Menace of the ROMANS! Dacian FALX (with notes on the Sica & Rhomphaia) from Iamandi Knife
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- Опубліковано 18 вер 2020
- The Dacian falx, the Thracian sica and the Rhomphaia.
Falx replica from Iamandi Knife: / iamandiknife or www.iamandi.net/
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Beautiful!
Proud to see a weapon from my country.
Iamandi is doing a good job in promoting this weapon. Hats off to my countryman for his skill and will to promote our history.
@@ManticoreRO Vezi la komakiza. Iamandi le face din flex, polizor, etc. Komakiza le face cu ciocan si nicovala. Doar ca nu e celebru.
A dacian crusader? How strange.
@@generalvictorironraven.1347 , Vlad Dracul belong toThe Order of the Teutonic Knights of
St. Mary's Hospital in Jerusalem - 1190
The German Order of the Teutonic Knights of Christ in Jerusalem
Orden der Brüder vom Deutschen Haus St. Mariens in Jerusalem
Our Dacian blood still boils in our veins.
Love from România!
That may be, but I wonder if even in a hundred years you will drop this communist habit of putting your family name before your given name. Same with the sword maker "Iamandi Cristian" smh....
@Samael You have no ideea what you said.... go in Romania and after speak..... something about this subject
@Samael You must either be blind or pushing some racial propaganda. Romanians are light skinned. Unless you're refering to gypsies, which are neither dacian nor native to the land.
@Mutant Pig there is nothing protochronic about recognising our genetic legacy. Modern DNA tests show having significant haplotypes of ancient Balkan Europeans. Then slavic. Then some other stuff. In any cases we ARE mostly Dacians.
@@empyrionin "In any cases we ARE mostly Dacians."
No, you're not. You're (Post-)Wallachians...
This is some Nazi-level shit right there...
The word falx just means "sickle" in latin, so it may be more of a generic umbrella term for forward curved blades
Sica also means "sickle" in Latin.
@@colbunkmust Doesn't sica mean dagger? Hence "sicarius" (knifeman/assassin)
@@Robert399 I'm fairly certain that pugio is the Latin word for dagger but I might be wrong.
@@Robert399 the Latin for "dagger" is usually written as "pugio" specifically when referencing Roman military daggers. "Sica" means sickle but can also relate to single edged fighting knives that have sickle shaped blades. The Roman term "sicarii" or "assassin" refers to Jewish guerillas who often would carry these curved blades and would attack Roman officials in Roman occupied Judea.
@@colbunkmust Sounds like they might have been a predecessor to the jambiyya
I was watching this entire video waiting for "context" and Matt didn't say it until there was less than 2 minutes left. 🤣 But he still managed to get it in there.
Less than 1 minute even! 😂
5:25
FINALLY!!!! This class of weapons is sheer terror. Trajan had to shift his ENTIRE military strategy to deal with the Dacians.
1 you and 25 others... What you can to do.
Good luck to you but dacian pushed away romans ! And now they still there of over 7000 years.
I love every time a culture finds a weapon that can do that. There's also some historical evidence that points to the reason for Romans reinforcing their helmet design to the falx specifically. That's so damn impressive to me that a group the Romans would have looked down on had such an impact.
I can definitely see being tripped up against those swords, since it curves around your defences. Kind of like when you stop the haft of an axe, but still get bonked by the head over the edge of your shield.
I am a simple man, I see a video from scholagladiatoria and I click on it and like it.
we all are simple men,then,lol.😉
"It's not light or nimble or anything" As you turn the thing in your hand like it's light as a feather. Bloody show-off!
Love the video and the look at the historical records, do wish there was more available writing on these things from the time they were used. I feel like the two handed grip means that, if you lose your shield, you can put considerably more power into your strikes with this predominantly one-handed weapon.
9 Romans without manica disliked this video.
Always better than without túnica....
No, it is a like from Australia.
@@djcudworth2355 no
They had to use their left hand to click the dislike. Shame really.
@@Evirthewarrior lol nice
Hey Matt. To further a point you've made - literally of hundreds of Rhomphias found in Bulgaria were found in Noble or at least rich Thracian burials - so it does make sense that the longer ones were indeed used more by the nobility. Furthermore a lot of Bulgarian historians and archaeologists, refer to the Rhomphia as what would translate as a pole arm as opposed to a sword. I believe the longest one ever found had a hilt of like 100cm and a blade of 110cm.
I love this! That makes total sense for them to make a polearm length weapon to take advantage of that shape.
Reverse naginata!
I'm really late to the party, but I always heard the three names to basically describe sica was the equivalent of a one handed arming sword or a long dagger, the falx was the hand and a half or interchangeable grip version, and the rhomphia was always the great sword version or even the pole arm version. I also heard of the falcata, which was a Spanish or Gaulish version that was similar to a modern kukri, but sometimes gets mixed up with the falx. I love that throughout history, the scythe has been turned into a very effective weapon of war.
I love how Mr. Easton can speak, while remaining seated and never even gripping properly, let alone swinging a weapon; and aided by no technical flair beyond some fade in/out edited shots of pertinent historical artwork, other pieces of related kit, or additional examples of the weapon in question, leave me feeling that I have a pretty solid grasp on the particular subject matter of the video. Especially considering that before watching this video, for example, all I knew of the falx was a sword associated with...one of the "barbarian" tribes whom the Romans had fought with enough frequency and apprehension that they bothered to record the details of a weapon used against them. But I didn't know which tribe(s) actually used it, and would have guessed it was associated with one or more of the tribes in Gaul whom Caesar campaigned against over 100 years before Trajan's Dacian Dance of Death and Destruction (sounds like the name of an album from a Swedish death metal band).
Obviously, one video didn't turn me into an expert, but I now have a solid grasp on the physical characteristics of a falx, and the falx's notoriety for forcing changes to Roman equipment. Most interesting of to me, this video taught me about the uncertainty regarding exactly how the falx was used in combat, and its variable physical characteristics, which both contribute to the lack of definitve answers, but also offer a logical explanation of how the falx was most likely used.
That's a hell of a lot of about a weapon to be conveyed in a single video, especially a single video where we never actually see the weapon used. But again, that's what I love about listening to Mr. Easton: he knows the fine minutiae about his subjects, and he communicates so clearly that I can easily imagine the sensation of feeling the heft of the weapon in my hand.
I like how scientific he is. If there are not the facts to back up a claim he says so.
Scientists use the word "may" a lot. This may be so until proven otherwise.
"And I danced, and I pranced, and I sang with them
All had death in their eyes!
Lifeless figures, all of them
Ascended from Hell."
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dance_of_Death_(album)
It's quite nice because he remains calm, & can describe the history, & his theories behind the weapon, without distracting the viewer by jumping around the screen like a deranged muppet...
I am looking forward to watch some cutting tests especially against "armor". Great topic, Matt.
Why did you put "armor" in quotes?
I'd like to see tests
it was made to cut only the hand or foot, main purpouse to penetrate armour and helmet over the shield or around maybe if you want i will look for old foto of what i done in base of the other relict founds, you will understand the mecanics of the weapon, histocycal reaserchers, or archeologist maybe have no martial experiance to do those kind of fighting metods....
@@vasilemihaicuceu7809 Yup. It was a perfect weapon against tight formations / phallanx or shieldwall. Truth is that romans making the greatest warr effort in empire 's history in both Dacian Warrs were many times at the edge of defeat , even if they never confronted all Daco-Getian might, as Decebal rulled over less than half of Dacian tribes, his kingdom was at max 1/3 of Burebista's one. And result was conforme : romans occupied max 1/6 of Dacian lands.
Rhomphaia seems to just mean "two-handed weapon." Anna Komnene uses it to describe the Dane Axes, Khoniates uses it to describe an early hand-and-a-half sword, Sphrantzes uses it generically in 1453 to mean "weapon" but probably "polearm" or "hand-and-a-half sword." There's also fundamentally the issue that Roman authors like writing with terms only known to the Athenian Greeks (called the "Attic" tradition) so it may have been a word purely used only in poetry. And then that's compounded by the fact the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana Ms. Gr. 749 Folio 19r and Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana Ms. Gr. 1613 Folio 27 and and Folio 49 shows a "Falx" or "Sica" being used in the 9th and 11th centuries, respectively. At the same time the first hand-and-a-half swords start to appear (Biblioteca Apsotolica Vaticana Ms. gr. 333 folio 40) as well as during a period of widespread use of the Dane Axe.
So yeah it's a complicated term.
Part of that is also just the evolution of words. Rhomphaia could have originally meant a specific type of sword used by the Thracians but by the time of Anna it had become bastardized into just meaning "two-handed weapon". Like how Kleenex and Vaseline are used to refer to all tissues and petroleum jelly and not just the companies. And it will be hard to tell due to the lack of (surviving) written sources from these cultures.
@@adambielen8996 Thing is, with Roman sources back into the Principate it might just generically mean "Two Handed Weapon." I think Jians (which start being used in Iran from the 3rd-7th century) are probably also referred to as Rhomphaiai but I'd have to check the sources.
Evan Schultheis superb comment and really interesting point. I also think that maybe the Kopesh also could influence them. First Greeks then Dacians.
The variety of weapons I saw in Graz, Austria was amazing. There were plenty of these types, as well as every type one can imagine.
I used to believe it meant an Dane Axe, but after looking extensively into it and reading the original Greek, it's clear that it's not a Dane Axe. Timothy Dawson's methods to explain it as a Dane Axe requires Olympic level mental gymnastics. I'll be making a video on the topic soon but in the meantime rhomphaia was not the regular word for it; likely the colloquial non-Atticized word was spathobaklion which literally means sword-staff. Anna and others (Psellos, Choniates) always say, without exception, single edge swords carried on the shoulders, never double-edged (that was an English mistranslation by Elizabeth A. S. Dawes: the original is ετερόκοπα ξίφη) and the only time they use Rhomphaia to describe it is in light of Plutarch's description of the Thracian Rhomphaia. Choniates says the spear-bearers removed the single edge swords from their shoulders (δορυφόροι τὰ ἐπὶ τῶν ὤμων ἑτερόθηκτα ξίφη) showing the hybrid nature of the weapon. According to the 10th century Suda, the Rhomphaia means either a javalin or machaira (single edged sword), not an axe. Not once is the word used to describe an axe. The word Rhomphaia is mostly used to mean a sword or javelin, but in the case of Anna and Psellos, they seem to use it to refer to a weapon that is the combination of both as per Plutarch.
Regarding the Tropaeum Traiani. The artist that designed it was situated in the Levant and had never seen or heard of the Dacians/Tracians. He sent his drawings to the soldiers that build the Monument and they clumsily tried to reproduce it into stone. I had practical work at the archaeological site at Tropaeum Traiani for both the monument and the city. On some of the carvings you can see enemies being tied to tropical trees that are not native to the region.
Regarding the weapon - it's an agricultural tool used in cutting tree branches. Our farmers still have some varieties of this tool from the very large to the very small, used in vine work.
Also, said "weapon" was likely a common tool around the world.
The falx is clearly a weapon. All the ones we discovered point to a weapon, not a tool.
@@rollothewalker5535 Axes are tools that ended up used as weapons as well, the flax was the same thing. We have them as tools to this day in Romania, from the smallest vine working tools to the very large ones. Please do your discoveries in the in their place or origin not in the trophy closets of the victors. People tend to lie about their enemies to make themselves look for virtuous for defeating them. The truth is the Romans fought farmers and branch cutters equipped with what ever tool they had near by. Please stop romanticizing/mystifying history, you people look like a man-children talking over agricultural tools as if they were Yu Gi Oh cards. :))
@@TheNigel01 as a romanian myself, I have to agree with you. People like to talk about their ancestors as they were all mythological heroes, when 99% of them were farmers.
@@adrianmargean3402 better learn some history before you try to speak about that! The Dacians were mentioned as warriors and they had many wars with the Romans and their neighbours.
I am reminded strongly of a farm implement I saw in a museum in south arkansas. It is a full size sythe blade, with a two handed grip like that. It's probably from some time in the 1800's, perhaps used for harvesting Sorghum is what they think, the blade is about 5 feet long and maybe 5 inches wide down at the base, with about a 2 foot handle.
Really great to see a steady flow of videos from you on classics Matt, hope you keep it up!
As a romanian, i`m proud to see this weapon featured on your channel!
Salut.
Romanians don't really have to do much with the Dacians, but ok.
@@eucherenkov Salut :)
@@barnabasfarkas3830 man you are so rong . Romania's are real descendants from Dacians and Thracian; that's a fact. Even today they speak a Latin language a true testimony of the continually on that part of Europe. If you look on the map Romania is the only country in the est of Europe who are are Latins speaker's. Cheers from Norway.
@@dmcgarage5991 No, it's a myth, or even worse, a lie.
Also, while dessverre snakker jeg bare litt norsk, most Norwegians know English properly, (from my experience), while you are writing absolute gibberish.
I've seen a video on youtube where a historian (reacting to the film gladiator) said that you can't cut at all with a gladius and they were completely blunt.
I feel like things like this are why every time matt shows a gladius he mentions that you can cut with it lol
I have seen similar videos and I think I even remember it from a textbook at scbool. I could never understand why the blade would be so broad if it was solely for thrusting, so it never made sense. Soldiers tend to carry equipment which is useful in multiple situations and multiple ways, so even if the legionary just needed an edge to sharpen a post or scrape kindling it would make sense for it to be sharpened to some extent.
Even a blunt blade can cut - you just need to use more force to get the same effect as a sharpened version. It might not be efficient to try and cut with a gladius but you can certainly cut with one if you try.
@@Embetebe It's basically impossible to cut with a properly blunt blade.
But there's no reason why they would be blunt, they actually cut very well.
I can't imagine any army going into battle with a sword that was reasonably good for cutting if sharpened and then leaving it blunt. That flies in the face of both soldier psychology and common sense.
@@itsapittie >breaks point of sword
Well guess I'll die then
that video is so biased, he never talks about three handed swords :(
You'll have to buy him a Dreihänder.
On the gripping hand...
@@seneca983 people are either born with dreihender or not, money can't fix this for ya :)
Another great channel dealing with my favorite subject. Ancient weapons and armor. I enjoy these types of channel
I got a falx from Iamandi last year and it is a THING OF BEAUTY.
Excellent, excellent video. Thank you Matt.
I'm loving all the Roman era content!
Good and informative, the details are revealing. I didn't know the Dacians were a headache to the Romans. Keep 'em coming.
So glad to see this! I was considering buying a falx from Mr Iamandi 3 years ago, and now I see your video as I’m about to commit to buying it :p
for sure that Falx looks terrifying. also that Gladius looks virtually unbreakable. great research!
I love it! Would love to get one, one day. I'm looking forward to the rest of the video!
In Mount and Blade: bannerlord, they decided that the rhomphaia is a pole arm of some variety (best weapon in the game imo)
I got to admit, the general "falx" sword is probably my fave sword. Don't know why, just love it.
I think I read once that there were a large number of swords and sword-type (i.e. including the falx) weapons in Dacia compared to Rome's other enemies, where the spear predominated and only elites carried swords. If true the number of cutting weapons the Romans were facing (as opposed to just the specific design of the cutting weapon) could have had an influence on the decision to reinforce their armour.
Another thought I had, which I don't know how much validity it has, is that hamata tended to come further down the arm than segmentatta (which we see was a concern in this campaign) and definitely provided better protection to the armpit.
This fits with the spear hypothesis too, as it's much harder to catch a spear thrust under the arm than a sword strike.
How much your armor covers is sometimes more important than how strong a blow it can take.
On the flipside, a falx is the sword I would least want to take a blow from in mail, but that may hint at something about how they were used.
Also possible the change _back_ to mail wasn't specific to the army they were fighting at the time at all and due to other factors.
@@dynamicworlds1 Makes me wonder if that while the head injuries (or rather the helmet changes because of them) get the most publicity, the arm and hand wounds were perhaps even more devastating.
@P Ciprian Agh, indeed legs were always a target, scary to imagine how terrible those wounds could have been.
My father restored several rhomphaia, found in archaeological expeditions, quite an interesting weapon. Maybe do a video about it? The Romans would instantly kill anybody armed with a rhomphaia - such was the fear of that weapon.
Hit it out of the park once again! Very informative and interesting video.
Great video. Love history and channel is getting better and better. Thank you.
"Let's get our falx right!"
Bad puns aside, I'm surprised to see you covering a weapon from my homeland. I'm gonna have to thank mister Iamandi for his work (which is not to be ignored; he's build several of these swords and I bet they aren't easy to make) in popularising and raising awareness of this type of weapon. Such curved weapons are common in other cultures, but in Europe, well, not that much. I'd be nice to see you discuss why this may be the case.
As a side note, the Rhomphaia was also associated with Scythian cavalry that often fought as mercenaries in Dacia and the Balkans. I'd be nice to see if there was any difference in using this as a cavalry weapon (perhaps a type or early bill or similar to the naginata?).
There might also be a connection between the sica and some of the less inwardly curved Greek weapons of antiquity (such as the Kopis). Perhaps if we knew when the exact timeline of these weapons appearing in the archeological record, we might be able to piece together if there was any influence, and how that influence flowed.
Finally, given your probably better familiarity with Gallic and Celtic weaponry, it might be interesting to see what the differences in use and functionality might be between the straighter Celtic swords and the Dacian/Thracian. We know the Dacians had contact with Celtic tribes, and apparently adopted some elements of Hallstatt metalworking, but seem to have applied them to a weapon with a different functionality. Why would that be?
Unfortunately, Romania is not the best place to do archeology. Quite a shame, with how many unexplored areas and tombs are unexplored....
Keep it up, and thank you for your work!
Based on my history classes (the bits i can remember anyway :) ) there were long established Greek colonies all around Dacian territory and a healthy trade both in artifacts and technology. It is known that what was considered "greek" building techniques were matched/adopted or at least influenced some constructions in the larger cities (something about water cisterns was mentioned at some point).
@Thirbo I'm not sure. There's no reason why a Sica or Falx would be cheaper to make than a straight sword. Quite the opposite, actually, since it's curved, the balancing act of lightness vs strength is more delicate. These weren't farming implements by any means, they'd be too light and the blade position compared to a sickle (which has a far more pronounced inward curve, up to 90 degrees from the handle) is pretty off. They'd be tiresome to use that way.
They were also pretty unforgiving with edge alignment. So... anyone using them has to have some form of mild training to make it effective.
I would also point out the Dacians (or rather the Getae) were noted as having larger than average numbers of cavalry. I don't know why this would be, but in this case, I would expect nobility to be quite horse-oriented.
you'd be surprised how little the romanian academy allows when it comes to historical theories
@@gusty9053
Greek colonies were on the western shores of the Black Sea, not all around Dacian territory.
@@alexhulea2735
Yes, those guys want A LOT of evidence.
I occurs to me that the names we have for these various weapons are probably the Roman names, the Dacians and Thracians could well have had their own names that were not recorded. History is, after all, written by the victors, especially when the victors are more likely to be literate.
Pay attention to that "rib" halfway down... that's the cool "S" thing people used to draw in high school
Nice discussion on a truly interesting subject!
agreed,Brian,he tries his best to show some good subjects.
Thank you for another informative and entertaining video. Keep on!
In close quarters such a weapon seems well suited for draw cuts against the back of the legs thus slicing either muscle or tendon and subsequently disabling an opponent.
the sharp edge is on the inner side of the curve. draw cuts(unless the following is also called a draw cut?) won't be a thing. i'm pretty sure i've read somewhere you're supposed to pull back on the blade once you make contact and it pierces... the target. think scythe
Always interested in the rhomphia. Thanks Matt!
A video on the benefits of the curve on the inside verse straight and outside curve of a sword. Would be interesting.
Quick and dirty overview from someone less knowledgeable but compiled from people like Matt who know way more than me (possibly some from him, though I don't remember anymore):
Sharp inside of the curve allows easy hooking (when significant enough) and provides a powerful strike with the tip. Sharp outside of the curve helps edge alignment self-correct and (when significant enough) creates a draw-cut effect increasing the effective sharpness against soft materials like cloth and flesh.
Straight swords keep the point in line for powerful thrusts and provide simple cut and thrust versatility (at the expense of some more tricky things you can do with curved swords) and some designs open up other options like half-swording (though some only slightly-curved blades like the katana can do it as well) and murder strokes.
A number of religions at that time had ideals about fate, that you were fated to die in a particular battle. So foregoing armour was referenced as being a way to show how you accept your fate and don't fear death. One group of Celts were also said to have gone naked against the Romans because it let them go through thorns and rough terrain more quickly, as their clothes wouldn't catch.
Probably it did happen, but it seems to be an extreme outlier in history. You similarly see some Africans who in the modern day went into battle naked, because they thought this would protect them from bullets.
That small group of Celts was killed by javelins.
By enlarge most Celts where clothed , the elite where armoured as was the career warriors (mostly killed in the civil wars before the invasion) an a few where nude fanatics.
If I had to Go through thorny bushes I would rather put on more clothes. Ripped clothes are better than ripped skin.
@@vorrnth8734 For some reason, those particular Celts disagreed (they were a minority among Celts). I expect their skin was mighty tough, not sure if that was the reason.
@@vanivanov9571 I am pretty sure that bushes are not the reason.
@@vorrnth8734 That's what the Roman writer said on the matter. I don't know beyond that.
I think a huge electro magnet on a crane would be the ultimate mid evil weapon.
All of those Knights stuck to a magnet by their armor would have been hilarious.
Very intersting video. Really hope you do more about it :)
When is the cutting coming??? Love your videos by the way. My favorite channel regarding antique weapons for sure.
Beautiful Sword!!!
ooooo love this weapon. Really hope to be able to get my hands on one someday
Check out on my channel for one
Great weapon. Can we see a Falcata or one of those long La Tène Celtic swords at some point?
In the Bible, when St. Simeon warns the blessed Virgin Mary that “a sword will pierce your heart”, the word used in the Koine Greek for the sword is actually “rhomphaeia”.. the huge double-handed sword you mentioned.
"ρομφαία"
Nice cutting tests that you got to.
Gives a whole new meaning to "go for a rhomp"
I'll see myself out.
I'm not very familiar with historic weapons... but that blade strikes me as extremely similar to the scythes that are traditionally still used in the field. I always liked cutting grass and sharpening the scythes when I was young. The size, length and proportions are dead on. I would assume these swords would have been very common and reused by peasants. Our grandparents might have 2000 year old blades in the attics and barns.
Well you had Dacian Auxiliaries on Hadrian's Wall(together with the more famous Sarmatian Knights) and in the rest of Roman Britannia. The Welsh Dragon is a direct descendant of the Roman Draco standard which was modeled after the Dacian Draco, and even the word sickle come from sica(sica being the latin word for the sword, that's where the Spanish/Mexicans got Sicario from)
There's definitely a sickle reference in there for sure. The scythe is a very different mechanic for weapon movement. But I could totally see the sickle in the way it moves, the way it cuts, and its resilience.
The first thing I thought was, how short it is for a two-handed weapon. Glad that was adressed.
Great news! Dacia Falx. It has ABS as standard
This dude is not messing around
As a massive fan of forward-swept blades, I really wish that I could afford one of those big falx to diversify my evergrowing stack of kukri.
E: the single, budget-grade khopis... kinda forgot that. Then the 7 individual kukri (kukris?) of various sizes/makes.
Y’all have a good one.
Those are some of my favorite classes of blades. Right there with the khopesh & the shotel, as well as some of the Indian blade options. Something about a weapon with curves is just so impressive.
While I would agree with the notion that segmentata (I always feel weird using that word) would have been the primary armour used, I can see several reasons why hamata might have been on the rise during the campaign.
If the falxes did connect often enough, they would damage the bands of the segmentata, and likely in much the same places. Now any army would carry spares and have smiths craft new ones, but apparently the falxes did cause some trouble, so perhaps the damages overloaded the logistics? Basically the armies ran out of repair spares. Mail is comparably simple and easy to repair. Just some rings and boom you have stitched any gash up, you might not even need a specialist to do it.
Secondly, as noted it is easy to repair, and by the same function it is just as easy to extend. 'Oh noes, we need arm protection right now!' Have the armourers extend the sleeves and you have a good intermediary protection very quickly. Until such a time as manicas can be brought up from back home. Same goes if you need to extend the protection downwards of course. It takes time, but probably less than it would take to send people back home, gather up enough manicas and bands for replacements and/or field manicas, and then get escorts and then get back to the army.
Squamata? Yeah I have no good reasons why it might gain popularity. While the normal falx attack vectors avoids the weaknesses of the scales, they also don't offer any specific advantage against something like a falx over segmentata that I can see. The only possibility I can see is that the armies suffered so many damaged bands that legionaries would have to get entirely new armours right away and only scales were around, which seems odd to me. Why would they have enough scale sets for it to be noticeable? Seems like a waste in general, like a modern field army stocking up on old rifles 'just in case', when they could have carried that much more actually useful gear.
Enjoyed your video so I gave it a Thumbs Up
My Favourite Roman war and my Favourite Emperor and my Favourite period in Roman military history. I even have a silver coin that was minted with the Dacian kings silver after the campaign. 😍
I think I NEED one of these swords!!
The sica was more a dagger than a sword. In fact, it was the weapon of choice of the sicarius (assassin in Latin).
Also, it is worth saying that, while it's true that thracian gladiators used a "sica supina" as a weapon and gladiators used to mimic several "barbaric" warriors (Romans called barbarian any people who didn't speak their language), their main focus was to entertain the populace, not to be historically accurate.
Moreover, "falx" in Latin just means "scythe" or "sickle", so what you have in hand is definitely a "dacian falx", i.e. a sickle from Dacia (the ancient Romania). 😊
guys we have some comments at reguards, we work with those weapon since 5 years ago, our opinion is that the reproduction that iamandi make is without a curve properly done, in our opinion the "falx2 was even more curved like it was some relicve found only to OVERCOME the roman shields, the maine attack of the falx is concentrate on the tip point and the maine force is there to penetrate( the helmet, overcome shield in the lateral side or under)the blade is secondary, you see we considere that the falx is a weapon that combine the 3 weapon knew at that period such is: spear axe and
sickle, so the work with it was like those 3 ussualy weapon , like you see those here in the foto that is presented, almost a great part of them are "sica" knives, the handle as is represented on the Traian collumn at ROMA is 3 palms in terms like the 1 here and 5 palms for the 2 handed falx , and shorter for 1 handed battle falx, those are represented too on the collumn, as the monument from "Adamclisi"
is more then 5 year since we study and make our fights with those "toys" as we can call them, and after the romans meet the dacian people they change the armour( manica segmentata, and renforce helmet) the other barbarians sisn't make them to change nothing, they finally meet some warriors who make them problems(see the peace maked after several lost at booth army)
we should look at the history at it was with betrades and alliance.... with good and wrong, and try to see how the real weapon were, here is only an opinion based on 1 much more curved "falx" not only like this 1, and with much longer handle means same as the blade is!!!!! after you get 1 of those in your hands and you considere the 3 weapons present at those days in the dacia you will know what you can do with it, have a pleasant day all of you
They seem to be a strong weapon for still hitting the person behind the shield, provided it pivots on the shields top edge
And thats why the romans were so good, they will very quickly adapt and copy if it will help them.
The falx is coming back baby. Is it bannerlord? I know I use one.
Bannerlord falx op
Giant, powerful warrior - I handed, fast scything motion, perhaps even double, if nimble enough. Short, stocky guy, typical of the age, sometimes 2 handed, with a much smaller shield. Used with a Scooter would be a great experiment, allowing you to simulate Cavalry
The Tropaeum Traiani/Adamclisi Traiani monument created in what is now modern day Romania is supposed to be a more accurate depiction of the Roman-Dacian wars compared to Trajan Column monument in Rome (which was created more as a propaganda piece that has more inaccuracies). For example, Trajan's Column depicts tiny undersized Roman scutums. If there are contradictions between the Tropaeum Traiani vs Trajan's Column in terms of their depictions of the falx or other equipment, I'd go with the Tropaeum Traiani. Furthermore, the Tropaeum Traiani does depict some Dacians wearing armor. This image for example portrays Dacians wearing a banded-type armor almost similar to the segmentata: upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b1/Metope_from_the_Tropaeum_Traiani%2C_Roman_soldier_in_helmet_and_scale_armor_fighting_two_bearded_Dacians%2C_Moesia_Inferior%2C_Romania_%2841104941754%29.jpg
I read "undersized scrotums" at first.
@@Likexner Well, considering how Greco-Roman sculptures like to depict male nudity, that wouldn't be a huge stretch either...
Dacians are Thracian people, "the most brave of all the Thracians" as they had described themselves
They didn't describe themselves as such since they didn't leave any written sources. Herodotus described the getae as such.
Getae in greek and dacians in latin are the same people-the northern branch of thracians and thracians were closely related to ilyrians.The greatest king of dacians/thracians was Burebista in first century AD.Burebista was an ally of Pompeius .Caesar wanted to make a campaign against Burebista and the Parthians but was assassinated.Burebista died in the same way.
Gotta get me one of those.
My first thought on usage is not chopping but following cure over the top of the shield while stomp kicking the bottom of the shield to tilt the top creating a opening for thrust.
So weird, I just watched a Forged in Fire episode with this weapon which I had never heard of and bam, Scholagladiatoria does a vid on same weapon.
Gulagle ist watchink yu.
@@kirbyculp3449 WTF are you saying??🤷♂️
@@jedi77palmer
Der Fonze haft eerz.
@@kirbyculp3449 nope, that doesn't help
@@jedi77palmer
Is Pie. Shoo Flies Pie iz der eye inst der skye. And der flying sky pie is watchink.
i like the look of the one 3rd from the right
NICE
The Romans were very impressed, and being the Romans they adopted it in the form of the 'siege hook' which to me sounds much more badass than 'falx'.
My guess is that it'd be given to storming parties as a form of 'forlorn hope' weapon. Or to defenders holding a narrow breach or on walls against ladders.
I think it'd be terrifying being forced to face a heavily armoured centurion(or veteran legionary but centurions are generally tough veterans and quite fanatical and there are accounts of centurions basically holding a breach/stretch of wall/ the ground in front of the wall largely by themselves) with a falx holding a breach.
First like im always a few hours late. Love your videos sir.
Thanks!
You mentioned guards giving up armor or shields to carry a massive polearm. The idea being, the best defense is a good offense? I'm very curious about this and I'd love to hear more about this! Thanks!
You need to do a test on Roman helmets with and without the "adaptation".
Matt - you make a wrong assumption about the impact point of the falx. If you were to hit with the convex side, the impact would indeed be with the inflection point, about 1/4 way from the tip. But if you hit with the concave side, the best impact point is actually the tip itself. So yes, the falx would actually provide quite a bit more reach than the gladius.
Dacians were Thracians, in the words of Homer: The most Brave and Fair Thracian tribe
Homer Simpson ?
*Herodotus. Also, he was talking about the getae. There's a big fucking difference between the getae Herodotus was describing and the dacians who fought Trajan during the 2 dacian wars.
@@rollothewalker5535 yes, I wanted to say Herodotus instead of Homer, there are many hundreds of years between the two men. Like 500. So Herodotus said, The most Brave and Fair Thracian tribe.
Yes but the geto-dacians were a different tribe in culture and look, especially the getae.
decebalus united all those tribes into a big empire called the dacian empire
Iamandi do the sicas and falx usually as a reproductions of some findings in Romania with the assistance of a historian specialized on that period. And at Adamclisi allot of historians clamed that the Bastarnae (because maj are Bastarnae) on the mural are war-glaive( a weapon that need less skill in usage and fabrications ). Anecdotally the sica was used also by Sicarii LE. This particular blade is called type Sarmisegetuza and was made after a finding from Ursici ,Bosorod, Hunedoara County Romania. This is the picture of the finding www.enciclopedia-dacica.ro/imagini-site/arme_provenind_de_la_Ursici_%20com_Bosorod_jud_Hunedoara/fig4.jpg
I have no idea if this is true, but I've read that the falx could be used to hook the lorica segmentata, which is why it was used less commonly.
I think that it was fairly common to fight with no armor fore it made one more likely to strike quickly, go for vitals and to strike with force. It also aligned with their beliefs in polytheism/nature.
While there might be some variation in size, curvature, and grip, I think statistically the most common answer is ~6 inches, slightly right, and...
I believe that the historical evidence for this model is an archaeological find that is currently presented in Cluj Hystory Museum.
Waiting on a folding version from cold steel.
I’d love to have a conversation with an ancient warrior and tell them how far our weapons have come and how similar the “response in arms” still is.
I'm really looking forward to seeing your review, I'm in the market for a good Dacian Falx replica and they seem kinda difficult to locate...
I can imagine a weapon like that being used with a shield on the approach and first contact with a Roman line, with the intent of breaking into the Roman formation, discarding the shield and cutting away two-handed amidst the Roman ranks. The relative short length and heavy blade might be advantages in that scenario. This would fit well with your thought of their use as shock troops.
2handed sabers with shield is not working, there is the short version as it was in the film as you saw, that 1 you can use it with the shield
@@vasilemihaicuceu7809 I was thinking more that the shield would only be used to defend until the fighter could get up to or into the Roman ranks, when it could be dropped and the falx then deployed two-handed.
Did you see those warriors from Dacia?
They used curved swords until they took an arrow to the knee.
@@Intranetusa too early,wait some centuries to this reference make sense.
They used curved swords!
INWARDLY...
CURVED...
SWORDS!
@@maximilianolimamoreira5002 what do you mean?
@@aiurea1 Skyrim looks medieval, that's why i said that
pov: wood elf admires and discusses ancient human weaponry
I like the shape.
I know, I'm pretty late (again). But the term "rhomphaia" being used for a different kind of sword later on isn't unusual.
The word "Sax", which in the early medieval period meant "short sword" or "knife" or whatever you wanna call it (in English Seax, for some reason), is today used in Scandinavian languages for "scissors". A similar effect happened to the word "frama/framea" which, according to Tacitus, was a light lance used for throwing and hand-to-hand combat, but in later texts seems to mean "sword". I've also seen several examples (the most modern one are Rosemary Suttcliff's books, but also much older texts that I can't remember the exact titles and authors right now, all the way back to the late medieval or rennaissance time I think) where the word "Rapier" was used to mean "sword" in general or "stabbing-sword" more specifically.
Rhomphaia appears to at least have kept the (rough) meaning of a "large/two-handed sword", so there's some consistency.
In other news, the Roman wars in that area in the 2nd century had some very profound effects on their military. Not only did they (temporarily) change their infantry loadout, the conflict with the Sarmatians and their extensive use of cavalry also changed the way the romans used cavalry, especially with the integration of heavy cavalry in the form of kataphraktoi and clibanarii.
I think the (relative) military success of emperors in the 2nd century and the pressure of repeating such success may also have contibuted to the 3rd century crisis, also resulting in much needed reforms at the end of the century and thus leading into the late antiquity. It's a very fascinating era or history, and I love learning more about it.
Interesting how that look like the blade of a scythe, a farming tool.
The Dacians were Thracian tribes, not some similar looking neighbours that just happened to have similar looking weapons and armour :))
The Dacians are kind of Skythified Thracians, no?
proud to be dacian :)
Alternately, if the 2-handed falx was developed from a scythe, perhaps being simply a scythe blade with the mounting hardware forged into a tang, or else a tang forge-welded to it, it could be that the falx was used by less trained skirmishers with the idea that sure they'll get slaughtered but with a weapon like that some of them will surely do some damage and inflict attrition on the Romans before they can go up against the nobles and/or professionals.
I appreciate this sword and the effort behind its craftsmanship, but I must point out that it lacks the vital feature needed to end the enemy rightly.
Dacia ❤
A modern tough-built version of that exact sword would make a good camp/trail sword. Somebody should bug ZT into making that.
I've an old machete that's not entirely dissimilar. Straight for 3/4's of the blade, then curving forwards like a falx about 4 inches. Nice as a tool, don't know about as an actual fighting weapon - its a heavy lump!
When the Roman's faced the Dacians they asked what the strange weapon was called. The Dacian said, "Falx. This."
Later in the war, the Roman soldiers, frustrated fighting the Dacians and their weapons coined the phrase, "Falx this!" Which later became the common "fuck this!" We use today.
This has been my totally factual history lesson.