.