sehepunkte 24 (2024), Nr. 7/8

Lawrence Keppie: Slingers and Sling Bullets in the Roman Civil Wars of the Late Republic, 90-31 BC

For students of the Roman civil wars, the messages recorded on sling bullets have become well known, particularly for their colourful language. Indeed, such rude messaging has even been used in popular trade books and documentaries on ancient Rome. Despite this focus on a very small fraction of sling bullets from the first century BC, the wider context of sling bullets and slingers has received little attention in works on the Roman army. Lawrence Keppie's study provides a survey of the material. Looking beyond the use of political slogans and invective embossed on (some) bullets during the period to ask what we can learn from the material evidence of sling bullets during the civil conflicts of the late Republic. This evidence is used, alongside the literary evidence, to properly situate slingers within the Roman army.

This slim volume (under 100 pages) provides general and accessible overviews of the period and each of the conflicts, keeping the references to scholarship on the history deliberately light, offering the context within which to place and understand the evidence. Keppie's focus throughout is on the "under-appreciated resource" (81) of the sling bullets, several thousand of which from over seventy sites are currently known, with publications in Spanish, Catalan, Portuguese, Italian, French, German and English. References for the discussion of the evidence is thorough.

Keppie illustrates that while several of the find sites have revealed the presence of slingers on the battlefield where literary sources provide no information about their participation, the attested presence of slingers in literary accounts does not always emerge in the archaeological evidence to date. Recognising the disparity of representation in the archaeological and literary record, Keppie presents a clear and cautious assessment of the evidence, always noting the limitations while still providing enough interpretation and analysis to demonstrate the value of this assessment. He notably avoids accepting readings of difficult inscriptions where no sufficient explanation has been found and emphasises the misleading nature of the evidence from Perusia, where almost all lead bullets were inscribed, reflecting, perhaps, the practices of local collectors on the evidence as it comes down to us.

The first chapter focuses on establishing what is known about slingers in the Roman army, briefly acknowledging the commonplace use of slingers among Greeks and Etruscans. The chapter mainly focuses on understanding sling bullets as evidence in terms of materials (stone, clay and lead), weights, shapes and production, particularly the moulds for lead bullets, which enabled the embossing of lettering on the bullets (rather than incised into the metal, although Keppie does document the few instances of this practice in the monograph). The specific skills for both stone-throwing and slinging are also outlined, with the famed Balearic slingers as an example of the latter.

The book is structured primarily through a series of chronological case studies of conflicts spanning the final sixty years of the late Republic: the social war and the siege of Asculum, 90-89 BC (chapter 2); the period of 89-50 BC covering conflicts under Sulla, Sertorius and Caesar (chapter 3); the civil war between Caesar and the Pompeians, 49-45 BC (chapter 4); the civil war following Caesar's assassination, 44-42 BC (chapter 5); Perusia, 41-40 BC (chapter 6); the conflict conflicts down to Actium, 40-31 BC (chapter 7). Chapter 8 continues the story into the Imperial period, tracing the presence of slingers (particularly in art) and their bullets, noting the disappearance of inscribed bullets after Claudius, while the use of slingers continues. Before the concluding chapter (10), Keppie provides an analysis of the role and effectiveness of slingers in battle, with particular emphasis on their skill, accuracy and damage (chapter 9).

While the organisation and command of slingers is unknown, Keppie demonstrates how an examination of the literary evidence for slingers and the material/epigraphic evidence of the sling bullets can advance thinking on the Roman army. For example, Keppie notes that the naming of legions appears most common in siege warfare, where protracted engagement and no battlelines might have led the legions to manufacture and sling bullets themselves. Moreover, although the practice of embossing the bullets pre-dates the civil wars, Keppie interprets this urge to inscribe as linked to the nature of civil war conflict, where both sides could read and understand the messages, and in turn, brings us closer to everyday language of the period.

The monograph is well illustrated, including photographs and line drawings by the author, as well as a numerous maps and a helpful glossary, making the work accessible. At times there could have been more frequent reference to maps: chapter 3 does not, for example, refer to any maps for Spain. Similarly, there appears to be one figure reference that does not quite align correctly (on page 13 'figure 4' should be 'figure 3'). There are also a few minor typos and inconsistencies in presentation of terms. These are, however, minor proofreading issues. The inclusion of appendices or tables collating the sling bullet evidence might have been useful, particularly for researchers, although likely falls beyond the scope of this study.

Overall, Keppie presents a clear, accessible and engaging discussion of the evidence and its wider context of use, meaning the work is suitable for students and general readers interested in the period and the Roman army, as well as researchers. By framing the evidence within what is known about slingers and their function, Keppie demonstrates not only the role of slingers within the Roman army, but also an understanding of their effectiveness and the various ways this enhances our interpretation of their sling bullets.