Posted on 12/08/22
| News Source: i24
'The inscriptions were part of psychological warfare... to terrorize the opponent and unite the warriors'
A 2,200-year-old lead sling bullet was recently discovered by the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) in the central Israeli city of Yavne, bearing a magic inscription for victory and which possibly belonged to a Greek soldier.
On the bullet is the Greek inscription “Victory of Heracles and Hauronas” – a pair of gods that were considered to be the “divine patrons of Yavne during the Hellenistic period,” according to Prof. Yulia Ustinova from southern Israel’s Ben Gurion University of the Negev.
"Actually, the inscription on a sling bullet is the first archaeological evidence of the two guardians of Yavne, discovered inside Yavne itself. Until today, the pair was only known from an inscription on the Greek island of Delos,” the professor added.
The bullet was uncovered in excavations conducted by the IAA in Yavne as part of the Israel Lands Authority's initiative to expand the city, in cooperation with the Yavne Municipality. It is 4.4 centimeters long and was intended to be used in an early sling.