Harpe (weapon)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
M. Nonius Sufenas Denarius 59 BC BC, Rome. Head of Saturn with Harpa and oval stone
Kronos with a harpe

The Harpe (also Harpa ; Greek  ἅρπη , latin Harpe , sickle ') describes a sword that has on its straight blade has a crescent-shaped projection, the hook sword , sickle sword , which as a mythological weapon , mainly in Greek and Latin Tell occurs.

etymology

The terms harpē and falx , in both Greek and Latin, denoted any concave cutting tool; a specific term for the sickle did not yet exist. Drepanon (Greek for "sickle", "crooked point"), on the other hand, describes any curved harvesting tool. The Greek ἅρπη is originally borrowed from a Semitic word, which is rendered in Biblical Hebrew as חרב "sword". The current term for the sickle is derived (in the Germanic language area) from the terms sīcula, falcicula, which first appeared in late Latin .

Art and mythology

Kronos emasculates his father Uranus with a harpe

According to legend, this sword is the weapon borrowed from Mercury with which Perseus beheaded Medusa (hence Cyllenis harpe ). In another legend of Greek mythology, the titan Kronos castrated his god father Uranos with a harpe . The harpe is occasionally found on Roman or Greek sculptures. According to these illustrations, it is a sword with a curved blade. This representation is explicitly described in the work Leukippe and Kleitophon of the 2nd century. In later illustrations, the harpe is more of a sickle than a sword. On this very artistic illustration of a harpe, which shows the emasculation of Uranus, this is shown as a war scythe .

See also

Web links

Commons : Representations of Kronos with the Harpe  collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Crawford : The Roman Republican Coinage. 2 volumes. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge et al. 1974, ISBN 0-521-07492-4 ., Number 421/1
  2. ↑ Val. Flacc. 7, 364
  3. ↑ (purely Latin falcatus or hamatus ensis, lunatum ferrum)
  4. ↑ ae, f. (Demin. V. Sica), the "little dagger"; hence meton. joking. = mentula, Catullus. 67, 21
  5. ↑ ae, f. (Demin. V. Falx), the "little sickle", Pallad. 1, 43, August 5. c. Fist. 6, 4. Arnob. 6, 26
  6. ↑ Val. Flacc. 4, 390
  7. ^ Ovid, Metamorphoses 5, 69
  8. ↑ Ovid, Metamorphosen 5, 176; Lucan. 9, 662.-II, the noble falcon ( Falco gentilis , L.), Plin. 10, 204 [1]
  9. ↑ a b Achilleus Tatios : Leukippen kai Kleitophonta 3.7.8 - 3.7.9 “ὥπλισται δὲ καὶ τὴν δεξιὰν διφυεῖ σιδήρῳ εἰς δρέπανον καέὶ ξίφος ἐσῳ .ιμέὶ ένσς ἐσῳ. ἄρχεται μὲν γὰρ ἡ κώπη κάτωθεν ἀμφοῖν ἐκ μιᾶς , καὶ ἔστιν ἐφ 'ἥμισυ τοῦ σιδήρου ξίφος, ἐντεῦθεν δὲ ἀπορραγὲν τὸ μὲν ὀξύνεται, τὸ δὲ ἐπικάμπτεται. καὶ τὸ μὲν ἀπωξυμμένον μένει ξίφος, ὡς ἤρξατο, τὸ δὲ καμπτόμενον δρέπανον γίνεται, ἵνα μιᾷ πληγῇ τὸ μὲν ἐρείδῃ τὴν σφαγήν, τὸ δὲ κρατῇ τὴν τομήν. "Comparisons detection in the catalog of the German National Library