Lead sling bullet, Sicily (Perusia?) Alison E. Cooley AEC/ASHL ANFortnum V.243.xml Oxford Ashmolean Museum ANFortnum V.243 AshLI 430

A lead sling bullet, inscribed on two sides (EphEp).

Dimensions not accessible. Weight: 1oz. 280 gr. (= 49,30 gr.) (Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of London)

The letters VA are ligatured. The symbol of a retrograde C is used to designate the word ‘centurion’.

 41/40 BC (historical context) This sling bullet from the collection of C.D.E. Fortnum was first published in 1864 in the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of London, having been exhibited to the Society on 14th May 1863. Charles Drury Edward Fortnum (1820-1899) was an art historian and collector, who had particular interest in collecting sculpture, bronzes, maiolica, and rings from Renaissance Italy. He published catalogues of maiolica and bronzes in the South Kensington Museum (later, the Victoria and Albert Museum). Fortnum was instrumental in the history of the development of the Ashmolean Museum, making a substantial donation to allow the collections at the University Galleries on Beaumont Street to come to fruition, and also both lending and subsequently donating a large part of his collection to the museum (Wilson 2004). This item was given to the Ashmolean in Nov. 1889 (Western Art ms. Fortnum Collection, Varia no.243). It had been given to Fortnum by the Rev. W. Falconer, who had acquired it in Sicily (Proc.; EphEp.), although it may well have originated from Perusia. The 10th legion was one of the Antonian legions involved in that conflict (cf. ANFortnum Varia 241). Photograph. Photograph. Photograph. Photograph.
Cai VARRonis
U+1019B Legionis X

Of Gaius Varro, centurion of the 10th legion

This bullet originates from the siege of Perusia (modern Perugia), one of the bitterest episodes in the Roman civil wars of 41/40 BC, when the troops of the future Augustus (the young Caesar) besieged those of Lucius Antonius and Fulvia (Marcus Antonius’ brother and wife) at Perusia, ending in the starvation and surrender of the Antonians walled up in the town (Appian, Civil Wars 5.32-49) with the victorious commander even executing prisoners at the altar of divus Julius (Suetonius, Augustus 14-15) (Pelling 1996: p.14-16). Against the background of disquiet in Italy resulting from food shortage in the face of the naval blockade by Sextus Pompeius and from the ruthless confiscations that were integral to the proscriptions of political enemies, Lucius Antonius, the brother of Marcus Antonius and consul for 41 BC, tried to stir up trouble for the young Caesar in Rome and then marching further north (Appian Civil Wars 5.2.14, 5.3.19-24, 5.3.27-5.4.31). Exactly what his aims were in so doing remain disputed, given that Marcus Antonius was absent in the East at the time, and so this seems to have been Lucius’ own initiative (Wardle 2014: p.135), but the wife of Marcus Antonius, Fulvia, also appears to have been actively involved in this military campaign, upsetting behavioural norms expected of women at the time. After a period of skirmishing, the Antonians ended up being besieged at Perusia for many months by pro-Caesarian troops led by the young Caesar, Marcus Agrippa, and Salvidienus Rufus. Eventually, during the spring of 40 BC, the city fell to the Caesarians as it faced starvation (Livy Per. 126; Appian Civil Wars 5.4.32-5.5.49; Dio Cassius 48.14). The harsh treatment of the city’s elite class by the victorious Caesar became notorious, with stories of human sacrifice and merciless barbarity becoming widely repeated (Suetonius, Augustus 14-15; Seneca,On Clemency 1.11.1; Dio Cassius 48.14.3-5), an unhappy picture that draws some credence from the contemporary laments of the poet Propertius (Elegies 1.21, 1.22).

During the course of hostilities, both Antonian and Caesarian troops manufactured lead bullets to deploy during the siege (cf. ILLRP 1106-18; CIL XI 6721; Benedetti 2012). Other lead bullets from this period also bear texts and images, but the texts cast upon the bullets hurled during this siege were particularly virulent in their scurrilous and often sexual attacks upon their opponents (Hallett 1977). The 10th legion was part of the Antonian troops under siege at Perusia.

Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of London vol.2 (London 1864) p.270; EphEp VI (Zangemeister 1885) no.66, 5; Western Art ms. Fortnum Collection, Varia no.243

Benedetti L. 2012 Glandes perusinae, Revisione e aggiornimenti Rome Quasar/Opuscula Epigraphica 13 Hallett J.P. 1977 Perusinae glandes and the changing image of Augustus American Journal of Ancient History 2 151-71 Pelling C. 1996 The triumviral period Cambridge Ancient History Volume 10: The Augustan Empire, 43 BC–AD 69, 2nd edition 10 Bowman A. Champlin E. Lintott A. Cambridge Cambridge University Press 1-69 Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of London 2 1864 268-70 Wardle D. 2014 Suetonius, Life of Augustus Oxford Clarendon Ancient History Series/ Oxford University Press Wilson T. 2004 Fortnum, Charles Drury Edward (1820–1899) Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Oxford Oxford University Press, online edition http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/9951, accessed 14 March 2017 Zangemeister C. 1885 Glandes Plumbeae Latine Inscriptae: Ephemeris Epigraphica 6 Rome G. Reimer