greek weapons of the ottoman period

[chevalier]

did the greeks have any unique arms during the period of ottoman rule/war of independence? or did they just use turkish styled weapons?


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/maersk/greek2.jpg

id like to know what kind of short swords/daggers the greeks are carrying here, or if the artist just took some liberties in painting weapons.





http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/maersk/Greek.jpg


first time ive seen a greek with a shamshir.....

[Jim McDougall]

excellent question! I'd like to know too.

[Yannis]

Greeks didnt had the right to carry weapons during Ottoman rule. The exceptions were two: Armatoloi (=men carrying weapons) who were a kind of militia under the local pasha. And Klephts (=thiefs) who were rebels so they didnt care about the rules :). It was very common to change role, so a man of militia could be rebel for a time and militia again later.

These two groups were the first who joined the revolution of 1821. There favorite weapons were:

Kilij (pala in greek), the same as turkish. Sometimes the difference was in the decoration of scabbard. It was the sword of choice but not anyone could pay it (still he cannot :D )

Shamshir. Same as turkish, again sometimes different decoration

Yataghan. Typical is the total silver hilt with small ears. The rich ones could have a silver scabbard, again with greek decoration

Knifes: Lot of different kinds, according to the area. The best were from Creta and Epirus. The early 19th century cretan knife has cylinder form of hilt (like kards) and only after middle 19th century we see the type of hilt that is known today as cretan knife.

So the decoration is the primary key to say that this weapon is Greek. Examples of decoration: Cypress, laurels, faces, kilijs, Christian crosses, ancient gods like Athina, Ares, etc (the later only after the revolution in the spirit of revival)