persian tabar and mace comment please

[Ibrahiim al Balooshi]

Originally Posted by weapons 27

no answer on the origin and age of these two weapons?

Salaams weapons 27.... I dug up an amazing load of stuff on the axe in particular...There is also some mace stuff on the same site ...

Quote"Axes are a rather more straightforward subject. The Arabic word fas, derived from the Akkadian is the generic term for the axe though it was rarely if ever used to designate a war-axe. The two terms commonly used for a war-axe were tabarztn and tabar, both of which are of Persian origin.

It is generally believed that the tabarztn represented a light, short-hafted, small-bladed cavalry war-axe somewhat similar to the seventeenth and eighteenth century Safawid tabarztns. The supposed literal meaning of the term tabarztn as 'saddle-axe' (see below) has largely
influenced this interpretation. Conversely, the tabar is commonly considered as a large, long- hafted, heavy-bladed war-axe. These definitions will be reconsidered here.

There is considerable evidence to show that the terms tabarztn and tabar did not denote specific types of war-axes but were generically used for a war-axe in two different periods. The term tabarztn, which no doubt represents the genuine word for the war-axe, prevailed from the Sassanian period until the end of the fourth/tenth century. At the end of the fifth/eleventh or the
beginning of the sixth/twelfth century the term tabar, which simply means axe, assumed the meaning of a war-axe and predominated from the second half of the sixth/twelfth century onwards". Unquote.

For the Full Monty please see~ http://archive.org/stream/CloseComba...eriod_djvu.txt

Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.