Swords of the Fertile Crescent

Swords. Every civilization has used them since the dawn of time, and as such, some swords look nothing like the archetypical sword, which has a straight double edged blade. Join me as i travel through history to shed light on the different sword types that abounded in the area called the Fertile Crescent.

Swords really began back in the time of the Akkadian Empire, which was active in Mesopotamia in the years 2334-2154 BC. The swords of the Akkadians were straight swords primarily for thrusting, as body armor had yet to reach the Fertile Crescent. The sword was made from bronze, and measured around three feet long. Below is an image of the Akkadian sword:

Around the time of the Akkadians, the Egyptians were perfecting the use of a sickle-sword called the Khopesh. The Khopesh was a hybrid of an axe and a sword, for not only could the wielder stab and slash with it, they could also chop and hack their opponents to pieces. Below is an image of the Khopesh:

Although the Kopesh is an Egyptian weapon, all over the Middle East sickle-swords were being used until around 1300 BC, during the Bronze Age collapse. On the opposite end of the Fertile Crescent from Egypt was India, and the swords used by the Indian warriors were usually straight, unlike the scimitars given to them in the movies. Scimitars are actually a medieval weapon originating with the Turks that spread across the Middle East and India. Below is an image of one of the swords used in Ancient India:

The swords of the Fertile Crescent were used up until the rise of the Persian Empire, when the Persian Short Sword was used by the armies of Persia, and weapons like the Khopesh vanished from the battlefield. This has been a look at the swords used by the civilizations living in the Fertile Crescent