http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Liv.+38+29&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3... Quote:These men had been in the habit, as their fathers had before them, of practicing with their slings, with which they used to hurl into the sea the round stones lying on the beach. [5] In this way they gained a more accurate and longer range than the Baliaric slingers.
1)How throwing into the sea can make you better?(since there is no target for accuracy, and it's difficult to measure distance)
2)Why would it be better than throwing at land?
Quote: [7] They used to send their stones through rings at a great distance, as targets, and were thus able to hit not only the head but whatever part of the face they aimed at.
3) Why use rings as targets?
in de re militari :
http://www.digitalattic.org/home/war/vegetius/index.php#b215@THE DRILLING OF THE TROOPS
Quote:The archers and slingers set up bundles of twigs or straw for marks, and generally strike them with arrows and with stones from the fustiablus at the distance of six hundred feet. They acquired coolness and exactness in acnon from familiar custom and exercise in the field. The slingers should be taught to whirl the sling but once about the head before they cast the stone.
bundles of twigs or straw seems to me as a better target than rings...
4)do you know any other sources on ancient slingers' training?