Ancient Greek and Roman soldiers were real jerks. As if commanding massive empires, and forcing things like toga parties and trigonometry on the rest of the world wasn’t bad enough, Greeks and Romans liked to insult their enemies by writing sarcastic jokes on their lead bullets. Here’s the story.
Back when slingshots were a weapon of choice, Greeks and Romans molded football-shaped ammunition out of lead. These bullets were often as big as an egg, and sometimes as big as a fist, but the reason for the strange shape isn’t clear. Some historians think soldiers preferred the football shape because the pointy sides helped to keep projectiles from slipping out of the slings…
Lire l’article sur : mentalfloss.com
En complément, un podcast de l’Ashmolean Museum d’Oxford : “A bullet with your name on” : http://www.ashmolean.org/ashwpress/latininscriptions/2015/05/15/a-bullet-with-your-name-on/