Roman Baked Clay Slingshot Group

1ST CENTURY A.D.

2 - 2 1/2 in. (167 grams total, 50-65 mm).

Comprising three lentoid-section glandes. [3, No Reserve]

Provenance

Ex Simmons Gallery, London E11, UK, in the 1990s.
From a North London collection.

Literature

Cf. Marchant, D.J., Roman weaponry in the province of Britain from the second century to the fifth century AD, Durham, 1991, fig.26, for similar.

Footnotes

The trio finds parallels with examples unearthed at Ham Hill, Somerset, UK. The sling (funda) with its lead missiles (plumbea pondera) was used by special funditores, illustrated on Trajan’s Column where they are simply dressed in broad tunics with no armour, but carry a shield. Their cloak, or sagulum acted as an ammunition bag. The effectiveness of the slingers was unquestionable and much appreciated, especially against elephants. Celsus, writing towards the end of the 2nd century A.D., described how a slingshot wound was more dangerous and harder to treat than one inflicted by an arrow.

CONDITION

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LOT 0769