Video on Circassian Blades

LewisB · 27th February 2012, 04:10 AM

I really should have posted that line the smith used: "Light as a feather, sharp as a razor, flexible as a (grape) vine." As soon as I heard it the first time, it leapt out at me, and the distinction the presenters drew between sword and knife derived long blades made quite an impression.

I have long had a suspicion that the Russian military, after the shashka was adopted as the official cold arm of the Army, might have adopted the general look of the shashka (i.e., slightly eared handle and lack of guard) while substituting a more traditionally "saber-esque" blade, i.e., starting out of fairly thick stock and exhibiting radical distal taper, but this is only suspicion.

I have always assumed, further, that there is some sort of connection between the vestigial ears of the shashka, and the more prominent ears on the yataghan. Once more, however, this is primarily assumption on my part.

I find the spread of weaponry from one place to another quite as interesting as the spread of food from one place to another. Spain's paella is quite similar to Italy's pilaf, and Russia's plov, and Afghanistan's pilau, all essentially seasoned meat (or seafood) with rice.

I am full of enthusiasm, but I have a great dearth of actual knowledge. I do have Avtatsvaturian's books in PDF format (Weapons of the Caucasian Peoples and Turkish Weapons), but I confess that although my conversational Russian is good, it's hard work reading these in Russian.

ariel · 28th February 2012, 02:41 AM

The jeweler, Asya Eutych, made a set of caucasian weapons for the Circassian bodyguards of the Jordanian king. She says that that they were very, very grateful to her for re-introducing the old tradition, because they have already forgotten how the shashkas and kindjals look like.
This is an unmitigated bull. Circassians in Jordan , especially the royal bodyguards, kept their weapons since deportation by the Russians in 1870s. There are multiple photographs showing them sporting shashkas and kindjals during their guard duties for Abdulla and Hussein.
Either they were making a joke at her expense, or she was just confabulating for the local Russian audience. PR, you know.... She has to advertise herself... :-)

LewisB · 6th March 2012, 01:13 AM

Ariel:

Fascinating! I knew a little about the Circassian deportations, but only to Turkey (rather, the Ottoman Empire). I suppose my error was to assume that Ottoman Empire=Turkey of today, and to forget the geographic expanse that the Ottoman Empire had at the time.

Once more I find myself tripped up by my modern world view!

27th February 2012, 04:10 AM	#1
LewisB Member Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Amarillo, TX, USA Posts: 8	I really should have posted that line the smith used: "Light as a feather, sharp as a razor, flexible as a (grape) vine." As soon as I heard it the first time, it leapt out at me, and the distinction the presenters drew between sword and knife derived long blades made quite an impression. I have long had a suspicion that the Russian military, after the shashka was adopted as the official cold arm of the Army, might have adopted the general look of the shashka (i.e., slightly eared handle and lack of guard) while substituting a more traditionally "saber-esque" blade, i.e., starting out of fairly thick stock and exhibiting radical distal taper, but this is only suspicion. I have always assumed, further, that there is some sort of connection between the vestigial ears of the shashka, and the more prominent ears on the yataghan. Once more, however, this is primarily assumption on my part. I find the spread of weaponry from one place to another quite as interesting as the spread of food from one place to another. Spain's paella is quite similar to Italy's pilaf, and Russia's plov, and Afghanistan's pilau, all essentially seasoned meat (or seafood) with rice. I am full of enthusiasm, but I have a great dearth of actual knowledge. I do have Avtatsvaturian's books in PDF format (Weapons of the Caucasian Peoples and Turkish Weapons), but I confess that although my conversational Russian is good, it's hard work reading these in Russian.

28th February 2012, 02:41 AM	#2
ariel Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Ann Arbor, MI Posts: 5,503	The jeweler, Asya Eutych, made a set of caucasian weapons for the Circassian bodyguards of the Jordanian king. She says that that they were very, very grateful to her for re-introducing the old tradition, because they have already forgotten how the shashkas and kindjals look like. This is an unmitigated bull. Circassians in Jordan , especially the royal bodyguards, kept their weapons since deportation by the Russians in 1870s. There are multiple photographs showing them sporting shashkas and kindjals during their guard duties for Abdulla and Hussein. Either they were making a joke at her expense, or she was just confabulating for the local Russian audience. PR, you know.... She has to advertise herself... :-)

6th March 2012, 01:13 AM	#3
LewisB Member Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Amarillo, TX, USA Posts: 8	Ariel: Fascinating! I knew a little about the Circassian deportations, but only to Turkey (rather, the Ottoman Empire). I suppose my error was to assume that Ottoman Empire=Turkey of today, and to forget the geographic expanse that the Ottoman Empire had at the time. Once more I find myself tripped up by my modern world view!