But when Hamilcar saw that his men were being overpowered and that the Greeks in constantly increasing number were making their way into the camp, he brought up his slingers, who came from the Baliaric Islands and numbered at least a thousand. By hurling a shower of great stones, they wounded many and even killed not a few of those who were attacking, and they shattered the defensive armour of most of them. For these men, who are accustomed to sling stones weighing a mina(1.25pound), contribute a great deal toward victory in battle,since from childhood they practise constantly with the sling.
BOOK XIX. 109.   DIODORUS OF SICILY
http://www.slinging.org/images/ballein2.gif

You are great, Johnny, very well depicted that Balearic slinger with his three slings (but they wore the long sling around the waist, like a belt, he he ), and theirs projectil of a mina, almost the size of a fist. The text of Diodorus is splendid.

Thanks Hondero!
I'll do my next illustration with the sling around the waist!
Johnny

Wow......now unless those good ol' boys were ambidextrous......I bet that was a sight to behold.  Imagine the over developement of the slinging arm over time......I am sure they must've worked out to avoid such an 'imbalance'.    If not,  we may imagine the words of Harry Dunn and Lloyd Christmas had they access to a time machine......Harry: 'look at the arm on that'.......Lloyd:  "Yeah,.....He must work out".   (I guess you had to have seen the movie).

Seriously though,


The Ninja of old trained their children practically from birth and they attained legendary conditioning.   I can only imagine in awe, what the slinger trained from early childhood could have attained!   I am reminded of Miyamoto Musashi.....Japan's most revered and legendary swordsman.   His 'Book of five rings' is quite informative and revealing......about the mindset of those obsessed.   Miyamoto virtually never lost a duel......but once.   He went into personal combat usually with a wooden sword and liked to carve them preceding, and specifically for, each battle.   His feats were impressive.  His only loss was reputed to have been at the hands of a Ninja who himself, was wielding a fan.   I can imagine that the truly dedicated slinger of old.....had some equally impressive and unlikely victories over 'apparently' much stronger opponents.

That's really neat, Johnny.  That's a good story, and you can really draw. 8)

I've read about the Balearic Islanders before. Supposedly they had to "sling for their supper" as children. That is, a loaf of bread was set up as a target and they couldn't eat it until they "killed" it with a slung stone. Not only the Carthaginians but the Romans employed Balearic slingers as mercenaries. I believe some sort of sport slinging tradition survives in those islands to this day. If any of the board posters here is well-off enough to travel overseas (and can endure all the "security" hassles  ::)), the Balearic Islands might be a good place to visit, especially if the visit could be timed to coincide with some local slinging contest. It might be educational.

Oz

Johnny,  you gone and done it again.......now you HAVE to write a movie script, get a producer, direct it yourself and hire us ALL to be extras....slingin our hearts out for the world to see!  Get to storyboarding this thing!  Can you truly be forgiven otherwise, my friend?   The answer, which you can hear faint yet distinct, is a cacophany of replies being psychically projected from all over the world by the members of this forum....... A resounding Nay......Never!    Ok, maybe it's just me....but I swore I could have heard voices.....oops, maybe I shouldn't have said that.    8)

Ozy,  thanks for the bit of info about the loaf of bread thing!   That is what has been missing in my parenting skills....or lack thereof.    I must now steel my resolve to see that the 'art of the sling' lives on undying in my progeny!   Skinny though they may become.........they have a ways to go though, the chubby little hooligans, too much sedentary video gamery afoot.   Must.....grunt......be.......hrmmphh.....strong!  :-[

[quote author=TechStuf link=1083241969/0#6 date=1083266960]Ozy,  thanks for the bit of info about the loaf of bread thing!   That is what has been missing in my parenting skills....or lack thereof.    I must now steel my resolve to see that the 'art of the sling' lives on undying in my progeny!   Skinny though they may become.........they have a ways to go though, the chubby little hooligans, too much sedentary video gamery afoot.   Must.....grunt......be.......hrmmphh.....strong!  :-[/quote]

You're welcome, TechStuff. ;) I know what you mean about the sedentary video game thing. I don't have any kids, but I see it all the time. It would shake the faith in ritalin of anyone who believes in "Attention-Deficit Disorder" to see how long today's kids can concentrate on and stay glued to their video games.  ::)

We had TV when I was little, and we watched a good deal of it, but we played outside a lot too, and walked and ran and bicycled all over, climbed and fell out of trees, and got chased by bulls and mean dogs, and generally got into all kinds of mischief, sort of like in an old "Little Rascals" episode.

 I for one started playing with a homemade *elastic* slingshot like Dennis the Menace at an early age. I think I was about 14 when I made my first David-and-Goliath sling out of some leather boot laces and the "tongue" cut out of an old boot. I didn't achieve much accuracy with it (and in fact I broke a few things I wasn't aiming at), but I sure could cast a rock pretty far, and had a lot of fun with it.

Very few of us were overweight then. I myself was always a little *too* thin until my late-thirties, when I suddenly started to get a little bit of middle-age spread around the waistline. I think I could work that off in a short time if only I lived in a place where I could get much outdoor exercise, but I don't anymore. :( Maybe someday ... )

Oz

Oz,   My youngest child is, at the age of 3, already an accomplished 'CubeHead'.    He mastered the gamecube at one and a half years old and then we bought him Sonic the hedgehog.  It saved our lives.lol.  He has been obsessed with Sonic ever since.  One good side effect......He can run around our block, which is a third of a mile square, 5 times before quitting!   1 and 2/3's miles.  We own a trampoline and he has the legs of a mountain goat!   I don't know what 1 2/3's miles works out to in scale to a 3yr old.....but it must be like sprinting at least two for an adult.   The downside.....he tries to watch his shadow the whole time he runs.....to see his legs in a 'blur' like sonic......his noggin is getting quite a tough, cromagnon like makeover.....(just kidding, kinda).    The kid plays those games better than I ever could......and I remember back to when I got out of school on a friday in junior high and ran over to get first crack at the new asteroids machine at the Safeway store across the street.......I was still there when the store closed at midnight with my extra ships lined all the way across the screen into memory.   I was the video game champ in my day.....but of course that was before the onslaught of 3d home gaming.......speaking of which.......wait......ok.......yeah!   I think I just had an idea.   A video game by slingers for slingers!  One works the stick in a circle to sling and hits the A button to release...1 revolution, as many as you want...one chooses from various and plethoric preprogrammed  styles.....OR designs their own!  And then it's ........time for BATTLE!!!!  Mwaa......whew....caught myself this time. Ok, one could choose from the primitive style slings all the way up to ultrafuturistic EM slings and smart ammo!   Where the hell is Nwmanitou......where is he.....what's his cell number anybody know?

  Ok,  I'm calm now.....back down to earth......and once again.....I realize that a narrow market niche is a narrow market niche......no matter how you slice it...dawgawnit!     Or is it!!!.....Mwaa-SMACK!  

Ok, I'm done.

Tech
i dont know if u ramble often or it was just this once or if u werent even rambleing (it seemed like it to me so i just figured i'd say it) but i do it alll the time when i'm Iming people so dont feel bad (if u werent feeling bad just pretend you were... shhhh i wont tell!)
Sean

Dually noted, Sean.  My apologies Johnny, for yet again diverging widely from the topic at hand.   :-X

 

I dont' doubt that the stones were that heavy. They made their stones from limestone, about two and one half inches across, or about the size of a tennis ball.
 I wonder if they would shatter on impact.