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LOT 1844
Greek Lead Slingshot with Inscription
4TH-3RD CENTURY B.C.
1 1/4 in. (32.7 grams, 31 mm).
Lenticular type with casting seam to the rim, raised 'AΓΟΡΟΥ' legend (genitive for Agouros = immature, unripe).
ProvenanceEx German art market, 2000s.
Acquired from an EU collector living in London.
From the collection of a Surrey, UK, gentleman.
Cf. for similar bullets (different inscription) Tsaravopoulos, A., ‘Evidence of war in a Pirates’City of the Hellenistic Period (Island Antikythera/Aigilia Greece)’ in Sirbu, V., Schuster, C., Hortopan, D., Warriors and their weapons in bronze and iron ages, Proceedings of the 21st International Colloquium of Funerary Archaeology 25th-28th May, 2023, Târgu Jiu, Gorj County (Romania), Braila, 2023, pp.301-320, figs.15-18.
FootnotesSometimes the bullet carries a joke for the enemy. Here, the bullet bears the inscription ‘immature’, signifying that the enemy will receive not a nice fruit to eat, but an unripe fruit, a fruit he never wants to get.
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From an important specialist collection, London, UK, 1990s onwards. Accompanied by an academic paper by military specialist Dr Raffaele D'Amato, dated 15 July 2019 and titled 'Eastern Roman Empire - Greek Fire Bomb or Hand Grenade (μεσαίον kακάβιον) 9th-11th century AD'.
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