Details

LOT 0855

Roman Legion XIII 'Battle of Munda' Lead Slingshot

1ST CENTURY B.C.

2 in. (55.7 grams, 51 mm).

Fusiform with pointed ends, reserved 'LXIII' (LEGIO XIII = 13th Legion) legend. [No Reserve]

Provenance

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.

Literature

Cf. 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 a similar glandes from Zaragoza Museum, from Munda battlefield; cf. also D'Amato, R., La Grande Storia delle Legioni Romane, Roma, 2021.

Footnotes

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).