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Abstract

Salvage excavations conducted at Yavne uncovered a sling bullet dating to the second century BCE, bearing a Greek inscription: “Victory of Heracles and Hauronas”. The sling bullet was found in a pit dating to the Hellenistic period, which was located under the foundations of a Roman building. Heracles mentioned in the inscription is the Greek equivalent of the Phoenician god Melkart, while Hauronas is a Canaanite god known in the ancient Near East and in the Land of Israel as Horon. Prior to this discovery, this divine pair was mentioned only in a Hellenistic inscription from the island of Delos, where Heracles and Hauronas are referred to as “the gods who possess Yavne”. The inscription on the sling bullet is the first evidence of this pair found at Yavne. In the classical world, inscriptions on sling bullets were used as a psychological weapon to scare the enemy. In the second century BCE, several military conflicts occurred in and around Yavne between the pagans, who lived in the coastal cities, and the Hasmoneans. The inscription on the Yavne sling bullet expresses the pagan warriors’ hope for the victory of the patron gods of the city. The sling bullet and the inscription shed additional light on the religious and social background of warfare in the Land of Israel during the Hellenistic period.

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