Our new cheiroballista...

[Crispvs]

Doubtless I will risk being burned alive for saying this, but having seen Bernard Jacobs' reconstruction being used on a number of occasions, I could not avoid questioning it. The bolts shot from it consistently wobble in flight to a much greater degree than I would normally expect from other machines and the range appears to be well below that achievable with bows. It also takes longer to load.

It is worth remembering that all soldiers supposedly were taught basic archery skills. Whilst it may indeed take a lifetime to learn to shoot with the degree of skill expected from Cretans and Hamians, I was able to learn to shoot to a basic level which would at least allow me to join others in putting a large amount of arrows in the air in only four lessons. Therefore I am not sure that the argument advanced elswhere in this thread that small artillery weapons could have been used by troops unskilled at archery really flies.

As an aside, having spoken to both Alan Wilkins and Bernard Jacobs a number of times in the last few years, I have gained the impression that they do not exactly form a mutual admiration society.

Crispvs