Details

LOT 1491

Greek Lead Slingshot

3RD-1ST CENTURY B.C.

1 1/8 in. (28.5 grams, 28 mm).

Biconical in profile with casting seam and reserved legend 'ΔΑМΑCΕΝΟΥ' = of Damasenos, and 'M' to reverse. [No Reserve]

Provenance

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

Literature

See 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 leaden bullets, which were thrown with slings, were called in Greek molivdainai (μολύβδαιναι), and in Latin glandes; the former indicating the material ‘lead’, the latter the shape ‘acorns’. These bullets, were cast in a mould and bore letters or devices, or both, on two sides or only on one side. In form they were more like an almond than an acorn, but many are pointed at both ends.