quadara - Caucasus, Trabzon, Iran ? - Page 2

Rivkin · 6th June 2006, 08:38 AM

First of all my deepest gratitude to Artzi Yarom who took such fantastic pictures of so many weapons.

As you all know, quadara (short, straight, single edge dagger-sword) has always been a subject of controversy, in particular it is so called "transcaucasian" or "azerbajani" type. Are they really from Caucasus ? Can they be iranian ?

Let us try to address the issue. First of all, lets quote from Astvatzaturjan on transcaucasian weapons (Oruzhie Narodov Kavkaza):
"Transcaucasian weapons...e.) Blades are slighly bend, one side is sharp, another is dull, i.e. this kindjal is not a kindjal, but a knife, below the dull side there are 2 or 3 fullers, on the left - right below the hilt, on the right - somewhat further from the hilt. Around the hilt one can find a touchmark-figurine"
"Armenian weapons: "....bend knife with a slightly bend dull side; around the last third the blade rapidly bends towards the end...has a single fuller".
Unfortunately no picture of this weapon is given.

Let us start with what we have seen in a part of Caucasus that is Turkey - Trabzon short swords.These weapons have been discussed here:
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...swords+trabzon

While their blade is quite similar to certain "quadaras", they have quite characteristic hilts, dissimilar to kindjal hilts and therefore to those of quadaras.
On the other side, in Iran one sees quite a lot of quaddaras with kindjal-like hilts, see for example the first picture below - quadara of Nader-Shah.

But now we come to the most interesting part - Caucusus. Besides small knives, I have seen only two types of quadaras coming from Caucasus. First type (2nd picture and http://www.oriental-arms.com/photos.php?id=514 ) - essentially straight caucasian single fuller kindjal with three modifications - first the fuller is even more off-centered than usual. Second the tip rapidly bends to one side. Third, one of the edges is oftenly blunt. The caucasian provenance of them, in my opinion, is well established - just to take these two the first one (russian Tula's arms museum) has a typical caucasian niello hilt, second one has a typical caucasian goldwork on the scabbard.
quadara-kindjals of this type do not have touchmarks.

Another type, depicted here
http://www.oriental-arms.com/photos.php?id=259
is also a very common type one can find in the area. It has a touchmark and it has correct number of fullers to be the one described by Astvatzaturjan?

I would like to see what members think about this issue. My opinion is that single-edge swords existed in Trabzon, Caucasus proper and Iran, with some modifications distinquishing among them.

6th June 2006, 08:38 AM	#1
Rivkin Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 655	quadara - Caucasus, Trabzon, Iran ? First of all my deepest gratitude to Artzi Yarom who took such fantastic pictures of so many weapons. As you all know, quadara (short, straight, single edge dagger-sword) has always been a subject of controversy, in particular it is so called "transcaucasian" or "azerbajani" type. Are they really from Caucasus ? Can they be iranian ? Let us try to address the issue. First of all, lets quote from Astvatzaturjan on transcaucasian weapons (Oruzhie Narodov Kavkaza): "Transcaucasian weapons...e.) Blades are slighly bend, one side is sharp, another is dull, i.e. this kindjal is not a kindjal, but a knife, below the dull side there are 2 or 3 fullers, on the left - right below the hilt, on the right - somewhat further from the hilt. Around the hilt one can find a touchmark-figurine" "Armenian weapons: "....bend knife with a slightly bend dull side; around the last third the blade rapidly bends towards the end...has a single fuller". Unfortunately no picture of this weapon is given. Let us start with what we have seen in a part of Caucasus that is Turkey - Trabzon short swords.These weapons have been discussed here: http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showth...swords+trabzon While their blade is quite similar to certain "quadaras", they have quite characteristic hilts, dissimilar to kindjal hilts and therefore to those of quadaras. On the other side, in Iran one sees quite a lot of quaddaras with kindjal-like hilts, see for example the first picture below - quadara of Nader-Shah. But now we come to the most interesting part - Caucusus. Besides small knives, I have seen only two types of quadaras coming from Caucasus. First type (2nd picture and http://www.oriental-arms.com/photos.php?id=514 ) - essentially straight caucasian single fuller kindjal with three modifications - first the fuller is even more off-centered than usual. Second the tip rapidly bends to one side. Third, one of the edges is oftenly blunt. The caucasian provenance of them, in my opinion, is well established - just to take these two the first one (russian Tula's arms museum) has a typical caucasian niello hilt, second one has a typical caucasian goldwork on the scabbard. quadara-kindjals of this type do not have touchmarks. Another type, depicted here http://www.oriental-arms.com/photos.php?id=259 is also a very common type one can find in the area. It has a touchmark and it has correct number of fullers to be the one described by Astvatzaturjan? I would like to see what members think about this issue. My opinion is that single-edge swords existed in Trabzon, Caucasus proper and Iran, with some modifications distinquishing among them. Attached Images