01-18-2008, 11:36 AM
Quote:It should be borne in mind that, strictly speaking, the two-handed falx is not a Dacian weapon at all, for while Dacians are depicted with single-handed sica, only Bastarnae tribesmen (Dacian Allies) are shown with the two-handed falx.......and this weapon is likely related to the earlier two-handed 'Thracian Rhomphaia'.
Well, stating it that way is a bit disingenuous, don't you think? We know pretty certainly that the rhomphaia and the falx are closely related to one another, and come from a single cultural continuum (Thraco-Getic, Daco-Thracian, or however you want to call it). We know that the Bastarnae were folded into this cultural group in the second century BC and adopted weaponry and equipment from their neighbours (thus Valerius Flaccus' comment about them carrying rhomphaiai). Since the falx clearly didn't independently emerge among the Bastarnae, it must have been a Dacian weapon. This is further borne out by the above actual example, which was found in a Dacian fort.
Ruben
He had with him the selfsame rifle you see with him now, all mounted in german silver and the name that he\'d give it set with silver wire under the checkpiece in latin: Et In Arcadia Ego. Common enough for a man to name his gun. His is the first and only ever I seen with an inscription from the classics. - Cormac McCarthy, Blood Meridian
He had with him the selfsame rifle you see with him now, all mounted in german silver and the name that he\'d give it set with silver wire under the checkpiece in latin: Et In Arcadia Ego. Common enough for a man to name his gun. His is the first and only ever I seen with an inscription from the classics. - Cormac McCarthy, Blood Meridian
