I was blown away recently upon learning of the ancient empire of Parthia.....I have yet to ascertain whether or not they used the sling, but their culture was widespread and of great importance in their time! It is amazing that so little is known of them today considering they were contemporaries of Rome. (what am I saying, it is precisely this fact that probably relegated them to the cobwebbed corners of history).....I can definitely see 'movie potential' here if even a 1/4 of what I have read about them is true. Modern archers today still reference the act of shooting the bow from horseback towards the rear at a closely pursuing enemy as the 'Parthian Shot'! The Parthians used it to great effect by sending a small cavalry contingent against the Romans to lure them to attack and then appear to turn and run in panic, only to let the Romans gain on them and turn in unison to shoot their pursuers in the chest while their main cavalry swarmed in from flanking positions! One particular battle saw Rome's worst defeat against a contemporary rival with over 70,000 of Rome's forces lost. The Parthian empire survived for 500 years with the minting of coinage uninterrupted. It is said that the Parthians could not have formed such an empire, much less maintained it without their specific breed of horse, you guessed it, the Parthian horse. It dominated the battlefield with much the same advantage that a modern battletank has over the automobile. Only, get this, their 'battletank' not only dwarfed the 'car'......but was faster with more endurance! It is recorded by her enemies that Parthian warriors entered battle covered head to foot in a type of chainmail as were their horses! They took sling and arrow hits and kept on coming and were so feared by even the Romans that the Romans sued for peace on many occasions to avoid battle. That truly would be something to see. So little is known by the public at large of such an interesting culture, and it is only recently that Parthia has begun to be recognized by many mainstream historians as the influential empire it was. I highly recommend the following book to any among us who actively study ancient cultures:
Parthia : The Forgotten Ancient Superpower And Its Role In Biblical History - by Steven M. Collins
Eye opening stuff...