CAUGHT in the CROSSFIRE

Throughout history, the archer has been treated as a superior warrior, as his considerable training, physical strength, and expertise at the efficient operation of a traditional bow and arrow began when he was young and lasted most of his career as a warrior. He was envied, lionized, and celebrated by many ancient cultures — not just anyone could be an archer. Then, there’s the crossbow.

Developed much later than the bow and arrow — around the 7th century B.C. in China — and “rediscovered” by Western cultures 300 years later, the handheld crossbow technology derived from the gastraphetes, a “belly shooter” used by the Greeks. Instead of the string being pulled back like later medieval crossbows, a mechanism was pushed down by the weight of the user’s body. This and