01-13-2006, 08:35 PM
ok. I realised I had read in an Osprey book that the Goths led by Fritigern were under fire of arrows and sling-stones. I even checked the original Latin texts from Ammianus Marcellinus, Liber XXXI:
3. quo malo praeter spem Gothi perculsi et concito quam considerato civium adsultu perterriti steterunt inmobiles, laceratique ad ultimum detestatione atque conviciis et temptati missilium iactibus raris ad defectionem erupere confessam, et caesis plurimis, quos impetus deceperat petulantior, aversisque residuis et telorum varietate confixis, habitu iam Romano cadaveribus spoliatis armati, viso propius Fritigerno iunxerunt semet ut morigeri socii urbemque clausam obsidionalibus aerumnis urgebant. in qua difficultate diutius positi, passim et promiscue ruebant, eminensque aliquorum audacia peribat inulta, multique sagittis et rotatis per fundas lapidibus interibant.
translation of bold texts: "...and many died because of arrows and the slinged stones, fired by the slingers."
source: http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/ammianus/31.shtml
That would suggest funditores were actually still in use...
3. quo malo praeter spem Gothi perculsi et concito quam considerato civium adsultu perterriti steterunt inmobiles, laceratique ad ultimum detestatione atque conviciis et temptati missilium iactibus raris ad defectionem erupere confessam, et caesis plurimis, quos impetus deceperat petulantior, aversisque residuis et telorum varietate confixis, habitu iam Romano cadaveribus spoliatis armati, viso propius Fritigerno iunxerunt semet ut morigeri socii urbemque clausam obsidionalibus aerumnis urgebant. in qua difficultate diutius positi, passim et promiscue ruebant, eminensque aliquorum audacia peribat inulta, multique sagittis et rotatis per fundas lapidibus interibant.
translation of bold texts: "...and many died because of arrows and the slinged stones, fired by the slingers."
source: http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/ammianus/31.shtml
That would suggest funditores were actually still in use...
Thijs Koelewijn
