History of crossbows
It is not clear when the crossbow was invented, but it is believed to have appeared in China first by 7th century BC and Greece around the 5th or 4th century BC. In China, the crossbow was one of the primary military weapons from the Warring States period until the end of the Han dynasty, when armies were composed of up to 30 to 50 percent crossbowmen. The crossbow lost much of its popularity after the fall of the Han dynasty, likely because of the rise of the more resilient heavy cavalry during the Six Dynasties.