Villanovan Bronze Spear Butt End

With a slender blade, chin to the lower edge with a spur to the rear, round socket with rectangular flanges; traces of the original wooden shaft inside the socket. 600 grams, 16.5 cm



From the private collection of a London gentleman, from his grandfather's collection formed before the early 1970s.

Biconical in profile with casting seam and the Macedonian Star on one side. 27.8 grams, 28 mm



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

In Greek warfare, slingers appear as psiloi, lightly equipped troops who skirmished ahead of a phalanx or alongside peltasts. Some city-states likely trained their own slingers; others were specialists. Rhodian slingers became famous in the 4th century B.C. because the islanders had a tradition of practice. In the Peloponnese, in mainland Greece, and along the Aegean coast, slingers fought in both field operations and sieges. The practice survived into the Roman period, during which specialist mercenaries, like the Rhodians or the Balearic slingers, were still in use.

Large, cylindrical body with a domed filler hole; intended to be filled with explosive liquid and a wick, and used as a hand grenade. 636 grams, 12.8 cm



From an important specialist collection, London, UK, 1990s. Accompanied by an academic paper by military specialist Dr Raffaele D'Amato, dated 15 July 2019 and titled 'Eastern Roman Empire - Greek Fire Bomb or Hand Grenade (μεσαίον kακάβιον) 9th-11th century AD'.

Apart from the use of siphons or manual flame-throwers called cheirosiphona, special corps of Roman soldiers employed terracotta grenades, in the form of small jars, abundantly evidenced in archaeological excavations. They were called μεσαία kακαβιά or κυτροκακάβια, where the former had a bulbous shape and the latter a more cylindrical form.