Any larger yataghan?

[Emanuel]

Hi everyone,

Erlikhan, Zifir, do you have any more information on these very long yataghan with very thick spine and T-hilts? I have one very similar to the one posted by Husar and am curious about it.

The spine on my example is 15mm thick at the base, the blade is 4cm at its widest, and the integral bolster is 3cm thick. The whole thing is 93cm long. The section of the blade starts triangular at the bolster, transitioning to a T until the tip.


Thanks,
Emanuel

[Emanuel]

I'll add a comment Sancar made a while ago on another forum, concerning similar large yataghan:

The reason for its length is, in later periods, yataghans(as other bladed weapons) loose their place as weapons, and become more of an accesory of the local costume. In that period (late 19th-early 20th centuries) they tend to get exagerated with longer blades, bigger ears, deeper curvature etc. Yataghan have never been a cavalry weapon. It was mainly used by Janissaries(infantry), levents(marines) and later by başıbozuks and zeybeks(irregular militia) In 1850s, Ottoman army was already modernized and used cavalry sabers not much different from European counterparts, and sometimes blades that were a mixture of cavalry sabers, Ottoman kilij and mameluke(european blades influenced by Mamluk kilijs) sabers.

I'll also link to another thread on yataghan with T-pommel since it deals with a related topic. I am not much interested in the issue of the pommel; it's the blades that make me wonder.

Emanuel



Emanuel