Curved Flyssa in St-Petersburg museum...Ariel, Jim, Ham...somebody please explain!!!

Emanuel · 19th December 2006, 04:06 AM

Damn! I'll be dreaming about this thing tonight.
Some of my rants:
- It's got the zoomorphic pommel but it's different from the camel/dog/eagle-style usually seen. It looks more like a lobed pommel as on shashka. It isn't as "cubic" as usual flyssa pommels. Then again, what is "usual" ? I have seen relatively few examples and never in hand...
- It's got what looks to be an octogonal handle...but could be hexagonal
- the haxa/octogonal drum between the handle and the blade is a bit weird, but looks all right
- It's got inlaid decoration, it looks like classical designs, as seen on the pic from Oriental Arms
- It's got the indentation into the spine of the blade, that are seen on flyssa

So to me that is a flyssa made by kabyles or according to kabyle designs, but...it's very very curved, and it doesn't have a deep belly...it's like a shamshir. The smaller knife-sized flyssa are sometimes curved, but not at this scale and not to this degree. Has anyone seen this before?
Other thoughts?

19th December 2006, 04:06 AM	#2
Emanuel Member Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Toronto, Canada Posts: 1,242	Damn! I'll be dreaming about this thing tonight. Some of my rants: - It's got the zoomorphic pommel but it's different from the camel/dog/eagle-style usually seen. It looks more like a lobed pommel as on shashka. It isn't as "cubic" as usual flyssa pommels. Then again, what is "usual" ? I have seen relatively few examples and never in hand... - It's got what looks to be an octogonal handle...but could be hexagonal - the haxa/octogonal drum between the handle and the blade is a bit weird, but looks all right - It's got inlaid decoration, it looks like classical designs, as seen on the pic from Oriental Arms - It's got the indentation into the spine of the blade, that are seen on flyssa So to me that is a flyssa made by kabyles or according to kabyle designs, but...it's very very curved, and it doesn't have a deep belly...it's like a shamshir. The smaller knife-sized flyssa are sometimes curved, but not at this scale and not to this degree. Has anyone seen this before? Other thoughts? Attached Images Last edited by Manolo; 19th December 2006 at 04:13 PM.