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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]}

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.

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.

A larger version of the gastraphetes were the oxybeles, which were used in siege warfare. These were later supplanted by the early ballistae that later also developed into smaller versions supplanting also the gastraphetes.

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.

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 weaknesses.

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

• 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

• Page on ancient catapults, with picture of reconstruction