LOT 1393

Roman Lead Slingshot Group

1ST CENTURY B.C.

1 1/8 in. (155 grams total, 28-30 mm).

A mixed group of four lentoid-section biconical lead slingshot, three fitted with iconic winged thunderbolts on one side, and one with the Tanit goddess symbol, possibly alluding to a Balearic-Punic origin. [5, No Reserve]

From the collection of a Surrey, UK, gentleman; acquired in the 1990s.

See D'Amato, R. and Sumner, G., Arms and Armour of the Imperial Roman Soldier: From Marius to Commodus, 112 BC-AD 192, London, 2009, fig.32, p.45, for similar glandes from Zaragoza Museum; Schinco, G., Small, A.M., 'A previously unknown siege of Brotomagno/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, figs.2,3.

The slingshots are belonging to the type IIb of the Völling classification. The practice of inscribing slingshots developed early, in 4th century BC Greece. Most inscriptions are names (in full or abbreviated) of generals or commanders of units of slingers. Some are slogans of the contesting sides. Individual letters occasionally appear, sometimes in conjunction with a name or motif or numbers.