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I've
been slinging for a year now. I'm still a novice, but
I feel I've learned a lot about this art compared to the
guy on the street. It all began when I was flicking through
John Wiseman's excellent book The SAS Survival Handbook
and saw there a method of 'in-the-field' sling construction
depicted. As an ancient Greek/Roman graduate (and obsessive!)
I thought: 'even I, with my limited craft skills, can
make one of those!'. And so I did. My
journey backwards began. I started slinging. I found
a couple of like-minded websites and knocked up a decent
staff-sling. I was impressed with both my constructions
and with my slinging results. I'd dipped into the past,
I was practicing a long lost art of war, a form of combat
mostly unknown to everyone around me. I practiced regularly
on the beach 15 minutes walk away, I habitually carried
my sling around in case me and my family took a stroll
on the beach, or in case I left my son at the beach-side
leisure centre for an hour.
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| Staff
Sling |
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Sling
and Ammo Pouch |
Then
I joined my local archery club. I was taking this too
seriously! Ancient weapons were fun, I'd discovered, and
I wondered what the bow was like. I was coached in the
use of the plastic recurve bow with integral sighting
mechanism, but as soon as possible I discarded this for
a longbow. I trained with the club's longbowmen. But I
yearned to try out an 'ancient' bow.
Then
last summer I got into historical re-enactment. My 'local'
options were either 5thC Roman, at York - an hour away,
or 3rdC Roman up at Hadrian's Wall, two-and-a-half hours
away. I chose Hadrian's Wall and joined Cohors Quinta
Gallorum, http://www.quintagallorum.co.uk.
Here I found a bunch of people just like me, people
who had experimented with these 'backwards' crafts or
activities, then found Quinta as a means of expressing
their interests. My contact for the group empathized
with me - he had discovered the sling many years ago
too and had tried many times to find an historical pattern
for his slings. We swapped notes, showed each other
our slings and traded slinging stories ... and was initiated
into the world of historical re-enactment.
A
year later I think nothing of creating a woollen tunic,
a leather pouch or quiver, a spearhead or greaves, boots
or a belt. I'm on my second staff sling (with a nice
leather pouch stamped with the Greek word 'DEXA'!) and
my sixth sling (a leather Romano-Greek sling). And I
eventually got my 'ancient' bow, a Grozer recurve bow
that is a pretty accurate replica of the type of Eastern
bow used by Roman auxiliaries.
But
I still sling, once a week if possible. Its a free and
very accessible activity for me, where I can spend an
hour or two on the beach with a flask of tea and my
own company, honing my target skills or just getting
high with impressive lofts out to sea! I can practice
with the bow in my garden, but a session with the sling
is so much rewarding, both physically and spiritually.
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| Kestrosphendone
- Dart-Firing Sling |
So
slinging has affected my life and gotten me involved in
an entirely new aspect of history that I would never have
even considered. Re-enactment has led me to re-evaluate
the sling and today I consider it a wonderful weapon of
war. I have a healthy respect for both it and those who
used it. With my physique and character, I can tell you
now - I would have been a slinger. Cast those stones,
then run like the wind! Who needs armour and shields when
you have a sling!
I
still have new slinging projects I want to pursue, even
though I now have the full Roman legionary's kit (with
the Roman shield I recently made). I've constructed a
(tentative) kestrospendone - described by Livy as a sling-cast
heavy dart - out of old archery materials and part of
a garden sprinkler. And I want to attempt to fabricate
some ancient lead sling bullets (glandes) when I can work
out how to melt lead without burning my house down or
poisoning myself with the fumes! After that I may try
a kestrosphendone on a staff sling ... and then, who knows
...? The past beckons.
-
Paul Elliott
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