Sling For Your Supper

     One little mentioned aspect of the ancient world was a practice called slinging. The only story that I can even think of that most people would know is the story of David and Goliath. The shepherd boy versus the giant! Who will win? Well we know David chose his five stones and one of them found Goliath's head. However, is slinging just a shepherd weapon? A weapon archaic even for that period of time? If we are to properly explore slinging we must travel to the other side of the Mediterranean Sea to a little group of islands south of Spain called the Balearic Islands.

      The first large outside power to interact with the Balearic Islands was Phoenicia, the early sea-faring traders of the Mediterranean, inner sea world. Thus it comes as no surprise that when the Carthaginians (who were the successors of Phoenicia) went to war with Rome during the Punic Wars we would see the Balearic Slingers in the Carthaginian armies. 

     Strabo, a Greek geographer, who lived in the Roman Empire during the time of Emperor Augustus writes a little about them. "They went into battle ungirt, with only a small buckler, and a javelin burnt at the end, and in some cases tipped with a small iron point; but their effective weapons were their slings, of which each man carried three, wound round his head".

     Now some accounts have the three slings more evenly dispersed such as: one around the head, one around the body and one around the arm.  These slings would have been different sizes and used to launch stones to a large variety of distances.  Probably not the most stylish of outfits to say the least. Diadorus Sicilus, a Roman historian, tells us another great Balearic Islands story. He says that when a boy was old enough to use a sling, (think probably in the neighborhood of 5) his mother would take his food and place it on top of a pole high enough so the boy could not reach it. Then the boy would have to learn how to knock it off with  a sling if he wanted to eat. Tough love or way to cool of a story to be true? Isn't that always the question when it comes to history? When something is that cool, how can it be true? Well, the short answer is we can't know, but remember this is the ancient world where Spartans left their unwanted babies out in the cold, Carthaginians sacrificed their children to Baal, and being a soldier was a way of life for most men in most societies.  Okay I feel better now that I have had that tangent. Lets go back to the rocks.

     While stones were very effective, capable of bashing shields and helmets in; what was even more effective was lead bullets. Certain groups would use these chunks of lead in their slings to achieve even further reach than a bow would shoot, and reaching speeds of  around 60 miles an hour. While that is fascinating; maybe the most interesting thing about these bullets for modern people however, was the graffiti. Phrases like "Take that!" "This is Yours!" "Pain!" and references to impregnation and sexual innuendos have all been found written on these stones. Why kill a guy with a rock when you can kill him AND taunt his friend?

-Jason

I'm thinking my rock will say this. How about you? Time to think up your first Balearic Rock Taunt!

 

 

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