Egyptian Kopesh

[crimsonnoble29]

except that the halberd was actually a late commer in the ancient arms race. the halberd as we know it certainly did not exist in ancient egypt. though they did use an enormous variety of axes. the halberd came in to being in the middle to later half of the medieval period. itself bering a descendant of the dane axe or beard axe and through adaptation the halberd was the result and that info comes from numerous sources including the late ewart oakshott

[spleno1]

Badass :)

[ataraxic89]

It talks like the Egyptians invented it, but every source ive seen says it was brought to them in war, and use on them in war until they adopted it.

[randydragoncheeks]

@ataraxic89 who do these sources say had it first?

[ataraxic89]

@randydragoncheeks This is full of crap. History channel is a bunch of liars. It wasn't derived from a sickle, it evolved from war axes. And it wasn't invented by the Egyptians. It was invented (as far as we know) in Sumeria about 5k years ago. The Egyptians didn't start using it until they got their asses kicked with it. I hate the history channel. Its like they had the narrator make up the story for it.

[randydragoncheeks]

@ataraxic89 i can belive that,most cultures adopted things from invading civilizations with superior weapons. 

[ataraxic89]

@randydragoncheeks yep, its a good idea. Thats why almost every country uses either the AK or the AR-15 type rifles. Cause they do their job.

[randydragoncheeks]

@ataraxic89 curious,whats in your opinion the best sword out there. the most versitle one?

[ataraxic89]

@randydragoncheeks Hmm, well I assume you mean against other swords in combat. Because versatility is NOT what you want in your main melee weapon, you don't it do ONE thing really well, kill people. But I would say of the swords a rapière et main gauche combo (rapier and a very long defensive dagger/short sword) is the very best possible. In real life fancy technique just isnt as useful as a swift, long ranged sword.Thats why the sword wasnt really a main battle weapon, spears and halberd were

[ataraxic89]

@randydragoncheeks I mean "you want it to do ONE thing really well"

[Korrypto]

@ataraxic89 thanks for the info

[hoosieryank1967]

I'd take a Roman Gladius vs. a Kopesh any day.

[EvilxMerlin]

@hoosieryank1967

I'll take a Type XVII over either!

[LordEinar]

That would be true, except all of the copper and bronze kopesh are cast.

[DarkMurmillo]

@LordEinar In addition the Epsilon Axe's only purpose was to hack unlike the Khopesh.

[LordEinar]

Current scholarship points towards the Kopesh as being derived from axes, not sickles.

M.

[Djemps]

I was going to say the same thing. The Sickle has a sharp cutting edge on the inside of the curved blade. The Kopesh is sharp on the outside edge. The 'evolution' of Sickle to Kopesh doesn't make any sense. I think a much more simple answer is the fact that metal begins to curve in shape as you hammer it sharp. The Cannanites probably just took a straight bar of metal and hammered a sharp edge into the middle of it, causing a curved blade appearance.

[whowantsabighug]

@Djemps the khopesh curves forwards aswell doesnt it? maybe they had the sickle design, then used the curve of the straightsword and combined them?