Tag Archives: weapons

Useful Sites

Last Links of Summer (observed, not actual)

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Well, well, we made it almost a whole week without a hurricane or earthquake here in New York. Here are some links to keep you occupied over the weekend. I would wish you a happy “three-day weekend”, but most of you are in theatre, and we don’t get holidays off.

List of Tools is more than just a list of tools; it breaks down all sorts of tools into different categories, tells you what they are used for, and includes all sorts of other relevant information. It’s great when you want to know the difference between a ball peen and a straight peen hammer, or how to measure the inside diameter of a pipe.

Here is an interview with Clive Lankford of Lancaster’s Armouries, a British sword and armor maker that specializes in stage combat weapons.

The Washington Post did a nice spread on Chris Young, prop master at the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, DC. It’s wonderfully photographed, and always great when a larger media outlet pays attention to the work that goes on behind the scenes.

How old is your globe? This site lists various names of now defunct countries, along with when they changed and what their modern equivalent is. So if you find an older name on your globe, you know how old your globe is. Also great in reverse, for when you need to make a globe or a map and want to make sure you aren’t using any anachronistic geography.

Finally, here is a walk through a haunted house. The pictures are all taken with flash, so you really get the details of the construction behind a lot of the pieces and scenes.

 

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Ancient Roman Weapons

In the same vein as my previous posts on Ancient Egyptian weapons and Ancient Greek helmets and weapons, here is an illustration of common weapons used in Ancient Rome.

A collection of typical weapons used in Ancient Rome

Left column, from top to bottom:

  • Iron head of Roman pilum.
  • Bronze sheath for sword below.
  • Sword worn with belt called a parazonium, 10 inches long, iron.
  • Short sword called a poniard, bronze.
  • Sword, 22 inches long, iron.
  • Sword, 25 inches, long, iron. This particular example has an armorer’s mark of Sabini.
  • Sword, 23 inches long, iron.
  • Sword, 26 inches long, iron. Hilt is ornamented with bronze
  • Dacian sword. From Trajan’s Column erected in 113 CE.

Center: Signum, or badge, or Roman cohort, bronze. Found in Asia Minor.

Right column, from top to bottom:

  • War-hatchet, iron.
  • Head of javelin, 6 inches long, iron.
  • Bill, bronze. This particular example was found in Ireland.
  • Plain war-hatchet, bronze.
  • Plain war-hatchet, bronze. It’s shape shows it is a weapon, not a tool.
  • Bill, iron. From the ruins of Pæstum.
  • Head of javelin, 11 inches long, iron.

The illustrations and descriptions have been taken from An Illustrated History of Arms and Armour: From the Earliest Period to the Present Time, by Auguste Demmin, and translated by Charles Christopher Black. Published in 1894 by George Bell.

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Ancient Greek Weapons

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Pulling from the same source as my previous posts on Ancient Egyptian weapons and Ancient Greek helmets, I’ve assembled a collage of common weapons used in Ancient Greece.

Ancient Greek weapons

1. Greek sword, bronze, 19.5 inches.

2. Greek sword, bronze, 32 inches.

3. Greek sword, bronze, 25 inches, called Gallo-Greek.

4. Bronze sheath belonging to the previous sword.

5. Bronze lance-head.

6. Hand arbalest, or balista, similar to a crossbow. The drawing is taken from a description in a Byzantine text, but its actual use in Ancient Greece is doubtful.

7. A coat of mail showing how the sword is worn on the right.

8. Antique spur, bronze.

9. Greek spur, bronze.

10. Greek or Etruscan mace-head, covered in points.

11. Antique dagger, bronze, 16.5 inches. Called a “parazonium”, it was common to both Greeks and Romans.

12. Hatchet, bronze.

The illustrations and descriptions have been taken from An Illustrated History of Arms and Armour: From the Earliest Period to the Present Time, by Auguste Demmin, and translated by Charles Christopher Black. Published in 1894 by George Bell.

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Ancient Greek Helmets

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A few days ago, I posted some illustrations of Egyptian weapons from an 1894 text on arms and armor. Continuing in that vein, here are some pictures of various Greek and Etruscan helmets.

Greek Helmets

First row, from left to right:

  • Greek casque called a “kataityx”, probably in leather, from the 8th century BC.
  • Etruscan casque in bronze, first period.
  • Etruscan casque in bronze.
  • Bronze casque attributed to the Umbrians (allies of the Etruscans)

Second Row:

  • Etruscan casque in bronze. A similar helmet exists in gold.
  • Etruscan casque in bronze with fixed visor.
  • Greek casques in bronze with inscriptions.
  • Greek casque of the hoplites. Bronze.

Third Row:

  • Greek casque in bronze.
  • Greek casque in bronze with reliefs, antennae and a crest-holder.
  • The perfect Greek classic casque seen in many sculptures (though no actual artifacts have survived).
  • Greek casque ornamented with horsehair.

Fourth Row:

  • Greek casque with horsehair crest and embossed details.
  • Crest of a Greek casque in bronze.
  • Greek casque with neck covering in bronze.
  • Greek casque with chin-strap. Bronze.
  • Greek helmet with neck-covering and plume-holder for a horseman.

The illustrations and descriptions have been taken from An Illustrated History of Arms and Armour: From the Earliest Period to the Present Time, by Auguste Demmin, and translated by Charles Christopher Black. Published in 1894 by George Bell.

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Egyptian Weapons

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I came across a book with some fun little illustrations showing the history of arms and armor through history. The pictures are not terribly detailed, but they give a good overall look at the shapes and styles of common weapons in various historical periods. The first one I’ll be showing is on Egyptian weapons.

The types and styles of Ancient Egyptian weapons

1. A mural painting of Thebes showing Egyptians fighting.

2. Egyptian soldiers from Theban bas-reliefs.

3. Egyptian coat of mail. Some coats which have survived to the present have bronze scales, each scale measuring an inch and a half tall by three-fourths of an inch wide.

4. Egyptian coat in crocodile’s skin. From the Egyptian Museum of the Belvedere, Vienna.

5. Egyptian buckler with sight-hole.

6. Sword-breaker

7. Egyptian quiver

8. Egyptian hatchet

9. Sword

10. Scimitar

11. Dart

12. Sling

13. Unknown weapon

14. Unknown weapon

15. Hatchet, from bas-reliefs of

Thebes.

16. Scorpion or whip-goad. These were most likely 25 to 27 inches long. They were probably in bronze and iron.

17. Egyptian wedge or hatchet, bronze (4 inches). From the Museum of Berlin.

18. Egyptian knife or lance-head, iron (6 inches). Also from the Museum of Berlin.

19. Shop or khop, an Egyptian iron weapon (6 inches). Museum of Berlin.

20. Egyptian lance-head, bronze (10 and a half inches). Louvre.

21. Egyptian poignard, bronze. The handle is fixed upon a wooden core.

22. Egyptian hatchet, bronze, bound with thongs to a wooden handle of 15 and a half inches. British Museum.

23. Egyptian hatchet, bronze (4 and a half inches), fixed into wooden handle of 16 and a half inches. Louvre.

24. Bronze dagger (14 inches). Louvre.

25. Egyptian poignard, bronze (11 and a half inches), found at Thebes. The handle is in horn.

26. Egyptian poignard and sheath, bronze, 1 foot long. Ivory handle, ornamented with studs in gilded bronze.

The illustrations and descriptions have been taken from An Illustrated History of Arms and Armour: From the Earliest Period to the Present Time, by Auguste Demmin, and translated by Charles Christopher Black. Published in 1894 by George Bell.