Sword of the Last Armenian King: 14th century

Rivkin · 30th May 2006, 09:10 PM

My reputation among dashnaktzatyun is that of a turk and fashist, so I preferred to abstain from commenting on this sword. I am also _not_ a specialist on this kind of swords or cilician history.

I disagree with some of the criticism. I think that here it is hard to say whether virgin mary's head is covered by mopharion, as it is supposed to be. I also would somewhat disagree concerning western-eastern difference in head cover. For example, afaik, ethiopian tradition is uncovered hair, but all byzantine influenced countries (russia, syria, armenia, partially italy) have covered hair, and only north-western europe - france, germany, scandinavia, netherlands portray uncovered hair.
Despite the fact that cilician armenian art was extremely influenced by crusaders (but yet they always depicted Mary with her head covered), I have never seen cherub in such a position on any cilician icons or manuscripts. However, as noted by Ariel, such depiction is typical for ottoman-produced swords, starting with the end of XVIth century. The style of goldwork is also somewhat ottoman. The banners are in fact very typical for XVIII century as well. I agree with all of this, but there are even more problems:

Levon the Vth ruled in 1374 - 1375. Not 1366, not 1336. I doubt that his armorer was so ignorant and arrogant as just to put a date on the sword from the top of his head. I also have a small problem with a cross that is held by the king. I am no expert on armenian symbolics, but such crosses imho are much more characteristic for Levon the Ist and lorraine cross; later kings would be expected to use - templar of jerusalem's crosses.

And finally - I mentioned the union with mongols, because it could have explained the type of the sword. Curved swords were not used by armenians, instead they used swords very similar to the georgian sword depicted above. Attached are excavated (???) armenian cilician swords, Levon the Ist time or so.

P.S. I think the demon just has a torch.

30th May 2006, 09:10 PM	#1
Rivkin Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 655	My reputation among dashnaktzatyun is that of a turk and fashist, so I preferred to abstain from commenting on this sword. I am also _not_ a specialist on this kind of swords or cilician history. I disagree with some of the criticism. I think that here it is hard to say whether virgin mary's head is covered by mopharion, as it is supposed to be. I also would somewhat disagree concerning western-eastern difference in head cover. For example, afaik, ethiopian tradition is uncovered hair, but all byzantine influenced countries (russia, syria, armenia, partially italy) have covered hair, and only north-western europe - france, germany, scandinavia, netherlands portray uncovered hair. Despite the fact that cilician armenian art was extremely influenced by crusaders (but yet they always depicted Mary with her head covered), I have never seen cherub in such a position on any cilician icons or manuscripts. However, as noted by Ariel, such depiction is typical for ottoman-produced swords, starting with the end of XVIth century. The style of goldwork is also somewhat ottoman. The banners are in fact very typical for XVIII century as well. I agree with all of this, but there are even more problems: Levon the Vth ruled in 1374 - 1375. Not 1366, not 1336. I doubt that his armorer was so ignorant and arrogant as just to put a date on the sword from the top of his head. I also have a small problem with a cross that is held by the king. I am no expert on armenian symbolics, but such crosses imho are much more characteristic for Levon the Ist and lorraine cross; later kings would be expected to use - templar of jerusalem's crosses. And finally - I mentioned the union with mongols, because it could have explained the type of the sword. Curved swords were not used by armenians, instead they used swords very similar to the georgian sword depicted above. Attached are excavated (???) armenian cilician swords, Levon the Ist time or so. P.S. I think the demon just has a torch. Attached Images Last edited by Rivkin; 30th May 2006 at 09:26 PM.