The Falx

[Paullus Scipio]

Ruben wrote:-

Its minimum lifespan was from the late 4th C. BC (earliest actual examples) until the 1st C. AD (Valerius Flaccus' mention in Argonautica, though this perhaps could be referring to falxes).

....don't you mean maximum possible lifespan - and stretching a point at that ?...after all, we only hear of its use in combat around the second C BC. And since Valerius Flaccus 1st C AD reference is to Bastarnae with a blade and wooden shaft the same length, that reference can hardly be anything other than a Falx

At what point did a sica become a falx?

Let's keep it simple shall we? .....one-handed =Sica, two-handed = Falx ( while remembering that like swords there can be an almost infinite gradation, with'bastard' and 'hand-and-a-half' swords)

I would argue that it is dangerous to place too much emphasis on the iconographic evidence, especially since the iconographic evidence in this case is two monuments created by foreigner observers relating to a single campaign.

...well, like so many things 'ancient' the evidence is scanty, and as I said, subject to change...but for now, we have those two monuments which show only Bastarnae with Falx and never Dacians, Valerius Flaccus' reference to Bastarnae and some archaeological finds which confirm the existence of the weapons (exactly as shown on the monuments, which must say something about their accuracy ) , but tell us nothing about how they came to be in the archaeological record ( e.g. gathered up by Roman troops after the campaign and taken to forts for disposal? c.f. rounding up weapons after the Jacobite rebellions, or 'the Great Sword Hunt' in Japan) or who carried them..... :? (

So, what evidence we do have points to Falx-armed Bastarnae, and zero, nil, no evidence at all for it ever being carried by Dacians ( other than the accident of some archaeological finds, which can't even be said to raise a strong possibility, for reasons set out here.....)

On balance of probability therefore, Bastarnae used Falxes, Dacians did not. QED! D

Tony, don't forget the Newstead manica also, originally thought to be a thigh defence by Russell-Robinson.