2,000 year old Roman dagger found in Germany

Wow thats incredible! From chicken tender to gold class!

Seriously though pretty amazing and what a beauty! So ornate and historical. Cool story for sure.
 
Well Rome conquered and ruled most of the known world including what is now Germany. It is amazing where Roman ruins are found around Europe, UK, Africa, ME, etc.
The Roman Empire never ruled Germania. Varus tried to conquer the entire region during the time of Augustus, but after the defeat at Teutoburg forest the Romans were forced to withdraw back across the Rhine River. The Romans did occupy some small parts of Germania in what is now southern and western Germany but even that was eventually abandoned late in the 3nd century AD when the Romans were pushed out by the Germanic tribes.
 
Well Rome conquered and ruled most of the known world including what is now Germany. It is amazing where Roman ruins are found around Europe, UK, Africa, ME, etc.

Too bad they couldn’t have ruled fairly. Imagine if the could have held onto all that territory peacefully?

I agree the sword is awesome.
 
Too bad they couldn’t have ruled fairly. Imagine if the could have held onto all that territory peacefully?

I agree the sword is awesome.

TBH I thought the Romans were relatively good at embracing foreign cultures into their fold. The Romans adopted Gods of the people they vanquished which historically rarely happened in other empires especially today.
 
Rome was a slave empire

There is no way around that fact

Thats why there are at least 3 serville wars ij the republic era alone

The most famous being the spartacus revolt

Crassus crucified the slaves after that revolt placing a dead slave on a cross within eyesight of the other all the way from sicily to rome

It sounds horrid by modern standards, but that was rome
 
A global empire with everyone on the same page working for common goals and the greater good. Would have been ideal. The Romans came the closest but could not quite pull it off. They ruled with an iron hand and also the elite over indulged in everything they could.

H Houlahound Im not sure the 400,000 Christians killed in the coliseum would agree with you. But as B Bearbreeder pointed out they were different times indeed.

Sorry for the thread drift. The sword is the focus.
 
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Slaves have been the standard for most of human history and still exist today. I dare say the only real thing that stopped slavery was thermodynamics. Slaves ended up consuming too much energy for the work they could output compared to emerging steam engines.

The real question is how different empires treated slaves not that there were slaves.
 
Rebel slaves were hunted without mercy throughout southern Italy, many of them fighting until they were cut down by the legions. More than 6,000 captured slaves, according to Appian, were crucified along the whole road from Capua to Rome.


https://www.historynet.com/spartacus-the-grecian-slave-warrior-who-threatened-rome.htm

Correction.... Capua to rome

My bad

Like i said rome fought 3 major serville wars during the republic and countless lesser slave revolts

Happy slaves might not be the case there

Interesting tidbit .... Many roman arms and armor for the legions were produced in factories towns dedicated for that purpose

Specializing in a particular arms .... Might even have been with slaves
 
Good luck sharpening that recurve! :D
Just kidding. Amazing is understatement on the restoration job!
 
eveled eveled I tried to confirm your figure, you might want to check your sources. It appears to be less than 10 000 but nobody knows. Typical figures are around 5000 - 6500. Your figure of 400 000 seems way out. Christianity was a small fringe cult way back then.
From wiki;
"
The total number of Christians who lost their lives because of these persecutions is unknown; although early church historian Eusebius, whose works are the only source for many of these events, speaks of "great multitudes" having perished, he is thought by many scholars today to have exaggerated their numbers.[1][2]:217–233

"
 
I stand corrected. My number was supposed to be the number of people who died in the coliseum. Even that is probably an exaggeration. Obviously not all were Christian. Again I am reluctant to judge the past using our current morals.

It is a fascinating time in history for sure. Especially given the technology of the day. Such a vast empire controlled with no modern communication network.
 
Rome was mostly iron age during its history
Steel age ..... :)
Quote from Homer’s Odyssey .................
as when a man who works as a blacksmith plunges a screaming great axe blade or adze into cold water, treating it for temper, since this is the way steel is made strong, even so Cyclops' eye sizzled about the beam of the olive.
 
Most references state these daggers where not issued to legionnaires. They bought them on their own and used them as a way to display their personal wealth. The gold, silver (belt included) and jewels were also something they could sell if needed when times got hard. They always do for line soldiers. So no, I don't think this necessarily a ranking officers dagger.

Had to be a ranking officer. Even if the original owner sold it because he was low on funds, only another officer (or perhaps a Senator or priest if there was one around) would have been able to afford it. No doubt that dagger was worth at least one - if not more - years pay for the Privates, Corporals, and Sergeants back then.

Cool knife. I don't know why some folk think the blade is silver. The handle and sheath is, but you only need look at the blade to see it is iron or steel.
 
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