The gastraphetes (Greek γαστραφέτης, lit. 'belly-bow') was a handheld crossbow, used by ancient Greeks. It was described in the first century AD by the Greek author Heron of Alexandria in his work Belopoeica (Greek βελοποίικα, 'on catapult-making'). It is believed to have been invented around 400 BC.^{[citation needed]} A crossbow is a weapon consisting of a bow mounted on a stock that shoots projectiles. ... Heros aeolipile Hero (or Heron) of Alexandria (Greek: Ήρων ο Αλεξανδρεύς) (c. ...

The weapon was powered by a composite bow. It was cocked by resting the stomach in a concavity at the rear of the stock and pressing down with all strength. In this way considerably more energy can be summoned up than by using only one arm of the archer as in the hand-bow. A composite bow is made from different materials laminated together, usually applied under tension. ...

There are no attestations through pictures or archaeological finds, but the description by Heron is detailed enough to have allowed modern reconstructions to be made.

Gastraphetes appears in the Square Enix tactical RPG Final Fantasy Tactics. It is mistranslated as Gastrafitis and is the strongest crossbow in the game. It appears in Final Fantasy XII for PS2 once again as the strongest crossbow. SQUARE ENIX (Japanese: スクウェア・エニックス) is a Japanese producer of popular video games and manga. ... RPG is an abbreviation with several different meanings: Role-playing game, in which players assume the roles of characters and collaboratively create narratives Computer role-playing game (sometimes CRPG), a video game with the setting and game mechanics of a role-playing game Console role-playing game, a CRPG for... Final Fantasy Tactics (often abbreviated as FFT) is a tactical role-playing video game developed by Squaresoft for the Sony PlayStation. ... Final Fantasy XII ) is a console role-playing game produced by Square Enix for the Sony PlayStation 2 video game console. ... PS2 can mean: PlayStation 2 (Sony PS2), sixth-generation video game console PS/2 (IBM Personal System/2 office PCs, or the interface standard for mice and keyboards that the PS/2 series set) Phantasy Star II, second in the Phantasy Star seiries of video games. ...

A larger version of the catapult were the oxybeles used in siege warfare and later supplanted by the early ballistae that later also developed into smaller versions supplanting also the gastraphetes. The Oxybeles (Οξυβόλος, literally bolt shooter) Category: ... The ballista (Latin, from Greek ballistēs, from ballein to throw, plural ballistae) was a powerful ancient crossbow, although employing a several loops of twisted skeins to power it using torsion rather than a prod. ...

In Microsoft's Age of Mythology, Gastraphetes appear as a unit trainable only by Hades. They wield a crossbow and are very powerful, having little weakness. Microsoft is one of few companies engaging itself in the console wars Where they are up against sony, nintendo, and of course sharps new console which may cause a threat. ... Age of Mythology (also known as AoM) is a mythology-based real-time strategy (RTS) computer game by Ensemble Studios. ...

A Gastraphetes also appears in the MMORPG Lineage 2. However, it is not a crossbow in the game.

References

• E. W. Marsden (1969): Greek and Roman artillery, historical development. Oxford: Clarendon.
• H. Diels, E. Schramm, ed. (1918): Herons "Belopoiika". (=Abhandlungen der preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Philosoph.-hist. Kl. 2.) Berlin: Reimer. Chapter 7.
• http://members.lycos.nl/onager/history.html Retrieved 7th January 2007

External links

• Page on ancient catapults, with picture of reconstruction