Not a few Egyptian Swords are much thicker at the middle than at the edges, and many are slightly grooved. The bronze is so well tempered, either by hammering, by hydraulic pressure, or by phosphorisation (?), that it has retained spring and pliability after several thousand years, and is still elastic like the steel of our modern days. I have already noticed[509] the Passalacqua and the Harris daggers—both from Thebes. The dagger-handle was generally covered in part with metal like that of the Sword; and the sewing of the leather-sheath again recalls the hide-scabbard of the Somal.[510] The Egyptians, as the hieroglyphs prove, had also single-edged cutting-knives shorter than Swords, and apparently of steel; they resemble our flesh-knives,[511] and may correspond with the Greek μάχαιραι (Ang.-Sax. Meche), while the daggers proper represent the ἐγχειρίδια and the parazonia.
EGYPTIAN SWORDS.
The long Sword must have been rare or rather barbaric, for it is seldom found in the pictures and bas-reliefs. Yet Rosellini figures one which resembles an Espadon or heavy two-handed weapon of our Middle Ages. An inscription of Ramses takes as booty from the Maxyes (Cyrenians) of Libya one hundred and fifteen Swords of five cubits (seven and a half feet), and one hundred and twenty-four of three cubits long.
Fig. 173.—Bronze Daggers and Sheath (1 foot long). (From Theban Tomb, Berlin Museum.)
Fig. 174.—Shapes of Egyptian Blades. (Meyrick.)
Fig. 175.—Sword-Daggers.
Meyrick,[512] in his general introduction to the weapons of all nations (vol. i. Pl. 1), gives two forms of Egyptian blades, or rather choppers. One (a, fig. 174) is a straight bill-shaped cutting-blade with the tip upturned, and the handle is provided with cords and tassels. This is in fact the old Turkish Scymitar and its offshoots, of which I have already spoken; and thus Egypt led to the chopper-types, which will presently be noticed. The other (b) is a curved Scymitar, with a bevelled end and a double cord at the hilt.[513] The former seems to be an imitation of the obsidian flake: the latter is a development of the Khopsh or sickle-Sword.