this post was submitted on 27 Sep 2024
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Memes

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[–] PolandIsAStateOfMind@lemmy.ml 26 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (3 children)

Sword but very curved and yet not very famous (Ethiopian shotel)

[–] johannesvanderwhales@lemmy.world 11 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Pretty famous among FromSoft fans.

[–] Annoyed_Crabby@monyet.cc 6 points 10 months ago

Dex build rejoice

[–] PolandIsAStateOfMind@lemmy.ml 1 points 10 months ago

Well i'm not one of them.

[–] gcheliotis@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

This looks more like a scythe that doubles as a weapon to me

[–] PolandIsAStateOfMind@lemmy.ml 9 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

It was probably inspired by Egyptian khopesh since it was used in Ethiopia even before the kingdom of Axum. Thing is, the blade is sharp on both sides. So you could either use its inner side as big sickle to reach around enemy shield and try for the weak spots like neck, face or armpits, or if the enemy didn't had a shield you could turn it to outer side and in this case you it was similar to Persian shamshir in being excellent weapon against unarmored opponents.

Two more interesting thing about it was 1: the designs varies greatly, most were shorter and wider, the curvature also varied; and 2: it apparently worked quite well considering it has been in use for possibly over 2500 years and some Ethiopian emperors even organised special elite units wielding it.

[–] Skua@kbin.earth 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Isn't a khopesh sharp on the other side of the curve from a shotel, though? It seems like sharpening the inside was the big innovation that makes shotels distinctive

[–] PolandIsAStateOfMind@lemmy.ml 2 points 10 months ago

Yes, it was upgrade of khopesh.

[–] andrew_bidlaw@sh.itjust.works 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Just how long is that? I struggle to calculate it from what I see.

[–] PolandIsAStateOfMind@lemmy.ml 6 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Blade is around 1 meter long.

[–] Neon@lemmy.world 1 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (2 children)
[–] PolandIsAStateOfMind@lemmy.ml 4 points 10 months ago

It do looks longer than it is because of proportions. It's very thin and the handle is pretty short compared to European blades because the blade is also very light so it don't need much counterweight.

[–] andrew_bidlaw@sh.itjust.works 2 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Probably the round thing (a shield?) fooled us both. For me it looked like a two-hander.