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86-408: Vampire hunters range in characterization in fiction from sages with more than average knowledge about the occult , to athletes with the skill and ability to confront vampires with traditional or holy weapons often including wooden stakes and holy water , to supernatural beings themselves who fight vampires with mystical powers. Many characterizations draw from the history and folklore of

172-490: A 1998 film adaptation which developed into a franchise . Vampire hunters have also appeared in video games, such as Castlevania (the occupation of the famed Belmont lineage), and The Elder Scrolls (with factions such as the Dawnguard). As well as being knowledgeable about vampire lore, vampire hunters in fiction are often armed with an eclectic mix of items and weapons which are designed to take maximum advantage of

258-483: A French weapon during the siege of Senlis and again in 984 at the siege of Verdun . Crossbows were used at the battle of Hastings in 1066, and by the 12th century they had become common battlefield weapons. The earliest extant European crossbow remains were found at Lake Paladru , dated to the 11th century. The crossbow superseded hand bows in many European armies during the 12th century, except in England, where

344-535: A good man... death is a terrible thing." In the Theaetetus , Plato defines the sage as one who becomes "righteous and holy and wise." The Platonic sages would raise themselves by the life of their mind, while the Aristotelian sages raise themselves to the realm of the divine Mind. Epicurus believed that one would achieve ataraxia by intense study and examination of Nature . This sage would be like

430-590: A hole in the bottom of the notch, forcing the string out. This rod is usually attached perpendicular to a rear-facing lever called a tickler . A later design implemented a rolling cylindrical pawl called a nut to retain the string. This nut has a perpendicular centre slot for the bolt, and an intersecting axial slot for the string, along with a lower face or slot against which the internal trigger sits. They often also have some form of strengthening internal sear or trigger face, usually of metal. These roller nuts were either free-floating in their close-fitting hole across

516-428: A hollow bronze enclosure . The entire mechanism is then dropped into a carved slot within the tiller and secured together by two bronze rods . The string catch (nut) is shaped like a "J" because it usually has a tall erect rear spine that protrudes above the housing, which serves the function of both a cocking lever (by pushing the drawn string onto it) and a primitive rear sight. It is held stationary against tension by

602-607: A kit that included a mallet, a stake, and a crucifix. If part of a church, it included holy water, holy oil, etc. However, the most important things that it carried were items such as rope, crowbars, or even pistols. The vampire hunter has found new popularity in modern fiction and popular culture. The most widely known example of a vampire hunter is Abraham Van Helsing of the novel Dracula and in other works of fiction adapting or modifying that work. Other more recent figures include Buffy "the Vampire Slayer" Summers from

688-429: A lust for power. Sage (philosophy) A sage ( Ancient Greek : σοφός , sophós ), in classical philosophy , is someone who has attained wisdom . The term has also been used interchangeably with a 'good person' ( Ancient Greek : ἀγαθός , agathós ), and a 'virtuous person' ( Ancient Greek : σπουδαῖος , spoudaîos ). Among the earliest accounts of the sage begin with Empedocles ' Sphairos . Horace describes

774-491: A man named Cao Lỗ (or Cao Thông) to construct a crossbow and christened it "Saintly Crossbow of the Supernaturally Luminous Golden Claw" (nỏ thần) , which could kill 300 men in one shot. According to historian Keith Taylor, the crossbow, along with the word for it, seems to have been introduced into China from Austroasiatic peoples in the south around the fourth century BC. However, this

860-427: A massive base frame and powerful windlass devices. The arrow-like projectiles of a crossbow are called bolts or quarrels . These are usually much shorter than arrows but can be several times heavier. There is an optimum weight for bolts to achieve maximum kinetic energy, which varies depending on the strength and characteristics of the crossbow, but most could pass through common mail. Crossbow bolts can be fitted with

946-424: A metal (i.e. bronze or steel) grid serving as iron sights . Modern crossbow sights often use similar technology to modern firearm sights, such as red dot sights and telescopic sights . Many crossbow scopes feature multiple crosshairs to compensate for the significant effects of gravity over different ranges. In most cases, a newly bought crossbow will need to be sighted for accurate shooting. A major cause of

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1032-687: A period of aiming, or holding that form while aiming. Both demand some physical strength to do so using bows suitable for warfare, though this is easier using lighter draw-weight hunting bows. As such, their accurate and sustained use in warfare takes a lot of practice. Crossbows avoid these potential problems by having trigger-released cocking mechanisms to maintain the tension on the string once it has been spanned – drawn – into its ready-to-shoot position, allowing these weapons to be carried cocked and ready and affording their users time to aim them. This also allows them to be readied by someone assisting their users, so multiple crossbows can be used one after

1118-423: A quick and smooth motion with limited or no time for aiming, while a crossbow's design allows it to be spanned and cocked ready for use at a later time and thus affording them unlimited time to aim. When shooting bows, the archer must fully perform the draw , holding the string and arrow using various techniques while pulling it back with arm and back muscles, and then either immediately shooting instinctively without

1204-655: A skilled archer, often necessitating the use of a pavise (shield) to protect the operator from enemy fire. Along with polearm weapons made from farming equipment, the crossbow was also a weapon of choice for insurgent peasants such as the Taborites . Genoese crossbowmen were famous mercenaries hired throughout medieval Europe, whilst the crossbow also played an important role in anti-personnel defense of ships. Crossbows were eventually replaced in warfare by gunpowder weapons. Early hand cannons had slower rates of fire and much worse accuracy than contemporary crossbows, but

1290-558: A state. Despite this, the Stoics regarded sages as the only virtuous and happy humans. All others are regarded as fools, morally vicious, slaves and unfortunate. The Stoics did not admit any middle ground, as Cicero articulated the concept: "every non-sage is mad." The Stoics conceived of the sage as an individual beyond any possibility of harm from fate. The difficulties of life faced by other humans (illness, poverty, criticism, bad reputation, death, etc.) could not cause any sorrow to

1376-410: A strange hobby. They can also sometimes be members of law enforcement or government agencies . The job comes with the risk of getting bitten and the hunters turned into vampires themselves. More often than not fellow hunters usually do mercy killing to prevent them from becoming monsters, though in some fiction it may be possible for a hunter to cure themselves (and others) of vampirism, especially if

1462-777: A tool for hunting, and later an effective weapon against the Viet Cong during the Vietnam War. Montagnard fighters armed with crossbows proved a highly valuable asset to the US Special Forces operating in Vietnam, and it was not uncommon for the Green Berets to integrate Montagnard crossbowmen into their strike teams. The earliest crossbow-like weapons in Europe probably emerged around the late 5th century BC when

1548-549: A tree at 140 paces. Crossbows were used in numbers as large as 50,000 starting from the Qin dynasty and upwards of several hundred thousand during the Han. According to one authority, the crossbow had become "nothing less than the standard weapon of the Han armies", by the second century BC. Han soldiers were required to arm a crossbow with a draw weight equivalent of 76 kg (168 lb) to qualify as an entry-level crossbowman, while it

1634-633: A vampire when it was otherwise invisible (and sometimes other supernatural entities as well); similarly for the dhampir . In the case of the Sabbatarians, it was believed in some places that they needed to be fed meat from a sheep killed by a wolf (Bulgarian vâlkoedene ); this would enable them not to fear the things that only they were able to see. In Croatian and Slovenian legends, the villages had their own vampire hunters that were called kresniks , whose spirits were able to turn into animals at night to fight off vampires or kudlaks . Some carried

1720-510: A variety of heads, some with sickle-shaped heads to cut rope or rigging; but the most common today is a four-sided point called a quarrel . A highly specialized type of bolt is employed to collect blubber biopsy samples used in biology research. Even relatively small differences in arrow weight can have a considerable impact on its flight trajectory and drop. Bullet-shooting crossbows are modified crossbows that use bullets or stones as projectiles. The ancient Chinese crossbow often included

1806-464: Is almost nothing but passing references in the military historian Vegetius (fl. + 386) to 'manuballistae' and 'arcuballistae' which he said he must decline to describe as they were so well known. His decision was highly regrettable, as no other author of the time makes any mention of them at all. Perhaps the best supposition is that the crossbow was primarily known in late European antiquity as a hunting weapon, and received only local use in certain units of

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1892-446: Is also used. The lock refers to the release mechanism, including the string, sears, trigger lever, and housing. A crossbow is essentially a bow mounted on an elongated frame (called a tiller or stock) with a built-in mechanism that holds the drawn bow string , as well as a trigger mechanism, which is used to release the string. The Chinese trigger was a mechanism typically composed of three cast bronze pieces housed inside

1978-545: Is clear from surviving inventory lists in Gansu and Xinjiang that the crossbow was greatly favored by the Han dynasty. For example, in one batch of slips there are only two mentions of bows, but thirty mentions of crossbows. Crossbows were mass-produced in state armories with designs improving as time went on, such as the use of a mulberry wood stock and brass. Such crossbows during the Song Dynasty in 1068 AD could pierce

2064-526: Is contradicted by crossbow locks found in ancient Chinese Zhou dynasty tombs dating to the 600s BC. In 315 AD, Nu Wen taught the Chams how to build fortifications and use crossbows. The Chams would later give the Chinese crossbows as presents on at least one occasion. Crossbow technology for crossbows with more than one prod was transferred from the Chinese to Champa , which Champa used in its invasion of

2150-408: Is disturbed, powerless, subservient to another and worthless to oneself." Epictetus claims that only after the removal of any attachments to things in the external world could a Stoic truly possess friendship. He also outlined that progress towards sagehood would occur when one has learned what is in one's power. This would only come from the correct use of impressions. Marcus Aurelius defines

2236-615: Is not uncommon for vampire hunters to be other supernatural creatures such as werewolves or witches. Additionally, some human hunters may possess holy powers, superhuman, or other supernatural abilities that they can use both to fight and protect themselves from vampires and other supernatural entities they hunt. Some hunters may even resort to using dark powers or weapons (usually dark magic or demonic in nature). Some human hunters may even be tempted to become vampires themselves in order to obtain their powers and immortality, either to continue hunting them due to fear of their own mortality, or simply

2322-465: Is only one known depiction of it. The 11th century Chinese military text Wujing Zongyao mentions types of crossbows using winch mechanisms, but it is not known if these were actually handheld crossbows or mounted crossbows. Another drawing method involved the shooters sitting on the ground, and using the combined strength of leg, waist, back and arm muscles to help span much heavier crossbows, which were aptly called "waist-spun crossbows" (腰張弩). During

2408-439: Is so called because it spreads abroad an aura of rage [ nù ] ( 怒 ). Its stock is like the arm of a man, therefore it is called bi ( 臂 ). That which hooks the bowstring is called ya ( 牙 ), for indeed it is like teeth. The part round about the teeth [i.e. the housing box] is called the guo ( 郭 ) ["city wall"], since it surrounds the gui ( 規 ) [lug] of the teeth [i.e. the locking nut]. Within [and below] there

2494-410: Is the xuan dao ( 懸刀 ) ["hanging knife", i.e. the trigger blade] so called because it looks like one. The whole assembly is called ji ( 機 )["machine" or "mechanism"], for it is just as ingenious as the loom . The earliest European designs featured a transverse slot in the top surface of the frame, down into which the string was placed. To shoot this design, a vertical rod is thrust up through

2580-805: The Castlevania series, D from the Vampire Hunter D novel series, and the aforementioned eponymous hero of the Blade series of comic books, films , television series , and anime , are examples of dhampir vampire hunters. Some vampire hunters are vampires themselves. Two examples of this type can be found in Morbius the Living Vampire in Marvel Comics , and Zero Kiryuu in the manga and anime series Vampire Knight . The image of

2666-618: The gastraphetes , an ancient Greek crossbow, appeared. The name means "belly-bow"; the concave withdrawal rest at one end of the stock was placed against the belly of the operator, and he could press it to withdraw the slider before attaching a string to the trigger and loading the bolt; this could store more energy than Greek bows . The device was described by the Greek author Heron of Alexandria in his Belopoeica ("On Catapult-making"), which draws on an earlier account of his compatriot engineer Ctesibius ( fl. 285–222 BC). According to Heron,

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2752-635: The Balkans . A well-known and influential archetypal vampire hunter is Professor Abraham Van Helsing , a character in Bram Stoker 's 1897 horror novel Dracula , a foundational work in the genre. Professional or semi-professional vampire hunters played some part in the vampire beliefs of the Balkans (especially in Bulgarian , Serbian , and Romanian folk beliefs). In Bulgarian , the terms used to designate them included glog (lit. " hawthorn ",

2838-703: The Battle of Maling in 342 BC. The Book of Han , finished 111 AD, lists two military treatises on crossbows. Handheld crossbows with complex bronze trigger mechanisms have also been found with the Terracotta Army in the tomb of Qin Shi Huang (r. 221–210 BC) that are similar to specimens from the subsequent Han dynasty (202 BC–220 AD), while crossbowmen described in the Qin and Han dynasty learned drill formations, some were even mounted as charioteers and cavalry units , and Han dynasty writers attributed

2924-473: The Hellsing Organization in the anime television series Hellsing is a British government paramilitary strike force with access to troops, heavy combat vehicles and weapons and even allied vampires. While predominantly depicted as human, examples of other types of vampire hunters also exist. Dhampiric figures, having a mix of human and vampire blood, are a popular form. Alucard from

3010-655: The Khmer Empire 's Angkor in 1177. When the Chams sacked Angkor they used the Chinese siege crossbow. The Chinese taught the Chams how to use crossbows and mounted archery Crossbows and archery in 1171. The Khmer also had double-bow crossbows mounted on elephants, which Michel Jacq-Hergoualc'h suggests were elements of Cham mercenaries in Jayavarman VII 's army. The native Montagnards of Vietnam's Central Highlands were also known to have used crossbows, as both

3096-484: The Sphairos as "Completely within itself, well-rounded and spherical, so that nothing extraneous can adhere to it, because of its smooth and polished surface." Alternatively, the sage is one who lives "according to an ideal which transcends the everyday." Several of the schools of Hellenistic philosophy have the sage as a featured figure. Karl Ludwig Michelet wrote that "Greek religion culminated with its true god,

3182-487: The arquebus (which proliferated in the mid to late 15th century) matched crossbows' rate of fire while being far more powerful. The Battle of Cerignola in 1503 was won by Spain largely through the use of matchlock arquebuses, marking the first time a major battle had been won through the use of hand-held firearms. Later, similar competing tactics would feature harquebusiers or musketeers in formation with pikemen, pitted against cavalry firing pistols or carbines . While

3268-547: The film and television series of the same name. Buffy's spin-off television series Angel is also focused on a vampire hunter; the titular character, Angel, a vampire himself who is cursed with a conscience, is often portrayed battling vampires as well as demons. Created by Marv Wolfman , the Marvel Comics character Blade the Vampire-Slayer is a half human/half vampire who uses his super-strength and agility to hunt vampires and other monsters. The character spawned

3354-548: The gastraphetes was the forerunner of the later catapult , which places its invention some unknown time prior to 399 BC. The gastraphetes was a crossbow mounted on a stock divided into a lower and upper section. The lower was a case fixed to the bow, and the upper was a slider which had the same dimensions as the case. It was used in the Siege of Motya in 397 BC. This was a key Carthaginian stronghold in Sicily , as described in

3440-447: The longbow was more popular. Later crossbows (sometimes referred to as arbalests ), utilizing all-steel prods, were able to achieve power close (and sometime superior) to longbows but were more expensive to produce and slower to reload because they required the aid of mechanical devices such as the cranequin or windlass to draw back their extremely heavy bows. Usually these could shoot only two bolts per minute versus twelve or more with

3526-469: The medieval era , both Chinese and European crossbows used stirrups as well as belt hooks . In the 13th century, European crossbows started using winches, and from the 14th century an assortment of spanning mechanisms such as winch pulleys, cord pulleys, gaffles (such as gaffe levers, goat's foot levers, and rarer internal lever-action mechanisms), cranequins, and even screws. The smallest crossbows are pistol crossbows. Others are simple long stocks with

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3612-404: The stock of a long gun . Crossbows shoot arrow -like projectiles called bolts or quarrels . A person who shoots crossbow is called a crossbowman , an arbalister or an arbalist (after the arbalest , a European crossbow variant used during the 12th century). Crossbows and bows use the same elastic launch principles, but differ in that an archer using a bow must draw-and-shoot in

3698-476: The 14th century, steel prods came into use. Traditionally, the prod was often lashed to the stock with rope, whipcord , or other strong cording. This is called the bridle . The Chinese used winches for large crossbows mounted on fortifications or wagons , known as "bedded crossbows" (床弩). Winches may have been used for handheld crossbows during the Han dynasty (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), but there

3784-776: The 1st century AD by Heron of Alexandria in his book Belopoeica . A crossbow machine, the oxybeles was in use from 375 BC to around 340 BC, when the torsion principle replaced the tension crossbow mechanism. Other arrow-shooting machines such as the larger ballista and smaller scorpio from around 338 BC are torsion catapults and are not considered crossbows. Arrow-shooting machines ( katapeltai ) are briefly mentioned by Aeneas Tacticus in his treatise on siegecraft written around 350 BC. An Athenian inventory from 330 to 329 BC includes catapults bolts with heads and flights. Arrow-shooting machines in action are reported from Philip II's siege of Perinthos in Thrace in 340 BC. At

3870-477: The 7th century BC in ancient China and as early as the 1st century AD in Greece (as the gastraphetes ). Crossbows brought about a major shift in the role of projectile weaponry in wars, such as during Qin's unification wars and later Han campaigns against northern nomads and western states . The medieval European crossbow was called by many names, including "crossbow" itself; most of these names derived from

3956-543: The Greek and Chinese crossbow but it is not clear what kind of release mechanism they used. Archaeological evidence suggests they were similar to the rolling nut mechanism of medieval Europe. There are essentially no references to the crossbow in Europe from the 5th until the 10th century. There is however a depiction of a crossbow as a hunting weapon on four Pictish stones from early medieval Scotland (6th to 9th centuries): St. Vigeans no. 1 , Glenferness , Shandwick , and Meigle . The crossbow reappeared again in 947 as

4042-565: The Song dynasty, stirrups were added for ease of drawing and to mitigate damage to the bow. Alternatively, the bow could also be drawn by a belt claw attached to the waist, but this was done lying down, as was the case for all large crossbows. Winch-drawing was used for the large mounted crossbows as seen below, but evidence for its use in Chinese hand-crossbows is scant. Around the third century BC, King An Dương of Âu Lạc (modern-day northern Vietnam ) and (modern-day southern China ) commissioned

4128-414: The arcuballista was a crossbow is due to Vegetius referring separately to it and the manuballista , which was torsion powered. Therefore, if the arcuballista was not like the manuballista, it may have been a crossbow. According to Vegetius these were well-known devices and hence he did not describe them in depth. Joseph Needham argues against the existence of Roman crossbowmen: On the textual side, there

4214-550: The armies of Theodosius I, with which Vegetius happened to be acquainted. On the other hand Arrian 's earlier Ars Tactica , from about 136 AD, also mentions 'missiles shot not from a bow but from a machine' and that this machine was used on horseback while in full gallop. It is presumed that this was a crossbow. The only pictorial evidence of Roman arcuballistas comes from sculptural reliefs in Roman Gaul depicting them in hunting scenes. These are aesthetically similar to both

4300-424: The ban on certain types of crossbows, the weapon experienced an upsurge in civilian usage as both a hunting weapon and pastime. The "romantic young people from rich families, and others who had nothing particular to do" formed crossbow-shooting clubs as a way to pass time. Military crossbows were armed by treading, or basically placing the feet on the bow stave and drawing it using one's arms and back muscles. During

4386-429: The battlefield. Medieval crossbows were also very inefficient, with short shot stroke lengths from the string lock to the release point of their bolts, along with the slower speeds of their steel prods and heavy strings, despite their massive draw weights compared to bows, though modern materials and crossbow designs overcome these shortcomings. The earliest known crossbows were made in the first millennium BC, as early as

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4472-605: The capital of Lu , and date to the 6th century BC. Bronze crossbow bolts dating from the mid-5th century BC have been found at a Chu burial site in Yutaishan, Jiangling County , Hubei Province. Other early finds of crossbows were discovered in Tomb 138 at Saobatang, Hunan Province, and date to the mid-4th century BC. It is possible that these early crossbows used spherical pellets for ammunition. A Western Han mathematician and music theorist, Jing Fang (78–37 BC), compared

4558-490: The characteristics and use of crossbows in chapters 5 and 12 respectively, and compares a drawn crossbow to "might". The Huainanzi advises its readers not to use crossbows in marshland where the surface is soft and it is hard to arm the crossbow with the foot. The Records of the Grand Historian , completed in 94 BC, mentions that Sun Bin defeated Pang Juan by ambushing him with a battalion of crossbowmen at

4644-454: The clergy, holy orders, or other religious organizations which may be dedicated to fighting vampires, other demons, and other supernatural forces. Vampire hunting as a family tradition or birthright is a popular use of the archetype in fiction, such as the Belmont family from the Castlevania series. Some hunters devote their entire lives to the eradication of vampires; for others it is just

4730-452: The crossbow mounted on them. These could be shot from under the arm. The next step in development was stocks of the shape that would later be used for firearms , which allowed better aiming. The arbalest was a heavy crossbow that required special systems for pulling the sinew via windlasses. For siege warfare , the size of crossbows was further increased to hurl large projectiles, such as rocks, at fortifications. The required crossbows needed

4816-438: The difference between a sage and a philosopher ( Ancient Greek : φιλόσοφος , meaning lover of wisdom ) was that the sage has what the philosopher seeks. While analyzing the concept of love , Socrates concludes love is that which lacks the object it seeks. Therefore, the philosopher does not have the wisdom sought, while the sage, on the other hand, does not love or seek wisdom, for it is already possessed. Socrates then examines

4902-461: The gods and would "[watch] the infinity of worlds arising out of atoms in the infinite void" and because of this nothing ever disturbs the peace of his soul. Certainly, they would be "unconcerned by mundane affairs in their bright, eternal tranquility, they spend their time contemplating the infinity of space, time, and the multiple worlds." According to Seneca the Younger , Epicurus believed that

4988-454: The infantry to be armed with crossbows. During the Song dynasty , the crossbow received a huge upsurge in military usage, and often overshadowed the bow 2 to 1 in numbers. During this time period, a stirrup was added for ease of loading. The Song government attempted to restrict the public use of crossbows and sought ways to keep both body armor and crossbows out of civilian ownership. Despite

5074-503: The military crossbow had largely been supplanted by firearms on the battlefield by 1525, the sporting crossbow in various forms remained a popular hunting weapon in Europe until the eighteenth century. The accuracy of late 15th century crossbows compares well with modern handguns, based on records of shooting competitions in German cities. Crossbows saw irregular use throughout the rest of the 16th century; for example, Maria Pita 's husband

5160-441: The monster's traditional weaknesses. These have included firearms with silver ammunition , appropriate religious symbols, crossbows that fire all-wooden bolts and even waterguns filled with blessed holy water in the movies The Lost Boys and From Dusk Till Dawn . The organizational strength of depicted vampire hunters can vary wildly. Most hunter characters are in small groups working alone and in secret. By contrast,

5246-476: The moon to the shape of a round crossbow bullet . The Zhuangzi also mentions crossbow bullets. The earliest Chinese documents mentioning a crossbow were texts from the 4th to 3rd centuries BC attributed to the followers of Mozi . This source refers to the use of a giant crossbow between the 6th and 5th centuries BC, corresponding to the late Spring and Autumn period . Sun Tzu 's The Art of War (first appearance dated between 500 BC to 300 BC ) refers to

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5332-427: The other while others reload and ready them. Crossbows are spanned into their cocked positions using a number of techniques and devices, some of which are mechanical and employ gear and pulley arrangements – levers, belt hooks, pulleys, windlasses and cranequins – to overcome very high draw weight. These potentially achieve better precision and enable their effective use by less familiarised and trained personnel, whereas

5418-493: The person in question was recently turned into a vampire. Another common trope is hunters being forced to slay their loved ones or allies who have been turned into vampires. Alternatively, after becoming a vampire, sometimes hunters will continue to fight and hunt vampires using their newly acquired vampire powers and abilities (sometimes being hunted by their former allies and other human vampire hunters). In addition to human hunters, dhampirs, and vampires that hunt other vampires, it

5504-506: The sage The difficulty of becoming a sage was often discussed in Stoicism. When Panaetius , the seventh and final scholarch of the Stoa, was asked by a young man whether a sage would fall in love, he responded by saying: "As to the wise man, we shall see. What concerns you and me, who are still a great distance from the wise man, is to ensure that we do not fall into a state of affairs which

5590-413: The sage as one "who has knowledge of the beginning and the end, and of that all-pervading Reason which orders the universe in its determinate cycles to the end of time". Crossbow A crossbow is a ranged weapon using an elastic launching device consisting of a bow -like assembly called a prod , mounted horizontally on a main frame called a tiller , which is hand-held in a similar fashion to

5676-412: The sage rarely gets married, because marriage is accompanied by many inconveniences. Léon Robin , in his commentary on Lucretius , writes "the sage places himself within the immutability of eternal Nature, which is independent of time." It is the view of Zeno and his Stoic followers that there are two races of men, that of the worthwhile, and that of the worthless. The race of the worthwhile employ

5762-483: The sage"; Pierre Hadot develops this idea, stating that "the moment philosophers achieve a rational conception of God based on the model of the sage, Greece surpasses its mythical representation of its gods." Indeed, the actions of the sage are propounded to be how a god would act in the same situation. What more accurate stand or measure of good things do we have than the Sage? In Plato 's Symposium Socrates says

5848-510: The sage, while the circumstances of life sought by other people (good health, wealth, praise, fame, long life, etc.) were regarded by the Stoic sage as unnecessary externals. This indifference to externals was achieved by the sage through the correct knowledge of impressions, a core concept in Stoic epistemology . Thus, the sage's happiness, eudaimonia , was based entirely on virtue . 'If thou wouldst know contentment, let thy deeds be few,' said

5934-488: The same time, Greek fortifications began to feature high towers with shuttered windows in the top, presumably to house anti-personnel arrow shooters, as in Aigosthena . The late 4th century author Vegetius , in his De Re Militari , describes arcubalistarii (crossbowmen) working together with archers and artillerymen. However it is disputed whether arcuballistas were crossbows or torsion-powered weapons. The idea that

6020-442: The second piece, which is shaped like a flattened "C" and acts as the sear . The sear cannot move as it is trapped by the third piece, i.e. the actual trigger blade, which hangs vertically below the enclosure and catches the sear via a notch. The two bearing surfaces between the three trigger pieces each offers a mechanical advantage , which allow for handling significant draw weights with a much smaller pull weight. During shooting,

6106-499: The simple and composite warbows of, for example, the English and the steppe nomads require years of training, practice and familiarisation. These advantages for the crossbow are somewhat offset by the longer time needed to reload a crossbow for further shots, with the crossbows with high draw weights requiring sophisticated systems of gears and pulleys to overcome their huge draw weights that are very slow and rather awkward to employ on

6192-550: The sound of shooting a crossbow is vibration of various components. Crossbow silencers are multiple components placed on high vibration parts, such as the string and limbs, to dampen vibration and suppress the sound of loosing the bolt. In terms of archaeological evidence, crossbow locks dated c.  650 BC made of cast bronze have been found in China . They have also been found in Tombs 3 and 12 at Qufu , Shandong, previously

6278-521: The species of wood used for the stake), vampirdzhiya , vampirar , dzhadazhiya , svetocher . They were usually either born on Saturday (then called Sabbatarians , Bulgarian sâbotnichav , Greek sabbatianoí ) or the offspring of a vampire and a woman (typically his widow), called a dhampir in Romanian or a vampirović in Serbian . It was also believed that someone born on a Saturday could see

6364-536: The start. European crossbows from the 10th to 12th centuries used wood for the bow, also called the prod or lath , which tended to be ash or yew . Composite bows started appearing in Europe during the 13th century and could be made from layers of different material, often wood, horn, and sinew glued together and bound with animal tendon. These composite bows made of several layers are much stronger and more efficient in releasing energy than simple wooden bows. As steel became more widely available in Europe around

6450-462: The stock, tied in with a binding of sinew or other strong cording; or mounted on a metal axle or pins. Removable or integral plates of wood, ivory, or metal on the sides of the stock kept the nut in place laterally. Nuts were made of antler, bone, or metal. Bows could be kept taut and ready to shoot for some time with little physical straining, allowing crossbowmen to aim better without fatiguing. Chinese crossbow bows were made of composite material from

6536-599: The success of numerous battles against the Xiongnu and Western Regions city-states to massed crossbow volleys. The bronze triggers were designed in such a way that they were able to store a large amount of energy within the bow when drawn but was easily shot with little resistance and recoil when the trigger was pulled. The trigger nut also had a long vertical spine that could be used like a primitive rear sight for elevation adjustment, which allowed precision shooting over longer distances. The Qin and Han dynasty-era crossbow

6622-478: The two categories of persons who do not partake in philosophy: The position of the philosopher is between these two groups. The philosopher is not wise, but possesses the self-awareness of lacking wisdom, and thus pursues it. Plato is also the first to develop this notion of the sage in various works. Within The Republic , Plato indicates that when a friend of a sage dies, the sage "will not think that for

6708-413: The user will hold the crossbow at eye level by a vertical handle and aim along the arrow using the sighting spine for elevation , similar to how a modern rifleman shoots with iron sights . When the trigger blade is pulled, its notch disengages from the sear and allows the latter to drop downwards, which in turn frees up the nuts to pivot forward and release the bowstring. The nu ( 弩 ) [crossbow]

6794-608: The vampire hunter is often a mysterious and dramatic avenging hero, an eccentric extremist , a mad scientist , or sometimes a mix of these. A hunter may be a heroic figure, a villain (from the perspective of the vampire), a lonesome avenger, or sometimes, although not usually, a bounty-hunter -style character, hunting vampires for profit. Vampire hunters have also popularly been depicted as hunting various creatures such as werewolves , demons , and other forms of undead as well. Others have been depicted as mages and cyborgs . Vampire hunters are often associated with or are members of

6880-528: The virtues through all of their lives, while the race of the worthless employ the vices. Hence the worthwhile always do the right thing on which they embark, while the worthless do wrong. The concept of the sage within Stoicism was an important topic. Indeed, the discussion of Stoic ethics within Stobaeus , which depended on Arius Didymus , spent over a third of its length discussing the sage. The Stoic sage

6966-505: The word ballista , an ancient Greek torsion siege engine similar in appearance but different in design principle. In modern times, firearms have largely supplanted bows and crossbows as weapons of war, but crossbows remain widely used for competitive shooting sports and hunting, and for relatively silent shooting. A crossbowman is sometimes called an arbalist , or historically an arbalister . Arrow , bolt and quarrel are all suitable terms for crossbow projectiles, as

7052-404: Was vire historically. The lath , also called the prod , is the bow of the crossbow. According to W. F. Peterson, prod came into usage in the 19th century as a result of mistranslating rodd in a 16th-century list of crossbow effects. The stock (a modern term derived from the equivalent concept in firearms ) is the wooden body on which the bow is mounted, although the medieval tiller

7138-474: Was also an early example of a modular design , as the bronze trigger components were also mass-produced with relative precise tolerances so that the parts were interchangeable between different crossbows. The trigger mechanism from one crossbow can be installed into another simply by dropping into a tiller slot of the same specifications and secured with dowel pins . Some crossbow designs were also found to be fitted with bronze buttplates and trigger guard . It

7224-558: Was claimed that a few elite troops were capable of arming crossbows with a draw-weight in excess of 340 kg (750 lb) by the hands-and-feet method. After the Han dynasty, the crossbow lost favor during the Six Dynasties , until it experienced a mild resurgence during the Tang dynasty , under which the ideal expeditionary army of 20,000 included 2,200 archers and 2,000 crossbowmen. Li Jing and Li Quan prescribed 20 percent of

7310-525: Was killed by a crossbowman of the English Armada in 1589. There are no references to crossbows in Islamic texts earlier than the 14th century. Arabs in general were averse to the crossbow and considered it a foreign weapon. They called it qaus al-rijl (foot-drawn bow), qaus al-zanbūrak (bolt bow) and qaus al-faranjīyah (Frankish bow). Although Muslims did have crossbows, there seems to be

7396-464: Was understood to be an inaccessible ideal rather than a concrete reality. The aim of Stoicism was to live a life of virtue , where "virtue consists in a will which is in agreement with Nature." As such, the sage is one who has attained such a state of being and whose life consequently becomes tranquil . The standard was so high that Stoics were unsure whether one had ever existed; if so, possibly only Socrates or Diogenes of Sinope had achieved such

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