The discovery of lead bullets supports the idea that the famous Battle of Munda between Julius Caesar and the sons of Pompey was fought near Montilla, Spain.
University of Salamanca/Zephyrus, XCI, 2023A lead sling bullet with Julius Caesar’s name engraved on it.
In 2019, a farmer in the countryside of Montilla, Andalusia, southern Spain, discovered an ancient lead sling bullet with the letters “CAES” engraved on it. This letter is a shortened form of the name of Gaius Julius Caesar, a great Roman general and statesman.
The artifact was handed over to autonomous government researchers.
Further research is possible at the University of Madrid, the Cabra Archaeological Museum and the Baena History Museum.Their research results have just been published in the journal zephyrus.
In addition to Julius Caesar’s abbreviation, the lead bullets were also engraved with the words “IPSCA,” referring to the ancient Ibero-Roman city. This is the first time that the name of a city in Roman Hispania was written on a trebuchet bullet.
Lead bullets are roughly almond-shaped, measuring just under two inches long and half an inch wide.
around Archeo NewsInscriptions first began to appear on slingshot projectiles in Greece in the 5th century BC, and this practice continued until the time of Roman rule.
Projectiles were generally engraved with the name of the manufacturer, military commander, corps, or place of deployment. In this example, both the “IPSCA” and “CAES” inscriptions provide compelling evidence to suggest that an influential historical battle took place in this area.
In 45 BC, Caesar’s armies brought an end to an ongoing civil war that culminated in the Battle of Munda. In this battle, Caesar’s army fought decisively against the sons of Pompey. The actual location of this battle has been hotly debated over the years, but it is often suggested that it was in the greater Montilla region.
The discovery of this engraved lead bullet lends weight to this claim, confirming that Caesar’s army actually fought a battle in the area of Montilla, and that Ipsca allied with Caesar’s army against Gnaeus and Sextus Pompey. It shows that the .
This battle was a major turning point in Roman history, as Gnaeus and Sextus Pompey represented a potentially major revolution against Caesar’s increasingly widespread rule. At the Battle of Munda, the Pompeians gained high ground and gained the upper hand in the ensuing conflict. However, Caesar succeeded in luring them into the midst of the battle.
Caesar himself then joined in the skirmish and encouraged his 10th legion. Meanwhile, Gnaeus attempted to tactically move his troops to repel the attack of Roman cavalry. Unfortunately, this was misread by other troops who believed it to be a signal to retreat and broke ranks, giving Caesar’s army a decisive victory and ending the civil war.
Wikimedia CommonsEngraving of the Battle of Munda by Matheus Merian, circa 1625.
In the end, the incident turned out to be quite dark, as neither Caesar nor Pompey wanted to go to war in the first place. In fact, for many years Caesar’s daughter Julia was married to Pompey. However, when she died in 54 BC, that connection was severed.
Over the next few years, Pompey became jealous of Caesar and his growing power. He allied himself with the nobles who strongly opposed Caesar’s increasingly despotic regime, and Pompey and Caesar could no longer see eye to eye. War was a somewhat unfortunate but inevitable outcome.
However, Pompey was not the only one who felt uneasy about Caesar’s dictatorial rule. Exactly one year after his victory at Munda on March 17, 45 B.C.E., Caesar was assassinated in the Roman Senate on March 15, 44 B.C.E.
This lead bullet, engraved with Caesar’s name, serves as an important piece of the puzzle of Roman history, corroborating previously disputed and unknown details of Caesar’s long and famous life.
Read about this lead bullet engraved with Julius Caesar’s name, then learn about the gold coin minted to commemorate Caesar’s assassination that sold for more than $2 million at auction. Or read about recently discovered fragments of the Roman Chronicles detailing the daily life of Emperor Hadrian.