Gurade
| Gurade | |
|---|---|
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| Information | |
| Weapon type: | saber |
| Use: | Weapon, professional weapon |
| Distribution: | Ethiopia |
| Lists on the subject | |
The gurade is a saber from Ethiopia .
description
The gurade has a curved blade , similar to a European cavalry saber. Large horn of rhino or wood existing handles wide at both ends and have an oval cross-section. The pommel of the handle is often decorated; sometimes a Maria Theresa thaler is used for this purpose . The blades, ground on one side, were usually imported from Europe and are therefore often provided with European fittings . The vagina , however, is almost always a local product. They are made of red tanned leather and are sometimes decorated with velvet and metal ribbons. Some scabbards are longer and more curved in the lower part than the blade, in addition a decorated ball or medallion can be attached to the extreme point.
The Shotel , also an Ethiopian saber, is similar to the Gurade, but has a significantly more curved, sickle-shaped blade.
Mansfield Parkyns , who toured Abyssinia from 1843–1846, observed that the Gurade was in Amhara while the Shotel was mainly in Tigrey .
The main traditional weapon of the Ethiopian infantry and cavalry was the spear . Swords like the Gurade were mainly worn by officers as a badge of rank or by rich or successful fighters as a status symbol .
literature
- Christopher Spring , African arms and armor , Smithsonian Institution Press, 1993, ISBN 978-1-56098-317-0
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Spring: African arms and armor , 1993, pp. 98-99
- ↑ Mansfield Parkyns : Life in Abyssinia: being notes collected during three years' residence and travels in that country , 1853, p. 18 [1]
- ↑ Spring: African arms and armor , 1993, pp. 98-99