††††A crossbow is a short, very powerful bow mounted on a wooden "stock".
Crossbows were used by the ancient Greeks and Romans. Roman catapults were in fact giant crossbows. Archimedes is also said to have made great improvements to the design of crossbows. Steel crossbows did not appear until around 1370.
Some crossbows were so strong that the archer needed a winch to draw the string. A catch held the string back while the archer loaded the short arrow, called a "bolt", and took aim. Pulling a trigger fired the weapon.
