2,200-Year-Old Weapon Recovered in Israel

News December 9, 2022

(Dafna Gazit, Israel Antiquities Authority)
SHARE:
Israel Sling Bullet
(Dafna Gazit, Israel Antiquities Authority)

YAVNE, ISRAEL—A 2,200-year-old lead sling bullet has been unearthed in central Israel by researchers from the Israel Antiquities Authority, according to an i24 News report. Yulia Ustinova of Ben Gurion University of the Negev said the object bears a Greek inscription reading, “Victory of Heracles and Hauronas,” the divine patrons of the city during the Hellenistic period. “Actually, the inscription on a sling bullet is the first archaeological evidence of the two guardians of Yavne, discovered inside Yavne itself,” Ustinova said. “Until today, the pair was only known from an inscription on the Greek island of Delos.” Calling on the gods could have unified the warriors, raised their spirits, scared the enemy, and may have been thought to energize the sling bullet itself, she added. To read about a 1,500-year-old gold and amethyst ring found at Yavne, go to "Around the World: Israel."

  • Features November/December 2022

    Mexico's Butterfly Warriors

    The annual monarch migration may have been a sacred event for the people of Mesoamerica

    Read Article
    (+NatureStock)
  • Features November/December 2022

    Magical Mystery Door

    An investigation of an Egyptian sacred portal reveals a history of renovation and deception

    Read Article
    (© The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge)
  • Letter from Australia November/December 2022

    Murder Islands

    The doomed voyage of a seventeenth-century merchant ship ended in mutiny and mayhem

    Read Article
    (Roger Atwood)
  • Artifacts November/December 2022

    Hellenistic Inscribed Bones

    Read Article
    (Courtesy Israel Antiquities Authority)