- The islanders from the Gymnesian Islands of Majorca and Menorca in the Balearic Islands, were famed expert slingers since Antiquity.
- Slings have been in use all over the world since Antiquity. Two slings were found in the Tomb of Tutankhamun (c.1341-1323 BCE)
Hannibal
- They were used in the Carthaginian Army, then in the Roman Army.
- Slingers from the Balearic Islands were used by Hannibal at the Battle of Cannae at Apulia, Italia, on August 2nd 216 BCE.
Roman Army
- They slingers did not form one particular Auxiliary Cohort, but were generally distributed into the Auxilia of the Roman Army.
- Diodorus Siculus relates that the slingers had three slings for three different sizes of stone. They vary rarely missed their target.
- They wore a short tunic, with no protective armour and carried a javelin and a cloth bag of bullets, the ‘glandes’
Balearic Islands