Huge southeast european battle axe

[Victrix]

Originally Posted by AHorsa

Thanks a lot for your replies gentlemen!

Thanks for the image from the museum in Ljubljana, Victrix. Can you tell how the sword with the crosses on the crossguard is dated on the information-plate?

The link to the Byzantine empire is very interesting. If ound this image of the Varangian Guard, showing indeed a similar shape of the axes blade.

Is it possible that those half-moon shaped axe heads stem originally from the Indo-persian and Ottoman region (like the Tabar), then was adopted in the border regions (like Byzanz) and later in central europe (like you can see on this image: https://www.pinterest.de/pin/345580971384969527/ )?

Best regards
Andreas

The National History Museum of Slovenia sword in Ljubljana is 15thC Gothic. I also found a picture of halberds with perforated crosses in the Armoury in Graz, Austria. I would argue that the axe looks Central/East European. The perforated Latin cross and trefoil perforations look Gothic, and the beak looks Indo-Persian which you can sometimes find on Hungarian/Polish war hammers (Ottoman influence).

I’m not sure what arms the Varangian guards used, but they were Vikings (from my part of the world) and presumably used viking axes. At the later stages many Anglo-Saxons were recruited to the Varangian guard. The cross on the axe looks Latin to me, but perhaps there were used in Byzance also.