Roman Swiss Army Knife

[Montero]

The Fitzwilliam Museum at Cambridge has just done a refurbishment and put up a video of some of their exhibits with commentary.

BBC News - Audio slideshow: Greece and Rome rediscovered

About half way through is the "Roman Swiss Army Knife". Worth a watch.

 

[ColdBurn]

Fascinating. Made of silver. Must've been an officer's knife. Even has a toothpick and a snail plucker. The Romans never cease to amaze me.

 

[PTeppic]

I presume it has something for removing stones from a horse's hoof... otherwise it can't really be called a Swiss Army Knife, can it?

 

[J-WO]

My guess is it was given to someone for Saturnalia and then sat in a drawer for the next decade, rarely, if ever, being used.

 

[Moggle]

What I find fascinating is the fact that the "swiss army knife" had a fork attached to it, because the "invention" of forks in europe didn't even come about for several hundreds of years later.

 

[ColdBurn]

Indeed, forks were used in carving meat by the ancient Greeks and apparently employed by the Romans for dining. They were used in Byzantium and the Near East throughout the Middle Ages, but were not reintroduced to Europe until the 11th century, when they were brought to Italy. Slow to catch on in Europe, the fork didn't reach Britain until 1608. The basic attitude was always, "Who needs a fork, when God has provided me with fingers?"