The hatchet
 It was conceived not only as tool but more like weapon. It was called CATEIA, it's present on the Column in three variants.
There are 4 main types of hatchets.
1. THE SCYTHIAN HATCHET FOR FIGHT, about which the Ancients were saying it has the propriety of boomerang to return to the one who throwed it. This kind of hatchet has its origin in the Getic bronze hatchet from 4th century BC.
2. THE AXE-HATCHET, with wide and curved edge, with squared whole but without the characterisc ear of Celtic axes.
3. THE POUNDED OUT FIGHT HATCHET, with wide and curved edge and with the cant prolonged in the shape of a thin hammer. This delicate hatchet was used almost exclusively in battle.
4. THE AXE-HAMMER TYPE OF HATCHET, with nodes in the place of grip on the hilt.
The knife
Like the hatchet, the knife was in the same time tool and weapon, reason for which it was extensively used. It was beared in a scabbard, at belt, and it was in many shapes:
1. Knifes with wide, right and convex blade
2. Knives with narrow blade, convex cant and right edge. Of these types of knife derives the Dacian types of knives, with edge close to the wineyard bill-hook, often represented on monuments and very often used by Dacians.
3. The knife with S - shape edge, derivated from the Bronze Age knives.
4. Knives with iron hilt put in wood or bone and finished in the shape of bulb or button. A special category are the bill-hook knives characteristic for Dacians, very efficient in bodily fight. There are very wide weapons and with the barb suddenly curved, with a 20-30 cm blade. The wood hilt grips the handle of the bill-hook using too an iron ring.
Swords
The shord swords, of ~50 cm of which the hilt was 12-15 cm, with double edge. These swords were used for choping from up to down. With the time, under the Celtic influence, the blades of the swords reached considerable lenght, up to one meter and 5-6 cm wide.
The curved sword
It was the characteristic Dacian weapon, with the barb gradualy narrowed and curved like a sickle and with only one edge on the concave side.
The smaller types were manipulated with one hand while the big ones with the both hands. These quality wepons were produced in very great quantity so that almost all the valid men were unitary armed and even these weapons have been exported to Celts, Sarmatians and Bastarns.
The lances
They were produced in a heaps of forms and models, from small pale babrs to enormous lance irons of 50 cm, from simple shapes without wings to shapes copying the willow or laurel leaf and from simple prod lances to lances for throwing and to complex shapes with the iron in flame shape. at the bottom end they were endowed with a sharp iron spur for being sticked in earth against the cavalry.
The bow
It was an offensive weapon and it was used by both pedestrians and especialy by cavalry. The good symbiosis between the Geto-Dacian cavalery and the bow has gained them a good fame in the ancient European world. The bronze or iron barb, triangular, pounded and with two triangular spurs much prolonged like wide thorns were having at their bottom part the whole for wood and rarely a nail in the wood. There are three types of arrows:
1. Barb with spurs
2. Barb with wings like the lances
3. Barb with ribs, of helicoidal profile, with three cants; undoubtly the arrows were envenomed, often with viper venom or other poison.
Another kind of arrow was the one used by balistes, which were heavy and massive. The Dacians were using too as balistic weapon the sling, throwing stones or sharpen leads. These kinds of projectiles have been found in all Dacia.
The shield
It was composed of a small metal part: the interior glove and exterior umbo and a wood body covered with leather.
The most common shape was the elipse of big dimensions and more rare the small and round; both variants were richly decorated.
The Helmets
The helmets were not appreciated among the Dacians, even not at tarabostes (the plebe) but they appears on the Column as trophies. Anyway, the parade gold helmet from Cotofenesti is emblematic for the Daco-Getic skillfulness and art.
The Chain Mail
The chain mail in the Dacian army was beared especialy by tarabostes as defensive armament. The chain mail shirt, composed of iron rings linked together or of plates or scalds after Roman and Sarmatic model |
Asoc. Cult. Enciclopedia Dacica
