Weapons & Warriors: The Khopesh of the Egyptians

Art by TL Jeffcoat

This curved sword was designed with the concept of combining the war axe and the sickle. The Khopesh is probably one of the strangest looking swords ever made. The isolation of ancient Egypt is one of the reasons their culture is so different than their neighbors. They had their own pantheon of deities and their own unique arsenal of weaponry. You can always tell when something is modeled after ancient Egyptian culture as opposed to anywhere else in the world.

The Khopesh was around two feet (60 centimeters) in length. The blade was molded from bronze and sometimes the leather wrapped handle was decorated with electrum (silver and gold mixed metal). The outer curve of the blade was sharpened while the inner side was dull. Overall it was a light weighted weapon which is ideal for carrying around the desert.

Weapons & Warriors: The Makraka of the Zande Warrior

Although the Makrigga and Kpinga were the first weapons a Zande Warrior reached for in a fight, they had another weapon that was as intimidating to look at as the other two. They had their own nightmarish version of a short sword they called the Makraka.

The handle was made of wood and bound with animal hides. The hammered iron blade was shaped like a sickle and was swung in a similar motion. The tip of the blade was thicker and heavier than the central portion of the blade. Unlike other sickle related swords used in Arabian lands and southern Europe, the Makraka was only sharpened on the interior portion of the blade.

The blade was specially designed to remove limbs with ease, like a more extreme version of the Spartan Kopis. This gave the weapon a dual purpose in that it was wicked looking and deadly weapon in combat, and afterwards it was used to remove the heads of prisoners. We’ll get into that ritual next week when I talk about the Azande’s use of psychological warfare against their enemies.

Weapons & Warriors: The Kusarigama of the Ninja

This fierce looking and deadly weapon was created by combining a chain and a farming tool. The ninja were people of poor origins and made weapons with whatever they could as they perfected their martial art to protect themselves from the superior trained Samurai. Many Samurai were caught off guard by the strange weapon in its earliest days and died at the hands of the Ninja wielding it. Kusarigama is translated as Chain-sickle.

Like many weapons used by the Ninja, the Kusarigama was designed to neutralize the Samurai katana so that the Ninja could face the Samurai without his weapon. It is used by swinging the ball on the chain overhead or to either side and then the Ninja would swing the weighted end towards an opponent’s sword or limbs and tangle them. If the Sword was entangled, the Ninja could attempt to jerk it free or jerk the Samurai off balance and then close in with a fatal strike from the sickle end.

By entangling the limbs of the Samurai, the Ninja could unbalance and subdue his opponent. A quick jerk on the chain that has wrapped around the legs could send a man to his backside, making him vulnerable to the Ninja. Once the enemy was distracted with trying to escape the chain, he became an easy target to the deadly end, the sickle.

The weighted ball at the end of the chain could be deadly when used to strike directly. When facing a fully armored Samurai, it could not deal a fatal blow, as Samurai were covered head to toe in steel plate. The fingers were the only exposed part of the armor and a carefully aimed blow to the hands could cause the Samurai to drop his katana and possibly shatter a finger or two. If the Samurai was found unarmored then his disadvantage against the ninja would be even greater as the weighted ball was solid enough to crack his skull.