Not to mention some depictions of handheld versions of the apparatus DO exist in the Madrid Skylitzes manuscript. No, seriously. Which means the people who made Kingdoms weren't ENITRELY off their rocker.... IIRC, Theophanes the Confessor also mentions it being used in one of Justinian II's campaigns against the slavs near Thessalonika.
Though I'd have to dig up my copy of Theophanes to be sure.
Oh: The image from the chronicle:
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