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LOT 1536
Luristan Bronze Spearhead
12TH-11TH CENTURY B.C.
13 1/4 in. (285 grams, 33.5 cm).
With broad leaf-shaped blade and tapering square-section tang, flanged neck.
ProvenanceAcquired 1980-2015.
Ex Abelita family collection.
This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D’Amato.
Cf. Khorasani M.M., Arms and Armour from Iran. The Bronze Age to the End of the Qajar Period, Tübingen, 2006, p.243, item 279, p.630.
FootnotesThe weapon belongs to type I of the Khorasani classification. Similar weapons have been excavated in Marlilk by Professor Negahban and dated by Stutzinger to the late 13th-early 12th century B.C.
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Roman Legion XIII 'Battle of Munda' Lead Slingshot
1st century B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £650
Fusiform with reserved legend 'LXIII' (for LEGIO XIII = 13th Legion). 50.3 grams, 41 mm
Acquired on the UK art market. Property of a gentleman collector. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D’Amato.
The shot (Völling type 1C) is marked with the abbreviated name of Legion XIII, and was probably used at the Battle of Monda (or Munda) against Julius Caesar, 17th March 45 B.C., or against the sons of Pompey, because both the generals (Pompey sons and Caesar) had in their army a Legio with the numeral XIII on that day. Interestingly, other glandes of the same typology from the same battlefield bear the name of Pompey, so that it is much possible that the glans belongs to the Legio XIII of Pompey, who was destroyed during the battle and whose survivors were massacred among the 22,000 defenders of Cordoba by the troops of Caesar (D'Amato, 2021, pp.421 and 424). The projectiles were made of different materials: lead (glandes) or in pottery or stone (lapides missiles). -
Luristan Bronze Arrowhead Group
13th-6th century B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £234
Including barbed, triangular, heater-shaped and other tanged types. 442 grams total, 11.3-19.5 cm
Acquired 1980-2015. Ex Abelita family collection. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D’Amato. -
Luristan Bronze Miniature Dagger
12th-11th century B.C.Sold for (Inc. bp): £124
Short dagger with leaf-shaped blade, with a slightly pronounced midrib, expanded handle terminating in an equine protome. 294 grams, 25.2 cm
Acquired 1980-2015. Ex Abelita family collection. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D’Amato.
Miniature weapons such as this one apparently functioned as models for actual weapons and may have had a cultic purpose. The hilt of this dagger, if effectively used, should have been flanged for the filling with organic material. Unfortunately, only a few miniature tools and weapons have been found in the archaeological context of the graves, which does not offer clear elements of understanding and comparison.
