The amazing ancient Roman army knife

reply to post by silent thunder


Nice find, S&F. It looks amazingly impressive especially for the time period. I want one!

reply to post by silent thunder

Great thread! S&F for you.

I have been a clasical numismatist and antiquartan for over 25 years and have never seen a Roman knife such as in the article. Most all pocket knives of this period were bronze and looked something like this:

www.harlanjberk.com...

I thought you may be interested in the advanced state of development of this time period. The Romans had developed far beyond what many in today's world would believe.

For instance, a book availabe on the subject states. "You leave your seventh-floor apartment, curse the congested traffic that delays you, and stop at a fast-food restaurant on your way to have cataract surgery. You live in Rome in A.D. 25." This astounding 700 page book is "Ancient Inventions" by Peter James. It is available on Amazon:

www.amazon.com...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1264929989&sr=1-1


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reply to post by silent thunder


Awesome i take it, that someone found one of these and the Swiss army adopted it?

or a vast conspiracy is happening and in fact Switzerland is not only the country of the Templar's and hiddens ecrets of the Nazi's BUT they are in fact the descendants of the roman empire!

Well i know now that's one more item added to the thing's that the Roman's gave us.

Very great find Silent. As a Romanaphile I enjoy reading about the history of the Republic and Princiapte and I am always excited to find out about something I had never heard of before. Thank you.

The knife speaks to the ingenuity of our ancient ancestors and that they were technically proficient in ways we still do not completely understand.



[edit on 31-1-2010 by AugustusMasonicus]

S & F!

Way cool and first I've seen of anything like this from Roman times.

It would fun to have some company start making these and marketing them as "Roman Army Knives". If only we knew what it really looked like when new.

This is an amazing thread.. I appreciate you bringing this topic to our attention. It is wonderful to see people looking for answers.

This is an amazing thread.. I appreciate you bringing this topic to our attention. It is wonderful to see people looking for answers.

The Romans built outpost forts as far north as the Rhein valley of Germany. One of which had been buried in a mud/land slide only to be discovered in the late 19th century nearly intact.

The Germans rebuilt it and many artifacts were very well preserved such as sandals,swords,shields,spear and arrow heads. They even had door locks using skeleton keys !

en.wikipedia.org...

www.saalburgmuseum.de...

Such an artistic and lucrative invention
I wonder why the experts felt the need to mention
Their postulates about the pick from so long ago
It was only for ancient escargot?

[edit on 1-2-2010 by dragonsmusic]

On the source website, a documented claim contradicts the authenticity of this knife, since there were seemingly no forks in Italy or the rest of Europe back then. The earliest traces of individual use forks date back to the Middle-East in the 7th century.

Looks like a candidate for hoax.

Thats so bad ass its not even funny - that must have been someones prizest of prize possessions, carried with them everywhere!

My grandfather gave me his before and he used to carry it with him everywhere!

reply to post by silent thunder


very cool find OP.
What eejit determined it might be a Spatula though?!
To me that piece looks like an Awl of sorts. Maybe for sewing leather.
The hole in the centre looks just like a thread/wire cutter to me....
a lot more than a Spatula anyway

Originally posted by Unregistered Next thing you know they'll dig up an ancient Greek IPhone. We learn something new every day.

Or how about ancient Egyptian batteries?

Have you never seen the batteries found by Egyptologists?

It even made Eirch von Danniken sit up and take notice!

reply to post by Rob37n


Found this spoon sir!

Good work private.

reply to post by fritz


Close...they found a 'computer'.

It's called 'The Antikythera mechanism, named after the place near it was found (by sea sponge divers).

Here's a link and piccy;




And a Wiki all about the device;

en.wikipedia.org...

Not so much as an ancient 'Iphone', as an ancient super-computer.
(for the time period anyway)

Enjoy!

I'll repeat to you folks...

(I know we don't always take the time to read every single reply in thread... or else some people would need to get a life!)

On the source website, a documented claim contradicts the authenticity of this knife, since there were seemingly no forks in Italy or the rest of Europe back then. The earliest traces of forks as individual tools for eating meals date back to the Middle-East in the 7th century.

This looks like a hoax.

Ignorance denied? Look for yourself!

[edit on 1/2/10 by Echtelion]

Awesome implement!
Sure the fork may not have been invented yet, but surely the trident had. Just ask Neptune or Poseidon (the Roman and Greek gods of the sea).
Also, the Roman empire was by large an assimilation of many different cultures. What could have been taboo in some parts of the empire, would/could have been time honored traditions in others.
Paganism was probably still abundant, even 100's of years after Christ. This could have been ceremonial or ritual in nature. A wealthy sea merchant for instance may have paid tribute to Neptune prior to a shipment departure, by skewering a delicacy over a fire.
Or simply, a civilized man did not want to soil his fine silk garments with greasy fingers?

reply to post by Echtelion



Sorry but that is not true. It is actually known that the Romans used forks, and spoons as early as the 2nd century A.D., which is around the time this folding utensil was made.

Romans used forks as early as the 2nd century A.D. and there are many samples of them in museums all over Europe.

blog.aurorahistoryboutique.com...



[edit on 1-2-2010 by ElectricUniverse]

reply to post by silent thunder


I need one of those!

So retro!

tbh i think that spatula looks more of a hoof pick for a horse then geting things out of a bottle just thort id share