Nomadic swords
Having read Kirill Rivkin's book about Eastern swords and a chapter by Bashir Mohamed in his Furussia book as well as having written a paper about the penetration of sabers into the Arab/Islamic realm, I got an irresistible urge to have a couple of nomadic sabers.
So, here they are:
First, a classical Khazar saber 8-9 centuries with its crossguard and circular tunkou ( or habaki, as Kirill prefers to call them). Pay attention to the false edge at the very distal part of the blade that had been forged in a diamond-shaped pattern to create a strengthening rib: this saber could not just cut/slice, but stab as well.
It was preserved by tannic acid, that's why it is black.
|