Khopesh, Khopsh, Egyptian Sickle Sword

K

Ken Cox

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I have done several searches for pictures of this sword with no real success.

This type of sword has quite a few different interpretations, and the versions that I have found so far correspond to Kopis, Falchion and simple bent and dropped-edge short swords with a swept tip.

I have in mind the double-edged sword that more truly corresponded to a sickle, with sharp point on the insides of the sickle.
I think the Egyptians used this sword to reach around sheilds, hook legs from behind, and, by flipping it over, as a powerful sheild splitter.

I think the design has significant tactical merit, and I further think we don't see it today because of the expense of making so complex a shape.
I think the Egyptians cast them out of bronze and then hand finished the edges.
With the coming of steel, and forged-steel blades, I think it took too much time and skill to forge such a complex shape out of steel.

Anyway, I saw some examples on the history channel and I would like to see some photos, if they exist.
So far, not much success with Google.
 
Richard Burton's "Book of the Sword" has some pictures and descriptions of the khopsh (his spelling.) Page 156. From his pictures, the blade looks something like a two-handed harvest sickle, but with a one-handed handle in-line, not perpendicular to the blade.

Sorry, my scannner isn't up and running. But it's an interesting book, and pretty cheap.

ADDED: poking around the book, he describes an Abyssinian sword on page 163-164.
"The Shotel or Abyssinian sword is a direct decendent from the Kopsh-falchion. Nothing less handy than this gigantic sickle; the edge is inside, the grip is too small, and the difficulty of drawing the blade from the scabbard is considerable. . . Such a weapon never belonged to a tribe of Swordsmen."

The picture makes it look much like a single-handed, curved sickle.
 
Photo of sickle sword from the Istanbul Arkeoloji Muzeleri, shown in Swords and Hilt Weapons, Coe et al., Barnes & Noble Books (1993), p.11.
Drawing of Egyptian khopsh from The Book of the Sword, Ch. VIII, "The Sword in Ancient Egypt and in Modern Africa", Sir Richard F. Burton, Dover Publications (1987 reprint of 1884 original), p. 160. Several other drawings in Burton show various forms of Egyptian khopsh with edges inside and outside, shapes of Egyptian blades, Abyssinian sickle swords, etc.
[Edit] I did find one online link with some images
 
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