Window into the Bible
Slingers and other Weapons
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Assyrian Slingers
Date: 700 - 681 BC.
Place: Room XXXVI, Southwest Palace of King Sennacherib, Nineveh, Assyria.
Photographed at the British Museum, London, England.
Slingers were a significant sector of the army. A well trained slinger could aim very accurately and hit a target in excess of 100 metres with precision. This meant that they were great for driving defenders off the wall while infantry like the spearmen climbed ladders to try and enter the city.
Sling
Date: 3rd Intermediate Period (ca. 1075–656 BC.)
Place: Lahun, Egypt.
Photographed at the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, London, England.
Slingers and their slings were a standard part of most armies in Old Testament times. They were also used by shepherds to chase away wild animals. David as a shepherd was profficiant in using the sling. That was shown to be true when he defeated the Philistine giant Goliath. See 1 Samuel 17:40 ff.
Sling Loom (Replica)
Photographed at the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, London, England.
This loom was constructed in order to understand more about how the Lahun sling in the next photograph was made.
Assyrian Sling Stones
Date: 701 BC.
Place: Tel Lachish, Israel.
Photographed at the British Museum, London, England.
These sling stones were discovered during excavations at the city gate at Lachish a battle mentioned in the Bible. They are made of stone. Sling stones were often shaped by hand to make them a consistent weight and size. This helped with accuracy. See the section on the Siege of Lachish for more images
Lead Sling Bullets
Date: 4th - 1st century BC.
Place: Greek
Photographed at the British Museum, London, England.
These two sling bullets are both decorated. The one on the left has a Greek in scription reading "of Zoilos". Zoilos was possibly the commander of a slinger division of the army. The other has an image of a thunderbolt.
Greek Sling Bullets
Date: 4th - 1st century BC.
Place: Greek
Notice the ‘epsilon delta’ inscription on the sling bullet to the left. This may be the manufacturers mark or the owner’s initials.
During classical Greek and Roman times, sling projectiles were made from lead. This meant that they could be manufactured in large quantities at a standard weight. They could be designed to tumble. Small sling bullets like this were also less likely to be seen be the enemy.
Ram's Horn Shofar
Created in modern times
Photographed at Bibleworld Museum & Discovery Centre, Rotorua, New Zealand.
In addition to its use in worship, the ram's horn shofar, was also used in battle.
Click here to see more shofar.
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Trident
Date: Unknown |
Place: Unknown
Photographed at the Louvre Museum, Paris, France.
Trident
Date: 7th century BC.
Place: Toprakkale, Turkey (Urartia)
Photographed at the Pergamon Museum, Berlin, Germany.