Furca, show yours

[Marcus Mummius]

Most actually curve a bit, as if weighed down by the kit.

Or because they are actualy dolabra heads?

[Tarbicus]

Good point wink:

Has anyone tried it?

[Marcus Mummius]

Good point wink:

Has anyone tried it?

Yep, I thought about the length too. But carying the pack so high like on Trajan's column is very impractical and not realistic for long distances. IMO it's just to show all the items on the yoke without them being obscured by the soldiers head's and shoulders. Or perhaps those legionaries had special extra long aerodynamic marching dolabrae

I think the downward curve of the dolabra head would make the load tied to it slip of quite easily... An upward curve for the yoke crossbar would be better I think.

Very interesting subject!!

Vale,

[M. Demetrius]

they are actualy dolabra heads

Hey!! who you calling "dolabra head", you, you rutrum face, you!
D lol:

[marsvigilia]

OK. I see what could be a cross piece. I wasn't expecting something curving downwards. Perhaps it is the cross piece or perhaps it is a dolabra with the handle tied snuggly against the furca pole. That would keep it from swinging.

On a related subject. Furcas have always bothered me from an engineering standpoint. For small weights they might make sense, but for larger loads the burden on the shoulders would be doubled. Look at it like a see-saw. If the load is 25 pounds, then it has to be balanced by pulling down on the otherside with about 25 pounds (assuming equal lengths.) This results in a load of 50 pounds on the shoulder.

Also mine has a tendency to want to slide off the shoulder. Anyone else have this problem?

[Hibernicus]

Ours used to slide until we did several things:
1) wore subarmalis that caused the shoulder plates of the seg to ride flat
2) carved shoulder rests into the furca pole (see the pics) or made squarish furca
3) lashed the gear so that it did not sway when we walked
4) learned to walk a bit differently so that the load rested easy
5) balanced the load so that the entire sarcina would rest on the shoulder in a balanced manner, no hands required to hold it in place, only to guide

[D B Campbell]

3) lashed the gear so that it did not sway when we walked

It's interesting that Frontinus (who is really the source for this) specifies (a) that it was the soldiers' vasa et cibaria (utensils and food) that were carried in this way, and (b) that they were in fasciculos aptata ("organised in bundles").

[Tarbicus]

3) lashed the gear so that it did not sway when we walked

It's interesting that Frontinus (who is really the source for this) specifies (a) that it was the soldiers' vasa et cibaria (utensils and food) that were carried in this way, and (b) that they were in fasciculos aptata ("organised in bundles").

It's obvious that the furca need not be forked in a Y-shape, if you take the name as a derogatory nickname for a shouldered instrument of torture or punishment, or even just the meaning of the word itself to your everyday Roman.

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

Marius' mules, burdened by their yokes!!

[brennivs - tony drake]

Here is my Fvrca it was hamered this weekend by the public,and me. To eat from and carrying my sleeping kit
Rgards Brennivs

[Paullus Scipio]

...in this debate on the nature of the Furca, we should perhaps consider that, like every other piece of Roman military equipment, it evolved over time.
Therefore, most, if not all, of the above statements are true.
Marius made his soldiers use the "Y" shaped forked poles that travellers used to carry luggage, and this evolved so that by Trajan's time it was "T" shaped ? It kept the same name for the reasons set out by Tarbicus - the"double entendre" not being lost on the soldiers of Furca also meaning an instrument of punishment/torture.
For another example of soldiers humour and "double entendre" words, there is the word used to decribe the iron barbs, embedded in pegs in the ground used as a "minefield", at the siege of Alesia by Caesar - these were called stimuli - often translated as 'goads' but a more faithful translation is 'pricks', which had the same double meaning then as now !! :roll: :oops: :lol: :lol:

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

I'm going to have to get me one of them there new fangled gadgets!! :lol:

[Paullus Scipio]

Which one, Byron?
....A Furca ? ...( which might indicate a certain masochistic trend )

..or a Stimulus? ....(which might indicate a certain sadistic trend ) :evil:

.... D lol:

[Tarbicus]

I'm going to have to get me one of them there new fangled gadgets!! :lol:

Which one, Byron?
....A Furca ? ...( which might indicate a certain masochistic trend )
..or a Stimulus? ....(which might indicate a certain sadistic trend ) :evil:
.... D lol:

An iPod.

:wink:

[Paullus Scipio]

An iPod

......ah, I see........both then!! 8) 8) 8)