Hello,

I am planning on recreating the armament of the slinger on Trajan's column, and I was wondering if anyone knew what sling design is pictured.

So far, I've seen one interpretation using an egyptian sling. (https://slinging.org/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1588317387).

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He's in the middle of the battlefield. So he has very little room to move. Its sling is therefore very small.
Just my idea but I think his style looks like this post : Greek style Lecuyer. Only the position of the feet changes.
No rotation, straight ahead. It's an ideal style when there is no space and short range.
But it's just my idea.
It seems that one sees a rope at the junction pouch/strap.

TOMBELAINE wrote on Sep 19^th, 2023 at 8:09am:

Just my idea but I think his style looks like this post : Greek style Lecuyer. Only the position of the feet changes. No rotation, straight ahead. It's an ideal style when there is no space and short range.

That would make sense. I've been meaning to learn that style for a while, so I might as well do it now.


TOMBELAINE wrote on Sep 19^th, 2023 at 8:09am:

It seems that one sees a rope at the junction pouch/strap.

Thank you for pointing that out! That would probably rule out slings with a large split pouch such as the balearic sling. I'll most likely go with a woven-pouch or egyptian sling design.

That sling pouch looks to be very cupped -- enclosing the ammo quite a bit.  Almost looks more cloth-like.   I agree he appears to be throwing Greek style with a sling not much more than a foot long.

With a deep pouch... if he can't throw, the whole thing becomes a flexible cudgel for really close combat

On another picture (reply #1 on this thread: https://slinging.org/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1588317387), the pouch looks much less cupped and encloses the ammo less. I wonder if the picture I posted is a cast or something where a small inaccuracy was introduced. Good observation, though.

Since I've heard the sling length attributed to both the figure being involved in close combat and artistic license to prevent the sling from breaking, I'll most likely go with a short / mid-length sling (~24" folded).

I see what you mean about the pouch being less cupped.  I do think that in the photo of Funditor his sling and ammo are much smaller (relative to the body) than what is shown on the statue.  That part, though, I can believe , is artistic license on the part of the sculptor, to make the sling more prominent.

I think 24" folded would be a great length, too.

Thanks for the help and advice!

Here's how I plan to go forward for the rest of the kit:

The sling will be linen. I already have a pugio, but I need to modify or make a new scabbard, as it is a Titleberg scabbard, which is slightly innacurate (reply #5 of this thread on RAT). The shield looks to be an oval shape, so I am making a clipeus shield (based on the Legio XX Scutum page). I still need to get wool for a tunic and cloak, but depending on cost and my budget, I may omit the cloak for now. The belt could be another sling, a strip of linen (Legio XX Tunic), or I could finally start on that belt I have all of the parts for and have been putting off making for over a year now.

If anyone notices anything historically inaccurate with how I plan to construct the kit, please let me know.

The thread on Roman Army Talk: https://www.romanarmytalk.com/rat/showthread.php?tid=31724&pid=353458#pid353458

The linen arrived today, so I'll hopefully be able to start the sling soon. I ended up getting 8/5 linen rug warp (https://woolery.com/linen-rug-warp-yarn-8-5.html).

I'm about halfway done with painting the shield, after which I just have to wax it and put on the boss.

I love shields!  Definitely give us a pic when you get it done.  :)

joe_meadmaker wrote on Oct 26^th, 2023 at 10:13pm:

I love shields!  Definitely give us a pic when you get it done.  :)

Here's what it looks like currently, I'll also post pictures when I finish it. ;D

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Looks good! :thumb:

Curious what the finished weight is too.

Thank you ;D

I'm also wondering what the finished weight will be. Hopefully I can finish applying wax and attach the boss today or tomorrow and find out!

Eino wrote on Oct 30^th, 2023 at 7:33pm:

...attach the boss today or tomorrow and find out!

Ummm.... or maybe not. :P I haven't attached the boss yet, but I weighed the shield and boss and they came in at around 8.6 lbs.

Tombelaine, have you managed to sling with "Lecuyer" style, i.e. just a straight throw from the resting position with no rotations ? I find it hard not to lose the stone !

If you throw straight from the resting position, the stone isn't in the axis of the sling. So I never try.
For me, the column of Trajan shows a straight fire. It also shows that the weapon is armed. Otherwise the pebble would hang vertically.

TOMBELAINE wrote on Sep 19^th, 2023 at 8:09am:

Just my idea but I think his style looks like this post : Greek style Lecuyer. Only the position of the feet changes. No rotation, straight ahead. It's an ideal style when there is no space and short range. But it's just my idea.

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I finally finished the sling!

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That looks fantastic! :thumb:

I can't wait to see the full image with everything you're putting together.

joe_meadmaker wrote on Dec 10^th, 2023 at 4:06pm:

That looks fantastic!

+1  :)

Thank you! ;D

That looks like it took a long time, how many strands is that braid? Looks really good.

It definitely did take a while, and it is probably the sling that's taken me the longest time to make. The cords are an 8 strand square braid, and the fingerloop is a wide 8 strand flat braid.

Thanks ;D

After many months of procrastination, the shield is done. I ended up using modified carriage bolts and homemade copper washers for riveting on the boss. :)

I tried slinging a bit with it the other day using the method here: https://www.romanarmytalk.com/rat/showthread.php?tid=6508&page=2 (post #21), and it seemed to work pretty well, but will take a bit of practice to get used to it and become faster at reloading.

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If I needed a sheild, that is the one I want.
😁👍👍

Looks fantastic Eino! :thumb:

I totally get what you mean about the procrastination.  I can't even count how many projects I've started and then take forever (sometimes literally years) to finish.  It always seems to be worth it at the end.