The Rosenberg Library Museum displayed a pair of Moroccan scimitars as the October Treasure of the Month. These scimitars were collected by Mr. Bernard Bernardoni (1903 – 1971), a Galveston resident and an economic analyst for the U.S. Department of State, in North Africa between 1939 and 1947.
Donated to the Library in 1971, these daggers are elaborately decorated and heavily ornamented with silver. Scimitars are backswords with curved blades that were originally created in South Asia or the Middle East. These swords are important elements of these Middle Eastern cultures, notably Indian, Turkish, and Saudi Arabian cultures, as well as Oriental and even British and American cultures.
The term “scimitar” itself has been part of the English language since 1548. Derived from the French “cimiterre” and the Italian “scimitarra,” scimitar is a well known word in most Middle Eastern languages. It is believed that it, and the sword that bears its name, is descended from the Persian word “shafsher,” meaning “lion’s claw,” that is also attributed to an ancient Persian curved sword known as a “shamshir.” However, controversy still surrounds the origins of the scimitar. Some believe the blades originated in Ancient Egypt in 1600 BCE as a khopesh, a hybrid weapon of sickle and sword. The scimitar may have also evolved from the Mongolian saber, which in turn developed from the Chinese broadsword, making the scimitar’s origins more relative to the curved blades of the Orient.
Scimitars were heavily used during the Mongolian invasions of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. These invasions influenced the Ottoman Turks to begin using a unique scimitar known as a kilj in the fifteenth century. The Napoleonic Wars of the late 19th century brought the blade to the attention of Europeans, and the kilj became popular among senior French and British officers. After the First Barbary Wars, U.S. Marines were presented with bejeweled kiljs or, as they are known in the U.S., mameluke swords. Mameluke swords are still presented to U.S. Marines as dress swords. Cutlasses, the famed swords of the high-seas, favored by pirates and privateers alike, are shorter and broader scimitars that are well-suited for close combat. They were used by British cavalry soldiers as well for their compact size made slashing from side to side effective without harming the soldiers’ horses’ ears.
Today, scimitars are most popular in belly dance acts, Hollywood films about piracy and the Middle East, and the fantasy worlds of books and video games. They are also often carried for ceremonial duties by various Eastern and Western militaries. These curved weapons have come to symbolize courage and strength in many Eastern cultures and appear on the Saudi Arabian coat of arms as well U.S. and British emblems and insignia. Scimitars today are treasured collectibles and symbolic reminders of Middle Eastern and western history and pride.
The earliest evidence of scimitars is from the 9th century among soldiers in Khurasan. They were used in horse warfare because of their relatively light weight when compared to larger swords and their curved design, good for slashing opponents while riding on a horse.
The difference between a Shamshir and a Scimitar is the pronunciation and language usage. In Persian, the word Shamshir means sword. In English, the word Scimitar usually refers to all swords from the Middle East with a curve.
A Scimitar's curved blade and heavier weight make it ideal for horseback riding, In contrast, the Katana's straight blade and lighter weight make it more suited for close combat. Additionally, the Katana requires more craftsmanship due to its intricate design.
A kilij (from Turkish kılıç, literally "sword") is a type of one-handed, single-edged and curved scimitar used by the Seljuk Empire, Timurid Empire, Mamluk Empire, Ottoman Empire, and other Turkic khanates of Eurasian steppes and Turkestan.
Scimitars are backswords with curved blades that were originally created in South Asia or the Middle East. These swords are important elements of these Middle Eastern cultures, notably Indian, Turkish, and Saudi Arabian cultures, as well as Oriental and even British and American cultures.
A bisentō (眉尖刀, 'brow blade') is a polearm used in feudal Japan. The bisentō has various descriptions, "a double-edged long sword with a thick truncated blade", "a spear-like weapon with a blade at the end that resembles a scimitar", "a polearm resembling a glaive, with a long, heavy haft and a heavy, curved blade".
In the game, the rapier classically flaunts a high crit range with middling damage to represent it can normally inflict moderate harm and can be lethal with precise thrusts, while the scimitar consistently does above average damage and is essentially your finesseable longsword.
Their most common uses are cutting down large chunks of meat into smaller, retail-sized cuts (like steaks), and getting large chunks of meat off bones. If you're camping, you can use a scimitar knife for other tasks, such as splintering your firewood and chopping through bone.
The most famous sword of all, Excalibur came into the hands of King Arthur Pendragon in one of two ways, depending on which version of the story we read. In one, Arthur draws the sword from an enormous stone, thus establishing his right to the throne of England.
The samurai might always release one hand from his weapon and grab his opponent's blade. However, some dagger techniques against a sword actually resemble those effectively used with the Okinawan sai --a weapon fully capable of defeating a katana.
Although there is no standard scimitar size, the sword is generally 30 to 36 inches in length, weighs approximately two pounds, and is approximately 11/2 inches wide.
A scimitar is distinctive-looking sword, with its short, curved blade. It shows up a lot as a symbol in various Arab cultures, including on the Saudi Arabian flag. The origin of the word scimitar isn't certain, though it may come from shafsher, "lion's claw" in Persian, which describes the scimitar's curved shape.
The curved blade was also considered useful for attacking opponents, since the arc of the curved blade matches the sweep of a rider's arm when they slash a target while galloping. Nomadic horsem*n took note of this and began using the sword for their battles.
During the early Islamic years, the Arabs sheathed their weapons in baldrics. The use of sword and baldric was consciously abandoned by the Abbasid caliph al-Mutawakkil (847–861) in favor of the saber and belt. But the use of sword and baldric seems to have retained a ceremonial and religious significance.
utilized curved bronze blades. is because when you try to cast bronze, if it's too long, the blade is not going to cool evenly. So if you were trying to make a heavier sword. that was capable of hacking through an opponent shield, you were not able to do that with bronze. Unless you curved the blade.
Some of the more well-travelled pirates would often don scimitars. It was exotic enough to add a little more dread to their appearance, and also looked different and stylish (Pirates, although they would never admit it, were usually obsessed with their appearance).
Introduction: My name is Arielle Torp, I am a comfortable, kind, zealous, lovely, jolly, colorful, adventurous person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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