Culter
With Culter (cultri m.) Is in the Latin the general diameter referred to.
For example, the importance of hunting, butchering, kitchen, shear knives or ploughshare is documented. In particular, however, culter is an umbrella term for the Roman sacrificial knife. The responsible for killing sacrificial servant ( Victimarius ) was prepared by the knife as Cultrarius designated.
Research assumes that culter, in addition to the general designation as a sacrificial knife, also referred to a very specific knife within this: Since the animal was stunned with a hammer or ax in the Roman sacrifice before the actual killing, the culter was not long stabbing instrument such as the Greek sacrificial knife, the machaira (μάχαιρα). Rather, the culter had a sharp point and a relatively short, often slightly convex blade that widened towards the hilt . This also resulted in a deep cut when stabbing the carotid artery, which could ensure bleeding. This triangular shape of the blade is figuratively handed down to us on the small frieze of the Ara Pacis .
Individual evidence
- ^ Suetonius , Divus Augustus 19.
- ^ Plautus , Miles Gloriosus 5, 4.
- ↑ Petronius 108, 11.
- ^ Pliny , Naturalis historia 18. 48.
- ↑ Culter. In: Reinhold Klotz : Concise Dictionary of the Latin Language Vol. 1 (A – H). 5th edition. Braunschweig 1874, p. 1176.
- ↑ Suetonius, Caligula 32, 6; Friederike Fless : Sacrificial servant and cult musician on urban Roman historical reliefs . Zabern, Mainz 1995, p. 74.
literature
- August Mau : Culter. In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume IV, 2, Stuttgart 1901, Col. 1452 f.
- Tonio Hölscher , Juliane Metz, Günther Schörner : Cult instruments VIII C 3. Devices for piercing and cutting . In: Thesaurus Cultus et Rituum Antiquorum Vol. 5, Los Angeles 2005, pp. 321-324.