# Roman Swiss Army Knife



## Montero (Jan 29, 2010)

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.


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## ColdBurn (May 23, 2010)

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.


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## PTeppic (May 23, 2010)

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?


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## J-WO (May 24, 2010)

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.


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## Moggle (May 26, 2010)

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.


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## ColdBurn (May 26, 2010)

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?"


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