Archaic Arms
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Testing and inventing "Archaic" weapons.
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Few other things...
- whistling bullets found in Scotland
- Vegetius (Roman writer) mentions archers and staff-slingers practicing at straw bales at 200yds, and also says this in his book: De Re Militari:
"Recruits are to be taught the art of throwing stones both with the hand and sling. The inhabitants of the Balearic Islands are said to have been the inventors of slings, and to have managed them with surprising dexterity, owing to the manner of bringing up their children. The children were not allowed to have their food by their mothers till they had first struck it with their sling. Soldiers, notwithstanding their defensive armour, are often more annoyed by the round stones from the sling than by all the arrows of the enemy. Stones kill without mangling the body, and the contusion is mortal without loss of blood. It is universally known the ancients employed slingers in all their engagements. There is the greater reason for instructing all troops, without exception, in this exercise, as the sling cannot be reckoned any encumbrance, and often is of the greatest service, especially when they are obliged to engage in stony places, to defend a mountain or an eminence, or to repulse an enemy at the attack of a castle or city."
- Livy mentions the use of the Kestros (dart-sling) against the Romans in 168BC
- In 54 B.C., as one of Caesar’s officers, Lucius Cotta, was riding down the line and encouraging the front ranks, a Gallic slinger struck him in the face and severely injured him. To counter the threat posed by slingers in his conquest of Gaul, Caesar recruited Balearic slingers.
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Slinging in the Roman Period (Read 1437 times)
