ANCIENT WEAPON
JANUARY 22, 2022
A Cutting Edge History Of Sword
A cutting edge history of sword tells the long story of sword, a weapon developed by humans from thousand years ago.
A sword is an edged, bladed weapon intended for manual cutting or thrusting. The sword evolving from the dagger, developed in the Bronze Age. The Ancient Egypts blacksmiths created swords from bronze in 2500 – 1150 BC. Other cultures adopted this weapon and began to spread quickly.
They made blades by heating bronze or by casting molten metal in clay molds. Bronze swords and weapons were used widely throughout the ancient world, until it was replaced by iron as the metal used to make weapons.
The development of sword from the dagger was gradual. The first weapon found in Minoan Crete can be classified as sword with a total length of more than 100 cm (38 inch) and dated about 1700 BC.
Arslantepe swords are considered as the oldest type of sword in the world. Experts determine that the swords date back to around the end of 4th and the beginning of the 3rd century BC.
Swords used in biblical times were probably fallen into two main types : the single-edged sickle sword popularized by the Egyptian and the double edged leaf blades types used by the “sea peoples” like the Philistines.
Roman swords was forged from high carbon steel. The bloomeries (forges) had talented smiths who had good skill on smelting iron ore and producing steel weaponry like in modern forges.
The deadliest sword in history was the claymore sword. With their average of 130 cm, this weapon offered a mid range combat style. With dual handed wielding and weight the claymore could easily cut limbs or even decapitate enemy’s head with a single blow.
Chinese people has their own type of swords, all their swords can be classified into two types, jian and dao. Jians are double-edged straight swords while daos are single-edged and mostly curved, it comes from the Song dynasty forward. Jian means a “long sword” and dao is a “saber or knife”.
In Japan, legend says that the Japanese sword was invented by a smith named Amakuni in 700 AD this was along with folded steel process. The process and single edge swords had been brought over from China. The most famous sword from Japan is the katana.
The Japan’s greatest swordsmith is Masamune (1264-1343). He was a medieval Japanese blacksmith widely recognized as Japan’s greatest swordsmith. He created swords and daggers, known as tachi and tanto in the Soshu school. Many of his forged tachi were made into katana by cutting the tang in later times. Today the authentic katana swords can cost around US$ 4.000 up to $ 10.000 or even higher.
The sharpest sword in the world is the Damascus swords. It was sharp enough to slice a piece of silk in half and strong enough to split stones without dulling. This was due to their legendary qualities to carbon nanotubes as said by chemist and Robert Curl. This sword was forged in India and other areas of Asia until the 18th century.
A legendary myth sword called Excalibur is known from the English legend. It says that sword Excalibur is pulled from a stone by the future King Arthur and gives him glory and divine power. Recently scientists say research shows that the sword is real and its metal dated back to the 12th century.
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