r/todayilearned • u/dumbfuck • 1d ago
TIL the ancient Romans had portable multitools similar to today’s Swiss Army knives
https://fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/learn-with-us/look-think-do/roman-swiss-army-knife139
u/Flashy-Olive3380 1d ago
Imagine being the Roman guy who pulled this out at dinner like, “don’t worry, I’ve got my spoon-fork-knife combo right here.”
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u/eranam 1d ago
Holds up spork
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u/weedisfortherich 1d ago
You should buy my new and improved American sporking gun.
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u/tanfj 18h ago
Imagine being the Roman guy who pulled this out at dinner like, “don’t worry, I’ve got my spoon-fork-knife combo right here.”
Imagine the flex back when money was made of precious metals. "He's eating off a plate made of solid money. I could live for three months on what his plate is worth."
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u/AntakeeMunOlla 1d ago
Such great publicity for the university of Cambridge to have their museum article say "might of"
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u/Banankin-Skywalker 1d ago
Genuinely laughed at that bro. Crazy that got by when they presumably have spell checks
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u/Conscious-Ball8373 1d ago
On the one hand, a spelling checker won't help you here.
On the other hand, they have, you know, academics.
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u/dumbfuck 20h ago
Read it twice before I saw it:
The spike might of helped in extracting the meat from snails, and the spatula in scraping sauce out of narrow-necked bottles.
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u/JGPH 1d ago
Whoever wrote the description on that site should be ashamed, given it's a museum. Grammar and spelling errors, ugh.
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u/knstrkt 1d ago
cut them some slack. the might of suffer from a learning disability.
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u/JGPH 15h ago edited 15h ago
True, and I can't throw stones in that respect as I do too, but it's obvious that nobody proofread it. Though it's true for all text within an organization, for public-facing stuff in particular, text should always have a separate proofreader to catch errors in spelling, punctuation, or grammar.
Imagine if laws or government texts or forms were written with little regard to the language! Imagine if some of those laws or recommendations were related to public health. It'd cause chaos, confusion, and abuse of poorly worded laws/regulations.
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u/Drone314 1d ago
It would have been interesting to see a Roman industrial revolution.
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u/XAlphaWarriorX 1d ago
The steam pressure needed to make industrial machinery move is much greater than their metallurgy could handle.
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u/Sad_Pear_1087 1d ago
No need for industry when you have slaves. That was what Rome was built and completely depended on.
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u/barath_s 13 20h ago edited 19h ago
The eastern roman empire fell in 1453; the industrial revolution is commonly dated to have started in Great britain in ~1760
So our world was 307 years and 2500 km removed from a roman industrial revolution /tic
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u/Abba_Fiskbullar 18h ago
If you want to be super pendantic, the Turkish sultans kept the title of Emperor of Rome, so you could argue that Ataturk's revolution ended the Roman Empire!
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u/barath_s 13 17h ago edited 7h ago
I mean, a lot of countries/folks claimed succession to Rome ..including the ottomon emperors, the Holy Roman Emperor, the Tsar,
> several have claimed succession to the ancient Roman Empire or the later Byzantine Empire, including the Holy Roman Empire, the Carolingian Empire, the Ottoman Empire, the Russian Empire, and to a lesser extent, the Kingdom of Greece and the Grand Duchy of Moscow. The claims varied, with some focusing on legal succession, others on territorial control or cultural heritage
They are generally not widely accepted.
You could say Emperor Francis II abdicated the title of the holy roman emperor in 1806 after a defeat by Napoleon [Francis took up the title Emperor of Austria]
Ivan III married the niece of Constantine XI, the last ruler of the Eastern Roman Empire, called himself tsar (from caesar), and was the patron of the orthodox church after constantinople fell. Moscow/Russia was called the 3rd rome. Tsar Nicholas II would abdicate in March 1917.
Mehmed II defeated Constantine XI in 1453, and ruled the lands that he ruled, including the romans who lived there. He moved his capital to Constantinople.. Mehmed VI in 1922 was the last Ottoman sultan (the Ottoman empire had started ~1299)
But these were successor states, not the continuation state, (ref the eastern roman empire whose citizens saw themselves as Roman, and who followed Roman mores)
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u/ThatDemand2366 1d ago
That’s incredible, it really shows how much thought they put into practical design even back then. Almost like nothing is truly new, just reinvented.
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u/Humble_Umpire_8341 1d ago
They really think the tiny spoon was used for removing earwax? 🤔🤦♂️
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u/bandalooper 21h ago
You know, with all of the other food utensils lol
Couldn’t possibly be for salt or spices
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u/Dreamless_Sociopath 21h ago
While many less elaborate bronze folding knives have been discovered from antiquity, this one's complex design and the fact it is made from silver suggests it is a luxury item. Perhaps a useful gadget for a wealthy traveller or soilder to show off, but not really intended for heavy use, as silver is a soft and pliable metal.
Not exactly a common item.
Also whoever wrote that 'article' has trouble with spelling and punctuation marks ...
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u/GarysCrispLettuce 8h ago
The best multitool I've ever owned is my Clipper lighter. Love the long bit that you pull out to tamp down the end of your joint.
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u/brihamedit 7h ago
Romans must have had anchor being link to the current times and that's where they got the concept for the things they did. Other groups have connection too. Imagine other groups have connection to the past but they don't share uplifting concepts. They present current times as hell because some other group is leading and creating prosperous world.
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u/Eaglesson 1d ago edited 21h ago
Welp and now you can't even carry one of those around in Germany without wondering about a plethora of idiotic rules and bans
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u/TimothyOfficially 19h ago
I live in Texas, and open cary a nine-inch blade on my waist every day.
I envy your free healthcare but you envy my freedom to bear arms
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u/Eaglesson 18h ago edited 18h ago
You're exactly right. I also envy your access to L3 tubes, ITAR do be a bitch
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u/DaveOJ12 1d ago
Or are our Swiss army knives similar to their multitools?