Battle axes of antiquity and the Middle Ages

We all know what battle axes are. There is no special secret in this, because this tool is widely used today. Let and in far not fighting, and the household purposes. Still, battle axes represent a whole layer from the history of cold steel. They were used on all continents and in a variety of different cultures and eras. Modern archeologists and historians know battle axes of the most diverse and bizarre forms: small and large, Throwing and intended for the nearest fight, with clever additional attachments and a heavy wide blade. Of course, this shock-cutting cold weapon deserves an interest in itself.

Stone Age awnings

The product, apparently used for similar purposes, existed at the dawn of human civilization. The first archaeological finds of stone tools with a cutting-cutting edge and hilt date back to the 6th millennium BC. Then they were used, of course, very universally: for cutting trees, and for building houses, and for combat purposes. The blade of the first axes was stone, at first rough, and then more and more skillfully polished.

Battle axes of antiquity

The emergence of mining and metal processing technologies led to significant shifts in the material culture of mankind. This affected all spheres of human life, but military affairs took on a special form. After all, it was then that the first real cold weapon appeared. The oldest metal
Battle axes were made of bronze - such were found during excavations of the states of Mesopotamia and Babylonia, in Ancient Egypt, later in the Scythian steppes and Celtic Europe.

At the same time, such weapons for antiquity were quite expensive and not as widespread as the modern inhabitant might seem. They were, rather, an instrument of military leaders, later they were used by infantrymen. Even then, the axes found a wide spread in their forms. So, in ancient Greece, a heavy two-sided ax, labrys, was popular. Its image can often be seen on copies of the paintings of ancient Greek amphorae. At the same time, among the nomadic peoples of the steppes, for example the Scythians or Sarmatians, small battle axes that were used by the riders were distributed.

Cold arms of the Middle Ages

At this time the cold arms reach their highest blossom and sophistication in their design. Thus, at the beginning of the era, among the many Germanic tribes, a small throwing tool became popular, which was even shorter than the hand of the warrior - Franciscus. The fighting ax of the Slavs in the early Middle Ages was also more often small, but the spread of plate armor leads to its weighting. Any compatriot even once saw in the museum one of the branches of the end evolution of this weapon of war - the burbot. By the way, such an evolution was facilitated by contacts with the Scandinavians and the popular battle axes of the Vikings - axes. Western European glephs and halberds are also the result of the development of these weapons. But at the same time, swords are a serious competition for axes. However, the great ergonomics of the first, their versatility, the great impact force in close combat, the effectiveness against the armor and just the cheapness led to the fact that they were not replaced by the second ones. Although the sword really became a weapon of the elite, and also a symbol of the aristocracy, axes until the end of the Middle Ages were popular among ordinary warriors.