Greek Sword pictures

B

Black Knight

Joined
Sep 10, 1999
Messages
3
Hi. I'm new to the forums and would like to ask if anybody knew of any pictures of an Ancient Greek sword. It was made of iron, and I think was called a Macharia. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
smile.gif
 
In its Spanish form it was called a falcata and was much feared by the Romans. Del Tin makes a modern reproduction that is highly thought of, and Museum Replicas has pretty pictures of them in their catalogs, just be aware that MRL swords are made in India and ack quality control.

SwordForum magazine online had a couple of articles on them a few months back. Try www.swordforums.com and go to their magazine archive.

------------------
Walk in the Light,
Hugh


 
Thank you very much.
Though i would like some real pictures, and the swordforums link does not work.
frown.gif


[This message has been edited by Black Knight (edited 10 September 1999).]
 
:
Hey Berk.
Do you have any way of knowing what size that Kopis is and what it might sell for? And about how toorder one?

After having all the Kuhkuris it might be interesting to have its' ancestor.
Thanks!!!!

------------------


>>>>---¥vsa---->®
The civilized man sleeps behind locked doors in the city while the naked savage sleeps (with a knife) in a open hut in the jungle.

Himalayan Imports Website http://members.aol.com/himimp/index.html

 
By the way:

machairi (pronounced mache-ree) with the accent on -che- means "knife"

machaira (pronounced ma-che-ra) wiht the accent on ma- is an older word, not used a lot nowadays, which means "large knife", often meaning something that is made for combat, like a little sword

kopis (or kopidi in the modern form) means "cutter", nowadays meaning what is known as "hobby knive" (X-Acto etc) or industrial cutting tools with straight blades that you can snap away in sections when the tip is worn.
 
Costas-Thank you for the Greek translation. It's interesting to note the evolution of meanings, since the kopis started out as a sickle-shaped sword, but seems to have shrunk somewhat in meaning over the centuries since Alexander the Great.
Yvsa-It's a _little_ hard to tell, as I have small Latin, less Greek, and no Japanese, but I _think_ the page I linked to is just a historical account of ancient Greek armaments, not a seller of modern replicas. I have never seen an actual photo of a machaira, only drawings, and suspect that few survive. I have seen a few photos of kopis blades, always in relic condition. I'm afraid our khukuris are the closest things available in "modern" weaponry.
Berk
 

3162 machaira {makh'-ahee-rah}
from a presumed derivative
of 3163; TDNT -
4:524,572; n f
AV - sword 29; 29
1) a large knife, used for
killing animals and cutting
up flesh
2) a small sword, as
distinguished from a large sword
2a) curved sword, for a
cutting stroke
2b) a straight sword, for thrusting

The above comes from Bob Thayer's Lexicon.
If you could follow the references, they would take you to "mache", which refers to fight or fighting, and to a Persian origin, which seems obscure to me, which refers to a small sword carried by a courier, or a pony express type of person.

The machaira which we associate with the Greeks came from a period in which spears, javelins, long pikes and huge shields ruled the battlefield.
The Greek soldier used the machaira as a fall back weapon and as a means of reaching around or under his adversary's shield.
They used the kopi as one would a khukri, and the khukri and turkish yatagan may have gotten their inspiration from the kopi, but who can say which way the influences went, from Greek to Gurkha or the other way around.
We have reference to the machaira as a tool for slaughtering animals.
Muela makes several high-end, double-edged boar knives of a much higher quality than we normally associate with Muela.
Apparently, Muela has a cultural motivation to make these knives, because they must require the attention of their best artisans.
I think this design motivation comes through the considerable Jewish influence on Spanish culture.
Both the Jews and the Spanish used the machaira, or double-edged short sword to kill struggling or dangerous game animals.
I think the double-edge short sword let them stab as best they could into the bundle of arteries and nerves in the neck, make a large diameter wound, and then cut either way.
Ehud, the left-handed Jew, used a machaira to assassinate King Eglon.
Joab, King David's General of the Army used a machaira to spill Amoz's guts in the street.
James Mattis has a machaira on his site, which he calls "A Message From God", and which he designed and made patterned after Ehud's machaira.
Gene Osborn presently has a machaira of my design in the works for me.
The heat treater has it now.

------------------
Luke 22:36, John 18:6-11
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top