OH That one was just plain BAAAAAHD ( OK where is the fuzzy sheep emotican when you need it?)

But, he does have a point there are other famous slinging cultures out there.

Marc Adkins


DesertPilot wrote on Nov 6^th, 2007 at 12:46am:

C. Brelaz, Pierre Ducrey, «Une grappe de balles de fronde en plomb à Erétrie. La technique de fabrication des projectiles et l’usage de la fronde en Grèce ancienne», Antike Kunst 46 (2003), p. 99-115.

-- have a few pages on the low status of slingers in Greek society

The piece is published in French (there might be an English abstract). I  seem to remember their point is that the sling, the arrow, are low status weapons-- cheap, and fight from afar: cowardly, in contrast to close up fighting, which is aristocratic or civic. On this, see e.g. F. Lissarrague, L'Autre Guerrier (1989 ?). Slings and projectile weapons are tactically very useful, but ill regarded (Thuc. 4. can't remember the chapter, shows a Spartan prisoner after Sphakteria callling the arrow "spindle", a term of Spartan contempt); a fragment of Archilochos talks of the Lords of Euboia spurning missile weapons, in favour of manly, "groaning" close ing fighting with swords (projected into a near past rather than descriptive of Arhcilochos' own ti
me, but the more indicative of ideology(. Hence the rarity of images of slingers--and generally of light armed (though there are some peltasts on C5th vases, clearly as "other" warriors-- but there are pictures of "hoplites in ambush")

The journal, Antike Kunst, is a Swiss archaeology journal, and should be in research libraries.