Sudan Mahdist daggers

colin henshaw · 8th July 2013, 01:37 PM

Hi

To move the discussion along a bit - I had always thought of these Sudanese knives with crooked or dog-leg blades, as being used only by Beja tribes from the Red Sea Hills. However, reading up on the Battle of Abu Klea, it seems Beja warriors were not present, and that the Mahdist forces were comprised mainly of tribes from Kordofan and others from the Nile Valley area. So bearing in mind Edster's observation about the hilt on my dagger, not being the Beja "double C", perhaps the crooked type of dagger form was used more widely in the Sudan than previously thought.

There is also my earlier theory put forward about derivation from the Ancient Egyptian sword "khepesh" to bear in mind...

Has anyone further ideas on this topic ?

Regards.

8th July 2013, 01:37 PM	#11
colin henshaw Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 1,429	Hi To move the discussion along a bit - I had always thought of these Sudanese knives with crooked or dog-leg blades, as being used only by Beja tribes from the Red Sea Hills. However, reading up on the Battle of Abu Klea, it seems Beja warriors were not present, and that the Mahdist forces were comprised mainly of tribes from Kordofan and others from the Nile Valley area. So bearing in mind Edster's observation about the hilt on my dagger, not being the Beja "double C", perhaps the crooked type of dagger form was used more widely in the Sudan than previously thought. There is also my earlier theory put forward about derivation from the Ancient Egyptian sword "khepesh" to bear in mind... Has anyone further ideas on this topic ? Regards.