C_A: " if you can hit the outer ring (you are shooting uphill) then the inner ring - elevation advantage and shooting downhill - will definitely be able to reach you."-- That's a crucial point, actually.

what i wanted to ask: can't the defender's slingers  hit their targets without exposing themselves to the " steady stream of arrows and rocks into that gap" ?
slinging behind or over rampards and palisades  while they remain protected, this will lower accuracy but could work .
archers wouldnt be able to "hit" straight in the same manner, they would need to volley the arrows.

We used to spend a lot of time slinging from an elevated "fort" (ok, it was a dam)

6:15 in the video, 'Castle Slingenstein"



Never had any issues slinging down. Takes a few throws to get dialled in, but its not difficult at all.

Same for slinging up...although the closer you get to straight up, the less power you have.

Quote:

Not if you use underhand It's pretty much optimised for straight up

There is another aspect to ancient texts that hasn't been mentioned yet.
Transcription.

Bear in mind that All ancient texts were copied out by hand, often by monks, often by professional transcribers who worked for 'book' dealers.
Many of whom would have added, subtracted or changed small parts of the text. Either for convenience or because they thought the original was wrong.
Printing is a very recent innovation. So some of these 'historical' texts would have been copied out an translated hundreds of times.  Kind of like a very long game of chinese whispers.

Between the transcribers & translators very few texts (probably none)  actually remain in their original form. 

So applying practical knowlege and common sense becomes fairly important. Something most historians aren't actually qualified to do - the practical side of things I mean.
In short never take an ancient text entirely at face value  
What you read today is never going to be exactly what the original author wrote.

So note that the text is a fragment of the Roman Annalist Claudius Quadrigarius, whose works have not survived, perhaps writing in the C1st BC. He's quoted by the Roman writer Aulus Gellius, writing in the C2nd AD. So there are two possible levels of corruption: transmission of Quadrigarius to Gellius, transmission of Gellius to us.

Here's the Latin. People might tell if anything looks wrong with the text (obviously corrupt, bits missing), or if the language is ambiguous. I think on both counts, it's OK.


QUINTUS CLAUDIUS in undevicesimo Annali, cum oppidum a Metello proconsule oppugnari, contra ab oppidanis desuper e muris propugnari describeret, ita scripsit: “Sagittarius cum funditore utrimque summo studio spargunt fortissime. Sed sagittam atque lapidem deorsum an sursum mittas, hoc interest; nam neutrum potest deorsum versum recte mitti, sed sursum utrumque optime. Quare milites Metelli sauciabantur multo minus et, quod maxime opus erat, a pinnis hostis defendebant facillime finditore.

2. Percontabar ego Antonium Iulianum rhetorem, cur hoc ita usu veniret quod Quadrigarius dixisset, ut contigui magis directioresque ictus fiant, si vel lapidem vel sagittam sursum versus iacias quam deorsum, cum proclivior faciliorque iactus sit ex supernis in infima quam ex infimis in superna.

Tum Iulianus, comprobato genere quaestionis, “Quod de sagitta,” inquit, “et lapide dixit, hoc de omni fere missili telo dici potest. ” Facilior autem iactus est, sicuti dixisti, si desuper iacias, si quid iacere tantum velis, non ferire.“ [5] Sed cum modus et impetus iactus temperandus derigendusque est, tum, si in prona iacias, moderatio atque ratio inittentisque praecipitantia qualicumque ipsa et pondere cadentis teli corrumpitur. ” [6] At si in editiora mittas et ad percutiendum superne aliquid manum et oculos conlinies, quo motus a te datus tulerit, eo telum ibit quod ieceris.”

Actually, if you use a fairly short sling, about 24 to 30 inches, (roughly 2/3 rds of a meter) and just lean back and throw upwards without any sort of wind up, you can get a good bit of force behind your throw.  Accuracy isn't too bad, either.  Provided you practice a bit. 

I have really scared some squirrels throwing like that.