![]() The Indian epics Ramayana and Mahabharata describe the extensive use of the gada in ancient Indian warfare as gada-yuddha or 'mace combat'. The enchanted talking mace Sharur made its first appearance in Sumerian/Akkadian mythology during the epic of Ninurta. In fact, Shahnameh has many references to heavily armoured knights facing each other using maces, axes, and swords. For a heavily armed Persian knight, a mace was as effective as a sword or battle axe. Persians used a variety of maces and fielded large numbers of heavily armoured and armed cavalry (see Cataphract). Detail of a basalt relief from the palace of Tiglath-pileser III at Hadatu, Syria. ![]() Many bronze statuettes of the times show Sardinian warriors carrying swords, bows and original maces.Īssyrian soldier holding a mace and a bow. The Shardanas or warriors from Sardinia who fought for Ramses II against the Hittites were armed with maces consisting of wooden sticks with bronze heads. ![]() With the advent of copper mace heads, they no longer shattered and a better fit could be made to the wooden club by giving the eye of the mace head the shape of a cone and using a tapered handle. The Assyrians used maces probably about nineteenth century BC and in their campaigns the maces were usually made of stone or marble and furnished with gold or other metals, but were rarely used in battle unless fighting heavily armoured infantry.Īn important, later development in mace heads was the use of metal for their composition. On a Sumerian Clay tablet written by the scribe Gar.Ama, the title Lord of the Mace is listed in the year 3100 BC. Similar mace heads were also used in Mesopotamia around 2450–1900 BC. Development history Prehistory Ĭalcite mace head, 7-6th millennium BC, SyriaĪ rounded pear form of mace head known as a "piriform" replaced the disc mace in the Naqada II period of pre-dynastic Upper Egypt (3600–3250 BC) and was used throughout the Naqada III period (3250–3100 BC). The Middle English word "mace" comes from the French "masse" (short for "Masse d'armes") meaning ‘large hammer’, a hammer with a heavy mass at the end. They are often paraded in academic, parliamentary or civic rituals and processions. Congress), universities and other institutions have ceremonial maces and continue to display them as symbols of authority. ![]() Maces are rarely used today for actual combat, but many government bodies (for instance, the British House of Commons and the U.S. The maces of cavalrymen were longer and thus better suited for blows delivered from horseback. The maces of foot soldiers were usually quite short (two or three feet, or sixty to ninety centimetres). The length of maces can vary considerably. The head of a military mace can be shaped with flanges or knobs to allow greater penetration of plate armour. A mace typically consists of a strong, heavy, wooden or metal shaft, often reinforced with metal, featuring a head made of stone, bone, copper, bronze, iron, or steel. A mace is a blunt weapon, a type of club or virge that uses a heavy head on the end of a handle to deliver powerful strikes.
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