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The "DEXA" Bullet (Read 6911 times)
ADAXL
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The "DEXA" Bullet
Jan 21st, 2007 at 12:02pm
 
I am looking for images and information on the famous greek lead bullet with the inscription "DEXA" ("Take that!" or "Catch!"). It is the British Museum in London, as far as I know.
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wanderer
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Re: The "DEXA" Bullet
Reply #1 - Jan 22nd, 2007 at 7:55am
 
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ADAXL
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Re: The "DEXA" Bullet
Reply #2 - Jan 22nd, 2007 at 11:38am
 
Yow, thanks. The image is brand new (2 January 2007)!
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ADAXL
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Howto spell "DEXA" in Greek?
Reply #3 - Jan 22nd, 2007 at 11:36pm
 
I have one last question: How do you spell "DEXA" in the original Greek?
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slingwizzy
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Re: The "DEXA" Bullet
Reply #4 - Jan 23rd, 2007 at 8:41am
 
dexa is spelled ancient greek on the glande, i know, i have ancient greek Wink
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Matthias
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Re: The "DEXA" Bullet
Reply #5 - Jan 23rd, 2007 at 11:11am
 
ΔΕΞΑ


Hey! Look at that! YaBB 2.1 does Greek! Cool Anyone better versed want to chime in on this? The glans in the photo uses a "fancy" A, the Xi has little serifs/booties and it looks like there is something afterward... Did the ancients use exclamation points?

edit-nope it doesn't look like it. The glans in the photo looks like it says
ΔΕΞΑΙ
or DEXAI, which is what at least a couple of references also record (Foss, Clive. "A Bullet of Tissaphernes." The Journal of Hellenic Studies, 95, 25-30. 1975.)

Note that the design on the other face is a "winged thunderbolt". I worked my way through google on that one... Interesting stuff! You don't see many old fashioned thunderbolts around these days (unless you know where to look Wink) but they used to be everywhere. Makes one trend toward conspiracist leanings...
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« Last Edit: Jan 23rd, 2007 at 1:03pm by Matthias »  
 
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Curious Aardvark
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Re: The "DEXA" Bullet
Reply #6 - Jan 23rd, 2007 at 12:39pm
 
so how big/heavy is that bullet ?

Wonder if I could get a winged aardvark on one ? :-)
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Do All things with Honour and Generosity: Regret Nothing, Envy None, Apologise Seldom and Bow your head to No One  - works for me Smiley
 
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Dale
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Re: The "DEXA" Bullet
Reply #7 - Jan 23rd, 2007 at 4:36pm
 
Curious_Aardvark,

I could not find any information about the two glandes in the British Museum.  I do have some information about one glans, illustrated on this site (Chris got permission to post "[url]
The Ballistics of the Sling
[/url]" by Thom Richardson, originally published in Royal Armouries Yearbook in 1998).  The glans illustrated in that article massed 35 grams and measured 29 x 18 x 13 mm.  Richardson also had a larger glans in his possession, massing 86 grams and measuring 39 x 22 x 16 mm; that one had no markings so he didn't bother photographing it.
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Re: The "DEXA" Bullet
Reply #8 - Jan 23rd, 2007 at 4:50pm
 
hmm, now that's interesting the small one you'd think wouldn't have much range or power. Although if you used a long light sling, might go well.
I'd have thought the larger one would have been more near that mark for an actual offensive missile.
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Do All things with Honour and Generosity: Regret Nothing, Envy None, Apologise Seldom and Bow your head to No One  - works for me Smiley
 
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Matthias
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Re: The "DEXA" Bullet
Reply #9 - Jan 23rd, 2007 at 6:50pm
 
Some of the glandes found seem ridiculously light - we've talked about both the tiny lead type and also the even sillier-seeming tiny clay ones... They were obviously worth arming a corps of slingers with though Huh
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Dale
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Re: The "DEXA" Bullet
Reply #10 - Jan 23rd, 2007 at 7:03pm
 
Well, 35 grams is a bit more than twice what a .45-calibre bullet masses (14.9 grams), and a good slinger can throw a glans about a third as fast (300 feet/second) as the Colt 1911 design can throw a bullet (830 feet/second); momentum is mass times velocity, so the slinger is hitting about four-fifths as hard as the pistol.  With the 86-gram glans, he would be hitting twice as hard as the pistol (if he can keep the same speed).

Hey, we can do Greek letters now?  Cool!  Because Clive Foss gives a bunch of interesting Greek names:
   μολυβδίς   molubdis   sling-stone
   σφενδόνη   sphendone   sling
   σφενδονήτης   sphendonetes   slinger
Are these in the list of sling names around the world?
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No, I don't live in a glass house.&&&&"If builders built buildings the way programmers write programs, then the first woodpecker that came along would destroy civilization."&&&&Context matters!  "Nothing but net" is a BAD thing in tennis...
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ADAXL
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Thanks!
Reply #11 - Jan 24th, 2007 at 1:19pm
 
Big thanks to all of you guys, especially Matthias and wanderer. I used the information to update the sling page on the German Wikipedia:

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schleuder_%28Waffe%29

I even created a special section for inscriptions on lead sling bullets:

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schleuder_%28Waffe%29#Schleuderbleie_mit_Inschrifte...
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lobohunter
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Re: The "DEXA" Bullet
Reply #12 - Jan 24th, 2007 at 2:50pm
 
as a side to this:
Does any one else mark there glands with similar eptaph's I always mark my practice glands with oops or sorry lol
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Albert Scott C bigbadwolf41 77940+hwy+99+south,+Spc+22  
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