tribulum

• a threshing-sledge, consisting of a wooden platform studded underneath with sharp pieces of flint or with iron teeth, Varr. L. L. 5, § 21 Müll.; id. R. R. 1, 22, 1; 1, 52, 1; Plin. 18, 30, 72, § 298; Verg. G. 1, 164. — Collat. form trībŭla, ae, f., Col. 2, 20, 4; 1, 6, 23; 12, 52, 7; Vulg. 1 Par. 20, 3.

• 1 TER-, a threshingsledge, wooden platform studded with iron teeth, V.

TRI´BULUM(τρίβολος, a word borrowed from Latin), a corn-drag, consisting of a thick and ponderous wooden board, which was armed underneath with pieces of iron or sharp flints, either the driver or a heavy weight being placed upon it, and drawn over the corn by a yoke of oxen, for the purpose of separating the grain and cutting the straw (Varro, R. R. 1.52; Plin. Nat.18.298; Longus, 3.30, 2). Together with the tribulum another kind of drag, called traha or trahea, was also used, which, from the explanation of Servius, vehiculum sine rotis, we may suppose to have been like a carriage-body taken off the wheels, or a sledge without runners (Verg. G. 1.164; Serv. ad loc.; Col. 2.21). A third variety, the plostellum Punicum (Varro, l. c.), seems to have been a framework, like the above, placed upon rollers, and used especially in Spain, where we may suppose the Carthaginians to have introduced it. The tribulum and traha are still used in Greece, Asia Minor, Georgia, and Syria, and are described by various travellers in those countries, but more especially by Paul Lucas (Voyage, vol. 1. p. 182), Sir R. K. Porter (Travels, vol. 1. p. 158), Jackson (Journey from India, p. 249), and C. Fellows (Journal, pp. 70, 333). (For the process of threshing, see AGRICULTURAVol. 1. p. 64.) [J. Y.]