Details

LOT 1485

Greek Lead Slingshot

3RD-1ST CENTURY B.C.

1 1/8 in. (29.8 grams, 29 mm).

Biconical in profile with casting seam and reserved legend 'ΣΟΜA' to one face, 'HPAKAEI' to reverse, with the possible meaning 'Body of Herakles'. [No Reserve]

Provenance

Acquired on the German art market before 2000.
Private collection, Munich, Germany.

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.37(type Volling IIb).

Footnotes

The principal varieties of the inscriptions found on sling bullets are: 1) the name of a man, a place or a person; 2) the name of a deity, sometimes on its own and sometimes in connection with ‘victory’; 3) words conveying orders, jokes or sarcasms. Here the inscription connects the power of the bullet to the mythical god of strength.