Hello,
I'm currently in the midst of constructing my marching pack and have a few questions. I'm almost finished with my loculus, having followed the excellent guide at the Legio XX site. Next I'll be starting what is described as a bag to hold the cloak. This brings me to a couple of questions.
Does this item have name? What do you guys keep in yours?Are we all basing our reconstructions on Trajan's Column? It is my understanding that larger drawstring type bags have found at Comaccio and Deurne. Are there any surviving examples/leather fragments on which to base a reconstruction? Failing this, would a scaled up version of the Bargercompascuum bag (minus the decoration) be acceptable?
I would be grateful for any advice.
Thanks,Dorian
I keep my second set of clothes in it, including extra pieces of fabric for cleaning tasks. And mine is a very simple design, just one piece of leather folded in in the middl.
Strictly speaking, we can't prove that there WAS a bag! It could simply be the cloak rolled up and tied. But a bag is handy. Mine's just flat, too, with a couple loops sewn securely to the top edge.
By the way, strictly speaking we can't prove that the pole had a crossbar, though that's what most folks use. The bag or bundle at the top is held to the pole by a cord around its middle, and it droops at the ends--that doesn't indicate being hung from a horizontal bar. The "fork" in "furca" could be quite small, just big enough to keep the cord holding the bundle--and the strap of the satchel--from slipping down the pole.
SOMEday I'll get around to replacing my stick! And updating my website...
Matthew
The splendid
cover painting on the Ancient Warfare Varus Special, with the Trajan's Column-style marching pack in the foreground, reminded me of a piece of new research that you will find interesting: M. Volken, "The water bag of Roman soldiers",
Journal of Roman Archaeology vol. 21 (2008).
Here, the author convincingly demonstrates that the two bags, usually identified as
cloak bundle and satchel (e.g. in
this thread), are actually two different types of water skins. Finds of leather parts from Egypt make the identification virtually certain. (The reason for the two different designs is less clear.)
The corollary, of course, is that the legionaries on Trajan's Column are marching in light combat order, unencumbered by luggage, but ensuring that they have sufficient water (and wine, perhaps?
).
Quote:M. Volken, "The water bag of Roman soldiers", Journal of Roman Archaeology vol. 21 (2008)
Do you know if this is available through JSTOR?
Indeed a very interesting article. Only (as with Jef) how to get a copy, without spending USD 85 for the whole annual issue. But anyway, thanks for putting it forward. Certainly something I would like to read.
And it seems they just published a supplement about my hometown
Quote:Do you know if this is available through JSTOR?
Don't think so.
You can order articles and they send them as a PDF. Maximum cost 15 USD per article. Check out their website.
Quote:The "fork" in "furca" could be quite small
I've wrestled that in my mini-brain for quite a while, and have finally decided that (since I have to make a second furca for my son) that I'll just prowl the woods until I find a suitably forked small tree, and make a
furca from a tree fork. After all, by definition...
I'll carry that one, and give him my cross-stick. I will field the questions, and give the answers should that arise. I can't see why a simple forked stick, with "fork fingers" a foot long or so wouldn't be just fine for carrying gear.
It's quite exciting to consider that the new discovery throws the entire design of the
furca into question.
Our only source for this item (
Frontinus) claims that this piece of equipment was intended for food and utensils:
vasa et cibaria militis in fasciculos aptata furcis imposuit, sub quibus et habile onus et facilis requies esset (Marius "ordered the soldiers' utensils and food fastened in bundles to forked poles, to make the burden manageable and to make rest breaks easy" (
Strat. 4.1.7).
The new research shows that all the bundles depicted on the
furcae on Trajan's Column are either water skins (the large "bed roll" and the "satchel") or cooking tins. (The question of how to bundle up your cloak (e.g.) becomes rather academic!
)
A forked pole does not necessarily mean it's shaped like a fork
Splitting a pole and steam bending the split ends to a variety of shapes is simple enough... even into a "T"
Of course that's true. I plan just to use a branch/sapling trunk that's the right size and shape, and be done with it. I'm sure a soldier on the march would be happy enough if he found a piece of wood like that, or if he couldn't, he'd come up with something else, including the cross stick that we use.
But there's no getting around the word "furca" meaning "fork". Heck, that's the etymology of our modern word. There's all kinds of forks...but a "fork" in the road is generally a Y shaped thing, so it's not unrealistic to think that a "fork" in a stick would look similar, and not even necessarily exactly symmetrical.
I'm sure we've had a bunch of discussions on that topic.
Quote:A forked pole does not necessarily mean it's shaped like a fork
Splitting a pole and steam bending the split ends to a variety of shapes is simple enough... even into a "T"
What could be easier than just selecting a forked branch and using it? Why would you go to all the trouble of steam bending?
Steam bending is easy as pie... use the natural structural integrity of the wood... much stronger than a stick from the woods... purpose grown wood can be very strong and last for many many tears...
What would be the process for a 1st Century military camp steam bending operation? I think I have an idea, but I'd like to hear how to straighten a pole. They never seem to be quite the shape I want them, and I think I might like to put a shoulder hump right in the right spot to make the contus furcaeride smoothly.
At home, I'd probably wrap aluminum foil around the tea kettle, and extend it over the wood to be steamed. I've also used Schedule 40 PVC with a fitting, and a pressure cooker relief valve threaded in at the distal end. Seems to work, if you don't use it too long. Else it gets soft and the bender bends.