Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post

Jim McDougall · 5th March 2017, 04:09 AM

This is an example of the very unusual swords from Transcaucasian regions (as has been discussed) and indirectly aligned with the recurved sabres now classified as 'Laz bichagi', which first became somewhat known in our arms study community back in the 90s.
In those times, while studying Caucasian arms I found an article titled, "The Origins of the Shasha", by Triikman and Jacobsen, published by the Danish Arms Society in 1941. In this most interesting article (after great difficulty in having it translated), some of these most unusual swords were included (as well as the Laz bichagi, but termed Kurdish-Armenian yataghan).

During considerable research I found that the Kurdish Armenian yataghans had later been described in "Schwert Degen Sabel" ( Seifert, 1962). In contacting Gerhard Seifert, he told me that he had gained his classification for this Kurdish Armenian yataghan from his 'mentor', Holgar Jacobsen.
I further found that the unusually, and dramatically curved edged weapons, such as the one posted here, were reviewed in a very obscure article, "A Magyar Faji Vandor Pa'sa" by J. Zichy, Budapest, 1897. The author had travelled in these and Caucasian regions in obtaining his data.

These groupings of sometimes radically parabolic and recurved bladed swords (I believe the term 'kardok' was used) were illustrated and described as primarily Transcaucasian weapons. I had a copy of the illustrated drawings and captions only, sent to me by a colleague in France.

It seems that most of the examples shown in these articles were provenance from Trabzon and Erzerum, if I recall correctly .

Just thought this might help if others are researching the weapons of these regions.

Interesting notes on the Ethiopian shotel. It seems that Christopher Spring had noted something about the reach of these sickle type swords around the shield, which is obviously highly disputed. To me such a maneuver seems contrived, and as Oliver has well noted, these kinds of blades are intended for a draw cut type attack. The Ethiopian chiefs and many warriors were still using these in the Italian invasion in 1935, where their enemy were not using shields.
It would seem that the Transcaucasian swords, like these, were likely used in the same manner with draw cut .

5th March 2017, 04:09 AM	#12
Jim McDougall Arms Historian Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Route 66 Posts: 9,738	This is an example of the very unusual swords from Transcaucasian regions (as has been discussed) and indirectly aligned with the recurved sabres now classified as 'Laz bichagi', which first became somewhat known in our arms study community back in the 90s. In those times, while studying Caucasian arms I found an article titled, "The Origins of the Shasha", by Triikman and Jacobsen, published by the Danish Arms Society in 1941. In this most interesting article (after great difficulty in having it translated), some of these most unusual swords were included (as well as the Laz bichagi, but termed Kurdish-Armenian yataghan). During considerable research I found that the Kurdish Armenian yataghans had later been described in "Schwert Degen Sabel" ( Seifert, 1962). In contacting Gerhard Seifert, he told me that he had gained his classification for this Kurdish Armenian yataghan from his 'mentor', Holgar Jacobsen. I further found that the unusually, and dramatically curved edged weapons, such as the one posted here, were reviewed in a very obscure article, "A Magyar Faji Vandor Pa'sa" by J. Zichy, Budapest, 1897. The author had travelled in these and Caucasian regions in obtaining his data. These groupings of sometimes radically parabolic and recurved bladed swords (I believe the term 'kardok' was used) were illustrated and described as primarily Transcaucasian weapons. I had a copy of the illustrated drawings and captions only, sent to me by a colleague in France. It seems that most of the examples shown in these articles were provenance from Trabzon and Erzerum, if I recall correctly . Just thought this might help if others are researching the weapons of these regions. Interesting notes on the Ethiopian shotel. It seems that Christopher Spring had noted something about the reach of these sickle type swords around the shield, which is obviously highly disputed. To me such a maneuver seems contrived, and as Oliver has well noted, these kinds of blades are intended for a draw cut type attack. The Ethiopian chiefs and many warriors were still using these in the Italian invasion in 1935, where their enemy were not using shields. It would seem that the Transcaucasian swords, like these, were likely used in the same manner with draw cut .