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Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus
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CN MAG
Lead sling shot reportedly from the battle of Munda.
Found in Estepa, Spain
74.19g
49x28mm
The Battle of Munda took place on March 17, 45 BC in the plains of Munda, which is in modern southern Spain. This was the last great battle of Julius Caesar's civil war against the republican armies. After this victory, and the deaths of Titus Labienus and Gnaeus Pompeius (Pompey's oldest son), Caesar was free to return to Rome and govern as dictator. Tens of thousands of Romans died at Munda. About one month after defeat, Gnaeus was captured and executed. His brother Sextus survived to initiate another rebellion, on Sicily, where he was finally defeated by Marcus Agrippa and executed in Asia in 35 BC by Mark Antony, ten years after Munda.
Eitan Hirsch, a ballistics expert with the Israeli Defense Forces calculated that an expert slinger could hit a target from 35 meters away. According to his calculations a projectile could be hurled at a velocity of 34 meters per second. Equivalent to a modern day handgun.
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