However, the Egyptians had a great respect for their own antiquity. By the end of the New Kingdom it had been replaced by the sword as a practical close combat weapon, though it continued in some use. Hence, throughout the dynastic period, the battle axe was one of the most commonly used weapons, first eclipsing the mace, and then gradually being replaced itself.Įven the adaptation of the axe to piercing armor could not prevent its falling into disuse. Essentially, the New Kingdom battle axe blades were refined into a much longer, narrower and straighter form designed to achieve deeper penetration. Then in the New Kingdom, we find a very long, narrow axe head used for piercing, as well as an openwork axe head, introduced at the beginning of the 18th Dynasty which appears to have been purely for ceremonial or funerary purposes. Also in the Middle Kingdom, we also begin to see the scalloped, or tanged axe head. In the Old and Middle Kingdom, we find a relatively small, semicircular axe head affixed to a long shaft, while the first, long piercing axe head shows up only in the Middle Kingdom. Overall, we can distinguish between about five different subtypes of battle axes. In reality, the cutting blade was used throughout Egyptian Dynastic history, while the piercing blade did not appear until the Middle Kingdom. In Egypt on the other hand they continued to use the old method of fixing the blade to the handle in a mortise and tenon fashion. The blade was cast with an eye through which the handle could be inserted. In Asiatic cultures this brought about a change in the way the blade was connected to the handle. The piercing axe was designed to penetrate armor, above all helmets. It disappeared as armor became more prevalent, which happened later in Egypt than in Asia, where as early as the 3rd millennium BC Sumerians are depicted wearing helmets. The cutting axe is effective against enemies who do not wear body armor and helmets, as was the custom in Africa, Egypt included. The head was generally inserted into a hole or groove in the wooden handle and tied fast. As relatively little power was exerted the affixing of the blade to the handle was not very critical. The cutting axe is a blade fastened to a sizable handle, the idea being to keep as far as possible from harm's way. Both were used by Egyptian soldiers, but under different circumstances. Hence, one distinguishes between two kinds of battle axe: the cutting and the piercing axe. Openwork ceremonial axe head dating to the New Kingdom (Belonging to Ahmose I) The Hyksos, Asiatics themselves, are credited with having introduced scale body armor into Egypt and brought about changes in the form of the battle axe there by the middle of the 2nd millennium. The axe was more effective in cutting wounded or fleeing enemies to pieces than it was in breaching an intact battle line. Infantry armed with battle axes were typically deployed after the enemy had been weakened by archers. As a practical weapon, it was the battle axe that eventually replaced the mace as one of the Egyptian military's primary close combat weapons. Ramesses II smiting his enemies with a battle axe rather than a maceĪxes were probably used very early in Egyptian warfare, though at first they were perhaps no different than the tool used for peaceful purposes, such as cutting would.
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