Interesting Kaskara from the Askeri Museum

Changdao · 12th August 2025, 10:51 PM

When reviewing the history of the kaskara and swords in Sudan, one must also turn towards Ethiopia. In Gondarine era paintings one can see relatively frequently swords that do look quite similar to kaskaras, except with somewhat different pommels (that do look bulbous).

There is also a direct connection to Sudan, as we are told by a witness report from 1647-1649 that:

When we reached the king (Emperor Fasiladas/Fasilides), his court had already lined up in that building, and the courtiers, i.e. the ministers and others, had dressed up in the most splendid attire and the most stately splendour, being dressed in gowns of silk brocade embroidered with gold, and silk gowns which fill the onlooker with amazement at the unusual art and extreme remarkableness. Around their waists they had put golden girdles, set with marvelous stones and precious gems, which they possess in this world, and we - if God permits - shall possess in the next. They had also in their hands swords from Sunnar, inlaid in the same way with the choicest pure gold. They rush after these splendours, which are quicker to disappear than the receding shadow. They had thus lined up in that assembly, standing in the most beautiful arrangement with their perfect forms according to the lenght of their bodies as God had created them

Jim McDougall · Yesterday, 12:14 AM

Ed,
I cannot say enough on how powerfully elucidating your synopsis' on this history is, and regardless how many decades I have tried to grasp the true history of the kaskara.......I remain completely and relatively a novice

Truly, it is breathtaking, and its as if lights are being turned on all over the place.

Your simile on the blind men and elephants hardly includes you

Changdao, thank you for this valuable insight as well. Blades and swords were coming into Ethiopian regions, via Harar and of course other entrepots. The conflicts up to and including the Mahdiyya involving Ethiopia (then Abyssinia) are often overlooked in the comprehensive study of these times.

The Battle of Gallabat in 1889 resulted in the death of their king Yohannes IV and the uneasy relationship between Menelik who took power and the Khalifa. The presence and use of the kaskara was already well established in Ethiopia by then, and many examples have Ge'ez script on the blades.
I remember many years back, a friend who was Eritrean shared with me videos of ceremonies involving native warriors dancing with kaskaras and the familiar hooked daggers of Mahdist times. He was Beja, and noted the ancestry of his people while being in Eritrea, extended of course well into Sudanese regions.

Thank you again for these entries guys!!! ED would you pulleeese write a book!

Your research is the most comprehensive and revealing ever.

Edster · Yesterday, 12:26 AM

Changdao,

Good observation!! The Kingdom of Fazughli was a connection between the Funj and Ethiopia. The possible Ethiopian influence on the kaskara are shown on p. 10-11, Figs. 10, 11 & 12 of my Kaskara Cross guard paper linked in the above post.

Best,
Ed

Edster · Yesterday, 01:27 AM

Thanks, Jim. I do love journeys down the Kaskara internet rabbit hole. It's a fun place to roam about for an ASD.

Keep ahead of the hounds,
Ed

Edster · Yesterday, 03:30 AM

Jim,

I went back down the Rabbit Hole. Here's an article on the fate of the Mamluks in Sudan. Pretty well got whittled away over the years. Fought local tribes. Apparently didn't develop a polity. Some returned to Egypt for pardons, some were killed and others pardoned.

A. E. Robinson, 'The Mamelukes In The Sudan', Sudan Notes and Records, Vol. 5 No. 2 1922, pp.88-94

Link:
https://www.sudanmemory.org/image/SN.../#topDocAnchor

Best,
Ed

Jim McDougall · Yesterday, 05:28 PM

It is a heck of a rabbit hole Ed!!! and it seems the deeper we go, the more intriguing and exciting, and more and more perplexing.....curiouser and curiouser !!!

However intrepid researchers like you specializing find the path.......this article is with brilliant insights into the Mamluk mystery. I seem to have had long held notions that due to the clear influences in aspects of Sudanese arms and material culture from Mamluk culture, that they had perhaps artisans in these areas in Dongola etc producing items.

I had felt that the acid etched thuluth conventions found in Mamluk metalwork led to the profuse covering of weapon surfaces with this was with Mamluk influence. The numbers of foreign blades and weapons coming into the Shendi markets probably through Suakin seemed to me likely blades and other items which would receive this treatment.

While my thoughts toward the kaskara (and other weapons) covered in thuluth at Omdurman were later, after the death of the Mahdi, I thought that perhaps the Caliph had seized on the notion as a means of effectively reinforcing his power and magic in these kinds of regalia. As has been noted, these were not intended necessarily as combative weapons, but votive elements carried by the religious figures who inspired and directed warriors while there to tend to the required attentions to the fallen. Also, these items reflected ecclesiastical authority.
This was of course a jihad, and these warriors were the 'Ansar'.

So it appears the processing and production of these weapons in the shops at Omdurman were from workers already established there, many were foreign, including numbers of Greeks who had been situated in Khartoum before its fall. So the production of these thuluth covered arms was not by Mamluks, though likely with influence from Mamluk metalworking traditions.

The volume of materials held in the shops at Khartoum was enormous, as Gordon had profound designs in building and the upkeep of infrastructure in Sudan. It seems the arsenal and affiliated shops were spared in the destruction of the city, with most materials and machines moved across to Omdurman.

There must have been some degree of sheet steel on hand, as many of the weapons known to other tribes who had conscripts and slaves in the Ansar forces seem to have been duplicated and decorated in thuluth are known, many of such commercial material.

This article that you attached is remarkable, and prompted a distant memory of a poem I saw many decades ago, and made an impression. I think it was called 'leap of the Mamluk' and I can still see the illustration of a Mamluk horseman in that action. In this article, it describes this supposed event, and the kind of hyperbole that becomes lore from an article in 'The Spectator' (16 Nov 1907) titled 'The Mamelukes Leap'.

It is complex history through this rabbit hole! but fascinating, and for those of us ever intrigued by the iconic and mysterious KASKARA!

All the best
Jim

Edster · Yesterday, 08:37 PM

Jim,

I just now reading "Travels in Nubia" 1819 by Burckhardt. having wadded through the intro. I think Nubia part starts on p.113 after a long intro in Roman numerals. His accounts are the main reference in Robinson's article and maybe there are a few gems therein that he neglected to mention.

https://ia800602.us.archive.org/6/it...ubia00burc.pdf

Ed

Yesterday, 03:30 AM	#5
Edster Member Join Date: Oct 2010 Posts: 429	Jim, I went back down the Rabbit Hole. Here's an article on the fate of the Mamluks in Sudan. Pretty well got whittled away over the years. Fought local tribes. Apparently didn't develop a polity. Some returned to Egypt for pardons, some were killed and others pardoned. A. E. Robinson, 'The Mamelukes In The Sudan', Sudan Notes and Records, Vol. 5 No. 2 1922, pp.88-94 Link: https://www.sudanmemory.org/image/SN.../#topDocAnchor Best, Ed Last edited by Edster; Yesterday at 03:31 AM. Reason: Added rabbit hole.

Yesterday, 05:28 PM	#6
Jim McDougall Arms Historian Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Route 66 Posts: 10,502	It is a heck of a rabbit hole Ed!!! and it seems the deeper we go, the more intriguing and exciting, and more and more perplexing.....curiouser and curiouser !!! However intrepid researchers like you specializing find the path.......this article is with brilliant insights into the Mamluk mystery. I seem to have had long held notions that due to the clear influences in aspects of Sudanese arms and material culture from Mamluk culture, that they had perhaps artisans in these areas in Dongola etc producing items. I had felt that the acid etched thuluth conventions found in Mamluk metalwork led to the profuse covering of weapon surfaces with this was with Mamluk influence. The numbers of foreign blades and weapons coming into the Shendi markets probably through Suakin seemed to me likely blades and other items which would receive this treatment. While my thoughts toward the kaskara (and other weapons) covered in thuluth at Omdurman were later, after the death of the Mahdi, I thought that perhaps the Caliph had seized on the notion as a means of effectively reinforcing his power and magic in these kinds of regalia. As has been noted, these were not intended necessarily as combative weapons, but votive elements carried by the religious figures who inspired and directed warriors while there to tend to the required attentions to the fallen. Also, these items reflected ecclesiastical authority. This was of course a jihad, and these warriors were the 'Ansar'. So it appears the processing and production of these weapons in the shops at Omdurman were from workers already established there, many were foreign, including numbers of Greeks who had been situated in Khartoum before its fall. So the production of these thuluth covered arms was not by Mamluks, though likely with influence from Mamluk metalworking traditions. The volume of materials held in the shops at Khartoum was enormous, as Gordon had profound designs in building and the upkeep of infrastructure in Sudan. It seems the arsenal and affiliated shops were spared in the destruction of the city, with most materials and machines moved across to Omdurman. There must have been some degree of sheet steel on hand, as many of the weapons known to other tribes who had conscripts and slaves in the Ansar forces seem to have been duplicated and decorated in thuluth are known, many of such commercial material. This article that you attached is remarkable, and prompted a distant memory of a poem I saw many decades ago, and made an impression. I think it was called 'leap of the Mamluk' and I can still see the illustration of a Mamluk horseman in that action. In this article, it describes this supposed event, and the kind of hyperbole that becomes lore from an article in 'The Spectator' (16 Nov 1907) titled 'The Mamelukes Leap'. It is complex history through this rabbit hole! but fascinating, and for those of us ever intrigued by the iconic and mysterious KASKARA! All the best Jim Attached Images

12th August 2025, 10:51 PM	#1
Changdao Member Join Date: Jan 2023 Location: Spain Posts: 43	When reviewing the history of the kaskara and swords in Sudan, one must also turn towards Ethiopia. In Gondarine era paintings one can see relatively frequently swords that do look quite similar to kaskaras, except with somewhat different pommels (that do look bulbous). There is also a direct connection to Sudan, as we are told by a witness report from 1647-1649 that: When we reached the king (Emperor Fasiladas/Fasilides), his court had already lined up in that building, and the courtiers, i.e. the ministers and others, had dressed up in the most splendid attire and the most stately splendour, being dressed in gowns of silk brocade embroidered with gold, and silk gowns which fill the onlooker with amazement at the unusual art and extreme remarkableness. Around their waists they had put golden girdles, set with marvelous stones and precious gems, which they possess in this world, and we - if God permits - shall possess in the next. They had also in their hands swords from Sunnar, inlaid in the same way with the choicest pure gold. They rush after these splendours, which are quicker to disappear than the receding shadow. They had thus lined up in that assembly, standing in the most beautiful arrangement with their perfect forms according to the lenght of their bodies as God had created them

Yesterday, 12:14 AM	#2
Jim McDougall Arms Historian Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Route 66 Posts: 10,502	Ed, I cannot say enough on how powerfully elucidating your synopsis' on this history is, and regardless how many decades I have tried to grasp the true history of the kaskara.......I remain completely and relatively a novice Truly, it is breathtaking, and its as if lights are being turned on all over the place. Your simile on the blind men and elephants hardly includes you Changdao, thank you for this valuable insight as well. Blades and swords were coming into Ethiopian regions, via Harar and of course other entrepots. The conflicts up to and including the Mahdiyya involving Ethiopia (then Abyssinia) are often overlooked in the comprehensive study of these times. The Battle of Gallabat in 1889 resulted in the death of their king Yohannes IV and the uneasy relationship between Menelik who took power and the Khalifa. The presence and use of the kaskara was already well established in Ethiopia by then, and many examples have Ge'ez script on the blades. I remember many years back, a friend who was Eritrean shared with me videos of ceremonies involving native warriors dancing with kaskaras and the familiar hooked daggers of Mahdist times. He was Beja, and noted the ancestry of his people while being in Eritrea, extended of course well into Sudanese regions. Thank you again for these entries guys!!! ED would you pulleeese write a book! Your research is the most comprehensive and revealing ever.

Yesterday, 12:26 AM	#3
Edster Member Join Date: Oct 2010 Posts: 429	Changdao, Good observation!! The Kingdom of Fazughli was a connection between the Funj and Ethiopia. The possible Ethiopian influence on the kaskara are shown on p. 10-11, Figs. 10, 11 & 12 of my Kaskara Cross guard paper linked in the above post. Best, Ed

Yesterday, 01:27 AM	#4
Edster Member Join Date: Oct 2010 Posts: 429	Thanks, Jim. I do love journeys down the Kaskara internet rabbit hole. It's a fun place to roam about for an ASD. Keep ahead of the hounds, Ed

Yesterday, 08:37 PM	#7
Edster Member Join Date: Oct 2010 Posts: 429	Jim, I just now reading "Travels in Nubia" 1819 by Burckhardt. having wadded through the intro. I think Nubia part starts on p.113 after a long intro in Roman numerals. His accounts are the main reference in Robinson's article and maybe there are a few gems therein that he neglected to mention. https://ia800602.us.archive.org/6/it...ubia00burc.pdf Ed