Allora guys, sorry for the belated answer; first of all let me translate for you that part of the excavator's decription that most concern us:
"Un guerriero tutto nudo [...] piantato solidamente sul piede destro, con il torso piegato indietro ed il volto proteso in avanti, č raffigurato nell'attimo di lanciare con lo sforzo concorde di tutto il corpo un'arma da getto, avendo la palma della mano destra tutta aperta e la sinistra con il pollice, l'indice ed il medio opposti l'uno all'altro, come per tenere l'oggetto da scagliare."
Translation: a naked warrior, who stands firmly on his right foot, his torso bent backward and his face leaning forward, is depicted in the moment he throws a weapon (or: he uses a ranged weapon) using the power of his whole body, having his right hand fully open and his left thumb, index and middle fingers opposite to each other, as if he's holding the object to throw.
And it goes on:
"Dato il movimento della figura e la speciale positura delle mani parmi che la sola arma che possiamo attribuire al nostro guerriero sia una fionda, una sphendone tesa fra una mano e l'altra, con le corregge avvolte intorno alla palma della mano destra e l'estremo capo con il proiettile da lancio, pietra o glans [Greek term], stretto fra le dita della mano. Se giusta č la nostra interpretazione, il momento dell'azione espresso dall'artista corrisponderebbe al momento prima della rotazione della fionda: il guerriero fundator, mentre guarda fisso la mira da colpire, si prepara con un movimento violento e contratto della persona ad imprimere con lo scatto concorde di tutto il corpo la maggiore velocitą di rotazione e la maggior forza di propulsione al proiettile che trattiene ancora nel cavo della sphendone con la punta delle dita."
Translation: given the figure's movement and the special positioning of the hands I think that the only weapon we could link to him is a sling, a sphendone stretched between one hand and the other, with the strings wrapped around the right hand and the bag with the bullet, rock or glans, hold between the fingers of the hand. If our interpretation is correct, the artist chose to depict the moment before the sling's rotation: the slinger, aiming firmly at his target, is preparing to impress the higher rotation speed and the maximum speed to the bullet that he still holds in his hand with a violent movement.
The text goes on by saying that the ammo bag, and not a sword, may be hanging on the warrior's side, and then the author says this figure may represent some of the typical classical slingers.
If I can express a critic to the author, I doubt a slinger who's going to sling so soon will keep his sling's strings wrapped around his right hand. We all usually keep the strings bewteen two or three fingers, no way we keep them wrapped around the whole hand.
Plus, I don't think a slinger was rich or famous enough to use a full-closed bronze helmet with horse hair.
What we'd find useful would be another picture taken on the right hand, because what I think is that this is either an athlete or a hoplite.
An athlete, because except from the helmet he's naked, and he could be bearing javelins in his left hand; another in his right one.
A hoplite, if he was holding the shield on the right (but then he would have used the whole hand) and a spear on the left, with a sword hanging from the string he has around the body.
Just my two cents, anyway
John, is it possible to have the plants of the digging? because at the beginning of the text it says "A m 0.30 dal pavimento, all'ingresso nel vano n.2, si raccolse la statuetta".... they say they found this figure at half a meter from the floor, inside a tiny room; this make me think that the warrior is not a common slinger, but someone worth a statue first, and then a reserved space, and this strengthens my idea of an athlete...
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Statue representing a slinger ? (Read 3518 times)
