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Mike Loades discusses the Egyptian Kopesh
Mike Loades discusses the Egyptian Kopesh
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Interesting weapon...
Silly question maybe? and but from such an ancient tradition as the Egyptians, why do no Egyptian fighting systems prevail today when we have great martial legacies from other old civilisations? Or am I missing something obvious?
Yes Mark, this little video just got me wondering in particular why when we compare the ancient Middle Eastern / North African traditions to the Sino-Indian and other oriental civilisations from similar epochs - from the one we get this lasting martial legacy that we all know and have adopted and from the other little to nothing?Hi Jenna,
There are wall carvings that depict Egyptian wrestling and maybe stickfighting IIRC. However, we don't have any surviving Roman or Greek living traditions from antiquity either. The first European sword manual is from about 1300 AD (sword and buckler). Making fencing manuals is costly and time-consuming. Carving them in stone is even more labour-intensive! In Europe, it was the influence of Scholasticism that gave rise to the plethora of recorded fighting styles. The Ancient Egyptians had no such influence and probably no market for such things. Even the Romans, great chroniclers that they were, never bothered to make fencing manuals. Or at least, none have survived to the present day. Vegetius wrote on military matters though, and described some aspects of Roman martial life.
Given the fact that none of the civilizations in question were isolated, martial traditions were forced to adapt and chage rapidly as the fate of nations hung in the balance.
Perhaps since antiquity lacked the ideal of the knight or equivalent, combat was seen as "workaday"? In Europe, popular culture extolled knightly/warrior virtues (King Arthur, Beowulf, Song of Roland, etc) and it was very much a martial culture overall, even if only a small percentage were actually of the chivalric class.
If, in ancient Egypt, warriors were seen as lower class, less effort would have been made to preserve their methods. That's a question for Egyptologists though.
Best regards,
-Mark
- from the one we get this lasting martial legacy that we all know and have adopted and from the other little to nothing?