Yoke
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A yoke is a wooden beam used between a pair of oxen or other animals to enable them to pull together on a load when working in pairs, as oxen usually do. Some yokes are fitted to individual animals. T
Bullock cart with a yoke
Withers yoke
Bow yokes on a bullock team
Oxen in Germany wearing head yokes
Send under the yoke
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To send under the yoke was a practice in ancient Italy whereby defeated enemies were made to pass beneath a yoke constructed of spears either to humiliate them or to remove blood guilt.
Yoke
…recorded in Germany. The yoke has connotations of subservience and toiling; in some ancient cultures it was traditional to force a vanquished enemy to pass beneath a symbolic yoke of spears or swords. The yoke may be a metaphor for something oppressive or burdensome, such as feudalism, imperialism, corvée, tribute, or conscription…
Medallion depicting the Romans being sent under the yoke by the Samnites (Pseudo-Melioli, c. 1500)
Illustration by Tancredi Scarpelli of the Romans being sent under the yoke.