Help requested on Islamic? inscriptions on a heavy axe

[DavidFriedman]

Interesting about the sword handles. I see lots of handles on axes that just don’t seem to be as old as the axes, frequently with the lathed ribbed grip along the pole.

Yes mine is about 4-5 lbs, pretty heavy for a money making wallhangers, where a thin blade would suffice.

If sharp they would make perfect execution axes, but they are far from sharp, as if their taper was designed to be blunt.

I wonder if they could have been used as palace guard axes, part display, part mace-like bashers.

A mystery.

Originally Posted by Lee

Not that I am aware of, though as we see with this thread, more examples continue to be found. The second I saw was headed to auction in Scotland.

I still hypothesize that the very plain wooden handles, in contrast to the decoration on the blade, on a few of the examples were replacements made for display high up on a wall in St. Irene in Istanbul. I found the wood grossly similar to some of the reconstructed grips on swords. Even if this 'romantic' notion is correct, St. Irene was the trophy hall of the Ottoman military and contained captured and presented pieces from around their region of influence as well as many old local pieces so that does not really help me towards the original origin. (The Askeri (Military) Museum now houses that collection and St. Irene has been repurposed as an events venue.)

The two that I have handled are both really heavy and I'd be surprised if that much mass would have been put into a wall hanger at the time. Could these have been a 'terror display' weapon for the front line, like the big Renaissance European two-handed swords? Or more darkly, was all that mass to insure an executioner would not botch the job. I just do not know.