Details

LOT 1865

Greek Lead Slingshot of Alexander the Great

336-323 B.C.

1 1/8 in. (28.6 grams, 30 mm).

Biconical in profile with casting seam and reserved monogram 'AB = ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΥΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ' (Αlexandrou basileos), a rayed solar symbol, the so-called Argead Star, on the other side; extremely rare, first known specimen of this type. [No Reserve]

Provenance

From a German private collection, formed since the 1980s.

Literature

See Nankov, E., Markers of Military Mobility: Toward an Archaeology of the Sling in Ancient Thrace (5th c. BC – 4th c. AD), with a corpus of the inscribed lead sling projectiles from Bulgaria. Glandes Plumbeae Inscriptae in Bulgaria Repertae, Sofia, 2023, p. 75 and pl. XXV LI14; F. Şahin, Patara, vol. V.2: Patarametal buluntulari, Istanbul, 2018, pp. 57–58, D11, fig. 13.

Footnotes

The Argeads were an important Greek dynasty ruling over ancient Macedonia, with Alexander as the most prominent member of the royal house of the Argeads. The rayed solar symbol (Argead Star, Vergina Star) is interpreted as the historical royal symbol of the ancient Macedonian Dynasty of the Argeads, with its most famous member, Alexander the Great. Cf. a similar slingshot in the Musée du Louvre (INV 1497), acquired by the museum in 1825.