Details

LOT 1435

Greek Macedonian Lead Inscribed Slingshot

3RD-1ST CENTURY B.C.

1 1/8 in. (27.5 grams, 28 mm).

A biconical glans with an inscription 'MEP' to one side and 'NA' to the other. [No Reserve]

Provenance

Ex German art market, 2000s.
Acquired from an EU collector living in London.
From the collection of a 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

For similar 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 iib of Volling.

Footnotes

The leaden bullets, which were thrown from 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 on only one. In form they were more like an almond than an acorn, but many are pointed at both ends; in size, they are generally about one inch and a half maximum length, and under one inch in maximum width. Bullets from Mecyberna possess the abbreviated inscription MER (obverse) and NA (reverse), which some scholar translated as Mecyberna. The presence of the Mecyberna inscription is expected, since the Polis of Mecyberna produced clay moulds, which suggests local production. Inscribed bullets with the name of a city may also denote the place of manufacture