subject in this aspect, especially as my object is to treat them not so much historically as epigraphically. A few preliminary remarks, however, may be useful before entering on the examination of the inscriptions. The bullets, which we are considering, were cast in a mould, and bore letters or devices, or both, on two sides or on only one. In form they were more like an almond than an acorn, but many are pointed at both ends; in size, they are generally about one inch and a half in extreme length, and under one inch in extreme breadth; and in weight they are stated[1] to vary from one and a half to three and half ounces. As slings were frequently employed in sieges,[2] by both parties, the greater number of the extant specimens have been discovered in or near towns which were besieged.
Those that bear Greek inscriptions have been found chiefly in Sicily, but also in Cephallenia and Corcyra, and at Athens, Marathon, and Corinth. The following are the principal varieties of inscription:
- The name of a man:[3]ΚΑΛΛΙΣΤΡΑΤΟΥ, [4]ΕΥΒΟΥΛΙΔΑΣ.
- The name of a place, or of a people:[4]ΚΑΤΑΝΑ, [5]ΕΛΛΕΝΙ.
- The name of a deity:[5]ΗΡΑΚΛΕΙ.
- The name of a man in connection with “victory.”[6]ΑΘΗΝΙΩΝΟΣ ΝΙΚΗ.
- The name of a deity in connection with “victory.”[5]ΔΙΟΣ ΝΙΚΗ, [5]ΝΙΚΗ [7]ΜΗΤΕΡΩΝ.
- Words conveying orders, jokes, or sarcasms:[8]ΔΕΞΑΙ, [7]ΕΥΣΚΗΝΟΥ, [7]ΤΡΩΓΑΑΙΟΝ.
There are also different devices, as a thunderbolt, a leaf, a scorpion.
- ↑ Archæologia, xxxii. p. 104.
- ↑ Livy, xxxviii. 29; Sallust, Jugurtha, 57; Appian, de bello Mithridat., 32, 33; Tacitus, Annals, xiii. 39.
- ↑ Boeckh, Corp. Inscrip. Græc. n. 1866.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Boeckh,Franz, Corp.„ Inscrip.„ Græc.„ nn. 5570, 5687.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Curtius, n. 8530d.
- ↑ Franz, nn. 5570, 5748.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Curtius, nn. 8530a, 8530b.
- ↑ Curtius, n. 8529.
