Sling (weapon)

[citation needed] Whereas stones and clay objects thought by many archaeologists to be sling-bullets are common finds in the archaeological record,[3] slings themselves are rare.

[8] Representations of slingers can be found on artifacts from all over the ancient world, including Assyrian and Egyptian reliefs, the columns of Trajan[9] and Marcus Aurelius, on coins, and on the Bayeux Tapestry.

[12] Thucydides and others authors talk about its usage by Greeks and Romans, and Strabo also extends it to the Iberians, Lusitanians and even some Gauls (which Caesar describes further in his account of the siege of Bibrax).

[13] Livy mentions some of the most famous of ancient sling experts: the people of the Balearic Islands, who often worked as mercenaries.

"[14] The sling is mentioned as early as in the writings of Homer,[15] where several characters kill enemies by hurling stones at them.

The weapons were made of vegetable fibre and animal sinew, launching either stones or lead missiles with devastating impact.

Thucydides mentions the Acarnanians and Livy refers to the inhabitants of three Greek cities on the northern coast of the Peloponnesus as expert slingers.

[12][19] The late Roman writer Vegetius, in his work De Re Militari, wrote: 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.

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.

The sling was light to carry and cheap to produce; ammunition in the form of stones was readily available and often to be found near the site of battle.

The hilltop location of the wooden forts would have given the defending slingers the advantage of range over the attackers, and multiple concentric ramparts, each higher than the other, would allow a large number of men to create a hailstorm of stone.

This makes the knot easier to hold, and the extra weight allows the loose end of a discharged sling to be recovered with a flick of the wrist.

Ancient poets wrote that sling-bullets could penetrate armour, and that lead projectiles, heated by their passage through the air, would melt in flight.

In the latter case, it has been proposed that they were impressed by the degree of deformation suffered by lead sling-bullet after hitting a hard target.

And some rustic made a good shot and hit him on the right knee with a sling, and he immediately fell headlong from his horse to the ground, which thing heartened the Romans still more.

In addition, leaden sling-bullets are small and difficult to see in flight; their concentrated impact is also a better armour-piercer and better able to penetrate a body.

In some cases, the lead would be cast in a simple open mould made by pushing a finger or thumb into sand and pouring molten metal into the hole.

The ancients do not seem to have taken advantage of the manufacturing process to produce consistent results; leaden sling-bullets vary significantly.

Examples of symbols include a stylized lightning bolt, a snake, and a scorpion – reminders of how a sling might strike without warning.

Writing might include the name of the owning military unit or commander or might be more imaginative: "Take this", "Ouch", "get pregnant with this"[31] and even "For Pompey's backside" added insult to injury, whereas dexai ('take this' or 'catch!

In Yavne, a sling bullet with the Greek inscription "Victory of Heracles and Hauronas" was discovered, the two gods were the patrons of the city during the Hellenistic period.

[32] Julius Caesar writes in De bello Gallico, book 5, about clay shot being heated before slinging, so that it might set fire to thatch.

Andean slings were constructed from contrasting colours of wool; complex braids and fine workmanship can result in beautiful patterns.

Ancient art shows slingers holding staff slings by one end, with the pocket behind them, and using both hands to throw the staves forward over their heads.

It consists of a short cord tied to one end of a five chi bamboo pole, and is usually employed in siege defense alongside larger stone throwers.

The traction trebuchet was a siege engine which uses the power of men pulling on ropes or the energy stored in a raised weight to rotate what was, again, a staff sling.

It was designed so that, when the throwing arm of the trebuchet had swung forward sufficiently, one end of the sling would automatically become detached and release the projectile.

The hand-trebuchet (Greek: χειρομάγγανον, cheiromanganon) was a staff sling mounted on a pole using a lever mechanism to propel projectiles.

In the rest of the world, the sling is primarily a hobby weapon, and a growing number of people make and practice with them.