Sword Sunday #17: The Scimitar

Perhaps nothing more typifies the contrast between easterners and westerners of the middle ages then what is represented by the name, "Scimitar". 

Scimitar of Captain Edward Crofton (active 1804-1812)

Evolved from a number of blade types across Asia over the early centuries of the first millennium, the  initial swords of what could be historically grouped into scimitar family of blades were arguably forged between 600 and 700 BCE in central Turkey, but as form usually follows function with blades, the concept, and need for a curved blade is shown developing at multiple locations across the Asian continent, and later moving into southwestern europe and northern Africa. 

By the time scimitar is first document as an English word in the 17th century, it had actually derived from the french word cimeterre, and that was derived from an Italian word scimitarra, who's linguistic heritage is entirely lost to history at this point. Generally speaking, the word by then was used to describe any curved blade of Asian, or north African origin. 

The distinction was not small, either technically or culturally. Europe's heritage of straight, double edged swords with impressive size, and devastating striking power was well established by the time of the renaissance, and the majority of European engagements from Asia, be they military, or economic, has put the Asian preference for curved, fast, single edged weapons on full display for merchants, soldiers, and diplomats.

 

Much like the striking contrast and powerful social and political implications that the American M-16 and the Soviet AK-47 embodied during the cold war of the 70a and 80s,

Historical counterparts, Scimitar (top)  
& Europen long sword (bottom)

 the names 'sword' and "scimitar" likewise framed Europe's relationship with both its trading partners (silk road) and adversaries (Turkey, the Mongols, the Moors, the Persians). 

In broad terms, the "Scimitar" could describe a number of different swords, with different methods of construction, different lengths, and different weights. However, the weapons did share some striking commonalities, almost all born of the function they were asked to serve.

Two Scimitar family swords:
an Egyptian sword in the shamshir style,
and an Ottoman kilij

First, the blades were undoubtedly light, at least when compared with the same amount of reach in a European blade of a similar time period. By the middle of the 12th or 14th centuries, the fundamentals of steel manufacture, metal forging, shaping, and honing were thoroughly understood across the many different countries of Asia and north Africa, and especially Persia (modern Iran), and  at a level at least equal to that of europe, if not superior to in some examples. This is not to say the swords were superior to European weapons (or inferior), that is a much more nuanced conversation, but as deigned, they were made to be strong, and light, between 8 and 18 ounces lighter than a comparable European double-edged blade. The reduced weight was meant to help with the speed of a strike, and ease of shot placement, allowing a swordsman to capitalize on the velocity of his weapon for cutting power,  where a western blade would more rely on mass and physical power to do its damage.

Persian scimitar (shamshir).

Second, the scimitar generally understood to be single edged (with some exceptions). In contrast to the European preference for edges on the leading and trailing sides of the blade, the scimitar's deign was meant to cut only in one direction. As to how much this affected, or restricted striking options for the user is a mater of worthwhile discussion, but not something that could be done justice here. However, this characteristic pairs closely with the lighter construction of the weapon, as it didn't need the back edge, less metal was needed overall, and the weapon's spine could be built up for support of the cutting edge. 

An example a highly ornate Persian scimitar (shamshir).

Third, the scimitar is curved. This, perhaps more than anything else, is most recognized by westerners. The overwhelming majority of blades in europe dating back to the roman gladiolus were strait, and even into the later middle ages, daggers, all the way to great-swords carried that line true, with relatively few exceptions. With the Scimitar, there of course was no single pattern for how much curve the weapons had, so some examples are very mild, and other are drastic, though all of them draw from the same heritage. The armies of Persia, Turkey, North Africa, and the Mongols all made extensive use of Calvary as part of their military forces, the Mongols the most drastic example of that trend. This, combined with a drastically different set of philosophies and resources with regards to body armor in combat meant that when a rider made contact with the enemy, he was much more likely to strike fabric and flesh than plate and chain. The curve of the blades helped to keep them from getting stuck in their targets, or recoiling from too much of an impact across too much of the blade. Rather, the edge would bite into the flesh, and help promote a carry-through into deeper tissue, or just through the target and out the other side. The same science would be implemented in European cavalry sabers in the 16th and 17th centuries, and while its easy to accuse the latter of copying the former, both came to prominence with the rise of horse cavalry and the decline or absence of metal body armor.

Ottoman scimitar (kilij).

The Scimitar style of weapons was found as far north as Mongolia, and as far south as the Indian sub continent. Some examples in China and Japan are arguably Scimitar in style, though the southwestern Asian powers of Persia and Turkey, and the north African Moors  were some of the most prolific practitioners, and manufacturers of the blade style. 

Blades that are today considered part of the scimitar family of sword styles include:

the Persian Shamshir (modern Iran)

The Turkish Kilij (modern Turkey and and examples in modern Egypt)

The Nimcha (Morocco and North Africa)

The Pulwar (Afghanistan)

The Indian Talwar (Indian Subcontinent)

The Indian Kirpaan (Punjab, North Western India)

And the previously mentioned Shotel (Horn of Africa, primarily Ethiopia and Eritrea)

The scimitar is still considered a cultural icon, being used in movies, books, and even national flags and heraldry to codify part of the culture of the people being depicted. 

Official cover for a 
Saudi Arabian passport.
Note the cross scimitars beneath the palm tree at the top.  

Morgan Freeman holds an absurdly large scimitar
for a 10th century moor  
in 1991's "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves"

 

From Morgan Freeman's rather fanciful display of a scimitar wielding moor in the 1991 Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, to the arms of Saudi Arabia, the curved sword perseveres today as an icon and point of cultural heritage for a great many people across nations from three continents. 

#Swordsunday is intended as a fun and educational series of posts for the enjoyment of readers. 

His Lordship Ivo Blackhawk
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"Long Live the King!"

Sword Sunday #16: The oldest sword ever found.

Its one thing to say we have found an example of  'the most' of something. Be it the longest, the tallest, the sharpest...whatever the metric may be, the mental framework that is the human psyche is drawn to the idea of the extremes, or the outliers. 

So, as easy as it is to talk about Vittoria Dall'Armellina, a PhD student from Ca' Foscari University in Italy finding 'the oldest sword known to man', the phrasing robs the discovery of much of its scope. 

 Vittoria Dall'Armellina on left, the sword bottom center of frame. 
Photo: CNN Newsource

First of all, Vittoria should be commended for her discovery. Rather than a jungle-exploring archaeologist in the flavor of Indiana Jones, this  aspiring doctoral researcher noticed something out of place while visiting Saint Lazarus monastery, in Italy. One of the artifacts owned by the monastery was noted simply as a 'medieval sword', and held little more in the way of explanation. But Vittoria recognized that the shape, style, and construction of the blade were all techniques that were considered ancient even during the earliest parts of the 'middle ages'. Seeking help from the University of Padua, Vittoria researched the design of the weapon, as well as having it chemically analysed in order to scientifically measure the weapon's true age.

Their research, which took two years and became part of her doctoral work, put a number (or at least a range of numbers) in answer to the final question.

While to the modern eyes the weapon is barely anything to look at at just over 17 inches long, and probably not more than a pound if total weight (exact numbers were not widely published at time of this righting), its age is staggering. 

The 5,000-year-old sword has no visible inscriptions, embellishments or distinctive features.
(from"The Daily Mail")

The "object is made of arsenic bronze, an alloy of copper and arsenic alloy. The alloy was typically used between the end of the 4th and beginning of the 3rd millennium BC." 

That would make the sword roughly 5000 years old. 

To put that in some perspective:

• The french Musketeers (depicted in the famous telling 'The three Musketeers" and "The man in the iron mask") were founded in 1622, about 400 years ago. 
• The Battle of Hastings, the major land engagement that decided control of England, was in 1066, just over 954 years ago.
• The "Frankish Kingdom", the first unification of what we know today as France, took place in roughly 500AD, 1520 years ago. 
• Emperor Julius Caesar was assassinated in the Roman senate in the middle of March, 44BC, 2060 years ago. 
• The Battle of Thermopylae took place in Greece on 20 August, 480 BC, 2500 years ago. 
• Sun Tzu, the man traditionally credited with writing 'the art of war', one of the oldest essays on strategy and combat in written history, is believed to have been born in 544BC,  2560 years ago. 
• The Great Pyramid of Giza, tomb of Pharaoh Khufu, Was believed to have been completed in 2566BC, 4586 years ago. 

If you go all the way back to 3000BC, 5020 years ago [the approximate age of the weapon]: 

• That is the end of the Neolithic period. 
• Djer, the third pharaoh to reign over a united Egypt has just Assented the throne. 
• The concept of Steel, let alone any manufacture of it, is still 1000 years into the future. 
• Stonehenge is only entering its second phase of construction, and won't start to look anything like what we see today for another 1100 years or more. 

When this sword was made,  some of the defining moments of the history of civilization, evens ones we consider ancient today, were as far into the future as the ISS is from the Fall of the Roman Empire. 

This sword is not merely "old", it has the fingerprints from the dawn of civilization on it. 

#Swordsunday is intended as a fun and educational series of posts for the enjoyment of readers. 

His Lordship Ivo Blackhawk

Kingdom of Ansteorra
"Long Live the King!"

Sword Sunday #15: The old sword of pharaoh's Army, the Khopesh

Egypt was one of the earliest of the great civilizations, preceded only by a few before it, a sprawling economic and military kingdom lead by a monarch that stood as the dominant force in the north of Africa for 2 millennium. That legacy includes policies, wars, and history that have been, and will continue to be debated and discussed by scholars for generations to come. But the one thing that is fore sure in that history is that it was accomplished with a robust and formidable military for its day. As I have said before, the spear was the backbone of the army, cheep, effective and possess of good reach, it was the weapon of choice for centuries before the first tribes of Egypt, and continued on as such until the age of gunpowder in the seventeenth century. 

As simple and plentiful as the spear may be, the Khopesh  elite within the Egyptian military and aristocracy was another mater. 

The khopesh first first forged in bronze, sometime before 2500BCE. Typical examples look to be hook shaped, and between 18 and 25 inches long. The outer edge of the curved blade was ground and honed sharp, while the inside was blunt. Historically, the weapons's life firmly frames the Middle Kingdom period of the Egyptian monarchs (2134–1690 BC), with its roll as an implement of war likely in decline following the reign of Merneferre Ay (1684–1661 BC). Some later examples have been found in iron, but by then, newer blades were coming to prominence as well. Aside from Egypt, the Khopesh was also used by Kingdom of Israel and Judah, and the Canaanite city-states, meaning that a great many of the narratives from Jewish texts, the Bible, and the Quran, would have seen principle military figures holding not the straight-bladed weapon of later times, but the curved shape of a Khopesh. 

18th century BC khopesh found in Nablus; the blade is decorated with electrum inlays.

Though it resembled a farmers sickle at first glance, archaeologists believe it actually derived from an epsilon type axe. The dense, and relatively soft bronze metal would need weight behind an edge to carry a blow, and the khopesh'es shape would put enough mass behind the striking edge of lay open an unarmored opponent. Given the weapon's weight, forward heavy balance, and construction, killing blows were likely either deep lacerations into organs, and arteries or smashing strikes into the skull or head of an opponent. Its ability to penetrate bone is debatable, but not impossible. Lateral strikes, however, would undoubtedly be able to open up the abdomen, or split ribs and lay open chest and lung tissue. 

The evolution of the Khopesh from the Epsilon (left).

Examples found in royal tombs, including two examples found in the tomb of Tutankhamun, have shown more detail than most, and no edge, indicating that they were ceremonial weapons, further accenting the elite status of the item itself, and the people who carried it. While bronze does not hold an edge as well as iron, or steel, metal armor would not become common on the battlefield for centuries after the Khopesh's retirement in the mid 1300s BCE. The weapon's lethality in a fight of the day can not be doubted, and even as a blunt tool, there is no doubt that it could break limbs, or crack skulls.  Militarily, the Khopesh was a close-in weapon that was likely used with a shield, or some sort of off-hand blocking item, like a staff, or a spear.  The curved shape, and single edge are believed to lend themselves well to binding of an opponents limbs, suggesting sword training that might include grappling with, or high-centering an opponent in order to knock him to the ground. 

Late style Khopesh from LIBERTY BIBLICAL MUSEUM

In its earliest uses, sometime around 2600 BCE or before. It was a formidable weapon, likely recognized, and respected across the Mediterranean and north African worlds. By the reign of Tutankhamun (1334 – 1325 BCE) however, newer, and arguably better weapons had developed within the military arm of the Egyptian army, and the Khopech  was likely seen as a respected, and traditional weapon. While there is no doubt the weapon was capable and deadly in its time, newer, and better tools had come. 

Historical Replica from LIBERTY BIBLICAL MUSEUM

As a weapon design, the Khopesh would never come to prominence again, and as a weapon's style in concerned, the ability of better, stronger blades to do more dame with one swing were the true marks of obsolesce for the blade. While it is easy to dismiss the weapon as an antiquated artifact of history, historically, the shoppe served its role for over fifteen hundred years,  a span longer than firearms have existed, and also a span of time equivalent to the beginning of the middle ages (500 BCE) to the current day. Few blades in history can claim such longevity in service, and none in the current era. 

Artistic depiction of an Egyptian soldier of presumable rank or status.

#Swordsunday is intended as a fun and educational series of posts for the enjoyment of readers. 

His Lordship Ivo Blackhawk
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"Long Live the King!"

Sword Sunday #14: The Ethiopian Shotel

For a generation who grew up hearing about the blight and famine in north Africa, its hard to think of the lands of Somalia and Ethiopia as one-time powerful strategic players on the world stage. In fact, modern Ethiopia was one of the thwarts in world war II to Benito Mussolini's  drive to fully control all of northern Africa. The Heritage of Ethiopia as a world power dates back through history, and is the same land that was refereed to as Abyssinia during the roman empire. Today, weapons and artifacts from both cultures are often forgotten about, but none the less central to historical studies for those wishing to better understand the region.

If you were to study England, there is no doubt that you would hear of the arming sword, and the fantastic blade Excalibur. 

Germany is perhaps best linked with the titanic Zweihander. 

France (Thanks in large part to modern cinema and Alexandre Dumas) is intrinsically linked with the art and use of the rapier. 

And Ethiopia's history was shaped by its own native blade, the Shotel. 

Shotel and scabbard, on display at the British Museum. 

Where European and Eastern blades were largely built as, or along the ideas of straight lines at the time, the north african Shotel was a curved blade of about three feet in length, with a cross section that is usually described as 'diamond'. The severe curve the weapon, rather than bowing towards a target, like a saber, or scimitar, would bow away, with the tip and the axis of the handle on the same line. The blade's shape could also be exploited as a means to reach around a shield and stab deeply into an opponent's kidneys or lungs.  The 'classic' shotel was edges on the inside of the curve, with some examples also having a back edge as well. One noted characteristic of later designs is that while the tip was extremely pointed, the last several inches of the weapon were not sharp, and some material exist suggesting that shotel users were taught to grip the end so that they could use the whole length of the blade as a brace to block an incoming strike. 

The earliest mention of a Shotel type blade dates back to the early age of the Kingdom_of_Aksum (100 BCE) when the blades were made of Iron and early steel. When Ethopian Emperior Amda Seyon I took the throne in 1314, he reorganized his army, and created an elite core group of swords men, all armed with the shotel. Called the Axurarat Shotelai, the were part of the army's main striking force, and were able to quickly engage, and dispatch their adversaries. 

Painting of Dejazmach Hailu, governer of Hamasien in the Asmara region, armed with a shotel.

Dejazmach Hailu held office during the reign of Emperor Tewodros II (1855-68)

Long, thin, narrow, and very strong, especially by the end of its use militarily in the early 16th century,  the Shotel was used by foot soldiers, cavalry, and mounted guards alike for most of its existence. A Season 3 spidose of the Discovery channel series forged in Fire highlighted the weapon's design and its characteristics in this unaired deliberation scene. [Please note, the construction here is not historical in materials or technique, but the design characteristics mentioned are reliant to the weapon's capabilities.]

The Shotel was still carried for ceremonial purposes as late as the 18th century, but fell out of use completely with the 20th century. The decline of Ethiopia as a regional power, as well as nationalistic (and some would argue racial) tendencies on the part of European and American powers have caused the history of this weapon, and the people who used it to fade from the larger historical  record in the subsequent decades. 

#Swordsunday is intended as a fun and educational series of posts for the enjoyment of readers. 

His Lordship Ivo Blackhawk
Kingdom of Ansteorra
"Long Live the King!"