Nice collection JKP!
A couple of things I noticed:
- Many crossbowmen have a belt-with-hook which they used to reload with the whole body. I hadn't noticed this before in so many drawings. I guess this could be used as an additional binary feature in a detailed study.
- There is at least one other picture that shows a "floating" bolt that is not properly placed in the middle of the stirrup - this appears to be a perspective thing.
- The VM seems to be exceptional in having the stave connect to the shaft in between the stirrup and the string (hope I'm using those terms right). However, this might be a result of the cramped space for the weapon - it's really hard to tell what is significant and what isn't. Moreover, the combination of two perspectives may have altered the relative position of these elements.
Also, it's become hard to find decent crossbow images that haven't been shown yet
Marco, about the statuette you posted, I don't know to what extent it's relevant that he's supposed to represent a Southerner (North African in this case):
From the Wiki: "Sebastian had prudently concealed his faith, but in 286 was detected. Diocletian reproached him for his supposed betrayal, and he commanded him to be led to a field and there to be bound to a stake so that certain archers from Mauritania would shoot arrows at him."
A couple of things I noticed:
- Many crossbowmen have a belt-with-hook which they used to reload with the whole body. I hadn't noticed this before in so many drawings. I guess this could be used as an additional binary feature in a detailed study.
- There is at least one other picture that shows a "floating" bolt that is not properly placed in the middle of the stirrup - this appears to be a perspective thing.
- The VM seems to be exceptional in having the stave connect to the shaft in between the stirrup and the string (hope I'm using those terms right). However, this might be a result of the cramped space for the weapon - it's really hard to tell what is significant and what isn't. Moreover, the combination of two perspectives may have altered the relative position of these elements.
Also, it's become hard to find decent crossbow images that haven't been shown yet
Marco, about the statuette you posted, I don't know to what extent it's relevant that he's supposed to represent a Southerner (North African in this case):
From the Wiki: "Sebastian had prudently concealed his faith, but in 286 was detected. Diocletian reproached him for his supposed betrayal, and he commanded him to be led to a field and there to be bound to a stake so that certain archers from Mauritania would shoot arrows at him."