Any ancient military historians around?

Wow! - suddenly Google Groups is back up again! Just a quick correction - there are sculptural representations of crossbows amongst hunting equipment in a Roman Ist Century AD context (from Gaul, IIRC) but these were shooting arrows, not bolts - as did contemporary Roman light war engines ("Scorpiones" - although this term was later used as an alternative for "Onager"). These latter didn't use bolts until the development of the skeletal metal torsion frames depicted on Trajan's column, using bolts in the earlier designs can be hazardous to the user's health! Roman military use of Arcubalistae, possibly still shooting arrows, is mentioned by Vegetius, along with Cheirobalistae. These latter would be the equivalent of crossbows shooting bolts, as essentially they are a miniaturised version of the metal torsion frame attached to the stock of the earliest form of arrow shooter, the Gastraphetes. The Picts were using crossbows by around the 4th Century AD, from both sculpture and archaeological finds.

Regards,

Moramarth

And also, if you don't wear shoes too often, your feet get pretty tough

- I can remember my brother and I walking barefoot through the centre of town in the middle of a North Queensland summer, on baking concrete and tar that was about to start bubbling; it never bothered us when we were young. We used to run through sugar cane fields shoeless, across gravel roads, ride our bikes, do everythig really. Funnily enough, the only time Mum made us wear shoes was when it rained (no, I could never work that one out, either...)

(sorry about the late reply guys, I've been away at work, sans internet.)

RobG (the Aussie one)