When were crossbows first use in combat?

Question

I would like some knowledegable info on this question.

Answer 1

Second half of the 4th century BC, so 350-301 BC.

Answer 2

It is not clear exactly where and when the crossbow originated, but there is evidence that it was used for military purposes from the second half of the 4th century BC onwards.

Linguistic evidence makes it the more probable hypothesis that the crossbow may have originated among the cultures neighboring ancient China. It was used as weapon and toy, but mainly in the form of unattended traps.

The earliest Chinese document mentioning a crossbow is in scripts from the 4th–3rd century BC attributed to the followers of Mozi. This source refers the use of a giant crossbow catapult to the 6th to 5th century BC, corresponding to the late Spring and Autumn Period. Sun Tzu's influential book The Art of War (first appearance dated in between 500 BC to 300 BC) refers in chapter V to the traits and in XII to the use of crossbows. One of the earliest reliable records of this weapon in warfare is from an ambush, the Battle of Ma-Ling in 341 BC. By the 200s BC, the crossbow (nǔ, 弩) was well developed and quite widely used in China. Several remains of them have been found among the soldiers of the Terracotta Army in the tomb of Emperor Qin s**+ Huang (260-210 BC).

The earliest date for the crossbow is from the 5th century BC, from the Greek world. This was called the gastraphetes, which could store more energy than the Greek bows, and was used in the Siege of Motya in 397 BC. This was a key Carthaginian stronghold in Sicily, as described in the 1st century AD by Hero of Alexandria in his book Belopoeica. Same as with the Chinese sources a non-contemporary attribution of technical means can be doubted. Furthermore, there is a lack of other Greek sources stating the same. At least Alexander's siege of Tyre in 332 BC provides reliable sources for the use of these weapons by the Greek besiegers.

The gastraphetes 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 (Ancient Greek Βελοποιικά, 'on catapult-making'). It is believed to have been invented around 400 BC. The weapon was powered by a composite bow. It was ****** 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. Its application in sieges featured more and more powerful projectiles, leading first to the larger oxybeles and then to technical improvements with the ballista. The ballista is a torsion weapon, not being a tension weapon and for this reason it isn't considered a crossbow.