paleryder
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Le Roy, IL
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Okay. I lied. I'm a liabedic. I have liabetes. I was able to read a little over lunch. Took some notes. See below. Long. I originally typed it in Word but all my formatting is gone. Sorry.
By Amanda Kelly, National University of Ireland, Galway., Annals of the British School at Athens, 107, 2012, pp. 273-311. The Council, British School at Athens.
“I hope in this paper to promote slingshots as artefacts loaded with research potential pertaining to a range of social issues. Slingshots bearing text are illuminating artefacts as not only can they reflect military action, leadership, civil affiliation and ethnicity, but they can also occasionally offer an insight into the psyche of their associated military personnel.”
- by the 4th century BC, Hellenistic warfare strategies, specifically relating to sieges, were “radically overhauled” with greater emphasis places on lighter armed troops, ie psiloi (slingers, archers and javelineers).
- light troops were lauded by Arrian (Ars Tactica 15) and acknowledged during the Persian Wars, when Gelon of Syracuse provided 2000 slingers and 2000 archers to the Greek envoys (Herodotus 7.158).
-Her focus is on civil armies, not mercenaries, pertaining to Cretan polies.
- The author postulates a lot of expansion pressures caused by 50-60 independent city states in Crete, followed by Roman settlements. She notes that lack of artefactual evidence for soldiering on the island striking in light of this evidence and the epigraphical evidence of warfare on the island.. Note: she spells the word “artefact" and “artefactual”. I have not change her spelling.
While not as famous as the Balearic or Rhodian slingers, the author states the Cretans were also quite adept with the sling although they were somewhat eclipsed in the historical record by the famous Cretan archers. (Yeah, I think I have go plan Rome Total War now.)
She cites several historical sources that refer to slingers along with the archers. The author references Josephus’ praise of the effectiveness of light infantry tactics against formed units during the Jewish Wars and that irregular tactics could unhinge highly trained and disciplined battalions. (Josephus, The Jewish War, 5.71-9).
-The use of light troops was also governed by terrain. Crete is very mountainous. The Cretan developed a preference for archers and slingers over cavalry and hoplites. (cited in Vertoudakis 2000, 27; Baldwin Clark 2004, 5-6; Morrow 1960). She notes Plato advised training young children in the use of the sling.
Distributions of Slingshot Discoveries on Crete “Cretan slingshots have never been addressed as a group and only appear decontextualised in museum catalogues and sporadically in excavation reports. On Crete, inscribed lead sling bullets have been reported from Knossos, Gortyna, Lato (although issued by Gortyna), Aptera, Prinias Patela (possibly ancient Rhizenia- the slingshot was again issued by Gortyna), Rehtymnon (ancient Rhithymna), Khania (ancient Kydonia), Trypetos and Xerokambos (often identified as ancient Ambelos), while inscribed sling shot from the Cretan city of Phalasarna has also been discovered on the neighboring island of Anitkythera. This discovery of lead slingshots in the Cretan landscape is highly significant in view of the dearth of tangible Late Classical and Hellenistic weaponry throughout the archeological record of Crete.”
The sling has long been associated with Crete. The author mentions the story of the giant, Talos, who threw spherical objects. Lead shot makes an early appearance on the island. Sir Arthur Evan discovered “the potentially Cretan prototype” in an undisturbed context associated with the shrine of the Double Axes in the Palace at Knossos. Evans noted the they are “not of the same late fabric [although they are of lead] as the specimens that are not infrequently found on the site of the Greco-Roman city. (Evans 1928, 344). Unlike later examples, these early examples had a round mid-section and a prominent ridge resulting from their crude casting; but perhaps their most distinctive feature was that they were pared to a sharp point at the “action end”. (Evans 1928, 344).
“Another problematic slingshot context was recorded by Hutchinson in 1935 in a mixed Middle Minoan stratum at Knossos (Laura Preston and Don Evely, personal communication). The typology of this lead slingshot fits comfortably into a Late Classical or Hellenistic date range in terms of manufacture and emblem and I can only deduce that it is a later intrusion (fig 5.)”
Chronological Range for Slingshots Notes sling shot was made from clay, stone and lead. “The lithic variety was presumably used for hunting as early as the Early Neolothic, as attested on Malta (dating to the Grey Skorba Phas 4,500-4,100 B.C) (Turmp and Cilia 2002, 52). It’s application in early siege warfare is attested by the depiction of slingers on the silver siege rhyton from Mycenae (Korman 1986, 133, pl. 3; Vutriorpulos 1991, 284), while they also appear in a depiction of mixed troops in a combat scene on a Geometric vase from Paros fo c.700BC (Wheeler 2007, 194, fig. 71.)
Similarly, they proved effective in the siege of Lachish (c.700-691BC), as evidenced both in the relief friezes from the palace of Nimrud and from the vast quantity of spherical stone slingshots discovered during excavations (Fagan 2010, 93-5, fig. 8).”
The lead sling bullets utility is attested by its survival into the Roman era. During this era is shown by its inscribed content. The lead sling bullet variety is purportedly used as late as the close of the second century AD, according to the anonymous biographer of the Emperor Septimius Severus in his report on the battle in AD 197 with Clodius Albinus, near Lugdunum, when the emperor suffered a direct hit from a lead slingshot (ictu plumbeae) (Scriptores Historiea Augustae, Severus II.3).
Next up…Lead Slingshot Manufacture
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