Slinging.org Forum - interesting use for sling

slingbadger

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interesting use for sling
Apr 4^th, 2006 at 6:15pm

Found this in the Greek author Appian of Alexandria.
(c.95-165 )
This is from the Mithridatic Wars, that happened in Turkey
" Two Athenian slaves- either because they favored the Romans, or they were looking for their own safety in an emergency- wrote down everything that took place there,enclosed their writing in leaden balls, and threw them over to the Romans with slings."
Messages by slings, smart thinking.

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Yahweh Bless you in Yeshua Interfector Viris Spurii Offline Matthew 11:25-30 Posts: 1700 Gender:	Re: interesting use for sling Reply #1 - Apr 4^th, 2006 at 6:28pm And by the time the Romans dug out the glans from the chest of their chief intelligence officer, it was too late and the secret 'died with him'. Buddum bum. Thanks folks, I'll be here all week! Maybe. TS
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Gard Senior Member Offline Yup, there are slingers in Norway too! Posts: 396 Norway Gender:	Re: interesting use for sling Reply #2 - Apr 5^th, 2006 at 10:38am How could the Romans find the glandes? With the speed a sling stone have, it would probarbly go pretty deep into the ground. Gard
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CanDo Interfector Viris Spurii Past Moderator Offline Posts: 1652 New England, USA Gender:	Re: interesting use for sling Reply #3 - Apr 5^th, 2006 at 12:45pm if they watched the glands come down, i don't think it would have been all that hard. I'd assume that there was more than one copy; sling the same message several times. And really, they are the roman army
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bigkahuna past-moderator Offline Posts: 3894 Delaware, USA Gender:	Re: interesting use for sling Reply #4 - Apr 6^th, 2006 at 6:28am "Oh yeah the Roman Army", Snicker, snicker.....Aleric the Goth.
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slingbadger

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Re: interesting use for sling
Reply #5 - Apr 9^th, 2006 at 11:43am

I can imagine ( only my theory) that they would wrap the messages in thin lead sheet. They probably had friends on the inside.
Turns out that the commander, Lucius Cornelius, found out about this, and leaked false information to the slaves, who, in turn, leaked it to the Romans.
Turned out the Romans had a big suprise waiting for them when they tried a sneak attack.

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The greatest of all the accomplishments of 20th cent. science has been the discovery of human ignorance The main difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has it's limits.-Einstein I'm getting psychic as I get older. Or is that psychotic?

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Leeds_Lobber

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Re: interesting use for sling
Reply #6 - Apr 10^th, 2006 at 5:08am

Lucius Cornelius was on the Roman side - commander inside was a real creep named Aristion.

Mithridatic Wars are my speciality.... and like all the authors of the time Appian tended to recount events and not look so much at the motivation or background to those events. As plenty of other rpeople have spotted, how the hell would the Romans have known to break open the leaden balls? Them slaves must have been in communication with Sulla before the siege bit - early espionage agents.

"The name's Bondsman - James Bondsman"

Pat

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MammotHunter Interfector Viris Spurii Offline Give me a rock, a sling, and give me some room Posts: 1020 virginia, for now Gender:	Re: interesting use for sling Reply #7 - Apr 10^th, 2006 at 7:46am That's pretty cool! never heard of this before.
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slingbadger Interfector Viris Spurii Offline Don't Badger a Badger Posts: 3245 Akron NY Gender:	Re: interesting use for sling Reply #8 - Apr 10^th, 2006 at 6:08pm Yeah, I can just see it. A soldier with a glandes in his chest. " Message for you, Sir!"
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MammotHunter Interfector Viris Spurii Offline Give me a rock, a sling, and give me some room Posts: 1020 virginia, for now Gender:	Re: interesting use for sling Reply #9 - Apr 11^th, 2006 at 10:19pm "Sir, I have an idea! We put this paper with a message on it in a lead ball and we throw it over this wall. It's like email, but LETHAL!" "Brilliant! Uh, what's email?" "It's like this, but less dangerous." "Oh."
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english Ex Member	Re: interesting use for sling Reply #10 - Apr 12^th, 2006 at 3:58am lol!
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Gaius_Opius_Fugi Tiro Offline I love Slinging.org! Posts: 32	Re: interesting use for sling Reply #11 - Apr 12^th, 2006 at 7:03am It makes more sense to put the message inside of a freshly made (aka wet/soft) clay round. If it DOES hit someone, it will break up on impact. Cheers, Adam C.
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siguy Interfector Viris Spurii Offline si vis pacem para bellum Posts: 1714 connecticut Gender:	Re: interesting use for sling Reply #12 - Apr 12^th, 2006 at 4:38pm or a dried(not baked) clay glande, as it would go up in a cloud of smoke on impact, leaving behind the message.
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person3 Senior Member Offline Posts: 276 maryland Gender:	Re: interesting use for sling Reply #13 - Apr 12^th, 2006 at 5:29pm They could of made the glande hollow, and of course, dried clay.
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slingbadger

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Re: interesting use for sling
Reply #14 - Apr 15^th, 2006 at 11:49am

Found another reference that clears up some of the questions.
This is from The Spanish War, XVI, of Ceasar.
Pompey's 2nd Legion was preparing to attack the city of Corduba. Naturally, the Cordubans had a spy in the Legion.
" A bullet was shot into the cit of Corduba. It was inscribed that he ( the spy) would make a certain shield was visible to the city when Pompey's legion was going to storm the city."
It was probably some kind of shorthand code. Thats been done for thousands of years.

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The greatest of all the accomplishments of 20th cent. science has been the discovery of human ignorance The main difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has it's limits.-Einstein I'm getting psychic as I get older. Or is that psychotic?

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