Dolābra
dim.
Dolabella (
σμίλη,
σμιλίον). A tool consisting of a long handle and a double head, which terminated
on one side in a sharp blade, the edge of which ran parallel to the handle (while the
 |
|
Dolabrae. (Blümner, Technologie. ）
|
blade of the
ascia was at right angles to the handle), and on
the other side in a pick, which was usually curved (
falx). In this form
it was used for hewing wood, for pruning where the pruning-hook was not strong enough, for
making stockades, and for breaking down ramparts and walls. It was consequently a tool
familiar to the Roman soldier, as may be seen in the accompanying illustration (fig.
b) from Trajan's Column. For the purpose, however, of excavating or breaking
up the earth (Pallad. ii. 1 and 3; iii. 21), a dolabra with a straighter pick appears to
have been used, as is shown in fig.
a, from a relief on a tomb. Of a
similar form is fig.
c, which represents the dolabra used by masons
(
Orig. xix. 19, 11). The hatchet used at sacrifices and by butchers was
also called
dolabra.
