Editing Sling (weapon) (section)

==== Classical accounts ====
The sling is mentioned as early as in the writings of [[Homer]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gutenberg.org/files/16452/16452-h/16452-h.htm |title=The Iliad of Homer, translated by Cowper |publisher=Gutenberg.org |date=2005-08-05 |access-date=2010-09-12}}</ref> where several characters kill enemies by hurling stones at them.<ref name=Kend/>

[[Balearic slinger]]s were amongst the specialist mercenaries extensively employed by [[Carthaginian Army|Carthage]] against the Romans and other enemies. These light troops used three sizes of sling, according to the distance of their opponents. The weapons were made of vegetable fibre and animal sinew, launching either stones or lead missiles with devastating impact.<ref>{{cite book|first=Andre|last=Salimbeti|page=41|title=The Carthaginians|date=22 April 2014|publisher=Bloomsbury USA |isbn=978-1-78200-776-0}}</ref>

[[Xenophon]] in his history of the retreat of the [[Ten Thousand (Greek)|Ten Thousand]], 401 BC, relates that the Greeks suffered severely from the slingers in the army of [[Artaxerxes II of Persia]], while they themselves had neither cavalry nor slingers, and were unable to reach the enemy with their arrows and javelins. This deficiency was rectified when a company of 200 [[Rhodians]], who understood the use of leaden sling-bullets, was formed. They were able, says [[Xenophon]], to project their missiles twice as far as the [[Achaemenid Empire|Persian]] slingers, who used large stones.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext98/anbss10.txt |title=Xenophon, Anabasis, chapter III |publisher=Gutenberg.org |date=1998-01-01 |access-date=2010-09-12}}</ref>

Various Greeks enjoyed a reputation for skill with the sling. [[Thucydides]] mentions the [[Acarnanians]] and [[Livy]] refers to the inhabitants of three Greek cities on the northern coast of the [[Peloponnesus]] as expert slingers.

Greek armies would also use [[Cavalry|mounted]] slingers (ἀκροβολισταί).<ref>Thomas Dudley Fosbroke, ''A Treatise on the Arts, Manufactures, Manners, and Institutions of the Greek and Romans, Volumen 2'', 1835</ref>

[[Ancient Rome|Roman]] skirmishers armed with slings and javelins were established by [[Servius Tullius]].<ref name=Kend/><ref>{{cite web| url = http://lukeuedasarson.com/TullianDBM.html| title = DBM - Tullian Roman}}</ref> The late Roman writer [[Vegetius]], in his work ''[[De Re Militari]]'', wrote:

{{blockquote|Recruits are to be taught the art of throwing stones both with the hand and sling. The inhabitants of the Balearic Islands are said to have been the inventors of slings, and to have managed them with surprising dexterity, owing to the manner of bringing up their children. The children were not allowed to have their food by their mothers till they had first struck it with their sling. Soldiers, notwithstanding their defensive armour, are often more annoyed by the round stones from the sling than by all the arrows of the enemy. Stones kill without mangling the body, and the contusion is mortal without loss of blood. It is universally known the ancients employed slingers in all their engagements. There is the greater reason for instructing all troops, without exception, in this exercise, as the sling cannot be reckoned any encumbrance, and often is of the greatest service, especially when they are obliged to engage in stony places, to defend a mountain or an eminence, or to repulse an enemy at the attack of a castle or city.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pvv.ntnu.no/~madsb/home/war/vegetius/dere03.php#14 |title=Digital &#124; Attic – Warfare: De Re Militari Book I: The Selection and Training of New Levies |publisher=Pvv.ntnu.no |access-date=2010-09-12 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120716222726/http://www.pvv.ntnu.no/~madsb/home/war/vegetius/dere03.php |archive-date=2012-07-16 }}</ref>}}