Israeli archaeologists have uncovered a 2,000-year-old slingshot inscribed with a grim message: an ancient admonition telling enemies to “Learn your lesson.”
The slingshot was found in the remains of the ancient city of Hippos (also known as Sussita). The molten lead for the ammunition had been poured into a mold with the Greek letters for “leather”.
“Lead slingshots of this type are well known in archaeological research from many sites dating to the Hellenistic period, especially from the second century BCE … but this is the first in the world to bear the inscription ‘Learn’.” Michael Eisenbergan archaeologist at the University of Haifa said in a statement.
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He believes the slingshot, also called slingstone, was used against attackers by the Greek-speaking defenders of Hippos, which was about a mile east of the Sea of Galilee. Eisenberg and his colleagues reported the findings March 10 in the journal Palestine Exploration Quarterly.
“This represents local sarcastic humor from the city’s defenders, who wanted to teach their enemies a lesson with a wink,” he said.
Hippos was one of 10 ancient cities in a confederation known as the Decapolis. These cities were founded on the eastern edge of the Levant by the Macedonian successors of Alexander the Great and was later developed by the Romans as their eastern border against the Parthians, who lived in the ancient Near East and had descended from nomads in eastern Iran.
Old ammunition
The slingshot was found in 2025 during excavations of a necropolis in the ruins of Hippos, according to the statement. The archaeologists believe a defender probably fired it from the city’s walls, which overlooked a road there.
The lemon-shaped bullet is made of lead and is about 1.3 inches (3.2 centimeters) long. One side was destroyed in a powerful impact, and archaeologists estimate that it originally weighed about 45 grams.
The statement noted that slings were cheap but extremely effective as artillery, and that a skilled croucher could hit an enemy nearly 1,000 feet (300 meters) away. In addition slingshots could easily be made from stone forms during a conflict.
Slingshots were often inscribed with the names of gods, cities or military commanders, like Julius Caesaror with magical symbols, such as woodpeckers, lightning or scorpions, which were said to imbue them with power, according to the study.
Hippos cool
One side of the sling ball from Hippos is inscribed with the Greek letters ΜΑΘΟΥ. The study authors have interpreted that inscription as a form of the Greek word “mathaíno,” meaning “teaching,” and they believe the spelling indicates that it was an imperative meaning something like “Learn the lesson.”
Similar lead slingshots with dark humor have been found in the region, with inscriptions meaning “catch” and “take a taste”.
The latest find is one of 69 lead slingshots discovered in hippos during 26 years of excavations, the study noted. Some are decorated with scorpions and thunderbolts, but this is the first with an inscription.
These slingshots may have been used in any of several battles during the Hellenistic period by hippos.
“The first was before the city’s establishment, during Ptolemaic rule, when a fortress stood on top of the hill,” the team wrote. “It was captured during the Battle of Paneion in about 199 BC by the Seleucids, who later established the polis of hippopotamus at this site.”
