COULSTON ON THE FALX AT BIRDOSWALD/BANNA ROMAN FORT

[My apologies for the format issues found below.  I resorted to cut and paste from a pdf in order to make this available here.  For those who wish to read the article in its original state, please see
https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archiveDS/archiveDownload?t=arch-3433-1/dissemination/AAseries5/AA509new/archael509-000-000-PDFs/archael509-347-351-musnotes.pdf, pp. 348-351.

My readers may also be interested in the following past blog articles on Arthur and the Dacian falx:

https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2019/02/a-contributive-motif-to-sword-in-stone.html 

https://mistshadows.blogspot.com/2019/02/arthurs-sword-caledfwlch-and-dacian-falx.html]

Archaeologia Aeliana 5th Series, Vol. 9, 1981

2. A SC U LPTU R ED D A CIA N FALX FROM BIRD O SW A LD .

(PI. XI) Inscription from B irdosw ald. See M useum N o te 2. Photograph: University Library, Newcastle upon Tyne

The inscribed stone in question, R.I.B. 1914, was found in 1852 outside the wall o f the south guard-cham ber o f the m ain east gate o f B irdosw ald fort. It w as set up under M odius Julius, governor o f Britannia Inferior in a . d . 8 219, by the co h o rs I A e lia D acoru m com m anded by M . C laudius M enander. T his regim ent can hardly have been raised before Trajan’s D acian W ars and w as a regular unit by c. 130, w hen it was helping in construction work on the V allum ( 1365). U n d er H adrian it m ay have been stationed at B ew castle9 and by a .d . 2 0 5 -8 it w as at B irdosw ald building a granary (R .I.B . 1909). The inscription is flanked on the dexter side by a palm branch and on the sinister side by a curved sword. The latter represents a f a l x o f the single-handed type, with pom m el and guard. This w eapon was characteristically carried by D acian s, as depicted in sculpture and coin s and occurring am on gst sm all finds. T his representation on a stone set up by a coh ors D a co ru m m akes the identification alm ost certain. On the spiral frieze o f Trajan’s C olum n several D acian s are show n using with one hand, notably in C ichorius Scenes LX V II, L X X II, X C V -X C V I, C X L V and C L I.10 The m elee around R om an defence-w orks in Scenes X C V -X C V I includes no fewer than seven in action. These fa lc e s have either a lon g handle, as in Scene L X II, or a shorter handle with a long curving blade and guard approxim ating to the Birdoswald example. Corroborative representations are seen on the Adamklissr congeries armorum frieze11 and on a denarius of Trajan12; both examples have guard1' and pommel. One actual falx, 55 cm long, has been found at Kaloz in Rumania.13 Another, from Gradistea Muncelului, is 68 cm with a tapering tang.14 The double-handed fa lx was much longer. An example from Rupea (Cohalme) in Transylvania is 90 cm long, with a metal haft for just over half its length.1S The latter would have had a wooden sheathing, balancing the wicked curved blade which gives the weapon its name. The Adamklissi metopes depict these falces in use against Roman legionarii equipped with ocreae and manicae to protect their limbs. According to Arrian the Greek kopis, a single-handed sword not unlike the one-handed falx, was capable o f shearing off a man’s arm and shoulder with one blow.16 In the M etopes all the Dacians have falces, their Germanic allies being equipped with shields and javelins. Vulpe used this contrast with the depictions o f Dacians on Trajan’s Column to argue for an invasion o f Moesia Inferior by Sarmatae, Buri and Eastern Dacians, unattested in the literary sources.17 The pedestal o f the Column may, however, depict a large fa lx to the left of the doorway.18 In its double-handed form the fa lx often occurs when Dacian spoils are depicted. Four Trajanic coin issues show the curving blade19 and Scene LXXVIII on the Column may include them. A ferculum relief in the M useo delle Terme, Rome,20 and an unpublished relief in the Split Archaeological Museum, Yugoslavia, both have a fa lx with other weapons. The identification o f the fa lx with the Sarmatian double-handed swords of Tacitus21 is not unreasonable. The small fa lx on the Birdoswald stone is repeated on R.I.B. 1909, though there the palm branch and sword are transposed. In this example the handle is badly worn but the curve o f the blade shows clearly.22 The Birdoswald falces may indicate a unique regimental badge or the carrying o f falces, instead o f spathae, by the Dacian auxiliarii. A jealously guarded regimental tradition such as is suggested would have a close modern parallel in the Gurkha soldiers with their kukris. A tentative comparison might be made with the ethnic dress o f the Chester ‘Sarmatian’;23 and, according to Hyginus,24 irregular Dacian units were used in the later second century. The use o ffalces therefore bears consideration. It is certainly unusual for an auxiliary cohors to depict a regimental weapon or badge in sculpture.

J. C. Coulston, B.Sc., M.Phil.

N O TES * Prepared for the press by Dr. D. J. Smith, with 3 Personal comment from Mr. H. Kilbridewarmest thanks to the contributors. Jones. 1 Accn. No. 1977.4. Kindly drawn by Miss M. 4 South Shields: Museum of Antiquities, M. Hurrell. 1956.128.69.A; M. MacGregor, Early Celtic Art in 2 South Shields: Arbeia Roman Fort Museum, North Britain (1976), no. 41. Dowalton Loch: 1975.1. Wallsend: recent excavations by C. M. National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland, Daniels (ref. WAL 273, WAL 1287). Corstopitum HU62; MacGregor, op. cit., no.1253. Museum: AA3 V (1909), p. 406, fig. 22. Chesters: 5 Museum of Antiquities, 1929.119.2 For pubE. A. W. Budge, A Catalogue of the Roman lished examples see Guide to the Antiquities of Antiquities in the Museum at Chesters (1903), p. Roman Britain (British Museum, 1922), pp. 51-62, 328, no. 1275. . fig. 73d. 6 Gussage and District Museum, Dorset. 7 Museum of Antiquities, 1855.7. 8 A. R. Birley, “The Roman Governors of Britain”, Epigraphische Studien 4 (1967), p. 88. 9D. J. Breeze and B. Dobson, Hadrians Wall (1976), p. 250. 10 Numbering used by C. Cichorius, Die Reliefs der Traianssdule (Berlin, 1896, 1900). 11F. B. Florescu, Monumentulde la Adamklissi Tropaium Traiani (Budapest, 1st ed., 1959), fig. 85, C-D. 12 R.I.C. II, p. 258, 216. 13 R. Vulpe, “Les Bures allies de Decebale dans la premiere Guerre Dacique de Trajan”, Studii Classice V (1963), p. 240. 14 The Dacians: Catalogue of the Billingham Art Gallery Exhibition, 1980, p. 80, no. 252. 15V. Parvan, Getica : O protoistorie a Daciei (Budapest, 1926), p. 507, fig. 342. 16 Arrian, I, 15, 8. 17 Vulpe, op. cit., p. 238. 18 K. Lehmann-Hartleben, Die Trajanssdule (Berlin and Leipzig, 1926), Abb. I. 19 R.I.C. II, p. 250,96; L. Rossi, Trajan's Column and the Dacian Wars (1971), figs. 15-17. 20 L. Vogel, The Column of Antoninus Pius (Harvard, 1973), pi. 51. 21 Tacitus, Hist., I, 79. 221. A. Richmond and E. B. Birley, “Excavations on Hadrian’s Wall in the Birdoswald-Pike Hill Sector, 1929: Part II, The Inscriptions”, T.C.W.A.A.S. XXX (1930), p. 199, pi. IX. 23 R. P. Wright and I. A. Richmond, Catalogue of the Roman Inscribed and Sculptured Stones in the Grosvenor Museum, Chester (1955), pi. XXXIV, 137. 24Hyginus, 30.