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Old 2nd May 2014, 06:21 AM   #24
Jim McDougall
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Location: Route 66
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To continue a look into these two weapons, and I do hope Skarts will return..as I mentioned I retrieved two references which I hope can help here somewhat. The first is the book "The Arms of Greece: And Her Balkan Neighbors" by Dr Robert Elgood (2009), and the other is "The Cretan Dagger" by Nikos Vasilatos (1993), which is in Greek but with extracts in English.

These references are detailed and complex for someone such as myself entirely unfamiliar with the arms of these regions, but I sincerely wanted to offer at least some kind of helpful observations. In my first hours of going through mostly Elgood, which is a phenomenal work and characteristic of his thorough detail, I can offer a few notes.

The pistol resembles two seen in Elgood (#105,106) in its straighter profile of the butt, somewhat in the manner of the Greek and Albanian 'roka' (rat tailed pistols) but obviously far from defined similarity. In the notes toward the lock, I would believe it is more probably Brescian, as these seem to have been more prevalent in these regions in Greece, so Cretan circumstances likely to follow. In around 1806 the Brescian makers did follow French designs in degree, so that might lend to the French attribution.

I found it curious that this pistol was flintlock, but Elgood notes the very conservative nature of Balkan society toward arms and costume. Here I would note that most of the observations pertaining to Greek or Balkan arms in general might be construed as non applicable to Crete, however it seems the influences would have been well diffused despite some differences.
While percussion locks were known by around 1847, it seems that in many regions in the 19th century, flintlocks were still favored as they did not require the more stringent ammunition supplies that percussion did.


On the yataghan, it seems that I saw a note suggesting blades were narrower, but need to relocate. On the motif, the most notable to me is the distinct zoomorphic chape decoration which apparently represents a snake.
These seem prevalent on scabbards throughout Balkan regions and the symbolism appears to be apotropaic, to ward off the evil eye, and also represents justice . There is a saying or motto, 'na se phaei to phidi' (= may the snake get you) which might align with that concept.
In Montenegrin legends one subject was a great warrior called 'ljuta zmija'
(=fierce serpent) which also might be alluded to with these scabbard tip motifs.
* another interesting note on these lines is that Montenegrins, Albanians and Greeks typically referred collectively to firearms as 'snakes', but obviously this is not related directly to the scabbard motif on edged weapons.

These were turbulent times in these regions, and I think it is important for our review and discussion of these arms to remain objective, and to realize that in war and conflicts unpleasant circumstances prevailed. Our study is focused on the arms as historic objects only, and must be considered respectfully .

I do hope these few observations will at least give some perspective on this pistol and yataghan, and that other others will follow.
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