The Falx

[Robert Vermaat]

Robert wrote:-

How do we know from the monuments that they show Bastarnae?

....I will treat this as a serious question and answer it, though it has the ring of a mere 'doubting Thomas' about it......
Both the Column and Adamklissi were clearly designed to be "read" by their audiences, and to that end, the depictions on it had to be 'stereotypes', whether of soldiers or different peoples, which is why the same 'type' repeatedly appears. On both monuments, three distinct types of dress can be discerned that 'marry up' with the Dacians and their Bastarnae and Sarmatian allies, and are easily recognisable even to 'moderns'. The germanic Bastarnae wear what the Romans thought of as 'germanic' garb - loose trousers, bare chested, bearded and even hair tied in that most distinctive german 'Suebian knot' . Only warriors of this type wield two-handed falxes, and are quite distinct from depictions of Dacians.......This has been the accepted and settled view of scholars on the subject for well over 100 years.

Thanks Paul, it was of course meant as a serious question. The 'doubting Thomas' feeling is all your own imagination.

Ok, this makes it a lot more clear. Only one Germanic ally and we know the name.