Greek Slingers
Missile Infantry(0.6.7)Side / Back
Short description
These Greek slingers are highly valuable missile troops, but vulnerable in close combat.
Description
Commoners who eked out a living as farmers and pastoralists were typically skilled with the sling from boyhood. The slingers wore only a simple tunic (chiton), with a sling and pouch for holding pebbles or specially made lead bullets, and perhaps a small knife or dagger. They were unable to withstand close combat for any length of time, lacking both proper arms and training. At proper striking distance, however, they form a real threat for the enemy, therefore being an integral part of the light-infantry corps that could be put to a wide variety of military uses.
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Generally, Greek slingers used a long sling, and in war the ammunition was ideally lead shot, weighing around 0.7-1.05 ounces (20-30 grammes) but occasionally up to 1.9 ounces (55 grammes). Sling-missiles would usually be carried in the fold of the cloak behind the shield or in special pouches. Bullets were often inscribed with the name of the commander [Echols, ‘The Ancient Slinger’, pp. 227-228].
Xenophon relates how during The March of the Ten Thousand, ‘in the villages, the Greeks found gut in abundance and lead for the use of their slingers’ [Xen. Anab. 3.4.17]. Such leaden bullets were almond-shaped, tapering to a dull point at the end, which gave the bullet a whirling motion that increased its penetrating power. This lead shot easily outranged the stone shot of the Persian slingers and even the range of their archers [Xen. Anab. 3.4.18].
If circumstances in battle required it, however, slingers might use any suitable pebbles they could find on or near the battlefield. Many of these more mundane Greek slingers might usually have had to do without the specialist lead shot. If well-trained, however, this does not necessitate their being effective. Livy mentions that Achaian slingers practiced with seashore pebbles, which apparently resulted in such skill that he even regarded them superior to slingers from the Baleares [Liv. XXXVIII.29.4-7]. These Achaean slingers’ accuracy was equaled by the biblical hero David, who struck the giant Goliath precisely on the only part of the forehead not protected by the helmet [I Sam. 17:49]. Greek slingers, therefore, are a cheap but valuable addition to any army.