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Back to previous pageLOT 1567
Sold for (Inc. bp): £156
3RD-1ST CENTURY B.C.
1 - 1 1/4 in. (118 grams total, 25-31 mm).
Three lentoid-section lead slingshots (glandae), each deformed due to impact, one with the Greek letters 'ΓΕΜ…ΔΑ' (Ghemonidas?). [3, No Reserve]
PROVENANCE:
Ex German art market, 2000s.
Acquired from an EU collector living in London.
From the collection of Surrey, UK, gentleman.
This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D’Amato.
LITERATURE:
Cf. Schinco, G., Small, A.M., 'A previously unknown siege of Botromagno/Silvium: the evidence of slingshots from Gravina in Puglia (Provincia di Bari, Puglia)' in Papers of the British School at Rome, 2019, pp.1-52, fig.34, for similar.
FOOTNOTES:
The use of lead slingshots in battle is attested in Greece as early as the 5th century B.C. Numerous finds were excavated in Olynthus, usually olive or plump-almond-shape. The type continued to be used in the Italian peninsula, and similar specimens, bearing the title ‘Commander of the Units of Slingers’ have been attested from the period of the Punic Wars.
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