The Roman Army Knife: Or how the ingenuity of the Swiss was beaten by 1,800 years

[azurnoir]

The world's first Swiss Army knife' has been revealed - made 1,800 years before its modern counterpart.

An intricately designed Roman implement, which dates back to 200AD, it is made from silver but has an iron blade.

It features a spoon, fork as well as a retractable spike, spatula and small tooth-pick.

Experts believe the spike may have been used by the Romans to extract meat from snails.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1247230/The-Roman-Army-Knife-Or-ingenuity-Swiss-beaten-1-800-years.html#ixzz24b8dLcYE



the article is from 12/10 but it doesn't seem to have been posted here or DU2 before and its kind of cool

[dipsydoodle]

1. Spike

is for getting stones out of horses hooves.

[Cleita]

3. Or maybe they cleaned their fingernails and toenails with it.

[azurnoir]

4. dang and here I was thinking escargot with olive oil and perhaps garlic n/t

[Occulus]

10. Spike is for

Buffy.

[dipsydoodle]

11. That's the sort thing my daughter would've come up with

She calls the stray cat in the garden Will after Will..................... Ferrell.

[slackmaster]

16. Or cleaning mud out of golf cleats

Many people aren't aware that the Romans were avid golfers.

[Cleita]

2. Considering that the Romans engaged the Helvetii (or inhabitants of Switzerland)

in their Gallic Wars, written about by Julius Caesar, maybe the Swiss copied the concept from the Romans. (How many of us had to suffer through that tome in high school Latin class.)

[Warpy]

5. The spike could also be used as an awl to repair their leather goods

which is more likely a use than a snail stabber, although I'm sure when escargot was on the menu, it got used for that.

[knitter4democracy]

8. That was my thinking, too.

It's the perfect size for that.

[pokerfan]

6. What have the Romans ever done for us?

Right, but apart from the sanitation, medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, the fresh water system, public health and fancy multi-tools, what have the Romans ever done for us?



http://www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/dept/ant/greeceandrome/browsegallery/area4/theme.html?RomanWorldCase12Sec2

[roguevalley]

7. technology, true. killing one million Gauls without permission and then going to Rome to

become the leader is not so good. J Caesar was a mass murderer for his own advancement.

[central scrutinizer]

9. no spork?

how advanced could they be?

[Posteritatis]

12. Why do you think they collapsed? (nt)

[central scrutinizer]

13. It looks like they were close to this:

[link:|

[Posteritatis]

14. What hath God wrought?! (nt)

[xchrom]

15. du rec. Nt