I heard back from Thom Richardson.  He said they did some research on the Kestros, but were not planning on publishing anything. He said they did publish an article by an independent slinger in the 2005 edition. I do not have a copy.

Arms & Armour, Vol. 2, No. 1, pp. 79-86, 2005
A new reconstruction of the kestros or cestrosphendone
George M Hollenback - Independent Scholar
http://www.maney.co.uk/contents/aaa/2-1



This article presents a new working reconstruction of an ancient missile weapon described by both Polybius and Livy.

I´m sorry for the irony of previous message and I request excuses to Thom for that reason, but the fact is that the last year I wrote Maney Publishing requesting the  Arms & Armour 2005 magazine and they did not answer to me. For that reason, I went to a bookstore specialized in foreign book import so that they requested it for me, and Maney did not answer to them either. Are there no way to get the damn article? Could somebody find out the email of  George M Hollenback, the author?

Does anyone live near a big city public library?  I know that some libraries have interlibrary loan provisions where you can order books and journal articles from other libraries.  I've heard that with the journal articles, the lending library won't send the journal itself, but will make a xerox copy to send to the requesting library to give to the patron.  I've also heard that this service is free or that any fees are minimal.  Might be worth a shot...      

Finally I´ve got the Arms &Armour journal with the article on cestros by G. M. Hollenback . Based only on the Polibius text, he present a new hypothesis of the cestros sling, since on the dart there are almost no doubts and both authors, Livy and Polibius agree in its description. Acording to Hollenback, the sling could be a simple thong that was fitted below the fins of the dart, as it is seen in the photo. There is also  a loop or band so that the shaft end passes through it and the dart don´t slip out during the whirl (this is common in all reconstructions since it is the only reason to place the fins in the middle of the shaft, sacrificing the stability of the flight).
Although I had tried without success this solution some years ago, I´ve made a new cestros with the proper measurements and with the Hollenback fins special shape, and tried it again. Unfortunately, the results were deficient one more time. Sometimes the  design works and others not, that is to say, it is quite uncontrollable since the dart has tendency to clog between the cords or to release erratically due to the strong friction of the retention cord on the fin. This causes that the design of the fin is very critic, needing a very exact curvature, and that the material of the thong and the polish of the fin influences much in the success of the release. In addition, the design works well only for a  mid power, but throwing with high power the dart is clogged between the cords or leaves erratic. Another disadvantage is that it works only underhand, and the author notices it. This last fact should have been enough for the author to realize that the design is erroneous, since a expensive missile as the cestros was not only to be used  like massive rain of projectiles, that is for which serves the underhand style. On the other hand the Hollenback interpretation of Polibius text is a little forced so that it agrees with his design. I think that if Polibius had wanted to describe this design, he had done it in a different way as how he did it .
I think I find unlikely that the Greeks used this design. They were excellent  slingers and very efficient constructors of weapons.

As I see it, Hondero’s own design as described in post #162 of this thread will give a true “point first” delivery of dart in spite of an apparent sideways path during the cast. This is because all projectiles exiting a sling do so in a radial path i.e. inline with the retention cord. American football spiral passes are thrown with a much more sophisticated hand control and therefore travel as desired.   

Tom      

Hondero,
Thanks for your efforts on this. It seems the "Cestros" riddle will keep us busy for awhile..!
Johnny

Quote:


Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't Livy's text have the Romans defensively bunched together on a little hill, surrounded by the Macedonians and taking heavy casualties from darts raining down on their crowded formation?  I think it rather significant that in the only recorded description of the weapon in action, it was being used precisely "like a massive rain of projectiles."