2,100 Years Ago, Someone Slung a Lead Bullet Inscribed With ‘Learn Your Lesson!’

Nobody wants to get hit by one of these, much less one inscribed with an infuriating taunt. But two millennia ago, a Roman soldier may have been hit by this projectile.

Near the ancient city of Antiochia Hippos in present-day Golan Heights, archaeologists recently discovered a projectile featuring the first known message of its kind. As they describe in a recent study, it’s very likely a soldier laying siege to the Roman fortification about 2,100 years ago got smacked with this bullet featuring the Greek letters “ΜΑΘΟΥ.” The translation? “Learn your lesson!”

Researchers located the projectile in 2025 while surveying a riverbed near Hippos, and these solid bullets were, a very long time ago, widely employed by hurling them in slings. “Sling bullets were a cheap munition, a hand-thrown projectile, used for millennia,” archaeologist and study co-author Michael Eisenberg told Phys.org. “Its throwing power is based on swirling a long sling made of rope while the bullet rests in a leather pouch.” Remember the biblical story of David and Goliath?

The ΜΑΘΟΥ bullet may be unique, but the city’s use of slings was not. Hippos saw its fair share of combat over the centuries and resisted conquest for as long. However, the Roman general Pompey ultimately incorporated Hippos into Provincial Syria in 64 BCE.

It’s unclear when the ΜΑΘΟΥ bullet exactly took flight, but the study’s authors believe it likely dates to the 2nd century BCE. The team also explained it’s a classic example of an almond-shaped lead sling bullet from the era - about 1.25 by 0.76 inches in size and weighing around 1.3 ounces. Remarkably, according to Eisenberg, sling bullets were extremely effective at hitting individual targets as far as 328 feet away, but were also effective at longer distances when thrown at groups of enemies.